I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday weekend! Thanksgiving seemed to get here WAY too soon, but I’m grateful to have the time to spend with family and reflect on the good things that happened this year. It definitely hasn’t been an easy year, but above all, I have so many blessings to be thankful for!
I thought it would be nice to share my Thanksgiving recap, including my very first Turkey Trot, and then recap my workouts – I’ve been keeping pretty active!
I’m joining HoHo and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap! I’m also linking up with Marcia, Patty, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run, Debbie, Lora, and Rachel for the Running Coaches Corner and Annmarie and Nicole for Wild Workout Wednesday!
[bctt tweet=”Giving my Thanksgiving recap! #runchat #sweatpink ” username=”Janelle_RWNR”]
Weekly Wrap: Happy Thanksgiving!
Face to Face Turkey Trot
After many years of saying we’d do one, we finally signed up for a Thanksgiving day race! The Face to Face organization holds a Turkey Trot each year along the beautiful Wissahickon, one of my favorite places to run and very close to home! Unfortunately, we had to have the coldest Thanksgiving of all time LOL, so we were greeted by temperatures in the lower 20’s, with a real feel around 14 degrees! Normally, I don’t mind running in the cold, but thanks to plantar fasciitis, I’ve been out of commission. Running outside is a rarity these days…
We quickly learned that this is clearly a popular Turkey Trot as there had to be at least 1,000 runners and walkers out there! The cold weather didn’t seem to scare away too many people, and I could tell that there would be some very speedy runners, especially since everyone slower than a 10-minute pace was relegated to the back of the pack! Did I mention that this was a 5-mile race? Oh man, did I wish that they had a 5K option!
It was a bit hectic getting our race materials and getting set up to start. Bret’s mom also came out to do the walk…I felt so bad because it’s not the type of weather for a stroll in the park! She was a trooper for sure! Bret was in the first wave with all the speedy runners, then eventually I crossed the start line. I barely did a few stretches to warm up and my feet were freezing. Since I’m not used to cold running, I was overdressed in too many layers…I warmed up very quickly, smh. The course was so crowded and we had to dodge a lot of ice and mud. It was a tough run, but I tried to focus on the scenery of the creek and the remaining foliage on the trees. Eventually, I saw Bret on his way back and we did a missed high hive past each other lol.
The volunteers did a great job, mile markers were labeled, and everything was organized…I just felt sooo slow and miserable the entire way! I think if we had more seasonal weather, I think I would have enjoyed the race a whole lot more! Oh, and being in good running shape would have helped too! I’m just glad to say that I got through without walking…I was so tempted to give in! My final results ended up to be 54:42…not bad!
Thanksgiving Feast and Fun Times
I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. Bret’s mom hosted this year, so I was relieved to not have to stress out about a turkey! My sister also joined us this year so we had a small party of four and yet PLENTY of food. Here’s what I made:
- Roasted butternut squash
- Roasted Brussels sprouts with dried cranberries, walnuts, and gorgonzola
- Pumpkin roll dessert
- Peanut butter cookies
We also had turkey, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, sweet and sour ribs, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, bean casserole, and rolls…I think that’s everything! For dessert, there was also pumpkin pie and salted caramel sugar cookies. Needless to say, we were pretty full pretty quickly!
That evening we had an exciting night of watching The Wizard of Oz, lol! Of course, some people have already put up their Christmas lights…I’m not ready! It’s just been a really relaxing weekend, and I’m super grateful for it!
I had work off for Black Friday (minus an 11-am conference call that ended up being less than 10 minutes), and while I was hoping to do a bunch of shopping, all I ended up getting was a new Coach bag online, haha! I’m still thinking about getting an Echo Dot….are they worth it? $20 is hard to resist! If you have any deals you know about, please let me know in the comments!
My first (of many) Thanksgiving platesWorkouts for the Week:
Monday 11/19: An hour of yoga. We did a ton of core work which my body desperately needs. We also did poses for tight shoulders and hips. I was also having some foot pain so I did some heel drops on the steps.
Tuesday 11/20: I only made it for about 20 minutes of yoga class, but it was still time very well spent! We focused on the hips and it was a really nice practice. In the afternoon, I finally went to pick up my custom insoles, one for my dress shoes, one for my running shoes. They will take a while to break in, so I have another appointment in 2 weeks to make adjustments as needed.
Wednesday 11/21: I had time for an hour of yoga at lunch, and then about 40 minutes of spin class after work!
Thursday 11/22: 5 miles for the Turkey Trot! Man oh man was that a challenging run! Note that I did NOT use the new insoles for this run!
Friday 11/23: A rest day! It’s been a while since I’ve been so active, and my legs were angry with me! I spent some painful quality time with a lacrosse ball to get out the knots…phew!
Saturday 11/24: Yoga class. Crystal’s classes are always so challenging! Arms shaking, legs shaking…good times! But it was definitely what my body needed!
Sunday 11/25: Barre class! The upper body and core work were SO hard, but I did my best! Since the weather was so mild that morning, I changed and headed out for a 2-mile run! It felt great to be on one of my old routes, though I was definitely breathing much heavier in the last mile!
Workout Report Card:
It felt great to be so active in one week, it has been a LONG time! Running is still a challenge for me from an endurance perspective. But as slow as I felt during the race, I’m super happy with my actual finish time! I want to spend more time stretching and strengthening, and I think this past week gave me some great momentum to roll into a strong December, which apparently starts this week! I’m going to my workouts a grade of A! I didn’t push myself too hard, and I actually did some recovery work. Go me!
How was your Thanksgiving holiday? Did you find any good deals over the weekend?
Congrats on that Turkey Trot! You did great, considering that you haven’t run much this fall at all! Sounds like a wonderful holiday and it’s going to be fun for you and Bret, creating your own traditions!
Have a great week!
Thanks so much, Wendy! I was pleasantly surprised with that finish time all things considered!
looks like you had a fantastic week of workouts! Fun that you both finally got to do your Turkey Trot together. Have a great week
Thanks Deborah, you too!
How fun, your first Turkey Trot! Thanksgiving sounds like quite a good feast – the roasted butternut squash and bean casserole caught my eye 🙂 Have a great week
Thanks, Becca! We really enjoyed the Thanksgiving meal, but I had WAY too many peanut butter cookies, haha!
You are so brave to have done that race! I bundled up to take Scooby for a walk but kept my workout inside. Your Thanksgiving menu sounds amazing. We had three pies for dessert, but I love cookies, especially peanut butter!
Thanks, Coco! I think an extra 10 degrees would have made all the difference, haha!
I would love a fresh pie…we had one that was storebought but no one wanted to eat it, lol!
Great job this week, and congrats on your race! The cold weather this week was such a shock. Do you think your insoles help with your running? Your Thanksgiving meal sounds delicious!
Congrats on a strong turkey trot. I still haven’t run one on the actual holiday. (I could have this year but passed due to travel.) I giggled about the missed high five. I feel like I’m the queen of that. 😉 Thanksgiving sounds lovely. So much food! I’m so glad my MIL still hosts. I just bring my side dishes and help clean up. Thanks for linking!
Congrats on the 5-miler! Even though it was tough, you did have a great finish time considering you’re just getting back to a running routine. I bet your endurance will come back quicker than you think.
I’m drooling over your holiday meal.
My stepsons Fiancee cooked. It was relaxing. I did nothing.
This was the first year I did not do a turkey trot. I really missed it.
But I ran a half marathon on Saturday.
No shopping yet.
I only did one purchase this weekend, for a Christmas gift. I’m not a Black Friday shopper, unless I am planning to buy something online. And the company can handle the shipping too!
You did a lot of yoga this week. That’s a great compliment to running. I did a race in Wissahickon Park a few years ago in the spring and really liked it. I think it was a longer race – maybe a half. Not sure what the name of the race is right now. Nice Turkey trot!
Thanks, Laurie! It was great to have so much time in the mat…I think my body needed it! I’m trying to think which race you did in the Wissahickon…now I can’t seem to recall what it could have been. It’s such a great place to run.
I got an echo dot last year and while it’s fun for Jeopardy and Scattergories, it’s not that useful. My new microwave is Alexa enabled though so I might plug it back in
Your menu sounds delicious
Thanks Cari, that’s good to know! Oh wow they have microwaves that use Alexa now?? So cool! And thanks, the food turned out pretty good!
Congrats on the race! I’m in the same boat finding running endurance challenging – I thought I stayed pretty active while rehabbing my knee, but I haven’t even worked up to running a 5K yet and I’m already feeling the loss of endurance.