Mission Accomplished

I continued my quest to hit 1000 miles for the year and on Wednesday, my mission was accomplished. I didn't stop running, though! I kept up with my usual routine, adding a few more miles to my yearly total. I'm feeling very satisfied with how my year went, both on and off the road, and that is a great feeling!

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: trail run 6.75 miles

Monday: Christmas Day

Tuesday: CrossFit

Wednesday: run 7.3 miles

Thursday: CrossFit

Friday: treadmill run 6 miles

Saturday: rest

Our strange weather continues! On Sunday/Christmas Eve, it was 50 degrees when I left to run at the forest preserve. I wore shorts! It was foggy and the trails were muddy and wet. It felt more like spring than December. No deer sightings--there were too many people on the trails. Despite that, I had lots of solitude. I took a detour into the woods to check out a structure that looked like a well from the trail but turned out to be what my trail friend said was a salt lick. Going off trail is always risky and the buckthorn had its way with me. IYKYK. Aside from all the battle wounds, this was a very strong run for me!

Salt Lick

I didn't run on Christmas Day--I was hosting my entire family and needed to save my energy! I woke up Tuesday morning completely exhausted and not at all sure I was up for CrossFit. But after 2 cups of coffee and a smoothie, I felt a little more ambitious. I was so glad I went because I felt much better after the workout. The workout itself was painful: for the strength portion, we did a 12 minute EMOM alternating toes-to-bar prep with 2 laps of farmers' carries (I used 35# KBs). For the MetCon, we did an 18 minute AMRAP of 15 cal on the bike, 14 toes-to-bar or prep (I did straight leg raises), and 10 box jumps (I used a 20" box). I made it through 5 full rounds and an additional 9 cal on the bike before time was called. I was really happy with my TTB prep--I feel as if I am making good progress and should hopefully have TTB soon!

On Wednesday, I laced up my road shoes and ran the 7-ish mile loop at Busse Woods, one of the other pretty forest preserves near my house. While I've run there many times over the years, with my focus on trails, I don't think I've run there at all this year! It was a pretty morning and I mostly had the path to myself, save for some fisherman. There were some slick spots on the pavement and the trees were covered with hoarfrost. The elk were out and it was a treat to see them. I brought my headphones but forgot to put them on--it was just that beautiful. 

SJ had Covid, so I did the WOD on Thursday instead of strength training. For the strength portion, we again worked on cleans and jerks. The class was large, so we were partnered up with another classmate. The assignment was to do 5 sets of squat cleans and one jerk. We built to 65#. The MetCon was a chipper: 18-15-12-9-6-3 calories on the rower,  burpees, and abmat situps. There weren't enough rowers, so I did the bike, which takes longer to accumulate calories than the rower does. No worries, it was a good workout and I finished in 16:11.

Friday morning was cold, rainy, and dark; my joints were achy, so I made the decision to run on my TM. It wasn't a difficult decision. I ran an easy paced 6 and headed off to work. The achiness stuck with me all day and into Saturday. I opted out of a planned strength class and gave my legs a rest. 

Christmas Day

We hosted dinner on Christmas Day! We had 13 total and it was a fun, lively gathering. Both the boys brought their girlfriends. We also found out that my sister is going to be a grandma this spring! I've said it before and I'll say it again--having grown children is really the best! 

Cocoa update

On Wednesday, I took Cocoa up to the University of Wisconsin for her follow up. The dermatologist called her 'the patient of the day' and it wasn't because she is so cute. Between her ear and her skin, she's just a hot mess. She has really bad allergies and we've been playing with her medications to try to keep her from itching so much. This predisposes her to superficial skin infections and they gave me some new medicated soaps to wash her with. With regards to her ear, the ear drops they've given me have kept things stable, but she is very likely going to need total ear ablation in her remaining ear. I have time off scheduled in April and am hoping to schedule it then. Sadly. I just hate the thought of her being deaf, but we're between the proverbial rock and hard place. 

We're wrapping up the year without fanfare. We're going to my parents' today to exchange gifts with my youngest sister and her family, then we'll spend a quiet NYE at home. Just how I like it! Do you have any plans for NYE or NYD? Are you running any races this weekend? Did anyone have a White Christmas?

Coming up on Tuesday are my monthly mini book reviews for December!

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.