Helping Mom Get Ready for Christmas

Bill and I drove to my mom’s house last Sunday for a few days before heading on to Charlotte for Thanksgiving. I think I may have worn her out because we were pretty much in high gear the whole time we were together. We left her house at 9 AM on Monday and didn’t return until 5 PM. In all, we drove 132 miles and checked off a doctor’s appointment and a good start to her Christmas shopping. We were both pooped when we got home, but that was the easy day.

On Tuesday, I put up her Christmas tree, followed by close to a million trips up and down her basement stairs as I carried up box after box of Christmas decorations. We both loved reminiscing about when and where she got the decorations as we placed them in their spots all around her house or as we hung each ornament on the tree. We worked from about 10 AM to after 8 PM stopping only for lunch and dinner. I know she was tired, but thrilled to have all of her decorating out of the way.

 

Visiting Charlotte, NC for Thanksgiving

Just after noon on Wednesday, Bill and I drove from my mom’s house to Charlotte, NC to spend Thanksgiving with Daniel, Jess, and her family. This was my first time visiting Charlotte and even though we didn’t make it into the city, I really liked the area. While there, we ran in a local turkey trot because when Jess’ parents invited to us to spend Thanksgiving with them, her mom made sure we knew that there was a Thanksgiving morning race in which we could run because that was our family’s tradition.

While in Charlotte, Pablo got to spend time with his other grandparents and his cousin Flash. They were very good boys!

 

Fitbit Steps on the Low Side

Considering that several days my steps were over 20,000, I was surprised that my weekly average was only 12,623 steps per day. After looking at my individual days I remembered that Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday were travel days and I sat in the car much of those days. We totaled 1,248 miles in the car including the 132 miles I drove my mom around on Monday.

 

Non-stop Saturday

Not to be outdone by my mom already having her house decorated, I spent from 11 AM on Saturday to around 6 PM putting up our Christmas decorations. I didn’t get the ornaments put on our tree, but everything else is decorated, including outside.  I even designed and ordered our Christmas cards last night!

 

And Now on to a RunDown of this Past Week’s Workouts…

 

Running

Either driving 132 miles on Monday (my back hates it when I drive without cruise control and that’s not always an option) or accidentally sleeping in a weird position Monday night did a number on my back. I’d planned to run on Tuesday morning, but opted to skip my run when I woke up with a little nerve pain in my right leg followed by numbness the rest of the day – it was fine the following day and have been ever since. Pretty sure it was the driving…

On Thursday, I ran in the Charlotte Turkey Dash 4-Miler with Daniel, Jess, and her brother. Jess’ parent walked the fun run and Bill took pictures. I had never run a 4-mile race so it was an automatic PR. I won my age group and in lieu of AG awards, they made donations in our honor to a local charity. I love that idea!

 

Saturday morning I opted to run a little later so I didn’t contact my friends to see when they were running. I headed out at around 7:30 AM for an easy run on the trails through the woods.

 

Biking

For the third Saturday in a row, I hopped on my spin bike (affiliate link) for twelve easy miles. I didn’t push that hard, just pedaled away while watching TV.

 

Strength Training

I completed two of my three weight lifting workouts at my mom’s house doing mostly body weight resistance exercises and doubling up with mom’s lighter dumbbells. On Friday, after over seven hours of sitting in the car on our way back from Charlotte I needed to move so after we unpacked, I headed to our basement gym to lift.

 

Yoga

I squeezed in three of my weekly goal of four yoga sessions, but opted for ten-minute routines since I was so busy.

 

It’s on the Blog

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed… And if you missed Tuesday’s recap, you missed seeing pictures from a gorgeous place!

 

Coming up this week, I hope to get my recap from my Charlotte Turkey Dash completed by Tuesday, but it’s going to be a really busy first couple of days back at work. I also have some thoughts on our brief stopover in Las Vegas while we were out west in June that are scheduled to post on Thursday. And finally, on Friday I’ll be joining Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Coco at Running with Perseverance for the Ultimate Coffee Date linkup (even though I accidentally released my post this past Friday – there’ll be an update or two in it).

 

In addition to the workouts I mentioned above, here’s a complete rundown of my workouts from this past week (completed either outside or in our home gym)…

 

  • Questions:
  • • Did you travel or stay home for Thanksgiving? 
  • • Have you run any automatic PR’s recently because you’d never raced that distance before?
  • • Did you run in a turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning or run in a race this weekend? 

 

And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!