Post Thanksgiving Blahs

I'm just going to admit it: I'm not much of a holiday girl. I used to be, evident by a storage room in my basement overflowing with Christmas decorations, but that was another life-time ago.

I go through most of the motions, for my kiddos, but they are starting to get too old to really care if I stress for days dragging 28 boxes of holiday decorations out of the basement or burning 15 kinds of Christmas cookies, which I yell at them for eating anyway because they're too fattening (well, maybe they do like the baking, even if the edges are black). Why do I do it? Just because it's what's expected of society? You burn cookies, you over-eat, you stress over what gifts to buy (or what you can afford), you remove half your house to accommodate 28 boxes of decorations, you end up putting up a tree all by yourself because no one wants to hang more than 3 ornaments, you enjoy it for a few days, then spend 2 full days taking it all down and getting house back to normal. Just the thought of it all makes me stress! I don't know, I'm sure it's just me, but I think I'd rather spend the time doing something fun with my kids rather than trying to be like Martha. Or half of Martha. Even just a fraction of Martha (thank God I haven't taken any illegal Martha stock trading tips).

My 14-year old boys (twins!) are skiers. Not just casual, recreational skiers, but really, REALLY GOOD skiers. Their dad takes them a lot and I get to hear updates and reports - which "bowl" they skied; how steep it was; how many falls, or not, they had; how fast they fly....and each time, I hear the excitement about the day in their voices. I don't ski anymore. That, too, was another life ago. But it's their passion. Like my running. Well, maybe not to the level of "obsessed" like my running, but truly, they love it and get so excited this time of year as the mountains are now showing-off their pearly whites. The boys are biting at the bit to get up there and do their thang!

Here's my skiing whine and why I don't participate: 1) I HATE to be cold. I'm fine with the skiing part as I can keep moving and keep warm but riding up that lift is excruciatingly cold - I shiver the entire time. And once my toes are cold, like 15 minutes into it, then everyone around me gets to hear about it and well....enough said. 2) I have very large calf muscles. From guess what??? Wearing ski boots are agonizing on my calves and I don't love the sport enough [because how cold it is] to go out and spend $900 on customized ski boots. But I do love my kids.

So here I am, two days after Turkey day, finished with all my reflecting on what I'm grateful for, and now entering the marathon taper stress of questioning every....single....thing; the holiday madness stress; and just more life stress. Oh boy, oh boy! So I decided I am going to only pull out 4 boxes of decorations this season so that I can bank the other 24 box time to spend one day with my boys skiing. I may not SKI for long with them but I want to "see" not just "hear" their joy! It's brought a big smile to my face today as the idea popped into my head. I may not always have the brainiest of ideas, but I think this is a good one. And I don't even think I'll begin the 4 box festivities until after I get back from Tucson.

In running news: I took Thursday off from running, day after my 22-er. I couldn't believe how un-sore I was - how very un-normal like of me. It felt good to not walk around with sore quad muscles all day. And to top that, I didn't have a cramp in the calf muscle, which has also been the norm for many months. Yeah to that! Friday: On my schedule was 5 miles at a pretty quick pace. Since I just did this exact run on Tuesday, I opted instead to do 5 miles of hill repeats. Trainer man is on vacation so I couldn't ask his opinion (and frankly, it's time to stop being so needy... and well, okay, I won't get into the "well okay" stuff) and since uphills are my nemesis, I opted for this route. I take my clients on hill repeats all the time and know its one of the best workouts. I do them, just not enough. There is an almost 1/2 mile hill near my house so up and down 5 times I went. Felt good. Felt strong. Yeah to that, also! Saturday (that would be right now): I didn't sleep well last night, at all, and then got up with twin 2 at 5:30 as he set out to go mountain climbing today with his buddy in crime. The two of them are big into mt. climbing - not that that is a bad thing, but it gets out of hand sometimes, which I won't get into now either as this blog is long enough already. After he left, I went back to bed for awhile, sans sleep of course, and am now sitting here debating whether to go out for about 8 easy or bag the run and go to gym for core work and a swim and do 8 at race pace tomorrow. My legs are a little stiff from the hills yesterday so I think plan B is best. This will also force me to do some stretching, which I repeatedly vow to do daily yet rarely do.

And here's my ADD moment story (mostly for kindred ADDer Californian, Meg): I took college daughter shopping last night, avoiding pre-dawn fear-for-your-life madness because, afterall, I had coupons and could use them just as easily in the evening as I could at 3AM. Guess what I forgot sitting at home on kitchen counter??

And I was going to add some real pics of mine but I can't find the cable to download them.... hum...

Happy Miles to all!!