There's Nothing Here to Run From

I always think that weekends where we don't race will be all about the mellow, but they never are....Which is okay, because the alternative is that they are busy and full of wonderful.

This weekend we got to hang-out with the grandpuppy and Coadster's boyfriend. Coadster had a high school friend's wedding to attend, and so they were here for that....

 ...And she was here to play with Archie.

Archie hisses a lot, but he secretly likes the attention. None of the rest of us are going to constantly engage him for the entire day.

Archie is also happier when he can get up and not be on the same plane as the puppy. They really are good friends...And Archie is always happy to meet another animal that weighs more than him.

Saturday was in the upper 50's. I ran some errands, got to hang-out with Coadster's family and then did a 2 mile run. I'm trying to get back into running on a regular basis again. So, I'm going back to just doing 2 or 3.5 mile runs for the next week, to get my body used to the pounding again.

After the run, John and I decided to do a road ride. You heard that right...A real live road ride in the middle of December. Thank you, El Nino! We only did 30 miles and we didn't kill ourselves at all, but it had been a long time since I've ridden my road bike, so it was nice and I am definitely feeling it in my hamstrings today. At one point during our ride, I told John that I got a clump of mud in my eye. John told me not to worry, there was a 50% it WASN'T manure. Mmmmm. Nice

After our ride, we showered and met Coadster and her boyfriend at Short's for dinner and then headed to Atlas for another bike team's Christmas party. They invite people from all the racing teams in town, so it's really nice to see everyone. We stayed for about an hour and then headed home.

On Sunday I had originally planned to do a fun run with some of the bike racer women in town. When I had agreed to do it, I thought I would be running more at the end of November and early December, but that didn't really happen. It's a 6 mile run, and I've only run that distance once in the last couple of months. Then last Wednesday, Stinky called me and asked if we could decorate the tree on Sunday night. I thought I'd get up early on Sunday and get the tree and make stuff for dinner, but it would mean I'd be pretty rushed. Then I woke-up with ANOTHER migraine on Sunday morning, so, that ended that. I took my migraine meds and passed-out for about 3 hours.

I woke-up, spent some time with Coadster and her boyfriend and puppy, before Coadster went to work and the rest of her family went home to Des Moines.

John and I went grocery and Christmas tree shopping. We got all kinds of stuff to make a festive feast for us and the girls. By about 3 o'clock, I did a little 3.5 mile run in the warm rain. I took my meds about 8 hours before, so I was out of the danger zone and my run felt pretty good.

The girls did most of the decorating, while John and I cleaned-up after dinner. I do love all the history behind our ornaments. Coadster made me an ornament for my birthday this year in a glass blowing class she took with her boyfriend's mom. It's my new favorite tree decoration.

Archie even got into the spirit of things...Okay, maybe we helped him. He was so tired from playing with the grandpuppy this weekend, that he allowed me to put a Christmas hat on him. After he woke-up enough to realize how badly the leopard print clashed with his natural tiger stripes, he quickly attacked and killed the offending Christmas chapeau.