No weekly workout round up this week, because I had a sad week of workouts that can be summed up in about two sentences. I did a 30 day shred workout a couple of days this week and ran a 5K on Saturday. I also kept up my daily planks as part of the 30 day plank challenge and am up to 90 seconds now.

‘Twas the weekend for baking Christmas cookies and that’s what I spent the afternoon doing on Saturday! My specialty is gingerbread men. Basically that came to be when I realized no one on my or Barry’s side of the family make gingerbread men, so I made them last year and declared them my thing. They fit my personality pretty well, if that makes any sense.

Luckily Barry got home around the time I was struggling to roll out the dough (it was too dry and wouldn’t stay in one ball). Barry is a master of stepping in and fixing my kitchen blunders. He did what he does best and took over getting the dough rolled out and cut into gingerbread men shapes. It worked out pretty well since I love decorating cookies and he’s not such a big fan. I spent the rest of Saturday night getting the gingerbread men decorated.

Don’t you just love a cookie that smiles back at you? We will be mailing these to family members. I made a second batch on Sunday to take with us when we go to visit family for the holidays. There were no issues with the dough that go around, which is good since Barry wasn’t home.

While Barry was busy solving all of my gingerbread dough problems on Saturday, I kept busy by decorating a gingerbread house while watching Elf. You know I have to share this picture again…

This was my first time decorating a gingerbread house, and I think I did a pretty good job.

It helps that every craft project I attempt turns out looking like a first grader made it. In the case of the gingerbread house that works in my favor, because it makes it cute.

The icicles were the hardest part

I’m very proud of my work, but now I’m not sure what I’m actually supposed to do with it. Are we supposed to eat it? Or are gingerbread houses just for display? I have no clue. I am almost too proud of it to actually eat it, though.

Do you have a “signature” Christmas cookie or treat that you make each year?

Have you ever made a gingerbread house? What do I do with this thing now?  

Are you good at crafty things? (I put decorating cookies and gingerbread houses into this category)

This morning I headed up to Roanoke for the Jingle Bell 5K. When I got to town the road to the parking garage where I usually park was closed. They moved packet pick up to a building on the corner next to the start line, and I guess they had the surrounding roads closed for extra safety. I found another parking garage, and with 20 minutes until race time I ran over to packet pick up and got my packet, as well as Barry’s. He couldn’t run today since he had to work (so I didn’t get to test my theory that he’d be so annoyed by the jingle bells he’d win the race!). I dashed back to my car with 10 minutes until the start. I quickly pinned on my bib and took off back to the start. I made it with about 3 minutes to spare and lined up, as it began sleeting.

The race started just after 9 AM and we were off. I totally forgot how hilly this race actually is. It’s an out and back course that goes over two bridges and one other hill. There is a downhill finish, though. My shins were painful during the first mile, but then the pain went away during miles 2-3. I didn’t push hard on this race, although I felt out of shape from my lack of running lately. I crossed the finish line in 30:31 and as soon as I stopped running my shins started to hurt again. Very strange. Overall the race was a lot of fun, despite the sleet and rain. I really enjoy all of the jingle bells (they had them on ribbons to tie on your shoelaces this year- so no shoelace slicing, Holly!) and the festive costumes.

Red shirt, red/white/green striped socks, and jingle bells tied to my shoelaces

Once I got home I randomly realized I forgot something when I decorated for Christmas last weekend. Marvin the Moose! Barry hid him in a closet, but I found him.

If you will recall, I found Marvin in a catalog and knew he was made for me. The catalog’s description was “Marvin the Moose has tons of personality and is the perfect way to greet holiday guests.” SOLD! That’s some great marketing right there, and I needed a Christmas moose.

So Marvin has taken up residence in our front yard as of this morning. It was 32 degrees and sleeting when I put Marvin outside. I bet he is wishing he was back in the closet. Since I was late putting him outside, I’ll be leaving him in the yard until February to make it up to Marvin (take that, Barry! Try to hide my Christmas moose from me…..).

Have you ever had to scramble on race morning to make it to the start line on time?
I think I added on an extra mile for the day with all of my running back and forth.
Are you doing/did you do a holiday race this year?

Before we get into the heavy, I wanted to share some good news. My running buddy, Kim, and her husband welcomed a baby girl into the world on Wednesday afternoon. She weighed in at 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 inches long! I am looking forward to having a new little buddy along for our long runs. Maybe if I act like a mature adult, Kim will let me take a turn pushing the stroller!

My dad’s birthday was this past Friday. He doesn’t like a lot of fanfare, but his one request has always been that we don’t do anything Christmas-related until after his birthday, so that it doesn’t overshadow his day. That was always the tradition when I was growing up and I like upholding it now, even though I don’t live at home anymore. Feel free to wish him a happy belated birthday, if you’d like 🙂

Since his birthday was on Friday it meant Saturday and Sunday were for putting up Christmas decorations. The first thing I had to do on Friday evening and Saturday morning was clean the house. That was another rule growing up that I continue to uphold- you have to have the house clean before you can decorate. Once that was done, Barry and I took advantage of the good weather on Saturday afternoon (they were forecasting freezing rain for Sunday, and they were right!) and got our exterior lights up. Barry does the roof lights and I’m in charge of the bushes.

The only other thing we did decoration-wise on Saturday was to bring all of the tubs of Christmas decorations upstairs.

Ready and waiting for Sunday!

On Sunday morning it was on and I got down to preparing the house for Santa’s arrival. Get ready for picture overload. I started with some of my smaller decorations on top of our DVD cabinet.

That little tree on the left is one I have had since I was a kid and decided I needed my own tree. Every Christmas I would set it up outside my bedroom door and on Christmas morning I would usually find a small gift, such as jewelry or a hair clip, under it. On the right is my glass nativity that my Nana and Pop Pop gave me when I was seven. And in the middle are a lamp made by my great uncle (it’s Christmas-colored but it stays out year round) and my black bear Noel.

The kitchen was very simple to decorate. Swap out the floor mat at the sink and hang a holiday dish towel on the stove and you’re good to go.

This year I also found a Christmas-themed paper towel holder. Barry’s reaction to this discovery: “Oh…. boy”

The bells jingle every time I get a paper towel!

I put some other little decorations on our TV stand and on the coffee table.

I also hung our wreath on the front door. A few years ago I decided we needed a wreath and I couldn’t ever find a pre-decorated one I liked. So instead I got a bit crafty and bought a plain wreath. I decorated it with a red bow, a few sparkly pine cones, and some clip-on poinsettias and made one that fit my taste.

Next I wrestled with the mantle decorations. I love having the garland and lights on the mantle, but that thing sure is a pain. Totally worth it.

The cows in the snow picture was a gift from Barry’s parents and it stays up year round.

Finally it was time for the coup de gras of decorating: the Christmas tree. Barry and I have a small, artificial tree that I decorate each year. Both of our parents bestowed upon us our childhood ornaments and we have received many others as gifts, so our poor little tree is very full. I love taking each ornament out and thinking of the memory that goes with it as I decorate the tree.

There was one very special, new ornament that I put up this year. In an uncommon move, I purchased this one for myself.

The last thing I did was hang our advent calendar in the dining room. I ordered this personalized calendar from a catalog our first Christmas as a married couple. Each night we hang another ornament on the tree to mark the days leading up to Christmas. It is similar to one my family had when I was growing up, except that one was a wooden tree that sat on top of a box that had all of the ornaments in it. My sister and I would take turns hanging ornaments, finishing with the star topping the tree on December 24th.

13 shopping days and 14 sleeps ’till Santa!

Christmas tree: artificial or real?
Christmas lights: multicolored or white?
Multicolored outside and white on the tree.
What are some of your favorite Christmas decorations? 

The early sunset this time of year really messes with my running schedule. Luckily, now that I have Sven I am able to still get my run in, even if it’s dark when I get home from work. I started having some issues with my shins again at the end of this week (starting Thursday evening). I have grappled with shin pain on and off pretty much since I started running, and in high school while playing field hockey and soccer as well. I have been stretching and icing, and may take a lower mileage week to let them rest a bit.
 
Monday- Rest day. I woke up feeling really tired and achy all over, and never felt any better as the day went on. Luckily I think the extra rest worked because I woke up feeling a bit better on Tuesday.

Tuesday- 5 mile run with Sven. I am probably going to be doing a lot of miles on the treadmill during the week this winter, since it is dark by the time I get home from work. I started out with a half mile warm-up and then ran the rest of the run as a progression run. My first mile was 10:17 and my last mile was 8:48, with an overall average pace of 9:28/mile for the run. Oh and I still have the chip on my shoe from the marathon. When does it become socially unacceptable to still have that on there? Not that I’m going to take it off, but just so that I know.

Wednesday- It was uncharacteristically 60 degrees outside and I had big plans for an easy run on the roads around our house after work. Things were looking good until the afternoon, when things took a turn for the worse at work and I wound up getting home in the dark again. So back to the treadmill I went for an easy 4 mile run. I mixed it up and watched the Thanksgiving episode of Biggest Loser from last week while I ran (I listened to music on Tuesday).

Thursday- Again it was uncharacteristically warm for December, with a high in the upper 60’s. I managed to get home with just enough time to squeak in a 3 mile run outside before sunset. It was dusky when I headed out, so I wore my reflective Army belt to make myself more visible. The vehicles I encountered on the road actually seemed a bit more cautious when driving by. Maybe I’ll start wearing it all the time when I run on the road.

When I got home I debated on doing a few more miles on the treadmill, but instead decided to have a freeze pop. It was nearly 70 degrees outside after all (don’t worry, we had high’s in the 30’s and freezing rain over the weekend).

Friday- Rest day. Although I did some cleaning around the house (because the rule is you have to clean before you put up Christmas decorations!), so we can count that as some light cross training.

Saturday- 7 mile trail run at Pandapas Pond with Barry. This was my first time running at Pandapas, and although I found it challenging I also had a really good time. We crossed the creek 8 different times during the run, and the 34 degree weather made running with wet socks/shoes extra cold!

Sunday- Rest day. I had visions of sugar plums an easy 3 mile run, but my shins were still very bothersome, especially when walking down stairs, so I opted for a rest day. I spent the morning decorating the house (more on that later this week) and then Barry and I did a bunch of errands during the afternoon- almost done Christmas shopping!

Total Miles: 19 miles

In addition to running, I have been keeping up with the 30 Day Plank Challenge since December 1st. I heard about this challenge from Stephanie over at Now I Run. She chose a handful of challenges to do throughout the month of December, as a way to fill the void of marathon training. I’m right with you on the planks, Stephanie! This week’s planking was as follows, from Monday, Dec. 2 through Sunday, Dec. 8: 20 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, rest, 45 seconds, 45 seconds. I’m really bad at writing them down in my running log, but I printed the plank calendar so I remember to do my daily plank and then cross it off! 

Have you ever done any sort of fitness challenge?

P.S. Hokies are going to the Sun Bowl on December 31 to play UCLA. This will be our 21st consecutive bowl game. Go Tech Go!