Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thankful Thanksgiving Holiday

It is fair to say that 2009 has been a trying year for many. It has also been full of blessings, blessings that Chris and I will forever be thankful for.

This years holiday celebration brought family together (some that had been apart for far too long). I will always be thankful that I have been given the chance to introduce my husband to this special family. In addition, to our new experience we revised a new tradition started last year, and got up early Thanksgiving morning to run in a good old fashion Thanksgiving race. Our pick for 2009 was the 4 miler Pilgrim’s Progress Run. Chris was excited to race a 4 miler (a first for him), and I was out on a mission for a fun run (having had two fast races in the last three weeks).

We met up with a great running pal, Doug from CRC, and met his wife and kids before the children’s ½ mile race. It was cold, but we all had fun (some more than others. I'll try and post my video later). Chris walked away with a pretty good race, it was at least enough to get him first place in his age group and a $100 Dick Sporting Good’s gift card (final time 25:24). I ran with a running pal Patty and pushed her to a new 5k personal record in the middle of the 4 mile race (her previous time the weekend before was soft). After that point I hung with her for a bit until she wanted to walk and told me to take off. After a few up hills through the mall parking lot I finally found my fast gear and turned it on. Coming around the last curve I was passing people I had been cheering on several miles back, and then I saw Chris coming towards me (he always likes to run back and find me on the course). I yelled something like “Ya, ya honey I’m coming”, and a group of women laughed at me. I told them my husband was coming to tell me to get a move on. They said to tell him to shut up, I was busy taking pictures (they had been around earlier in the race when I was trying to run and take pictures). I laughed and stepped it up as I ran past Chris. Saw a few more people I thought I could pass, and then went straight into the finish line. My total time was 36:49 (my last mile was 8:30, I was happy with that). Collected our medals, and then put in a few more miles around the mall before heading home.



Saturday was our big day of cooking. We got up extra early so Chris and I could get our long runs completed, in time to head home and prep the turkey. Chris completed 15 miles, and I had a fantastic 10 mile run. It was a cold morning, and I got to pull out the running tights and gloves for the first time. Although I thought I would have a hard time running that long alone, it felt great to be out before the sunrise. I was kind of like a silly school girl smiling and having a blast. Once home Chris set to working on another fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. Family arrived later in the afternoon, and we all stuffed ourselves to uncomfortable levels.

The holiday season is officially in full swing at the Honaker house. We purchased our grown up tree, and decked the halls (and house) with bows, and wreaths. Chris began his official Boston Marathon training plan on Dec 1 (I’m going to try and get him to post some details on what he is planning for the next few months). I am still working towards reaching 30 miles per week, and ended this week with a new weekly PR of 28 miles. In addition, I also finally hit 100 plus miles for a month. I have been really close for the last few months, but always ended a few miles shy. Total November mileage was 108 miles for me, and Chris has a crazy 235 miles logged for the month of November (he doesn’t know the meaning of “taking it easy”).



Stay tuned for a post later this week regarding 2010 goals, and my list of 30 accomplishments for 2010.



OK this was my first attempt at video on the run.....I need some practice.

2 comments:

Girl In Motion said...

Congrats, you cuties! Love the photos and girl, you're gonna be all over that marathon next year, so comfy doing a weekend 10-miler already. Love the tree, too, so pretty!

Stevi N. Honaker said...

GIM- I hope you are right. I still have 4 and 5 milers where I want to quit, so I'm not there yet. Oh and thank you about our tree....we are like proud parents with our tree. Our old one was bought to fit into our first 600 sq. foot apartment (so it was tiny). We still get giddy over little grown up things like a big tree (well at least I do).