Friday, November 25, 2016

Runfessions for November

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I'm recovering from my food coma. Actually, I'm recovering from my workout with the rugby team. Oh, I'll share more of that on my Sunday post.

Did you overdo it yesterday? Did you get into any heated discussions with family members? Or worse? Well, if you have anything to share, you're in luck. Today is the last Friday of the month which means it's Runfessions! Go ahead, share it all with us. We understand and we don't judge. Come on in. You'll feel so much better. I always do...



It may be Black Friday but I have to work. Which isn't a problem for me since I'm not a fan of holiday shopping or the crowds. I runfess that while I have started shopping, that shopping has been for myself. I have come across so many bargains and discount codes that I've succumbed to temptation. Including a text from Marcia a few weeks ago, asking me if I wanted a 40% off prAna code. I do love me some prAna and I scored a really cute hooded sweater. Tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing.

Every.damn.year
For me, the best thing to refuel with after a long run is protein. My go-to is usually a chocolate protein drink, like the one from Bolthouse farms. A few weeks ago, I grabbed the last bottle from the back of the fridge. I checked the expiration date: 8/25/2016. Hmmm. That was only 10 weeks ago. Those expiration dates are merely a suggestion, right? I runfess I did what any depleted runner would do: I opened the top and gave it the sniff test. I didn't detect anything off. Then I took a small, cautious slip. Yum! Nothing to fear here. My husband looked at me with disgust as I drained the bottle. "See ya!" he said. I'm still here....


Last week on my long run to the pond, I felt like I was playing a game of I spy right out of a horror film. There was so much roadkill that it seemed like I was collecting points for every carcass I spotted. A rabbit, a possum, a skunk...I was so relieved to get to the fitness path and off the road. I did a couple laps around the pond and shook off those visions of dead rodents. But when I headed to the water to do my daily yoga pose, I found a pile of feathers, which I realized was a headless dead bird on the sand. Come on man! When I moved away from the bird remains to do my plank, I saw a duck head, complete with beak. Ugh! I runfess I kicked it down the beach towards its body. Reunited and it feels so gross. I took a different route home.
Never let a dead duck head get in the way of your yoga poses.
If you follow me on IG, you know I've been participating in a plank challenge. The challenge was nothing like I expected. I runfess that I dropped out. Yes, I'm a plank challenge dropout. I wasn't enjoying the poses at all. I came to the realization that while I work very hard at my yoga poses, there is a lot of playfulness in my practice. Yoga can be kind of humbling, and falling down while attempting a pose never fails to put a smile on my face. I missed that feeling with this challenge. And let's face it, posting every day feels like a job. There's nothing playful about that!

After 4 attempts, falling each time, I held this for a whole 2 seconds! And walked away smiling.
Recently my pup Cocoa was spayed. I was nervous for her to have her surgery. So nervous in fact, that I runfess as I backed out of the garage, I didn't even look behind me and boom! I backed right into my son's car. Crap! My bumper got a scratch (those Jeeps can take a beating) but his hood was crinkled. He was not pleased with me, even though I told him I'd pay for it to get fixed. Even worse was this random woman sitting in her minivan across the street, who was putting on her makeup. She rolled down her window. "Are you ok?" she asked. I gave her a thumbs up. Then she called out to me: "That sure was loud!" I glared at her. Oh, but she didn't stop there, continuing with: "Wow, he must be really mad at you!" It took every ounce of self-control not to tell her what she could do with her concern. "I hope your day gets better!" she said as she finished with her makeup and drove away. 


And speaking of Cocoa, I am amazed at her recovery from her surgery. I runfess that about 10 years ago, I had the same surgery--yes, I was spayed, sort of--and determined to be the boss of me, I attempted a walk around the block a few days post-op. I almost passed out. In contrast, my pup was already playing fetch (wearing the cone) 2 days post op. Proud dog mom brag: she's very smart and adapted well to the cone. In fact, she made the cone work for her, using it as a battering ram to get what she wanted. Finally, tired of the cone, she completely trashed it by filling it with mud from the backyard. While I'm grateful I didn't have to wear a cone after my surgery, I can't help but wonder how she bounced back so quickly! Is it youth? Or was it the cone?

Caption this!
Any runfessions you care to share? Roadkill much? Did you do anything really stupid this month? Do you pay attention to expiration dates on products?

Marcia is the hostess with the mostest for our Runfessional! Check out everyone else's runfessions. I'm also linking up with the Friday Five 2.0, hosted by Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy.


55 comments :

  1. The caption for Cocoa is that no caption is necessary because that look says it ALL.
    EEEWWWWW a dead duck head? That is a little much for me. But then again, maybe Alex would have just kicked it aside (you medical people you, and your stomach of steel). I runfess that I am trying to keep my hands out of Black Friday deals, but DAMMIT I want to get involved....

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    1. I won't lie, I did shudder when I nudged that duck head back to its body, but yes, stomach of steel indeed!

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  2. Ha! Nothing like a Wendy post first thing in the morning to brighten my day!! I runfess.. I hate Black Friday also!! With a passion. Crowds.. lines... traffic..chaos. No thank you! Great post! Last month I completely took out my garbage cans as I was yelling at the kids in the car. Backed right over then.... ;) pretty funny actually!!

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    1. Nope just the man upstairs ! I made you run over your garbage cans because you were yelling at your kids . ;)

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  3. Oh...the duck head almost had my hurling my chai back into its cup. That image would haunt me for a long time LOL

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    1. I had set up my camera to film my planks when I saw the duck head. I should have shared the clip of me shuddering!

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  4. Oh that duck head would have been enough to turn my stomach. How do you suppose the head came unattached from the body anyway?

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    1. I did think about that on the way home. Most likely a coyote got it. We have a lot of coyotes around here.

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  5. OMG - yuck on the bird! Very nice of you to reunite all its parts. At the end of my first open water swim for triathlon training, I was greeted by a floating condom. Not road kill, but in the same yuck department. Also, I was swimming right off our town beach where all our kids play and swim. Double yuck!

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    1. Ewwwwwww! I'm so glad I just finished my breakfast before I read that. Ewwwwww!

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  6. I haven't runfess this but I take extra chocolate protein drinks from races, I did the same thing. I found one in the fridge that has expired but drank it anything. I am still here LOL.

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  7. Because I never shop during the year, I buy for myself when Christmas shopping. Cause.I.See.All.The.Things. I scrambled up some eggs and cheese this week with month old eggs. I lived to tell the tale. My Mojo has deposited two dead (or mostly dead) squirrels at the back door recently -- trying to bring them indoors of course. I don't even have to leave my house for roadkill.

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  8. Ek! Road kill can really put a damper on a good run...new roadkill is the worst! Especially at a race! Your dismembered bird made me chuckle and cringe at the same time...the video in my mind as I read it was VERY similar to the video you posted - hahahha!

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  9. Oh, I can NOT deal with dead, decaying animals. I runfess that once when my beagle brought a baby bunny to our back door I asked my neighbor to dispose of it for me. I just can't. I'm scouring Black Friday deals for running gear, and yes. I'm the only person in my family who runs!

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    1. I just got home for work, so after I finish blog stuff, I'm shopping!

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  10. I am so nervous about having anything past its expiration date! Rob has no fear though- he will keep things way too long and then use the sniff test. I guess you guys have made out ok so far, so maybe Im just being overly cautious about it.

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    1. Yeah, I'm with Rob. My husband? He's with you. We complete each other...

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  11. I am happy to say that I made it through my family dinner with just a few snarky comments from my sisters. After doing the 10K yesterday then hosting 14 people I was in the kitchen until 12 cleaning up. I confess I am exhausted today!

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  12. OMG you KICKED the duck head! (I runfess I typed dick first) and FILMED it!! It must be the season because I found a severed opossum head (I think) in the yard the other day. It had the cutest little face...and I left it there hoping something else would eat it...

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    1. I was actually set up to film my planks...and then the duck head was there. I needed to get it out of the way...

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  13. We've had three dead deer in our yard in the past month, and I don't know how many have animals committed vehicular suicide along the road. It's crazy!
    I will let the expiration date slid maybe a week, longer if it's in the freezer. But you are braver than I with 8 week protein shake.

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  14. A belated happy Thanksgiving! I did the Naperville Trot with my future daughter in law. She's never run and had a spontaneous pneumo on one side a few years ago and then on the other last year...she did great! We came in at 35 minutes, which was awesome. She kept telling me to go ahead but I stuck with her and we came in within one second of each other. The run was extremely easy for me and I must runfess...I was soooo tempted to burst ahead. I know for sure I would have finished somewhere below 30 minutes, which would have been a big PR for me. Maybe next time! My son (her fiance), on the other hand, was not so kind. He said adios and finished in less than 22 minutes!

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  15. Oh, it's definitely youth. It's harder to bounce back when you're older (just ask my mom).

    So sorry about your son's car. And I once rear ended a car -- just barely -- there wasn't even visible damage to my hood but it had to be completely replaced. It happened like the day before vacation. :(

    I really haven't shopped much. Blogging both helps & hurts on that front!

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  16. Hilarious that your dog filled the cone with mud. My dogs always hated the cone of shame. Our lab would get himself stuck in doorways. This time of year is crazy for roadkill. It can be so gross!

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  17. I runfess that I haven't been to yoga in 2 weeks aND miss it a lot

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  18. Oh yes I over did it with the food. I had to cancel my Pure Barre class because nothing felt good when I woke up this morning. Now I'm feeling good and have leftovers for dinner, so yay on no cooking!

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    1. I felt pretty crummy this morning too. Geez. I didn't think I overdid it...

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  19. Spending the day cooking makes me less hungry, so I think I was a pretty reasonable eater. We actually cut out both mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes this year to leave more room for everything else. They weren't missed.

    Our vet says dogs don't feel pain like we do. That might have something to do with Cocoa's seemingly quick recovery. Or else she had really good meds :) Our dogs use the cones to ram our ankles. They get their own way pretty quickly because those cones hurt. I'm glad she's on the mend.

    Sorry the plank challenge wasn't all you hoped it would be! No roadkill that I recall recently. Good thing!

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    1. Funny that your dogs used the cones to ram your ankles! Sounds like something Cocoa would have done!

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  20. Haha poor puppy... she looks so miserable and simultaneously cute. ;)

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    1. That pretty much sums it up! She's like a new woman aka pup without the cone.

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  21. Okay Wendy I am so glad to hear that I'm not the ONLY one who bought way too much stuff for myself today! I mean the deals have been amazing! I couldn't help it! I did get most of my Christmas shopping done though, which is helping me feel just a little better. I also don't blame you for dropping out of the plank challenge. I revolt against too much structure and HATE feeling forced to do anything every day. Okay and so my caption has to be something like "laugh at my cone now; I'm planning all the ways I will drive you crazy with this torture device." In my head Cocoa uses semicolons :)

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    1. That may have been what Cocoa was thinking because it wasn't long after that did she fill the cone with mud...

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  22. Yuck at the carcass overload...totally gross!!

    Your yoga poses are the best!!

    I consider plank challenges and quickly back out...just cant stay motivated...ugh!!! I do love a plank though but just cant stick with it!!

    I actually haven't done any shopping for me....can you believe it!! The kids have brain washed me! lol!!!

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    1. I'm here to brainwash you back! What fun is shopping if you don't pick up a few things for yourself?

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  23. Cocoa..."Seeing as how my head is stuck in this BOWL..how about filling it with some buttered popcorn"

    Recently, I also didn't look and backed out of my garage and hit my daughters car. She lives 3 hours away and wanted to come and 'surprise' me and parked outside of the garage. I don't think she'll ever do that again. :)

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  24. Oh my gosh, Cocoa in the cone is priceless! I was hoping to read some Cocoa captions but it seems like no one has a good one yet. The dead duck head??? That would make me so sad! I could never kick that! I try very hard not to look at roadkill or dear on the side of the road... Sometimes I see something and I can't stop thinking about it for days. Especially if it is a cat.

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    1. I was so freaked out by the duck head that my instincts just kicked in. Literally....I couldn't stop thinking about that bill for days after that.

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  25. The only road kill I see around here are some dead cats. They usually surprise me and if I have to run past on the way back I usually look away. I may be weak but I love cats and I always think of a poor kid somewhere waiting for his kitty to come home. :(

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    1. I always think that when I see a dead cat. I had a cat as a child who survived one car but a few years later, was not so lucky.

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  26. Once my uncle came upon a fresh deer on the side of the road. He took it home and carved it up....

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  27. We rode 33 miles Thanksgiving morning and the roadkill count was ridiculous! At least 3 very large raccoons, plus possums, rabbits and more.

    We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving, everyone behaved, we avoided politics, ate too much and laughed more than I have in a very long time.

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  28. LOL! I always love your runfessions!! The only shopping I did so far was a little online shopping for myself as well... the discounts have been amazing! I don't know how you kicked that duck's head... It would give me a nightmare..... I runfess that I am really enjoying this post-marathon time of not spending half my saturday on a long run that leaves me drained for the rest of the day.... and I've been enjoying trying different fitness classes now that I have more time as well....

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  29. Nice deal! I admit I do tend to think of myself a little too much when it comes to Black Friday, but usually I end up not really buying anything!

    Roadkill definitely freaks me out! I couldn't bear to touch it, let alone kick it like you did haha!

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