Each Day Is a Gift

Eric and Marianne arrived at 1:15 am after a 28 hours train ride.  Jeff has arrived earlier in the evening.  Went to bed around 2 am.  Got up at 6 am.  All seven of us piled into the car and headed to California.  The weather was good.  

Our last gas/potty stop was in a nice valley town after Victorsville.  I saw a sign in the shopping complex that says:  "Fontana".  Hey, that's where Robw8 and Mindy live.   It's funny how I looked for all the places where my "virtual running friends" live.  Drove past VOF State Park sign, Las Vegas where JeffC and Megan live, Apple Valley where Sweetiepie live.

Arrived at my sister's in exactly 12 hours at 6:00 pm.  She already had a nice spread of appetizers waiting for us.  Dinner was a feast.  My sister is a great cook.  Everything she makes is sinfully delicious.     

Rain. Temp at low 40's.  Location:  Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.  Ran up Ganada Dr. at elevation 1019' to Crest Rd (mile 0.4) at elevation 1194' (175' gain) down from Crest Rd. to Palos Verdes East (mile 1.5) at elevation 922' (272' loss).  Turned around and ran back up Palos Verdes East (272'  gain), same route to my sister's house.  

Nice easy pace with challenging hills 3.1 miles.  

Left for the viewing at 9:00 am in Costa Mesa.  Funeral was very nice.  Bittersweet family reunion time for all the families gathering far and near.  It rained all day, the clouds parted and the rain stopped just in time for the interment at the cemetery. 

Cold (for Calif standard) in the high 30's and windy, partly cloudy.  Ran the same route but further on Palos Verdes East Dr. to the Miraleste Library.  The local runners were wearing winter running gear while I just had my Boston long sleeve shirt and shorts on.  One gal said as she ran towards me in passing:  "You made me feel very cold."  Lots of walkers with dogs and a few runners on this scenic, rolling, hilly course, very narrow shoulder with single lane traffic.  There's actually a marathon on this peninsula sometime in May.  Someday I will run this marathon.

6.6 miles in 1:05:07.  Average pace: 9:53.  Nice hilly run (total descent = 1282', total ascent = 1255') Splits:  10:39, 9:02, 9:10, 9:08, 10:17, 10:40, last 0.6 mi in 10:23 

Ate way too much the last few days.  Every meal ends with desserts, apple pie, pecan chocolate pie, chocolate cream pie, blueberry tart, Christmas braid, crescent rolls, cookies of all kinds, not to mention the sausage, English scones, french toasts, omelet I had for breakfast.  Did I mention my sister made all these from scratch?  Oh, we eat out too, we had dim sum for lunch.  We went to a very nice Chinese restaurant for a  9 course seafood dinner (West Lake soup, ginger crabs, clams, fresh steamed fish, salt and pepper shrimp, Peking duck, crispy Shanghai chicken, seafood chowmein, garlic eggplant, sweet tapioca soup)

I think I gained 8 pounds. :-)   

So sad to say goodbye to my sister and her husband.  They packed my cooler with fish (salmon, halibut, sea bass, cod, and some I don't know the names) that Joe had caught in Alaska.

All 7 of us piled into my car again for a long drive home.  We took a detour to Riverside where my daughter-in-law met and visited briefly her sister.  We stopped at Vegas, Virgin River hoping to get lunch, but couldn't find a place to park or the buffets were closed due to the holiday.  Hubby refused to stop at any fast food place for dinner because it's Christmas Eve.  We really missed being home for Christmas Eve.  We finally made it to St. George at 6:00 pm and had dinner at Texas Road House.  We were starving and very road weary.

It started to snow at the Virgin River Gorge in AZ and most of the way through southern Utah.  By the time we reached home the snow was coming down hard.  We arrived home around 11:30 pm.  It was over 14 hours.  Quickly unpacked.  Wrapped the presents, Santa didn't forget us.  Went to bed at 3:00 am. 

Merry Christmas

 Slept in till 9:30 am.  Cooked my traditional Christmas feast, turkey, ham, roast beef, mashed potato, fruit salad, stuffing, thanks to Sissy, we have crescent rolls and Christmas bread, corn, carrot, broccoli, rice and German Chocolate birthday cake for David.

Talked to Bryan serving happily in Brazil, Larissa and grandkids before eating at 1:00 pm and opened presents at 3:00 pm.

It was a great a Christmas being with my children, my mother-in-law and Larry's sister and her family from Minnesota.  

I was too pooped to do any exercise.  Just sat and watched my sons wax their skis and hubby packed the car for skiing.

6 miles in 52:19 with 4 miles at tempo pace: 8:20.  Average pace: 8:42

Around the world core 25 reps.

Bicep tricep lifts 3 sets of 20 reps.

AM/PM yoga 

My son and I had planned on running the JRP this morning.  Hubby said:  "Are you nuts? There are over a foot of snow on our lawn.  I'm sure the trail has over 2 ft of snow and not shoveled."  He's probably right.  I screwed some short screws on my shoes while Eric took off.  He's run on worse road condition than this in Iowa. 

The road is icy and snow packed so I was running cautiously.  At about mile 2.5 I saw Eric running towards me, he had already ran 5 miles.  He was going to run 10.  I kept telling him to head home.  "Mom, I want to run with you."  "But I'm too slow for you."  "You're running Marianne's (his wife) speed."  "Well, her pregnant speed."  "No, you're a great runner...besides I never get to run with you."  What a sweet son!  The run was wonderful but the conversation was priceless.  Oh, I wish wish he and I could run Boston together; well not together, but the same year.

Before we knew it we had run home.   Eric did 14 and I ran around the two blocks for another 5 miles to make 12.  I had to cut my run short because we had a baby shower to do for Marianne and my niece.  What a wonderful day.

12 miles in 1:59:27.  AP: 9:55