<p>I had to laugh. Had a relative for Christmas. She was here for Thanksgiving and enjoyed my turkey dinner that I cooked solo. And, back today for Christmas dinner that I, again, cooked solo. She volunteered to bring a mid-afternoon appetizer before dinner. I said great!</p>
<p>So I cook brunch and we open presents. Then, mid afternoon, I go to the kitchen to start getting organized for prime rib, roasted asparagus, hollandaise from scratch. Start the grill, prep the roast, etc. She says, “Oh, I’ll get the appetizer ready…”</p>
<p>Next thing I know, she’d handing me a package of powdered crab dip mix, a carton of cream, a can of crab, and a bag of shredded cheese. “Here’s the appetizer… the instructions are on the bag…” :)</p>
<p>I just had to laugh. So much for having some general cooking schedule in mind for a big meal…</p>
<p>On the plus side, I had the best dinner I’ve ever eaten. Completely nailed a standing prime rib roast from the local butcher shop on the Weber charcoal grill. Roasted asparagus with Julia Child hollandaise sauce. And, the best red wine I’ve ever tasted – one from the basement that had to be uncorked:</p>
<p>It was $29.99 when I bought it in 1982 from the ghetto liquor store near Atlanta airport. Probably the most boutique of all boutique California red wines. Been kicking around in my basements ever since. Wow. Wow. Wow.</p>
<p>Where’s that wagon? Somebody drag me up on board!</p>
<p>Another turkey done of the grill - another hit with the guests. Served it with sweet potatoes, green salad, and plenty of wine and Mumm champagne. </p>
<p>Kind of hard to believe I’m reading this thread from a high speed train in Germany. Enjoying beautiful, snowy landscape. The biking paid off when we thought we were paying to get into a church but instead just bought a ticket to climb over 300 steps to get to the top of the church, looking over the city of Munich .</p>
<p>Watching an amazingly beautiful sunrise at this moment. Looks like we will have mixed cloud cover instead of the usual eternal gray skies. It hasn’t been too cold, however–yesterday we all went for a walk, bundling up the 4-month-old like a burrito.</p>
<p>And I have been doing “baby presses”–lifting 12 1/2 lbs. over my head as many times as I can. I always get tired before the baby stops liking it!</p>
<p>Woke up to find the bunny had gained 3 miles on me. I just finished 5.1, so I’m 1.9 ahead again. I didn’t want to run, but wound up doing a decent pace (for these days).<br>
It’s clouding up again. Ugh. We had a nice sunset last night. It’s pretty from our deck.</p>
<p>Trail running on a slippery muddy sledding hill. Slipped and slid down half the hill! Good thing I had running tights on. First year for me in running tights. Feel faster in them.</p>
<p>Kudos to those of you who got out Christmas day - no time here on the holiday - was planning on an outside run this afternoon - until I found what appears to be a water line leak out near our driveway - now I"m stuck inside waiting for the city water dept. to come by - at their leisure - and tell me what to do next - ugh. The two doggy walks today will have to do…</p>
<p>Bummer, abasket. Water issues are the worst (speaking from relatively recent experience). </p>
<p>Another gorgeous day here, managed 5.29 miles while S worked and H and D snoozed away their indulgences of yesterday. I was not particularly fast today, I’m feeling a little tired. H did go to Pilates this morning with me which he enjoyed. We did a lot more flexibility than core. I wonder if he’ll like it when we do more core work? </p>
<p>Two dog walks, Pilates and 5.29 miles. I only need 7.67 to get to 100 for the month. </p>
<p>Yay. All kinds of firsts for the week. First day I’m not cooking a big fancy dinner. First time I made it to the basement for a workout. The holiday pounds I put on must have gone to muscle (I wish) because that was a good, solid workout. All my little warm up, stretching, mobility exercises felt great – like the Tin Man in Oz getting a couple of squirts of oil. Something I never understood as a couch potato… exercise makes you feel better, above and beyond any fat loss, etc. </p>
<p>Single leg deadlifts Push ups with hands in Jungle Gym straps. DB front squats. 3-pt DB row. All good solid sets. Got my heart rate up to 85% of max on the front squats.</p>
<p>Just leftovers for dinner. Leftovers being a hefty slab of prime rib I saved from the Christmas feast. We killed the asparagus and hollandaise, so I’m whipping up some fresh green beans to go with it.</p>
<p>Haven’t quite killed off the Christmas sweets/desserts, but at least I can put the booze away and get a start on my beach body… :)</p>
<p>Had planned on yoga class, but my oldest D wanted to go to a Goya exhibit. My exercise was spending-walking for three hours at the museum. Wish I had my Polar Activity monitor for step count. I forgot to put it on in the morning. </p>
<p>38 mile relaxed ride. So nice to be outside! At start, temp was 36 but by the time we ended was 54. Goofy weather; wish it would make up its mind so it would be simple to dress appropriately!</p>
<p>Unseasonably balmy weather here today too. Short 4 miles this morning - enjoyed Into the Woods this afternoon. Broke into H’s gift of mustard from Stone Brewery - enjoyed with some soft pretzels and complementary beer. What’s Christmas without a few carbs? Okay, more than a few. I regret nothing. </p>
<p>Ran 5 miles on the trail with a hs runner this morning. Wish I could get motivated to run with the early am runners but I don’t think my body is wired to do that.</p>
<p>6.1 miles today. I’m almost 4 miles ahead of the bunny and have my highest month since pre-injury. I beat the rain and it was 51 and cloudy for my run. I didn’t want to do it, but I did. I saw a white Kenyan on the path. Seriously. The guy was flying and was thin and blond. Shorts and a Santa Monica Track Club t-shirt. Light shoes. I suspect it is a lower level pro visiting for the holidays or something, but I didn’t recognize him. I stopped and stared. I admit it. </p>
<p>Runningahead is an online exercise log and forum. You can set annual mileage goals on your log homepage and a pace bunny is assigned. Each day you can check your progress as you log your runs. Keeping up with the pace bunny is kind of fun, because this is the sort of thing that matters to runners I know. </p>
It hasn’t been too cold, however–yesterday we all went for a walk, bundling up the 4-month-old like a burrito.</p>![http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0380/7673/products/HattiesBack_1024x1024.jpg]crab](http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0380/7673/products/HattiesBack_1024x1024.jpg%5Dcrab){kind=link}
