Christmas Blessings

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone had a great holiday! I have definitely been blessed this year and am so thankful for the incredible Christmas and Birthday celebrations – and they aren’t even over yet!

As usual, I spent Christmas Eve with my dad and his side of the family. I went up to Orange County on Sunday night to stay with my dad and step mom for an extra night of quality time. It was so fun to listen to them excitedly talk about their new love of running and fitness (they just completed P90X and signed up for their first half marathon – their P90X results are here). We had planned to go for a run together on Christmas Eve morning (I was going to run ahead and try to get in my missed 17 mile long run from the weekend and they were going to run about 5 miles) but due to rain we posponed it and end up going at different times. Unfortunately, my ongoing stomach pain got worse during my run (it would start to feel better and make me think I could run again) and I ended up walking about 2 miles of a sad five mile run. I was pretty down when I realized that not only would I not be completing my long run but it hurt so bad I had to walk home.

As the day progressed my stomach seemed to feel better but I still didn’t want to push it with attempting a run the next day. Plus, I don’t typically run on Christmas since I don’t get much quality time with my family and I don’t want to spend too much of Christmas morning away from them. On Christmas Eve I had driven from my Dad’s house in Orange County to my Grandma’s house in Temecula where my mom always stays during Christmas. Every Christmas morning my mom and I exchange stockings and have breakfast together before opening our gifts. always get twice the gifts since Christmas is also my birthday! My favorite fitness gifts were my new Lululemon running gloves (that are iPhone friendly) and running beanie (with pony tail hole!). I’ll be warmer for my early morning runs now!

By early afternoon, the rest of my extended family has arrived and we eat, chat and play games until late in the evening. Early afternoon is also when Mike joins me to celebrate my birthday with me as well. I have a very large and close-knit family and I look forward to Christmas most of all because I get to spend time with them.  There were over 30 of us at Grandma’s this year!

Grandma and Her Granddaughters

This morning I woke up feeling antsy and ready to run. I had been bouncing around on Christmas morning wanting to get out and get some exercise but I knew it was better to wait it out. I left my Grandma’s house while my mom was still sleeping, not knowing how my planned run would go. There is a very hilly 5.5 mile loop around my Grandma’s house and as soon as I started running I knew it was going to be a good one. My legs felt energized and my breathing was easy. It was lightly raining but it felt refreshing. I ended up running the 5.5 miles with no stomach pain at all with an average pace in the high 8 min/miles. This was one of the best Christmas gifts!

Don’t get me wrong, I love getting gifts on Christmas (who doesn’t!?), but I realized this year just how valuable a strong, functioning body is! I am truly thankful to be able to run and it was very upsetting when I wasn’t able to. The greatest gift is good health and I hope I don’t ever take that for granted.

After my great run, I met up with some of my favorite women in my family for a yummy Birthday lunch followed by Les Miserables (great movie!) Tonight Mike and I exchanged our Christmas gifts and next week we will go out to dinner for my birthday (he is on antibiotics so we want to wait until he can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner).  On Friday we will have Christmas Part 2 with his family since his Dad had knee surgery on the 24th and they decided to move their celebration to a day where he could really enjoy it. I definitely don’t mind extending the holiday!

Family Birthday Lunch

 

How was your Christmas!? Did you get any fun running or fitness gear?