Weekly Mileage #87 and the Turkey Trot

Monday while Sunshine was at class the boys and I went on another hike with the jogger. It's definitely a good idea to bring it along for when it's needed. River likes pushing it, so it gives him something to do as well.

Tuesday I rode my bike and kept my speed up the whole time. I had some nice sore muscles afterwards. It feels good to be sweating and working hard again.

Wednesday morning I took River back to the ER to get his staples out (they don't charge for it, but we were at the mercy of triage principles). We lucked out again and were in and out very quickly. River had been worrying about the removal process ever since they were put in and in his words "really wanted them removed slowly, so it wouldn't hurt" and reminded me multiple times leading up to this day to tell the nurse this. In the end, I distracted him with my phone and the nurse did a great job getting them out quickly and painlessly. River didn't cry- just flinched a little at the tugging. So brave!

Afterwards, we ran some errands- a little Mommy/River time. We stopped at the Lindt store to get a couple chocolates, but I got glutened by one of them :( Most Lindt chocolate (the best around, IMO), is sweetened with barley malt, so I can't eat it anymore. There are a few that I can though, so I always read the labels, and haven't had a problem till now. Either the bin was mis-labeled or I grabbed one that was in the wrong bin.

Thankfully, it wasn't the worst reaction I've had and I didn't have insomnia, so while the other reactions were uncomfortable, at least I was able to sleep. I have enough sleep issues without adding gluten-induced insomnia to the mix.

Wednesday afternoon we finally got some good pics of the kiddos for our Christmas cards. I've been trying to find a time for weeks, and just haven't managed it. The beautiful fall scenery was gone, but the pics turned out pretty good, even if we were losing light.

We did our annual Turkey Trot Thursday morning. Mr M and Sunshine walked and pushed Ocean in the jogger. River and I ran a good chunk of the course. It was my slowest time (by 3 minutes) on this course in the 9 years I've run it, but since I'd only run a total of half a mile in the 10.5 weeks previous and am recovering from a broken foot, this was not at all unexpected.

River and I at the start of the race

On the other hand, I only had a few twinges in my foot, and it felt so good to get running again, even if I am out of shape. River did great, and could have run more if I'd been up for it. On the way home, he asked when our next race was :) Probably not till March, kiddo. I need to work on getting back into shape. Running 3 miles (well probably about 1.5-2 miles) a week after getting the ok to ease into running was not what my doc had in mind. So I'll back off for a bit and work back into things. I checked the race results when we got home, and River was the youngest (5 years old) to complete the 5k!

After we finished, River and I walked back and walked everyone else to the finish

2018:   44:58  (two and a half months after breaking my foot)
2017: 36:42
2016: 41:59 (pushing both boys in the jogger)
2015: 33:30
2014: 34:22
2013: 35:35
2012: 37:58 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)
2011: 32:44
2010: 35:05 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)

Friday we went on an #OptOutside hike at Shenandoah NP. We got a later start than planned, so just did an out-and-back to a waterfall, rather than the loop that went to the waterfall. I think the loop would have been better- it looked like it might have offered a view of the waterfall from below. We only got a view from above, which was underwhelming, to say the least. We couldn't see much at all.

the top of the waterfall- this was all we could see

The trail was icy and snowy in a lot of places, which we weren't expecting. We knew it'd be cold, but hadn't realized there'd been so much snow last week and that it was still hanging around in the shady spots. We haven't hiked on snowy trails in years. Maybe when Sunshine was Ocean's age? We hiked to Devil's Tower in Colorado on a snow-covered trail. I guess you could count our very snowy hunting trip in 2010, but that was just Mr M and I (and his dad and brother)- no kiddos.

Ocean kept slipping and falling- that snow is actually ice-covered snow, not soft snow. He'd pop right back up, though.

Anyway, while we dressed for cold weather, we definitely did some slipping and sliding. I have a pair of YakTrax at home, but no one else has anything to help with traction. It's one of those things that just isn't needed here that often. In fact, I've never had cause to use them here- we just don't get enough ice and snow, and what we do get, rarely hangs around. So while they would have been handy on this occasion, I don't know that we'll actually get any while we continue to live here.

We planned to go to the drive in theater Saturday to watch the new Harry Potter movie, but the shows were canceled because of freezing rain. They'll be open this weekend as well, for the last showing of the year, but they won't be showing the Harry Potter movie, so we'll skip it.

I took advantage of Mr M being home for a couple days on vacation to list a bunch of stuff on eBay. I've been meaning to do it for awhile, but just haven't had the time. It did take awhile, but I got everything listed. Hopefully it all sells soon so we can get rid of it. I can feel that time of year coming: the time to declutter the house. I find myself doing it around February or March of every year, though I might get an early start this year.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 1.81 miles hiked
Tuesday- 15.00 miles biked
Thursday- 3.20 miles run/walked- Turkey Trot
            .77 miles walked after the Turkey Trot
Friday- 2.30 miles hiked
total- 12.4 miles

32 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

346.47 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
325.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
673.61 miles total