42 and Grateful

By | November 28, 2021

another non rundown, but in honor of the holiday I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim to talk about running-adjacent things I’m grateful for.

lunch with Coco in Virginia, a two-year tradition

run and breakfast with Jenn in Florida

As I mentioned last week, I drove down to Florida for Thanksgiving and my birthday and two of the highlights were catching up with Coco and Jenn on the drive. Funny thing, third time Coco and I have met up and first time we remembered to take a photo. So glad this was possible, schedule wise. Hopefully will catch up with a few more of you on future drives and visits.

how many bloggers make up a flock?

In the mean time, I’ll settle for running virtually “with” all of you. Such a fun tradition and the only piece of the Covid year I’m happy to keep. Collage thanks to the amazing Kim.

Hi Forrest

It’s a small thing, but grateful for PTO / work schedule that allowed me to do this drive over three days. This means I have time for the aforementioned meetups, stunning autumn runs in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and shenanigans like my annual pit stops with Forrest, at South of the Border and more. Is this drive doable in two days? Sure. Is it any fun? Nope. Nope. Nope.

Delray Turkey Trotters

Grateful races are back. Doubly grateful to have mom join me on the Delray Turkey Trot. Her first race in 20+ years, although she’s done 5K charity walks in the interim. It’s a small loop so easy for me to finish and then go back and bring her in for her last half mile or so. The best thing? They don’t time walkers, but if she’d signed up as a runner, she’d have won or placed in her age group. So. Much. Fun. The race doesn’t need a recap, it’s a small community 5K.  If you’re in Delray, run it – but it’s not a destination race of any kind. The course is the same as the Jingle Bell Jog, which I also loved. Pleased with my pace as it was already high 70s and super humid. I’m typically team earn the shirt before you wear it, but for a 5K I don’t really care. I had a headband and mask, but the headband wasn’t staying on. Like Halloween, my Trot outfit game needs work, but it was so much fun. It was also the last hurrah for my beloved purple tie dyes as my knee was seconding their mileage log, and they moved into Fleet Feet’s recycle bin on Wednesday. Not to worry, new purple ones replaced them. Pic soon.My legs were feeling it after three days in a row running, so they got a break at the pool.

I was feeling my hamstring a little, unclear if it was delayed DOMS from the Half or three days running plus all day driving, so I laid off the milage and babied it some. Glad to report it responded to some combination of the two and am running pain free again. I don’t think it was injured so much as tight and tired, but glad to speak of it in the past tense. In truth, I’d planned to lay off the mileage some anyway after a monster month in October. Now that my January half is cancelled, it might be a two month mileage “drop”, but we’ll see. I think November is going to come in around 70-80 miles, which I think is fine.

feathered friends!

birthday shenanigans

This is 42. An 8.4 mile runrise (4.2 for the year completed and the one to come), lunch at Poppies, a walk around the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, my favorite home-cooked meal (cavatelli and broccoli) and Rummikub over peppermint fudge. I never need anything fancy, but especially after these crazy years I was just glad for some simple, unmasked fun. Thanksgiving was similar, albeit with a lot more food. With only three we didn’t have a lot of prep, so there was some pool reading time between my run and dinner. All about balance, right? Foodfession: I still don’t like turkey, although I try it every year to be sure.

Thanksgiving brought some more miles (the Trot was last Saturday) as did today before my flight. I love Downtown Delray, and sometimes it’s worth giving up a couple miles of beachfront running to check out Old School Square. Grateful that we can safely travel and see some of Delray, which I hadn’t fully explored before so much shut down. Grateful too to have this space to escape to, although winter hasn’t really happened yet.  Mom and I capped Saturday at the Farmers’ Market and doing some Small Business Saturday shopping before I got in one last pool hour.

thanks Mother Nature

There’s no sunset over the Atlantic, except when it reflects wonderfully as we looked south. One last meal at Boston’s before my flight (Conch Fritters for King!) and some time to sit at the Pavillion before my flight. Yes, I love driving – but I wasn’t driving both ways on such a short trip.

Back to reality. Grateful for having recharged.

 

18 thoughts on “42 and Grateful

  1. Darlene S. Cardillo

    Awful birthday tradition. As you know I love meeting bloggers.

    We did not have turkey on Thanksgiving. And I guess no one missed it. Weird family.

    You went to all my favorite Delray restaurants. Looking forward to Feb.

    I’m sad that we won’t be running together at the frozen Penguin. I will run the cp half. I think.

    Winter has arrived sadly. Icy paths.

    Post lots of NYC pics. First time I’m not there during the holidays.

    Reply
  2. Liz Dexter

    This is so lovely! And I don’t like turkey, either, but have to eat it twice a year (no Thanksgiving, obvs, but Matthew likes to cook it on New Year’s Eve, too). As Matthew cooks it AND does creative things for himself with the leftovers, I put up with it!

    Reply
  3. Chocolaterunsjudy

    Neither me, my brother, or Mr. Judy are terribly fond of turkey. I used to host friendsgivings in TX & we almost never had turkey.

    Sounds like a wonderful vacation — except the driving. I don’t like driving. Over the last few years there has been WAY too much driving, but it is what it is.

    Happy 42! My birthdays are usually relatively simple, even before COVID — except the racecations ones. There’s been one or two over the years. I’d probably do one this year, to celebrate 60 & roughly 10 years since my first half — except probably not going to happen due to life circumstances at the moment.

    So celebrate when you can!

    Reply
  4. Wendy

    I’m so glad you enjoyed your time in Florida. I love that your mom did the 5k with you! I do like turkey, but that wasn’t always the case. So you could change…lol

    Reply
  5. Deborah Brooks

    Looks like a really nice birthday tradition and vacation. Love it so much that your mom joined you for the turkey trot. She looks happy to be there.

    Reply
  6. Coco

    I’m glad you had a nice birthday and am looking forward to holding up our tradition! It looks like you had a lovely time in Florida with friends and family. That hometown 5K sounds perfect for a holiday weekend — low key, but enough to get you off the sofa!

    We played Rummikub on Thanksgiving — in one game there were no tiles left to draw and my DIL still hadn’t been able to take her first turn. Luckily she got play before my son went out and won. 😉

    Reply
  7. Michelle

    This post just made me smile so much! How wonderful to have your mom join you for the trot…and I just love the meet-ups 🙂 I’m so glad you had a nice birthday and vacation!

    Reply
  8. Kimberly Hatting

    How fun to do the race with your mom! As for the turkey…I love it (dark meat only, though). The hubby drastically over-cooked it this year, and the dark meat was just as dry as the white meat…so I feel kind of ripped-off. The turkey was SO DRY, the drippings were sparse, so I had to supplement with canned broth when I made the gravy. I know, #FirstWorldProbs….but a bit of a buzzkill, LOL

    Reply
  9. Kim G

    So glad that you had an awesome birthday and Thanksgiving AND that you were able to meet up with Coco and Jen along the way 🙂

    Funny facet – I’ve seen Forrest Gump 20+ times, it’s my favorite movie of all time, so that photo made me smile ! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Jenny

    I’m so sorry I missed you! Glad you had such a good time in Delray. That’s amazing that your mom did the turkey trot with you!
    I will for sure see you next time you’re down here. I’ll come to Delray and we can walk around- I don’t get there much and it would be fun.

    Reply
  11. Meranda@fairytalesandfitness

    How wonderful that you got to spend that time in Florida!
    Also how fun to have met Coco. We did the NYC race at the same time one year but we never got to meet up.

    Happy belated birthday and I hope you have a great new week!

    Reply
  12. Marcia

    What a wonderful birthday trip! Love that your mom trotted with you. So fun! I speak from experience when I say long road trips are no friend of hammies. Glad yours settled down.

    Reply
  13. Jenn

    It was so wonderfully amazing to meet you! Here’s to more and longer visits.

    I am so glad you had a peaceful, beautiful birthday/Thanksgiving celebration! Next time, I hope some peppermint fudge finds its way here. 🙂

    Reply
  14. Shathiso

    So happy you were able to meet up with Jenn and Coco! Also so happy you had a great birthday and Thanksgiving! Well done for your mum for participating in that race – you both looked awesome 🙂

    Reply
  15. Debbie @ Deb Runs

    It sounds like you had a wonderful trip and a fantastic birthday! How fun that your mom joined you for the turkey trot!

    And yes, one of these years we’ll finally meet, and like you said, perhaps it will be in Florida rather than Virginia!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Chocolaterunsjudy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *