Friday, November 29, 2019

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










30 comments :

  1. I runfess that I fell victim to the food coma yesterday but felt better after a quick nap, lol. Today I'm doing all of my Black Friday shopping online.

    I hope that the weather gets a little bi warmer for your upcoming half marathon this weekend!

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  2. I have a very similar pic to yours except with Maddie. We're standing in the Busse Woods parking lot before a race. Where did the time go? After that student was murdered in a UIC parking garage I think I'd not be running in that tunnel. Geez. So scary, not to mention sad.

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    1. Yep, I'm considering a detour. I think the homeless guys are heading to the library which is on the other end of the tunnel. But it's really scary.

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  3. I’m in line at the running store as we speak. :-) I had a similar debate running in Wilmington with the added danger of being in an unfamiliar place. Luckily the guy moved on before I had to decide but ....

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    1. I feel like I got lucky 2x- I'm not going to push my luck if it happens again!

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  4. That is a really hard decision to make. Much like the conditions when I ran my half in a Nor'easter (it was just a little warmer, but not a whole like). Good luck with whatever decision you make.

    Not too much shopping going on here yet.

    The place where I ran my 5k last week has a (harmless) homeless woman there all the time. Indeed, the race when right past here. I always feel so sorry for her when it's so cold. Being a small city, we don't have a ton of homeless but they are there. Thankfully the tunnels I run through like yours don't have any squatters. I don't know what I'd do.

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    1. I'm pretty sure that it's wise not to push my luck with the homeless guys. It's so weird because the police station is right across the street.

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  5. Well I am glad that I am not the only one who is shopping for herself as well today! Hey you (we ) deserve it!

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  6. I runfess that my favorite family photos are the ones we've taken at the Firecracker 5k over the years. It's mind blowing to watch the kids get bigger year by year. Good luck tomorrow, hopefully the rain will stay away.

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    1. It's not looking promising! Hoping that it is at least not windy!

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  7. Good luck with your race decision...that's tough when it is local. Usually I have rain during race-cation where I spent $$$ to get there so I have no choice in my mind.

    There are homeless people on one of my routes but I ignore them... NYC, well, too many everywhere...get used to them...so far everyone has been harmless.

    And I am working today so no shopping. Have used up all my vacation days (on races).

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    1. I worked today too! But I'm not a 'shopper' per se...I like the online version better!

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  8. That photo of you and your son is just precious!
    So now I am curious, do you run through the tunnel with the homeless man or do you turn around?

    I do not black Friday shop, unless it is online ( or from QVC). Every gift I've bought someone is something that I would want for myself too, but I have not bought myself anything yet ( but I really want to). Maybe someone in my family will ask me what I would like for Christmas...lol -M

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    1. I've run through the tunnel twice with the homeless guys (2 different ones) there. The last guy was a little scary so I'm thinking I may have to avoid the tunnel if someone is in there.

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  9. Gravy on mashed potatoes! So good!
    I confess that I ate too much pumpkin pie yesterday after the Turkey Trot. I think I had 2 pieces for myself and half of my husband's. Who needs so much pie after a 5k? And I'm not even particularly fond of it.
    Happy shopping!

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    1. I had cherry pie--but just one slice. I love it! Pumpkin? Not so much.

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  10. I tend to shop more for myself these days than I do for others. The kids all want cash (not even gift cards), and my parents just want gift cards to restaurants because they don't need anything else. I miss those days of long ago when I had the challenge of buying tangible, hand-held items and wrapping and hiding them.

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    1. It's amazing how well I remember Christmas when I was little--and how quickly that passed when my boys were little!

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  11. I loved seeing the photo of you and your son from 10 years ago. How do they grow up so fast??? I think I might avoid the tunnel. You never know...

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    1. I told him we should have done that race yesterday for a 10 year anniversary and he responded: "oh yeah?" LOL

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  12. Lots of questions today!

    First of all, please be safe when you're running, especially by yourself. I know you know this, but I'm just going to pass along that reminder.

    I am doing a little shopping for myself, but I'm definitely not in a very festive mood right now. I keep going back to all the things I'm missing out on right now and it's hard.

    I might bail on a race in driving rain, trained or not. Rain makes me so miserable. I've done shorter distances in pouring rain and it was awful, but I guess I wouldn't know until the day of.

    You know I'm grateful for my village, my tribe and my people right now. I wouldn't be surviving this time right now if not for all of them. Some days it's tough to be positive but I do remember all those fabulous people and that snaps me out of my funk.

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    1. I'm sure you're pretty down and out. I know I would be and I wish I had something to say that would make you feel better. Just keep your eye on the prize. You will heal and you will run again!

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  13. Love that photo! I sort of failed on my 10 days as I forgot to do it after a while. I have lots of super photos although my favourite of all is of my friend Nick looming up out of the mud like a monster made of mud at the cross-country - and I didn't even take that one! No Thanksgiving here but I continue to be thankful that I have running - and runners - in my life. I am giving a short presentation about my role as Mental Health Champion with my co-Champion at running club prize-giving this evening and I'm glad I can do that role.

    Hope you can make a decision about the half based on good data when you wake up!

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    1. I'd love to hear more about your role as Mental Health Champion! Good luck on your presentation.

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  14. Scary about the tunnel. I was running across a bridge in Vegas a couple of years ago and when I got to the top there were two very sketchy-looking people who obviously had taken up residence there. I sped past and down the bridge and then waited until a few guys were walking toward me to cross the bridge and literally told them they were my new best friends and would be escorting me back across.

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    1. When I was in Vegas a few years ago, I saw a lot of that. There was one particularly memorable incident in a Starbucks on the strip in the early morning. Nothing bad happened but it's sad that no one can do anything about this.

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  15. Les and I got home around midnight last night after a week of eating our way through the southeast. We started on Monday in New Orleans with beignets and finished in Panama City with the family feast. I'm grateful we made the trip - Les has two aunts in their 90s and his dad is 87 so I know those times are going to end sooner than we'd like. My Suunto is telling me that I have ZERO minutes of training for the week. There's always tomorrow!

    And we did our Christmas shopping via Amazon on Thursday - one electronic gadget for each of us (new Garmin 530 for him, new iPad for me.)

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    1. Sounds like a fun trip! I need to start planning some travels myself. It's getting to be that time of year when I don't want to be around the midwest!

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