Black Friday Runfessions

Doesn't this feel like the longest month ever? With 5 Thursdays this month, I thought Thanksgiving would never come. Hopefully, all of you survived your day with your loved ones and are now recovering from your food coma or hitting the Black Friday sales. Me, I'm at work because illness never takes a day off.

I'm thankful for Marcia and her monthly Runfession Sessions. It's time to cleanse the soles and start this holiday season off with a fresh slate. Do you runfess? It's pretty painless...

I runfess that I did not write a Thanksgiving gratitude post. I will just take a brief moment here and say that right now, my health tops the list of things I'm grateful for. Every mile that I log, every pound that I lift, and every pose on the mat are reminders of how truly lucky this RA warrior is. The rest of my blessings are the gravy on the mashed potatoes.

If you are on Facebook, you may have noticed that I participated in that 10 days of running photo challenge. The goal was to post 10 photos of runs that were special to me. I runfess that after almost 30 years of running and racing the challenge was narrowing it down to just 10 photos! I didn't share this photo as one of my memories, but 10 years ago, my oldest and I ran a Turkey Trot together. I'm not crying...

One of us has really changed.

I runfess that for the first time in all the miles I've logged on the bike path, I have recently had several encounters with homeless guys in the tunnel on the path. You all know the tunnel--I often feature it on my IG posts. Each time, I had to make a decision. Do I turn around and run back out? Or do I speed up and run past? It's a little scary and risky either way. It's also really troubling.

A few weeks ago during a run, I slipped on black ice and fell, injuring my big toe and elbow. I runfess that I laughed when I saw Coach Sammy Jo's response to my post on IG. Maybe it was her clapping that I heard?

I runfess that I have been doing as much shopping for myself as I am doing for my friends and family. I mean, I can't help it. While doing research for my holiday gift post, I found so many cool things! Not to mention all the offerings everyone else has on their posts. While I did buy a few things, I'm still looking for some new winter running tights to replace my beloved Lucy tights.

I runfess that after looking forward to getting back to long distance running and preparing for my half marathon tomorrow, I am having serious thoughts about a DNS. No, I'm not injured or having an RA flare. It's the weather forecast that's got me hesitating. Unfortunately, there aren't any other halfs this year and that makes my decision especially difficult. I'm not a fair weather runner, but 13.1 in this? Stay tuned.

What do you have to runfess? Are you Black Friday shopping? Any gratitude you wish to share? What's one of your favorite running photo memories? Would you bail on a race you trained for if the weather was bad? Do you shop for yourself during the holidays? What are your favorite winter running tights? What's on your wish list? Did you link up your holiday gift list with mine? 

I'm linking up with Marcia for Runfessions and with Fridays with Fairytales and Fitness.