Hiatus and Yuletide cheer

As some of you might have noticed, I have been on a hiatus from blogging. Aside from keeping a nasty cold at bay, doing my best to tend to a sick husband, enjoying a holiday party or two and trying my hardest to keep the house above fifty I have thoroughly enjoyed my break. Around here we have been experiencing a string of days whose high temperatures have hovered close to what our lows normally should be. To have a day topping out around 32 degrees makes me cold just thinking about it.

And so this morning, snug in my bed with the excuse of letting the ground thaw a bit made me think I could get use to this. Upon due time passing, email checking and blog stocking, I did my daily routine of stretching in the morning with the television on which inevitably leads to extra stalling time. Side note: Did you know when you are pregnant you should only eat 10% more? The old wives tale of eating for two has been long thrown out the window...thank you Dr. Oz. This might have been one of those moments where ignorance is bliss, but since I am no longer ignorant, nor pregnant nor thinking about becoming so I can file this away within the recesses of my brain. With that morsel of new knowledge to chew on I finally set out on my run.

The first few minutes is all about adjusting, whether it be the location of my phone, keys or hat everything has to be just right or it makes me crazy and invades my thoughts throughout the next hour. Off to a good trot I run past the window where my friends works, I check for her and if she is there we wave. Depending on the time of day, the next mile consists of dodging little kids on their way to school, dogs either not on leashes or on extremely long leashes and sporty looking moms. As I ascend the first hill I am inevitably greeted by someone who says "keep going" "you should run the other way" or who makes some mention of the weather...like today "too cold for running don't you think" regardless of what is said I usually smile and continue on my way and then think about how I must look to warrant some of these comments.

Spitting on the ground, wiping my nose on my sleeve are just some of the many reasons I keep running to a solo venture. I cannot be bothered with such extraneous items as kleenex. As I descend into the park the views open up, the trail flattens out and I am jockeying for position on the trail of life, well that is what it feels like at least. When I am feeling up to it or there are other people around I oftentimes pick a person to set pace with. Depending on my stamina or theirs I either vow to pass them by a certain point or keep the space between us down to a minimum, the only trouble with this is I do not know if they are on mile 1 or mile 10, so it can lead to disappointment and beating myself up or triumph against someone who has not run in years. Running life lesson #1: Gauging yourself against others is downright tricky. This leads me to why exercising in sub freezing weather is great, less people around to squash my ego.

As I ran up the last hill, I brushed by the holly bush which was my nemesis and scratched me up all summer long. Now with its berries and my holiday cheer fully secured I find it to be a thing of beauty, funny how the holidays make you feel.

Running is as much about the calories burned as the thoughts formulated....

You can look forward to such exciting upcoming posts as:

With just five dollars and one hour you can have yourself a very merry christmas present.

Empanadas vs. Pitas