Trotting Turkeys

Another great week of running!  Coach Ian has me slowly upping my mileage again, ran about 34 miles this week.  Ella had her first run longer than 400 yards...she ran the 1 mile fun run on Thanksgiving morning.  Well ran/walked the 1 mile fun run.  Kris and I "ran" with her and we laughed the whole time.  She was sooo excited (especially because they were giving out medals at the end of the race!) that she went flying out of the gate when the horn sounded.  After about .25 miles, we were back to a walk.  She ran the uphills and walked the downhills- something to work on in the future.  At the .5 mile mark, they had a water stop set up....she must have taken after her aunt steph, because she stopped and sipped her water (I think her pinkie was in the air).  I laughed and told her the water was meant to wet her whistle, not to drink the whole cup :)  Once she finished her water, we were back off running.  She said her legs were tired after about 50 more yards, so we walked some more.  I tried to get her to sing some songs but she was not interested (Liza- think Kelli on our 80 mile bike ride here around mile 68)  He, he, she takes after her momma racing.  She did run the last bit of the race and even sprinted across the finish line!  And she was super proud of her medal.  She now has her own hook of medals at home beside mommy's and daddy's.

Paige, Jenna, Luke, Ella, and Val after the 1 mile fun run (and 5k)!  All the kids have their medals :)

After the 1 mile fun run, Kris and I ran the 5k turkey strut.  I was aiming for a PR, and Kris was my pacer.  Little did I know, we were going to run a roller coaster.  Kris wore the watch, so I had no idea what pace we were running, I was told to just try and keep up.  Of course, Kris was not happy with my course management, which he told me after the race.  He kept trying to move me to the inside and to cut this corner....as you can see, he is the racer in the family- I was just trying to avoid the people.  I did get a PR, but was hoping for a little better one.....those hills wore me out!  Even the downhills couldn't make up for the exhaustion from the uphills!  There was only one flat part to the course and that was the last .1 mile....We did have fun, and it was nice to run with Kris for once (he usually says I am too slow and he likes to "race," but since it was Thanksgiving and he promised if I ever got faster he would run with me- he did :) )! 

The Turkey I chased for 3 miles!

So, one run a week or so back, Tracey and I started talking about when we first started running.  Interesting that most of the people I run with, didn't start running until later in life (recreational college running- when 20 minutes was a long time) or later.  As I thought about my first 5k, it made me giggle to think back.  I was living with KO's parents in Farmville completing my clinical rotations for my last year of pharmacy school and decided to run the 5k Hamstring Hustle, sponsored by ECU School of Medicine.  So, I trained the best I knew how and ran the race in late March.  Kris did run that race with me as well.  Boy, I think I felt like Ella did for her 1 mile run....I kept thinking, this is not fun, and when is the finish line ever coming????  That night I had the worst headachel- Kristen was not at home and I did not want to wake her parents...so I literally crawled on my hands and knees down the steps to get to the drugs.  At that point, I thought I may never run another race again....but, here we are, many races later.  And thankfully, I have learned to enjoy them much more! 

The long run this week got interesting with all the travel and activities.  I attempted to run it Friday morning, and the weather and exhaustion from Turkey day got the best of me!  So, I changed plans and decided to run Saturday morning around the hood (ugh, 14 miles in the hood is not easy to find)!  I started on the treadmill for the first bit, then ran outside to meet Tracey for the remaining miles.  Boy, I underestimated the skills needed to change clothes into cold weather running gear after running on a treadmill for 40 minutes.  I am going to have to develop a better plan!  I was super excited that Tracey was able to join me for most of my remaining miles....we had run 8 miles before I even looked at my watch! 

After the long run, Ella and I went to get our Christmas tree (Kris was sick so he didn't get to go with us this year) at Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm with the Laudates and Dranttels.  The tree is up and we are ready for Christmas!  I love this time of year!!!!!  (Except the shopping, I am super stressed about the shopping!)  I also love that I have new and exciting things to look at when I run, since everyone has a wide variety of decorations up to enjoy!   Stay tuned for pictures :) 
As you can see from the picture below, our Christmas tree topper didn't make it this year.  We believe that the eggnog was just too much for the poor thing.

The Tired Tree Topper!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday!