Each Day Is a Gift

Fall, Fun, Food, Friends, Full schedules---First Day of November.

John and Wendy picked me up at 6:50 am.  It had rained the night before,  the sky was cloudy and it was DARK.  I began to worry what this Day after Halloween 10 miler run with the FRBs would turn out.  I was so excited to finally meet Kelli, Britta, Marion, Maurine, Leslie, JonA, Scott, Harold.  And where was Teena?  Was she lost, did she fall?  O...goodness she was changing in her car 'cause she was too hot after running in the dark and waiting for us.  She kept telling us we were over-dressed.  Yep, she's right, it was the warm before the storm.  But what a beautiful morning it turned out to be.

The boys went ahead and left us in the dark.  Speedy Teena had miles to go so she took off w/ Britta.  Wendy and I found a new friend in Kelli.  What an awesome girl she is.  I love running with her.  She has perfect running forms and I don't see anywhere she could loose 5 lb. of post-5-babies-fat.  That girl has talents and was so kind to run SLOW with me.

At around mile 4, the boys were on their way back looking good.  It was quite a climb up that last mile.  Me, the ever directionally challenged girl, began to worry where Britta and Teena had gone to and we saw no sign of them.  Wendy had to stop to stretch her foot, I took 7 oz of HEED.  Kelli took no drinks at all.   I must be still in summer training mode...careful about dehydration...cramps.  Nah...silly me.

It was very gentleman of Scott to run back and "escorted" every runner in.  I had wanted to run 4 more miles but realized I only had enough time to find a suitable place to release my rescued turtle.  Kelli walked back w/ me to the river to find a place for Mr. turtle. Mission accomplished and finally one by one Scott brought back all the runners.

Then we had a nice tail-gate party.  Marion brought a "buffet" of hot chocolate with fancy cups.  Kelli brought these gynormous muffins.  I would have eaten all three kinds if they weren't so huge.  All good things come to an end, we had to bid good bye.   I hope we get to do this again.  THANKS everyone for a WONDERFUL morning run.

Ran with Wendy.  4 miles at marathon pace, 1 mile hill run. 

Splits: 10:02, 10:02, 8:57, 9:02, 8:42, 8:37, 10:00.   0.25 mile at 8:12

7.25 miles average pace 9:18

Didn't go to bed 'till midnight helping hubby with painting the ceiling.  Got  to the poll before it opened.  Man, the line was already long at 6:40 am.  I've never had to wait for 90 min. to vote.  It started to rain when I went home.  The carpet installer was on his way.  So I had to run on the treadmill intead.  I turned the fan up high and the incline at 2%.

1 mile warm up, 2 miles at tempo pace, 1.75 mi at sub-tempo.

Splits: 10:05, 8:34, 8:20, 8:00, 8:00.  0.5 mi cool down at 10:00.

5.25 miles in 44:19.  Average pace: 8:50

WINTER is upon us.  Look at the SNOW out there.  I remember the joy of running on fresh fallen snow in Jan this year.  However, this morning the snow plow hasn't come yet and there are so much early morning traffic.  So, it's onto the treadmill I ran AGAIN.  Decide to do a stamina workout.

9 miles steady-state run in 1:19:40.  Average pace: 8:50

Splits: 10:00, 9:22, 8:57, the next 6 miles in 8:34. 

Feels pretty good throughout the run, never winded, can't wait to run a long one outside on Sat. 

More remodeling work today...repair, sand, tape before hubby gets home.  May be yoga tonight...if the boss and I get the painting and clean up done.

Today is EZ day.  Temp. was cccca-old.  I put on my trusty CW-X insulator tights and UA sub-zero top, gloves, sunglasses and headed out to a beautiful blue sky, calm, quiet winter morning run.  LOVE IT.  If I had the right mask, I would look like Spiderman (er woman).  With that, even tho' it's EZ day, I'd better find some stunt work to do...hmm.

After 0.5 mi warm up, I "attacked" the hills for 2 miles, then coast the rest home.  Didn't even look at the watch once.

Splits: 9:44, 9:32, 9:43, 10:15, 9:29, 9:16

Today was supposed to be a rest/core workout day.  Well, the furniture guys delivered the bedroom sets early this morning which gives me a couple of hours to run.  I won't have much time to run long tomorrow in Midway because I have to be back by 10 am so we can go to the BYU game with our friends.  Thus I decided to do a medium long run today.  Mary who just signed up to run her very first marathon at Ogden 09 called.  I decided to run with her.  The longest she has run was 6 miles.  So, I ran to her house to add the extra mileage. 

We talked the whole way.  My legs were very tired especially on the uphills.  It helped to have someone to run with.  Didn't drink anything until I got home.  It was a beautiful day with a run I didn't plan on.  I will rest tomorrow. 

12.25 miles with hills.  Average pace 9:55

Zermatt is quite a lovely place to stay and play.  This is the 3rd year we've stayed there.  In years past I have run up that canyon passing beautiful golf courses, mountain cottages and saw lotsa deer.  This year I did not have the leisure for a long run.  I had run 12 yesterday so I decided to workout at the fitness center.

The Zermatt fitness center is awesome.  There are 6-8 treadmills, 6 ellipticals, 4 stationary bikes and a whole line of weight machines for all the muscle groups situated in front of a bank of windows facing the mountains/valleys, plus a separate room with free weights, balls, mats and other things I don't know what they're for.

I warmed up on the elliptical for 0.5 mi, ran 3 mi on the treadmill at 9:15 pace.  Then I did 30 reps at 25 lbs on all the machines.  Finished the workout with Around the World Abs.  The whole thing took me an hour.  It was just right.  We beat the game traffic both ways.  Cougars dominated the game.  What a fun day! 

Between waiting for the carpet installer, cleaning, and the rainy day, I didn't go out for a run.  I had to run on the treadmill instead.  The TV reception was all messed up w/ hubby switching it to the new guest room.  So I pop in "My Best Friend's Wedding", the only one already in the DVD player and hopped on the treadmill while the carpet guy worked in the other rooms.

6 miles tempo run in 49:40.  Average pace: 8:16  Splits:  9:00, 8:20, 8:06, 8:06, 8:06, 8:06, (did 0.25 mi in 7:53 at the end).

Leaving for Houston to see my grandbabies tomorrow.  Probably won't get much running in this week.

No running today.  After a hectic morning I arrived at Houston only to find the storm has followed me.  It's a rainy, dreary day.  It's so good to see the grandchildren.  However, my daughter is very sick in bed with nausea, vomitting and horrible headache.  I made some chicken soup for the children and their dad.  I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow morning. 

It rained sheets all night.  By morning it had turned into a light mist.  The Greenbelt Trail here is a concrete path along wooded area behind the homes.  I noticed the trees were "thined" out somewhat from the last time I ran here in May, evidence of  the hurricane.  There are still remnants of downed trees mostly stumps and roots on the side of the trail.  Other than having to run around a feel puddles, the trail is cleared.  The rabbits are still abundant. 

I only had time for a short run today.  The trail by my daughter's house is almost 2.5 miles so I ran that loop twice to make a 5 miler in 47:52.  I felt sluggish at first but was able to pick it up a little on the second loop.

Splits: 10:40, 9:50, 9:28, 9:04, 8:50. 

Went to bed late last night.  Had to get the run in before Jade went to school at 8 am.  I was planning on a 6 miler along the trail on Kingwood Dr.  There were three trail heads right by Larissa's house that was part of the Greenbelt Trail.  I took the wrong one or the longest one and miscalculated the distance so ended up running 7.25 to make it back.  I felt very tired from the get go.  I forgot to bring my vitamins and supplements, also didn't eat any breakfast like I normally would at home.  My quads, left knee and calves were very sore.  Wonder if it was from running on the concrete and hopping over puddles yesterday.  It actually felt better when I picked up the pace.  As soon as I got back, I didn't have time to ice or cool down.  It didn't help that we spent all morning Christmas shopping. 

7.25 miles very very slow splits:  10:52, 10:20, 9:55, 9:30, 9:23, 9:10, 9:30, last 0.25 mi at 9:45 (had to stop to look for direction) 

Woke up this morning with puffy hands, edema (too much Texas salsa, chips and soda pop)arthritis, back ache, and just about everything hurts.  It's nice that hubby was able to join us after his weeklong meetings in Houston.  So he helped the grandkids with breakfast and such while I moaned in bed.  He was all chirpy and beat me out the door for a walk with Lex.  I didn't want to run but knew I'd feel better if I do.  I dragged my cement legs over the concrete trail for a 3.51 painfully slow recovery run.  I didn't see any rabbits, just a gazillion squirrels this morning.  TGIF!!!  We went shopping at a fancy mall, eating out for lunch and dinner.  I've been eating too much junk...everything is BIG in texas, including serving size.  Here are the HUGE NUMBER splits: 11:38, 10:48, 10:20, 10:15.  How ridiculous, the turtles can crawl faster than me!  AAARRRGGGHHH!!!   

I think the temp. this morning was around 38.  I chuckled as I ran past all the local walkers who were wearing jackets and ear muffs.  I wore a short sleeve shirt and shorts, could have used a pair of magic gloves though.  It was the first morning all week that the sky was clear blue.  Sun was peaking thru the trees with a fairly strong cold breeze coming from the northwest.  I got up a little late, been going to bed after midnight, it finally caught up on me.  We planned on going to Jade's gymnastic class at 9am, then to Chinatown for dim sum, shopping and visit the Children's Museum of Houston, dinner and movie.  So no time to run long, cool down or stretch.

I ran to the lake at Woodland Hills.  It was a beautiful lake with tree lined trails and manicured golf-course on the other side.  It looks like this area escaped the hurricane.  There were quite a few exotic looking birds diving for fish in the lake.  The squirrels were still sleeping, only a few greeted me and the rabbits were hiding.  Lotsa walkers with their canine friends.  I only saw two runners.  Six months ago when I ran this same route on a Sat. there were groups of runners.  Occasionally there were patches of soft pine needles and beds of fallen oak and maple leaves to cushion my strides.

10.24 miles in 1:37:45  Splits:  10:17, 9:40, 9:44, 9:24, 9:26, 9:31, 9:28, 9:31, 9:20, 9:20 (last 0.24 mi at 8:41)

I started to feel sick last night, chills, slight fever, upset stomach and achy all over.  At first I thought it was just cause the weather was cold and windy and the achy was stiffness from the morning run.  But, this morning I'm feeling nauseated, light headed. yucky all over and cold.  It's too bad cause it's my husband's b'day today and we're having BBQ ribs.  I cann't even think about food no less eat any.  I went to Sacrament Mtg and skipped the others.  Our flight is at 4pm this afternoon.  I hope it's just a little stomach flu and I'll be good to go in a day or two.  Trying to rest today.

Playing with grandkids is so fun but can be exhausting.  I'm glad I got sick at the end of the visit so it didn't spoil the fun.  So good to be home, sleep in my own bed.  I slept for NINE hours last night.  I LOVE my 24" mattress.  I am feeling much better. 

I didn't run till 10am because my construction friend came to finish the walk-in closet shelves and started on the cook-top-hood-flue-cabinet-cover in the kitchen.  Had to wash the hood and clean up the kitchen counter.  Had just enough time to run before the visiting teachers came.

It was a slow and sluggish run much like last week in Houston.  Consider I didn't eat a thing yesterday, with the stomach flu over the weekend, I did fairly well for the run.  Funny thing was after the first mile I started to feel pain in the pubis.  Was that sympathy pain for Teena?  Weird!!! 

6.5 miles in 1:02 Splits: 10:24, 9:51, 9:17, 9:28, 9:14, 9:11, last 0.5 mi at 9:02.  Average pace: 9:32  Arthritis: 6  HR:  152

Wasn't going to run today.  Hubby came home at 10 am with chills and fever.  He got the same Texas flu bug I got from my daughter who got it from the kids who got it from the...  We both had our flu shots a month ago.  With this illness we should be permanently immuned from all flu bugs this winter, right? 

In between visitng teaching, making sure hubby takes fluids, repairman showing up, making mashed potatoes for Mutual, I got on Kathie's blog where she described how lovely it was outside.  So, I just HAD to go for a run, maybe a quick 3 miler for the pysche.

Why is the first warm up mile so painful, I mean, where's the energy?  That must be just me and something I have to live with.  Once I got warmed up it wasn't too bad.  It's a gorgeous day.  With parents driving kids home from school waving as I ran by, I had to pretend to enjoy my run even though I was hurting all over.  I could feel the protests from my quads, left knee, the pubis and now radiating to the sitting bones.  But I'm glad I did it.  Got to make something soothing for hubby.  He's rarely sick in bed, poor thing. 

5.25 miles in 48:55  Splits: 10:34, 9:30, 8:52, 9:05, 8:48, last 0.25 mile at 8:21.  Arthritis: 5  HR: 162

Woke up with quite a bit of soreness.  I wanted to run the bench loop going west first so I could run the first "painful" mile downhill.  Mile 1.3 to 2.6 is uphill, get that over with, then determine how far to run from there by how I feel. 

The nice thing about living here (a plug for those looking for an ideal place to live, run, play) is that you can configure many running options:  hills, flat, 2 to 13 miles loop with views of mountains both east and west and the roads are very safe.  There's even a canal trail on this bench loop.  Wish I knew how to link my Garmin run here (like Jona does) to show you.

Temp was 41,  wore shorts, TOU l/s top, sunglasses.  Ate yogurt, banana, drank emergenC.  After 3 miles all the soreness seem to disappear I ended up running the whole loop.

7 easy miles in 1:07.  Splits: 10:00, 9:50, 10:25, 9:30, 9:35, 9:30, 8:57.  AP: 9:42, Arthritis: 4, HR: 152

It was an enjoyable run, stretched while Serena, the kitten, cuddled up. 

The best part of the day was having a most wonderful lunch and visit with Teena and meeting all her sweet children.  Everyday should be like today.  LOVE every minute of it.  THANKS TEENA!!! LLL

HIT THE WALL!!!

Thursday is usually my "meetings, church stuff" day.  I was going to get up early to run a couple of hill repeats or do 4x400s.  It didn't happen.  The usual stiffness and soreness were not there when I woke up.  So I had high hopes to put in the workout in the afternoon.

By the time all the busy stuff was done and over with, it was 2:30 pm.  The first warm up mile was uneventful, no pain at all.  I anticipated to start the interval at the corner of the block at approx. 2.25 mile.  BAM!!! at mile 1.5 my right calf started to cramp up.  I tried changing the stride lengths, quicken the leg turnover, slow down the leg turnover, nothing worked.  The cramps moved from the calves to the quads.  By mile 2  I could barely keep a good running form.  I felt like I was at mile 25 of a marathon, the wheels started to fall off.  I managed to make it home without the legs completely ceased up on me.  I then realized I only ate a banana, a granola bar and a drink of water before heading to my 8:30 am meeting.

I am concerned by this bad bad run.  I have NEVER had leg cramps this early in a run.  3.5 miles in 35:35  Splits:  10:34, 10:03, 10:04, 0.5 mi in 9:50

Questions to self concerning the leg cramps, is it because:

1.  I didn't take any vitamins and suplements last week and only two days this week?

2.  I hadn't eaten for 6.5 hours?

3.  Not adequate hydration?

4.  4 days post flu?

5.  Not adequate rest/recovery from previous runs?

6.  Hadn't done any yoga or coreworkout for 12 days?

HELP!!!  Leg cramps is my demon, I am so scared!!!

On the phone all morning.  Man, there's so much follow up to do from the meetings last night.   Does S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G while talking on the phone count?  There must have been a dozen knots in my leg muscles. Ate good and hydrated well this morning.  Took vitamins and calcium supplements. 

Going to do some yoga now before attacking the mess in the basement.

The Celine Dion concert got postponed.  Darn, I was so looking forward to this concert.  Plan B for date night: dinner at the club and may be the James Bond movie if it's not pre-empted by all the Twilight showings. 

I will be so rested and ready for tomorrow's run (I HOPE I HOPE) and then it's showtime for byu-utah.  GO COUGARS!!!

HALL STINKS!

Can't believe I'm gonna type this:  Utes deserves the Championship, the BCS. Cougs beat themselves.  STINKS!  YUCK!  GAG!  Ok, got it out of my system.  I gave up running VOF marathon to go to Rice Eccles Stadium for this game?!  The Cougs blew it.  But the food was good, saw Patty and LaVell Edwards and Robert Braugh (Teena's friend?)

John, Wendy and I got to the Lehi JRP around 8 am.  We were the only ones there.  We went south towards Utah Lake.  It was a bit cold.  I wore the Slam l/s shirt, CWX tights, light running jacket and gloves.  We kept a steady conversation pace. There was a group of boy scout camping at the Willow Park.  We turned around at mile 5.12 just past the lake outlet/pump house by a park with a playground.  I'm guessing the trail probably goes further south towards Saratoga Springs.  We made a pit stop at the Model Airplane Park's port-a-potty.  We saw a motor powered hang-glider, lotsa black angus cattle, a 3 point deer, a hawk, lotsa ducks, couple of duck hunters.  The boy scouts were now cycling their 15 miler towards us.  The parking lot was now full.  Wondered if Leslie and Maurine or anyone else came and ran north sine we didn't see anyone else on the trail.  Was a good run.  Can't wait to run it again next week with Kelli and others.  

Average pace 10:00, fastest at 8:37.  Legs felt better today.  Could probably run further but had to get home early.

Birthday Tribute to Poh Poh

A beautiful Sunday to get together with family and celebrate my mother-in-law's 82nd birthday.  She is strong and healthy.  Widowed for over forty years, she raised four wonderful children and never ceased to impart her faith and wisdom to her posterity.  The unique thing about her is she always asks my husband what he ate.  She gets real upset if he's had soda pop or red meat.  To her, life is black and white, doing what's right is as natural as breathing.  She is a woman of childlike faith, without guile, leading a simple life of service and gratitude.  She follows a straight code of conduct, a healthy lifestyle, apparent influence of her father who was a doctor in China.  He passed away at the age of 99.  May she too live a long and useful life.  Happy Birthday mom, grandma, poh poh, bak bak!!!

21 Weeks to Boston '09

Spent most of morning pouring over my past running log, studying the 24/55 schedule and looking for my misplaced heart rate monitor.  According to P. Pfitzinger, I'm supposed to be in the Mesocycle 1 Endurance phase of training.  The last 7 weeks I've been running by feel and according to the constrain of time.  Today I want to see where my tempo pace is at.  According to McMillan my tempo run paces should be between 8:20 to 8:42.

The plan was to run the warm up miles westward where there are 3 miles of down and uphill running.  I would then run eastward on Bull River Rd for the middle miles which are rolling with no significant hills.  I want to see how many of the middle miles I could run at tempo pace.  Then I would run the last westward miles to cruise home. 

Everything looked good on paper; but I'm terrible at finding my pace.  I had to glance at my Garmin mid-mile to see what my pace was.  I would get distracted or lazy. 

Here goes:  I ran 8 miles in 1:10:15.  Average pace:  8:46.  HR:  176.  Splits:  8:46, 8:46, 9:34, 8:35, 8:33, 8:48, 8:20, 8:48. 

Looking at the splits I don't think I was doing the tempo run right.  It looks more like a steady-state run.  O well, at least I got her done.  Except for a slight tightness on the right calf during the last mile, legs felt fine.  Perhaps yoga tonight would help.  I will work on focus, and sustain a 8:30 pace for 4 miles next time.

Woke up with slight stiffness (didn't do yoga last night), arthritis at 4 (cool temp).  So glad today was supposed to be a 5 mi recovery run.  According to McMillan, my recovery paces range from: 1) Recovery Jogs (10:40 -11:10) 2) Long Runs (9:40 - 10:40) 3) Easy Runs (9:40 -10:10). 

Here goes:  I ran 6 miles instead of 5 miles.  The Garmin beeped a low lap memory alert at mile 3, so I stopped to delete some laps and misjudged the distance and ended up running an extra mile. Time: 57:43  Averge pace: 9:37  Splits:  10:05, 9:33, 8:58 (oops, got carried away), 9:48, 9:33, 9:44.  Man, my splits are all over the place.  See what I mean?  I'm terrible at finding my pace.  Will keep working on that. 

Note to self:  I was doing a good job at rotating my shoes until after SGM.  I don't know why.  So today I wore the smaller sz 6 which I hadn't worn for 6 months and probably had 250 miles.  I want to start the new year with my new shoes which have been sitting and waiting in my closet for 3 months.  Something to look forward to.

AM/PM Yoga - that felt so good!

General Aerobic run today.  According to Pfitzinger, these runs (10 miles or less at steady pace) are intended to enhance overal aerobic conditioning through boosting the training volume.  Because many of the beneficial adaptations that improve endurance are related to the total volume of your training.  OK, I'll take his words for it. 

T. was in the low 30's, partial sunny sky with no wind.  Wore l/s shirt, tights, gloves, shed the light jacket once Wendy left me at mile 4.  Mile 5.5 to mile 7 has an uphill with an ascent of 150'.  I kept the effort even on the uphill. 

Easy 9 miles in 1:30.  Average pace: 10:00.  Split: 10:39, 10:00, 10:12, 10:10, 9:57, 9:30, 10:10, 9:47, 9:20.

Busy cleaning and shopping today.  Jeff's flying in this afternoon.  Taking the family to the Jazz game tonight.  Cooking and traveling to Gunnison tomorrow, no running for me.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  Good luck for those running a Turkey Trot.

Went to bed very late last night.  Dragged my tired self out of bed to cook.  I was so jealous that my out of town son got to run the Earn Your Turkey 4 mile race with his friend in Orem.   Thought about Mark and Dale running their Turkey Trot this AM.  Didn't have time to even eat breakfast, big mistake.

Got to Gunnison safely.  Was good to see all the families and two new babies.   I was so hungry by 1 pm that I ate three heaping plates of food, Chinese and Japanese specialty dishes with the token turkey, dressing, ham, yam and all the trimmings.

After the feast we had a wonderful Thanksgiving program, music, singing, tribute to the grandmas and grandpas.  Then all those who are young and able went on this bicycle cross-country-obstacle-course race.  It was all fun.

Got home in the evening and stayed up till midnight to watch 2 movies. 

Went to bed very very late.  Slept in till 7:30 am.  Ate a quick breakfast and hit the stores with hubby and two sons.  Looked at some sporting equipments.  The boys got some jeans and shirts.  In the afternoon I went grocery shopping and bought stuff for my missionary son in Brazil.  Didn't run a single step.  Will do some core workouts.  Look forward to running on the trail with some bloggers tomorrow morning.

Kelli worked her magic again today!

You'd think it was race morning or something.  I was so excited for this run, I woke up at 5 am.   I hadn't run for two days and ate so much over Thanksgiving that I was ready for a nice long run with great friends.  There were about 15 of Kelli's friends there.  What an awesome bunch of runners.  I got to hang with Kelli, her gym instructor and Rachel & Lucy (Rachel's dog) the first 5 miles going north and UP.  Thanks to Kelli, there was a cooler full of bottled water for us at the turn around.  My legs felt pretty good so decided to test them out on the downhill.  I figured the girls would soon follow.  I also wanted to run a few miles at marathon pace.  I soon caught up within 100 yards of two of the boys.  I can't recall their names (Erico & Jose?). When we got back to the parking lot, KellieS was kind enough to run with me for 4 more miles.  It's amazing how fast the miles go by when you're chatting away.  About half of us got back to the finish where sweet Kelli had a spread of muffins, juice and drinks.  KELLI, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ORGANIZING THIS RUN, and for the "aid stations" and breakfast after.  YOU ARE THE BEST!!!  I hope we get to do this again.

14 miles in 2:13:45.  Average pace: 9:33.  HR: 160.  Splits: 9:50, 9:34, 9:32, 10:25, 10:08, 9:25, 9:15, 9:24, 9:25, 9:33, 9:30, 9:20, 9:13, 9:00. 

An interesting afternoon:

My sweet hubby wanted to take me shopping for outfits for the holiday parties.  I wanted to stop by Wasatch Running Center to pick up my Grand Slam hat.  I bought a pair of CW-X tight at 50% off, sweet.  Then we went to the South Town Mall.  As we entered Dilliard's from the parking lot, we saw a young lady (late teens or 20's) getting out with another lady (like her mother) in a wheelchair.  I held the inside door open while my hubby held the outside door for them.  They politely said many thank you's.  No sooner had they exited the outside door, a security guard was charging down the store isle towards the doors.  He ran past me, nearly knocked my hubby over, with a woman security guard right behind.  They grabbed the girl by her arm.  The mother tried to flee from the wheel chair but tripped and fell at the curb.  Other shoppers coming from the parking lot were all concerned and so was I until my husband said:  "We just aided and abated the escape of those two shop-lifters."  Sure enough, the security guy pulled out the hidden loots from the wheel chair.  I have never witness a theft bust before.  It was kinda scary and exciting. I later learned from the store clerks that mothers had used their baby strollers to hide stolen goods.  What horrible example to their children.  How sad!!!

After that nice morning run and afternoon shopping, I was too tired to cook.  We took the family to Chuck-a-Rama.  It was Thanksgiving feast all over again.  I ate TOO MUCH.  When's our long run again? 

Church.  Cooked a nice lunch for the family.  Took Jeff to the airport.  I hate goodbyes.  Brought out the Christmas tree and decorations.  Gave Steven a haircut.