Hello friends!
We are getting ready to head to Pittsburgh for the holiday with Matt’s family, but we did an early Christmas with my parents last weekend which was really fun!
Riese was very into the present situation and tried to unwrap everyone’s presents for them…
As for other holiday fun last weekend, on Saturday morning I ran a holiday 10k with friends Kathleen and Katie!
Please excuse our orange look – the sunrise made for weird photo lighting!
We ran the Christmas Caper 10k hosted by the Potomac Valley Track Club at Hains Point in DC. I found out about their races from a blog reader (thank you!) and thought it sounded fun – they are super small and low key which was a nice change after the massive Marine Corps 10k last month.
When we arrived at Hains Point on Saturday morning to grab our bibs (which took 2 seconds and was right by the starting area, where there was also ample free parking – total wins), we were treated with a lovely sunrise.
There were only 25 people running the 10k and about 50 doing the 5k – nice! Both races took us out and back along Hains Point, with the 10k returning to the starting area and then going back out for one more out and back of the same 5k.
Let’s do this! It was a lovely sunny and cold morning for a run.
It took me awhile to get into the groove with this race – it felt hard for most of it, and I didn’t love that we came back to the starting/finish area and went back out again (although I did like being able to grab some water and ditch my vest at said turnaround point).
When we went back out for the second lap I was like “ughhhhh I wish we were already done” but then I ended up getting a good second wind and into the flow of it and enjoying the second lap more than the first! It helped to have my friends to chat with – we stayed together and talked the whole time.
These gorgeous views helped, too!
At the Marine Corps 10k a couple months ago my finish time was about 1:02 – so finishing in under 1 hour was a big improvement! Slowly but steadily getting my fitness back.
Our actual finish time was 58:24 – I forgot to stop my watch right away. I was pleased with this time, especially since it included a not very speedy water stop at the turnaround point!
You know what’s fun about running super small races? It’s actually possible to place in the top 3! 😉
Katie took home a 3rd place female finish for her age group (she’s younger than we are!), and Kathleen and I tied for 3rd place in ours. Sweet!
We all won a Christmas tree ornament as our prize. 🙂 Riese was thrilled when I brought it home, she loves glittery ornaments!
Such a fun morning. Thanks for getting me out there and for the great company, ladies!
Other holiday fun we’ve had recently is a holiday dinner at our friends Katie and Mike’s place – the same Katie from the 10k! Their son goes to school with Riese, and Wes is actually starting in their daughter’s class in January, and they live only a couple blocks away from us so we hang out a lot which is fun.
They had a raclette dinner party – have you ever had a raclette dinner? It’s kind of like a twist on fondue – you use a tabletop grill to prepare your own little creation with meats, veggies, etc., and then you pull out little “drawers” underneath, place bread or potatoes or any of the veggies and meat in it, then top it with cheese!
I went for the bread option with cheese on top, and then once it was melted I added meat and veggies on top of that. Delicious and fun to do something a little different!
One other holiday highlight from this week is that Matt and I took Riese ice skating one afternoon! We did this last year, too, and it was really fun so I knew we wanted to take her on another special “big girl ice skating date” (Wes was home napping with our part time nanny).
She started out pretty cautious with the help of this little penguin thingy.
And then by the end she was forging out on her own a little bit!
Their kid skates have double blades which helps with balance – she originally had regular single blade skates and she was NOT cool with that situation so we swapped.
We are headed up to Pittsburgh this year to celebrate the holidays with Matt’s family, and we decided to leave a day earlier than planned due to the big snow storm/cold snap that is making its way towards us at the moment.
It’s looking absolutely frigid in Pittsburgh this next week – yikes. Hoping the weather warms up quickly because keeping a big group of kids cooped up indoors all day is not my favorite thing ever…
I’ll be taking next week off of blogging so there will be no new blog posts until the new year. I hope you have a wonderful week and I will catch you back here in January!
In case you missed it, here is some recipe inspiration for the weekend ahead:
- Easy Christmas Snacks & Appetizers
- Christmas brunch recipes
- Thanksgiving side dishes (these ideas translate well to any holiday dinner!)
