Well, October ended quickly! It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Halloween. I feel so grateful to have been able to spend a week out west with my sister and away from the chaos of healthcare. I returned home Monday night and jumped right back in the fray Tuesday morning. But I'm still basking in the glow of that California sunshine, time with my sister, and oh...those trails!
Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat...or let me runfess! It's the last Friday of October, Halloween is just around the corner, and Marcia has opened the runfessional. Maybe instead of penance, she'll hand out Reese's Peanut Butter pumpkins!
What's your favorite Halloween candy? What do you have to runfess?
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This week, my sister and I traveled to California for our 11th annual sister trip! We first started our tradition as a getaway to Naples, Florida to 'celebrate' my 50th birthday. The following year, my sister turned 50 and we went on our second sister trip to Las Vegas. We've continued to go somewhere new every year with the exception of 2020, due to the pandemic and my sister's diagnosis of breast cancer.
Thankfully, we've moved on from both of those events! This year, our travels took us to Santa Barbara. I added a couple of days to my trip so that I could spend time at my sister's new place in Palm Desert. I share some of the details below. I feel so fortunate to have had these getaways with my sister. Not only is she my closest sister but she is my best friend. As we always do, we had a great time and a lot of laughs!
As you read this, I'm still in California and will sadly be returning to Illinois on Monday. Reality is always so hard after a fun time away!
Sorry Marcia, but I'm going to need to runfess early.
I runfess... I took a DNS for Saturday's half marathon. This was the race I deferred from last fall after I broke my leg. I haven't done any runs longer than 9 miles...my son had a rugby game in Madison on Saturday...my knee is bothering me...I wasn't feeling it. All excuses and all enough to make me decide mid-week to skip the race.
It's so not like me to do this. But it sure feels like the right thing to do.
I can't remember the last time I DNS'd a race. I felt a little guilty about it, but mostly I felt relieved. I'm not a quitter, but this race was causing me a lot of mental stress. It's my son's last year playing college rugby and I don't want to miss a game. I want to get more trail miles for the Mammoth challenge.
What I don't want to do right now is run a half marathon.
Running is my stress reliever and when running is the cause of my stress...
Between work and life in general, it was a really busy week. Thank goodness for my runs and workouts to help keep me balanced. I've got a lot to share here! Let's get to it!
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| Friday morning sky |
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Let's catch up over coffee! What are you having? This month, I'm having a cup of Colectivo Ethiopia. My hubs gifted me 2 bags of Colectivo for my birthday. It's my favorite and I've been enjoying it with my usual scoop of GLG collagen and a splash of half and half. No PSL for me. I'm sorry but I'm not a fan.
What would you tell me over coffee?
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This month, I read 5 really good books. They were all books that I couldn't breeze through, full of great writing and were completely immersive stories. They were also longer than the books I've been reading lately. It made me wonder if these authors used the downtime of the pandemic to pen some really excellent reads! Whatever the reason, I can't pick a favorite this month, so you'll just have to read my reviews and decide for yourself. I also have to comment even though I'm not a fan of Good Morning America, they are picking some really good books for their book club! I've already got this month's selection queued up on my Kindle!
