Thanksgiving 2019

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Our festivities started Wednesday. Mom came up on Tuesday because of the impending snowstorm. Good thing too because we got 9 inches Tuesday overnight. I had to clean off two cars Wednesday morning Eric and Mom.

Cookies!
Mom and I made cut out cookies on Wednesday while Eric was at work. It was fun. I haven't had much luck before but these turned out pretty good.

 

 

Buca and Lights!
We had lunch at Panera and mom got a hair cut after wards. We came home to relax and I made an apple pie. When Eric got home we went to Buca for dinner and surprised my mom with a trip to the Christmas Light show. She had a fun evening.




 

Racing!
Thursday morning we ran the Turkey Day 5K in Minneapolis. It is 7 years in a row that I have ran a race on Thanksgiving Day.  My first two miles were great but mile 3 sucked and brought my time down. :(
 


Dinner with the Dobies!
After the race we headed down to the Dobie's house for lunch. We picked up DJ on the way. We had a great time with good food and fun games. We got to dance the Shark song with Blake. We stuck around until almost 7pm. And then he ate some Doritos. LOL!

 

  

  

Mom's pies!
Mom forgot her pies in her car so when we got home we had some leftovers and pie.

 

Evelyn’s Birthday Party

Saturday, November 23, 2019

We celebrated Evelyn’s birthday a little early since Harry and Linda (Greg’s parents) and Helen (Harry’s mom) were visiting. Harry made spaghetti and meatballs and rolls. We had strawberry cake for dessert. It was a good night.










Weekend randomness

Sunday, November 17, 2019

We had a weekend at home!!! It doesn’t happen very often so we had to enjoy it.

Wallpaper sucks!
I spent Saturday morning trying to remove the wallpaper border in our bedroom. After 16 years, I’m sick of the roses. Haha!

Grab Bag Sale
We started our shopping with a Grab Bag sale at Run N Fun in Burnsville. We scored two pairs of running shoes, one for Eric and one for my mom, a vest, hooded long sleeve, some sports bras, a swimsuit for Danielle and running pants and shorts for Eric and it cost us $150.



Lunch!
We stopped at my favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch, Chinese Gourmet in Burnsville. We have been going there for almost 18 years.  It was delicious as always. They have the best egg rolls!

The Mall
We ventured to the EP mall to go to Scheels. Brooks released their new holiday running shoes and I really want them. Eric got last years holiday shoes, this year I wanted them!
Snowmen!!!!

Home Depot
Next stop was Home Depot for paint. We have been on a painting binge lately. We started in the upstairs bathroom which is now Doctor Who themed.

Next room was the spare bedroom. We took the teddy bear border down and painted over the boring white. Trust me, this is a different blue color.

Eric said we could not paint our bedroom blue so I went for green. This is a weird color choice for me but it is growing on me. 

We have one wall done and slow making our way around the room. 

Testing
I had to do some testing for work last night. I had to make sure that I could log in to one of software programs. The problem is the update wasn’t starting until 10pm so I had to log into my computer and wait for the go ahead to test. That was a new experience for me.  That made it a late night. 

8 miles!
This morning, (well it really was afternoon since I slept in until 9 (what!?!)) I went for a nice long run. I did pretty good. I really need to get in training mode again so I can have better races. This year hasn’t been that great. 

The Crown
I had a long list of things to do after my run but then I realized The Crown’s newest season was released this weekend. So my to-do list became a to-don’t list. Haha. I got through three episodes and Eric came home from working at RVR and immediately put on Christmas movies. 



Puppy Cuddle

Friday, November 15, 2019

Today at work I participated in the Puppy Cuddle fundraiser. Midwest Animal Rescue Services brought in some puppies to my building and we donated to their cause to play with the puppies. It is part of our company’s Giving Campaign. My company matches all of our donations. One of the puppies pooped by me. Man that was stinky but at least it wasn’t ON me.

No, I didn’t bring one home for Swirl. He doesn’t like dogs.









Madison Half Marathon

Thursday, November 14, 2019

I’ve run this half marathon the last two years and I did it in 3:05 both times. My times are only 6 seconds different between the two years. Going into this race I didn’t know if I could get 3:05. My training has been terrible this year and I’ve been really slow. I’ve tried speed workouts but I think my bigger problem is a lack on endurance. I haven’t gone on the long runs like I should have. 

Race!
I had a great dream the night before the race…I was feeling great the whole time and finished faster than I had in years past. I woke up thinking I was going to do it. I was pumped. I wanted to get 3:05 or faster. Well that lasted all of 4 miles. Actually, more like 3.5 miles.  I started struggling at mile 4. Why??  I ran 8 miles a week ago and felt fine. What is my problem??  Anyways I trudged through the race and finished at 3:14. NINE minutes slower than the last two years. ARGH!!!!!



Post Race!
I was disappointed in the food after the race. The last couple of years they had Panera sandwiches and cookies in bags that you could grab and eat when you wanted. This year they had vegetarian chili, mac and cheese, potato salad and brats. Not what I would call great post race food. And you basically had to eat then or it got cold. I tried the Mac and Cheese and it was meh. I ate a few bits and threw it away.


The Medals!
I got my 3rd piece of the pictures (the 2017-2020 medals make a picture of the Wisconsin Capitol Building). Only one more year left to complete the set. I can’t wait to move on to another race. There are quite a few races on the same weekend as Madison that I want to do but I got suckered in to the 4 years to complete the picture.

Pre-Race!
We picked up my mom and Aunt Betty Jane to join us in Madison this weekend. I was very excited to meet Jax, my cousin’s baby, for the first time. We got to see my Uncle Jack and Aunt Jackie. We had dinner with them Saturday night and played cards and games. It was a fun evening. Mom and BJ stayed at Jackie’s house.

After “Party” 
Sunday after the race and 30 minutes soak in the hot tub to warm up we met my friends Jenny at her Veterans’ Day concert in DeForest. We went out for dinner after with her family. It was nice catching up.



Snow!
Monday morning we woke up to fresh snowfall. It made for an interesting drive home. Took an hour to get to Jack’s place which was only like 10 miles away. We got home safely by 4pm.