If you celebrate, I hope you had a lovely and safe Christmas!
If you missed it, I shared a recap of 2020: The Year in Photos!
Here’s how my week went in fitness and in holiday celebrations:
Monday: 9 easy miles before work, 9:28 min/mile average, 5 with my friend Christie. Easy jogging into the first day of winter!
Virtual 1:1 with Discover Strength after work
Tuesday: 8 miles before work with Christie, 8:58 min/mile average. Saw my lucky Albino squirrel friend. He’s looking nice and plump for the winter!
I was also treated to a colorful sunrise around Lake Harriet:
Wednesday: This was such a weird weather day; Christie and I met before work and it was seriously such a spring-like day; 45 degrees and clear paths. I could have run in shorts!
And then throughout the day the temperature just DROPPED. It quickly went from 45 down to about -5! With the cold temps, a nasty blizzard arrived. It was nuts. I think Minneapolis received something like 8 or 9 inches of snow. Guess we’ll have a white Christmas after all. So very glad I got up early to run before work. And on these blizzard days, I’m even more grateful to be working from home. It’s the best.
On this run, I wore a new pair of Janji running tights; they were rated by Runner’s World as the Best Tights of the Year. And guess what? They kinda sucked. At least for me. I bought a size medium, which should be my size, and they would NOT stay up. They just kept creeping down and I spent the whole run trying to pull them up! I do not recommend these tights; definitely not my vote for best tights of the year…
I had a workout during this last spring run: 3 miles easy, 4×2 minutes hard with 2 minute recovery, 5 minutes easy and then another 4×2 minutes hard, 2 mile recovery. 9.25 miles total, 8:58 min/mile average.
Discover Strength virtual 1:1 after work.
Thursday: Christmas Eve! I only had to work a 1/2 day, so I opted to head to the basement treadmill around noon. I covered 8 easy miles (9:20 min/mile pace) while watching “Call the Midwife” on Netflix, which was cute.
That evening, we made dinner and had some fancy cocktails from Lawless Distillery; I even put on jeans and a headband, ha!
Friday: Christmas Day! It was 0 degrees with a ‘feels like’ temperature of -13. But Dustin and I have a tradition of running together Christmas Day; we couldn’t wimp out! We bundled up and covered 4 miles together, then picked up Ruth for another 1.25 miles. It was cold, but with the sun shining, it actually didn’t feel too awful.
It was pretty chilly for Ruth’s paws though; we need to get her some winter booties if she’s going to be running through the winter! Vizslas really aren’t winter dogs; they’re so skinny and don’t have a lot of fur.
In fact, we took both dogs out later in the day for a short walk and both were lifting up their paws because it was too cold! Poor things. I think they want us to move somewhere warmer. 🙂
Our Christmas Day was just Dustin and me; after the run, we ate a delicious overnight orange french toast bake, opened presents, FaceTimed with family, and then had a delicious holiday meal from Martina, a neighborhood restaurant.
(Ruth and Matilda may have received a few bites of leftover ham. Best Christmas ever for them!)
Then we watched the new Wonder Woman movie!
One of the cutest presents I received was from my friend Christie; it was drawn by a fellow Oiselle volee; I love it!
I hung it up right away near my treadmill for motivation.
Saturday: Another cold morning, but at least the actual temperature was above zero! I met up with Christie for 13.1 easy miles, 9:10 min/mile average (the last mile was with Ruth the vizsla pup.)
I have been wearing my Kahtoola nanospikes with the snow; they help a lot! Highly recommend a pair for winter runners.
Sunday: 4 snow miles with Ruth and Dustin, 9 min/mile average. We received a few more inches of snow overnight and it was tough going out there!
Summary: 57 miles of running, 2 virtual 1:1’s with Discover Strength. Quite a bit of running despite the wintery weather!
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner Check it out!
Wow, that drawing is fantastic! What a thoughtful and special gift. Bummer on the tights. Do you think you could have worn a smaller size, or were they just not right? I hate ordering clothes on line because I never know what size will work.
I thought medium made sense- I don’t know…I am writing them off as a fail overall and not going to get the smalls.
Love that drawing! Kudos on getting out there in the crazy temperatures and snow. Boo on the Janji tights. it is so hard to shop online for bottoms I’ve found
Yes, I read reviews and thought a medium was the right size based on my height and weight, but I really don’t know if a small would have stayed up either, it was something with the waistband not working for my body type!
Nice! Call the Midwife is one of my favorite treadmill running shows. I’m going to start the latest season as soon as I finish up the show that I’m watching now.
I’ve enjoyed it! It’s not one my husband would enjoy so it’s perfect for me on the treadmill:-)
Looks like you had an awesome week and Christmas celebration! It seems like the super cold weather was a theme for a lot of states this week – it was absolutely freezing here a few days last week, but on Christmas Day it was almost 50 degrees, but rained all day – so so weird.
The gift from your friend Christine is so cool! I always love unique gifts like that.
50! That sound so great, though rain doesn’t…
Yes it was a very sweet personalized gift, I love it!
While we didn’t get your snow (only a dusting here), we did have the psycho temp drop on Wednesday. I also ran, early in the morning, in light clothing (temps were in the upper 40F’s), but were a lot colder by the time I got home from work (mid-afternoon). Looks like you and the hubs had a nice dinner, as well as a great Christmas run.
Yes Wednesday’s temp drops were crazy!!
That jump photo gift if so cool! No one would ever accuse you of wimping out but that’s cold! I guess you are used to it up there. I would return the tights for sure.
Haha well we are used to it but I don’t love it! Not THAT cold….
I love love that drawing from your friend! That is the best gift.
Thank you for the honest review of those Janji tights. I really am suspect of any reviews these days; it’s very hard to trust any reviews. But yeah, those Vuori joggers are the real deal. I ordered another pair. LOL
I ran into my ‘trail friend’ with the vizla last week. We spent a lot of time chatting; her dog is so sweet! Always makes me think of you.
Thanks Wendy! I ordered a pair of Vuoris! I shouldn’t trust reviews from Runner’s World anymore I guess…
I love that you have a vizsla-loving trail friend!
That drawing is amazing! What a great gift! Too bad the tights didn’t work out. I have found that I need to wear my tights smaller than what usually feels comfortable in order for them not to slide down.
I probably should have ordered a small but all the reviews pointed me to a medium. I wonder if the smalls would slip down too…
Girl! That is a lot of snow!
Poor, sweet Ruth! She looks so sad and cold! I’m glad she and her sister got some ham to make up for it!
Love that you had a nice holiday, in spite of everything. It’s been hard to take a few steps back, pivot and restructure Christmas in response to the pandemic. I think we’ve all done a good job of making it work <3
Agree! Roll with the punches, I guess. The dogs have never been happier!
Great job this week with the weather you had. Ugh, that is a lot of snow. I am not ready for it here at all. Bummer about the tights. I love that drawing and I think I know who made it. 🙂
Haha yes I think the Oiselle artist got a lot of business from her Facebook post!
Your Christmas day sounds wonderful! I am laughing about the name of your drink. We just introduced Die Hard to my son. It’s always awkward when movies have swearing or nudity in them when we see them with the kids, but I think our ears just got numb from hearing f%^& for the 50th time in the movie! It didn’t phase us. I think it’s been 20 years since I saw that movie last time. We all enjoyed it!
Haha! I love it. I hadn’t watched Die Hard in years either and didn’t realize people consider it a Christmas movie! It’s pretty funny actually…
I runfess my Janji tights have already gone out in the donation bag. Most definitely not my favorites either by any stretch. Look at all your snow…as we sit here in our “snow drought”. That’s ok, plenty of winter lies ahead I am sure.
I wish I would have known about Janji! Why or why did Runner’s World rate them as the best??
Definitely a lot of running with that weather! Poor Ruth. We’ve tried booties in the past. They were always coming off. You’d suddenly notice some were missing, and with 2 dogs — well, you know how that goes.
Lola had a lot of fur, but she had almost zero body fat. Bandit’s a senior dog, too. So we just let him decide if he wants to walk or not.
Too bad about the tights! There are few things more annoying than having to hold your running clothes up!
Yes, exactly! The booties just don’t seem to stay on. I did just buy some “Musher’s Secret” which is a salve that’s supposed to protect their paws.
Great work as ever and glad the nanospikes are keeping you safe. We had snow HERE! but a tiny dusting and thin ice on the pavements which no shoe addition seems to work for. I just didn’t run today. I did on Christmas day however. And bah to creeping tights. I have a couple of pairs that do that, they don’t have drawstrings because I bought them after I had stomach surgery and I didn’t want knots and strings and tightness around there, but they creep until I get sweaty enough to hold them up. Ew! Happy New Year!
Well, nothing can keep one completely safe on ice, but the nanospikes give me a bit of security 🙂 Bah to creeping tights for sure, ha!
I love that drawing! What a sweet gift!
That’s too bad about those tights – there’s nothing worse than spending the whole run dealing with wardrobe malfunctions!
Totally! Kinda ruined the run. I had high hopes for the tights!
Awww, Santa should have left booties in Matilda’s and Ruth’s stockings. I can’t imagine the temperature dropping that much in a day. Good for you guys for getting out in the cold on Christmas morning!
We bought some more “Musher’s Secret” salve- we have some booties, but they don’t stay on very well. I need to find better ones for dogs with very skinny legs!
I manage to cry in every episode of Call the Midwide. Gah, I love that show! Merry (belated) Christmas, Jessie!
Oh, I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one Ellen! Though running on the treadmill plus crying are a challenging combo 🙂 I was kinda hyperventilating during one episode, it was so sad! And I’m only on season 1!
Wow, that sunrise over Lake Harriet! So stunningly beautiful!
I love the drawing by one of your fellow Oiselle volee. And I see you have found just the right place to hang it!
I have never run in spikes – how does it feel?
Thanks Catrina!
I don’t really notice the Kahtoola nanospikes so much! But I’m sure I’m just used to them. Part of being a Minnesota runner!