Hello again, it's 2015!
First of all, I know this is terribly late. I have had a few weeks of travel and sudden schedule changes, like probably every other American. In addition, my dad was injured the day after Christmas, and he ended up requiring surgery. He is doing much better now, although I think the whole family was frightened for a while. I will say that I generally take my family's and my health for granted, and we are so fortunate that this type of thing is a rarity.
At any rate, here are some photos of our week:
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| W got to spend so much time with his cousins. |
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| We went out to eat a few times, and W LOVES grilled cheese. |
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| My parents borrowed an inflatable bouncer toy from the neighbors, and the kids had a blast. |
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| I thought W would be too little to enjoy it, but he did great! | | | | | | | |
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We were still away on Saturday, the day I usually do my long run workouts with the
Birmingham Track Club, I was on my own for a lot of my mileage. My parents live in a very rural area of northern Mississippi, surrounded by state highways and logging roads with steep hills, sharp curves, and no shoulders or sidewalks. I was at a loss for planning water and restroom stops, and figured I would just do shorter runs or "laps" around the neighborhood. After my dad's injury and hospitalization, I had an especially hard time finding motivation to run and calming the anxious thoughts in my head.
Fortunately, this week was a low-mileage week in the club
marathon training plan. I did the best I could, with a few six-mile runs in less than ideal conditions near my parents' house. I did one shorter run at a 7:00mm pace with my brother in law, who is working to improve his Air Force PT scores. On Monday the 29th, I drove to a city park so I could do my longer run away from traffic and near water and a bathroom. I treated it like a tempo run, and got in eight miles.
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| Laps on a flat course. |
Marathon training is going well, and I am still feeling strong. I will do a separate post about my training very soon.
On a related note, the rest of this entry is going to be about food, sorry! On Monday night, Nate and I took W out to dinner with my sister and her family. We found a family-friendly restaurant, because three toddlers at a table is NO JOKE. It was a wild experience, let me tell you!
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| Chicken sandwich and home fries bathed in Tabasco. |
We got home to Birmingham on Tuesday night, and I couldn't wait to get back to home cooking. I am working on perfecting my recipe for home baked pizza.
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| We're almost there. |
And, of course, I made a super traditional meal for New Year's Day.
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| Hoppin' John, boiled cabbage, and sweet potatoes. |
Hopefully, I won't have to rush through another late post for a while. The holidays are past, my dad is doing much better, and we are back in our ordinary routine for a while.
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