Sending a big Thank You to my family

I LOVE my family!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  Mine was.  There were of course some minor hiccups, but mostly it was awesome.  I am a road warrior and try to see everyone all at once.  This year we switched it up.  I went to my sister's after church on Christmas Eve.  I usually visit for a couple of hours and then head over to my uncle's to spend the night and have Christmas morning there.  This time I slept at my sister's and then went to my uncle's on Christmas morning.  Teenagers like to sleep in so that meant that I could have two Christmas mornings :-)

I did not get the walking in on Saturday that I had hoped for.  I tried. I went to the track, but I had a really hard time. I had taken medicine the night before that completely dried out my throat.  So I had barely gotten one lap in when my throat was so dry that I had tears streaming down my face.  I drank a bunch of water and it happened again on my second lap so I called it a day.  I was frustrated, but these things happen.  To make up for it I went to Subway for lunch.  It was a good decision.  And then I want to Starbucks.  I got my skinny peppermint mocha (it was going to be a long day), got a cozy spot in the sun, and finished my book.  It was so relaxing that I got a second drink.  I love their iced green teas.  YUM.

Mom was coming up to hear me sing at church and we were going to be cutting it close on time.  So I stopped and got us hoagies earlier.  I got my Turkey, spinach, ranch again...minus the ranch.  Another happy choice.

When we go to church I ran up for practice.  My throat dried out during that too.  Bah.  The good news is that I had been sucking down water all day, but I was still fighting it.  Oh well.  Lovely Lisa, our choir director, always has a gift of chocolate for us on Christmas Eve.  This year it was wrapped Godiva bars. YUM.  There were two piles: Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate with peppermint.  I love them both.  I took a dark chocolate.  After service was over she had extra and gave my mom a white chocolate.  When we got home mom begged to switch.  If I didn't look exactly like her sometimes I would wonder if we were related.  haha.  How could I say no?

Soon after we headed out.  I got to my sister's and was just completely exhausted.  But, it's Christmas Eve and I'm always a little kid and have a hard time falling asleep. haha.  It didn't seem like long before my nephew was banging on the door for my wake up call.  I grabbed my water and headed down. 

The boy opened presents in record time.  So I was going to have enough time to pack up and go see the teen agers wake up.  Before I left though, my sister admitted that it had been a little bit since she had checked the blog. She asked how I was dealing with the holidays. I smiled.  It was nice to have people realize how difficult they could be for me.

I am happy to report that the amount of candy received this year was very minimal.  YEAH!  I did get a few pieces of which chocolate peppermint Not gonna lie.  They didn't last until dinner.  But, the amount consumed this year is so little compared to every past year it's a happy thing.

I mentioned before that my favorite part of Christmas morning is the incredible breakfast that my Aunt makes.  It's the most amazing french toast and an egg/sausage casserole. I had two small squares of french toast and one square of the casserole.  I really wanted more.  I was content though.  But, the want was there.  Usually I have seconds of both.  I decided to have seconds of one this time.  Just couldn't decide which.  And then the decision was made for me.  The french toast had cararmelized so much that we practically needed a jackhammer to get it out.  Egg casserole it is.  I felt full after that piece and knew I was done.  Time for a Christmas siesta.  I fell asleep in a chair and my knees were dangling the whole time.  When I woke up they were NOT happy with me.

I had my workout clothes and after the food and the nap there was really no reason not to go for a walk.  I wanted to.  I really did.  I started to get nervous about walking outside though.  It was a beautiful day, but I'm not super familiar with the area.  Would I really get a good walk in?  Would it be a good distance?  My Aunt offered to go with me, but I just didn't feel like it.  And then the magic words were said: There's a treadmill in the basement.  She kept meaning to let me know about it.  Bonus.

The boys were down in the basement playing some war game on playstation.  So I could either go down and watch that while on the treadmill or I could stay on the couch and watch A Christmas Story.  I was just talking myself out of the treadmill when I mentioned this to my mom.  Her response: it's that fat devil on your shoulder talking to you.  That's all I needed.  It was like my body took over.  I went upstairs and changed.  I was going down. 

My plan was for an hour.  Five minutes into it though I was contemplating cutting it to 3 miles.  Of course this is because I wanted to jog.  So my first mile was jogging.  I was happy, but it hurt.  My second mile was back to walking and it was off pace.  I was good by mile 3.  I knew once I got to three I would push it to the full hour.  Then to finishing that fourth mile.  And because I wanted to do it, I finished my fifth mile.

So now here's the fun stuff.  I wanted to throw up the whole time.  There is nothing wrong with exercising at night, but do it earlier when your belly isn't full of stuff.  That french toast was trying to come back.  It was a struggle.  I never feel that sick if I exercise after I eat right.  Another issue is that even though I finished the Half two weeks ago, I had not really gotten back out there to walk since.  I only had a hand full of walks since then.  If you told me I had to do one tomorrow I would finish it, but the pace would be MUCH slower.  So if you aren't feeling it, don't be discouraged. Just make it more consistent.  You know how much I love it, and if I struggle it's because I'm not being consistent.

My aunt was worried that I would say bad things about the food.  I will not.  Breakfast was delicious.  I will admit to craving vegetables all day.  Luckily there were green beans and broccoli with dinner.  There was also ham and "smashed" potatoes (not quite mashed).  I filled half of my plate with greens and then had a little of the others.  I was full with one plate and did not go back for seconds.  This is a Christmas miracle.

So thank you to my family for helping me through the holiday.  While there were some cookie sneakings (not sure I can ever give that up), the support I had kept me from diving in to the sugar deep end.  Thank you for asking.  Thank you for providing the motivation to workout.  Thank you for letting me sleep.  Thank you for the advil.  Thank you for a wonderful Christmas.

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