Merry Christmas - Week 7

I knew going into this week would be challenging for training as it was the week of Christmas and everyone schedule would be all over the place.

I didn't expect on doing much running at all this week since the kids were out of school and it WAS Christmas.

Monday was Christmas Eve and we have always had my in laws over for Christmas Eve dinner and their tradition is to stay up until midnight for a Christmas countdown. This year, hubs had to work and I was still running around getting last minute gifts for the kids. I've never left it so late, but it was so hectic. Hubs came home early afternoon and told me that I had some time to head out and get in a quick run before my in laws were to arrive.  So, I quickly changed and literally ran out the door to a trail just near our home.

I'm very fortunate to live quite close to a few trail systems that I can just run to and get in a quick workout.

 The Bob Hunter Memorial Park is an easily accessible trail system which is a part of the Rouge National Urban Park with very flat and some paved trails. They are well marked, flat and easy for all.

Sunset

The sun was starting to set as I was running back on one of the trails that takes you past the remnants of an old homestead. You can see the photo of the well and if you continue further down the trail you will see what is left of a stone oven.

I made it back before it got dark and we headed out to Church for Christmas Eve service and home for a nice delicious dinner with the family and counted down Christmas. 

Christmas Day we all slept in and eventually made it up to open presents. The kids were super happy with all their presents.  I was able to sneak out for another quick run in Bob Hunter Park while the family were resting up. 

And we were off to another Christmas feast with family that evening.  I just had to get out and burn off some energy and calories before another night of over indulgence. 

In Canada, we call the day after Christmas, December 26th Boxing Day.  It's a holiday for most people which mean hubs was home and I was able to head out for a longish run.  My buddy got to my place for 6 am and we headed out for an 18 km trail run. I hated getting up so early, but it was so good to move and burn some much needed calories that I had been collecting over the last week.  I made it back for hubs to head out to enjoy some retail therapy and I went straight back to bed.  Thank goodness the kids were so wiped out from the Christmas festivities that No. 1. slept in until noon.  No 2. was happy just to chill with me while I slept.

I took Thursday off as I knew that our back to back long runs were the next two days. It was nice to just hang out with the kids and run errands as it was back to regular hours for most businesses.

Friday - Long run 1.  I was lucky to have my brother willing to watch the kids for me as I was headed into the trails with my buddies for a 5 hour run.  The past few Fridays, it has been wet and rainy and this Friday was no exception. It was however a bit warmer, so it was not as icy as the week before.  Our buddy Karen joined us again for about 1.5 hours of the run and she got most of the icy bits.  The weather was supposed to be warming up as the day progressed. 

We went up to the Durham Forest Trail system as the trails seem to be endless and still fairly new to us. There are also many markers so that we don't get lost

Marker Posts

On this run, we decided to go off trail as many parts of the trails were icy or super muddy.  We may have trespassed on some private property, as we were forging our way through some un marked trails.    We were all pretty relieved when we finally made it back to a marker post and a clear trail.  All in all, it was fun and no one was hurt :)

Creepy Woods

I ended up having a nice date night with my boys Friday night as our daughter had a sleepover.  It's rare that we get so spend time with No.2 all by himself.  The kids usually fight to get our attention when they are together.  He was thrilled to have us all to himself and our undivided attention.

Saturday morning came too soon. My buddy showed up at my door for 5:30 and as my Garmin says, we started running at 5:36. I think she knows that if she didn't show up at my door,  I would stay in bed.  She was able to squeeze 21kms of trails out of me before I tossed in the white flag and head to home.

My Loves

Thankful and other week is over.  The weekend was upon us and it was time to hang out with the family.  Can you believe we actually went to a mall and spent nothing?  We mastered the art of window shopping.  

78.41km ran in week 7 and only 4,216 calories burned according to my Garmin stats. I'm sure I consumed that many calories at Christmas dinner. Here's to next week and hoping for less mileage and more calories burned.

Hope you all had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and have a Wonderful New Year Celebration!!