Fun with Friends

Things are a bit nuts right now, as they always are with the holidays coming up and the end of the year just around the corner, but despite being super busy, it was a good week filled with good stuff.

Monday, I sat down at my computer at 6:00 am and with only a few interruptions, worked until 3:30 at which time I did a bit of stretching and got myself ready to walk during Sam's swim practice. It was nice to have a reason to get up from my desk, err the kitchen table 😉, and get in a bit of movement for the afternoon. (2.2 miles walked)

Tuesday, I could simply not get up out of bed and out into the darkness (see the pattern here?!),  so, I got a bit of work done before I took Sam to school. Getting in an extra 1+ hour of work in the early morning made me feel slightly better about ducking out of work early so that I could get in a run, despite the long laundry list of things to get done at the office. But seriously, I needed it! And it was nice to run in the daylight too. I went off in search of items for my TMR Advent calendar, going down into all the little gullies and ditches on my route where I saw cans, and of course I saw everything BUT Budweiser and Bud Lite! And then, about 0.1 miles from home, at the edge of the vacant lot, what do I find, but two cans of Bud Lite 😂 Classic. (6.0 miles)

Late start Wednesdays offer the chance for a slightly later run start and I was treated to a lovely sunrise too, which is always a nice bonus! I could see the glow on the horizon through the trees as I headed down to the connector, and while the light over the river was slightly more subdued than the other week, it was still lovely. I think if I had hit the bridge about 10 minutes later, I would have caught the clouds aglow too, but I did enjoy the ribbons of pinkish clouds against the pale blue sky as I ran across the green bridge a mile later. (6.0 miles)

Thursday evening was the middle school chorus and band concert. The one school related activity that Sam participates in is chorus, which she's been doing since grade school, and although it's been quite different these past two years due to the pandemic, she's always really enjoyed it. It was great to be able to see the kids up on stage performing, even though frankly it felt a bit uncomfortable to me to be sitting in a rather large audience indoors right now. Thankfully the Orion is a large performance space with really high ceilings, and of course everyone was required to be wearing their masks. The 7th grade chorus had what really was the best performance of the night - a beautiful rendition of Hallalujah.

Friday was a fun run with the ladies at Brad. The sun was shining and the temps were quite balmy - almost 50! Trails were sloppy and I was definitely overdressed, but we had a great time chatting away as we ran along. Always good to get in some miles with friends! (6.0 miles)

 

Friday evening, I bookended my week with yet another indoor track walk during swim practice. (2.2 miles walked) 

I lucked out this week and Saturday morning was another run with a friend! Met up with Emily at Wolfe's Neck to see if we could find some cows for the advent calendar. You know, priorities!😂 I also managed to get a video of geese out in the bay and spotted a crow in an old apple tree for two other squares. Not to mention a fun run catching up with Emily. So all told, a very successful morning! 😁 (8.0 miles)

Then it was home so I could get Sam up to the Y for her swim meet. This one was an invitational with more kids and some larger teams, and wow, it was a long one! Sam did a great job with her events, but we were glad to be watching from home 😉as we didn't end up picking her up until 4:45!

From the Y, we headed right to Thistle's birthday party and a sleepover with Anne. Sam always looks forward to celebrating with T and sounds like the girls had a blast!

After we dropped her off, we headed to Moderation to meet up with Mike and Vicky who were in town for the weekend. It was great to catch up with them, and despite the falling snow, we were cozy in the little outdoor nook with our heated seats. Such fun! 🍻

After a few drinks, we picked up poke bowls for dinner and headed home around 7:00, settling in on the couch to watch "14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible," which offered up incredible scenery and a rather insane story. Definitely worth watching if you are into mountain climbing and adventure! 

Woke up to about 3" of snow on the ground and a light snow still falling. Always so pretty ❄ but definitely messy to be out in, especially with a cold wind and fine snow that almost felt like sleet. I did a mix of roads and trails for a rather random route - I kept trying to find the perfect spot to run, but alas, the roads were iced over and the trails were not yet packed and the snow kept clumping on my spikes. Ah, winter running! But managed to pick up a few advent squares while I was out there - a run in "bad" weather, made a snowman, and found a lot of prints in the snow, including what I think might have been mink going into and out of the river. Definitely helped keep it a bit more fun in so-so conditions! (8.0 miles)

I originally set my goal for the year as 2,000 but upped it in the final quarter to 2,200. And now I am definitely regretting it 😂😲 I've got my work cut out for me over the next 12 days!!

While I was out running, the kids had fun out in the snow too!

 The rest of the day was spent getting all the presents wrapped and ready to go! Christmas, here we come! 🎄🎅🎁