Wildwood Metropark

When Ryan and I were back in Michigan I was hoping to get at least one outdoor run in the books. I thought about it on Thanksgiving morning, but when I woke up it was snowing (which meant slick roads) and was 24* I opted to do a treadmill run instead.

Saturday looked like the weather was going to cooperate (chilly still, but at least it was going to be sunny and slightly warmer than the previous few days – and by warmer I mean slightly ABOVE freezing) so we made it happen. I was able to talk Ryan into coming along and dad let us borrow his truck. We went to Wildwood Metropark and did a nice 3-mile trail run.

I had on gloves, a scarf, three layers (t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt and running jacket) and a pair of running capris. I didn’t get cold at all (which is saying A LOT especially because I am normally cold even when it is 60 degrees out).  

The temp by the time we were done

We got down to the park around 9:30am, so the sun was out in full effect and made everything look beautiful. We saw a few doe super close to the trail at one point (yes, I stopped my Garmin so that we could take a couple pictures and even a little video).

Probably 20 feet away from us

[[You can see a second doe in the background on the right hand side]]

With the weather and the beauty, I definitely could have kept running (also since I was running with Ryan and we were going at his pace, sometimes it makes me feel like I could go forever :) ). I stuck to my word though (in the past I would tell Ryan we were going to go for a 3 mile run and would somehow make it 4 or 5) and we got to the car right at 3 miles. [[Not to mention, we had to get back to the house to watch THE GAME.]]

Yep, had to wear my Garmin OVER my layers so we could see it :)

Although it was beautiful, I told Ryan multiple times on the trails that I don’t know if I would have gotten into running if I would have stayed in Michigan. We are so spoiled when it comes to weather in Southern California and I really don’t know if I would have been able to rally and be as motivated as when we have 70*s and sun most of the year. RUNNERS THAT STILL GET OUT THERE AND DO IT IN THE ELEMENTS – YOU HAVE MY UTMOST RESPECT!

Visiting The Grandmas

Since we were at the Lions/ Packers Game on Thanksgiving, we weren't able to go to a 'traditional' family Thanksgiving. We decided that on Friday we would go visit the Grandmas in Monroe. We did lunch with Grandma V at Bob Evans and then stopped by Grandma P's house to say 'HI'. These are LOVELY ladies and I just wanted to share a couple quick pictures of them.

Ryan and I with my mom's mom (Grandma-Rama):

Me, my mom, and my mom's mom:

Three Generations

Ryan and I with my dad's mom (Grandma P):

Me, my dad, and my dad's mom:

My dad seemed super far away, but I thought Grandma and I were cute, so kept it :)

Dad was closer (a plus), but my shirt made me look pregnant (a minus)

Lions Game - Thanksgiving

Ryan's family and my family trade off holidays. One will get Thanksgiving and one will get Christmas. This year was my family's Thanksgiving.

When the NFL released the schedules for this year, we noticed that the Lions would be HOME on Thanksgiving. Well, if you know me or my family, then you KNOW that sports is WHERE IT'S AT!

We try to go to as many sporting events as possible, whether it is a Pistons game, Red Wings game (which we will be going to for Christmas with my mom, my dad, my brother, his girlfriend, Ryan's parents, Ryan's sister and her husband, and our brother-in-law and her boyfriend), Walleyes game, Tigers game, etc.

Pistons Game 2008:

Walleyes Game 2012:

Tigers Spring Training 2013:

Mom, Dave Dombrowski and I

Ryan and I chatted about it and thought it would be AMAZING if we could go to the Lions/ Packers game on Thanksgiving when we were back in Michigan. It didn't take much convincing (actually, I don't think it was more than a 5 second conversation) - and we decided to make it happen. My parents actually bought us the tickets as our birthday presents this year! YAY!

I've never been to a Lions game before (I mean, they are normally TERRIBLE, but still OUR team). I went to my first NFL game a few years ago - a Chargers game (since we live in San Diego now) with Ryan and his parents.

Just in case you aren't familiar with Detroit, that is Comerica Field on the left hand side of the picture - RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET! Sports in the D are AMAZING!

Before the game we walked around inside of Ford Field a bit (there was a parade and Turkey Trots going on downtown, so we weren't sure what traffic and parking would be like so left plenty early).

Christmas Card shot, right?! 

DAD - WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?! 

PARTY ZONE!

Selfies while the boys were in the potty... 

Mom blocked Kyle in this shot, but cute none-the-less [PS Thanks DAD for the pictures!]

There we all are :) [PS Thanks DAD for the pictures!]

My brother is a HUGE Packers fan (and secretly my mom, Ryan, and I might cheer for them if they aren't playing the Lions - but I wish Woodson was still on the team). If you saw the outcome of the game you can imagine he wasn't the happy one in our family...

Packers fans... Smiling before the game... 

Like mother like son...

The Lions won HUGE. It was the first time since 2003 they have won on Thanksgiving! With streaks like that, I have NOT IDEA why they continue to give Lions national attention and let them play on the big stage. But it's tradition... Watching the Lions while eating dinner with family and friends (and normally LOSING is part of that tradition, but not this year BABY).

After the game Ryan and I took a couple pictures (while everyone else was using the bathroom).

The crowd on the field is Reggie Bush being interviewed

A little blurry... the kid we asked was less than stellar at picture taking... 

So stoked!

Travel Day

We started our trip back to Michigan for Thanksgiving on Wednesday morning. We had dropped Walt off at our friends' house the night before, so Wednesday morning was pretty low key. We flew out of Orange County - which I LOVE by the way (I think we waited all of 5 minutes in the security line on what was supposed to be one of the busiest travel days of the year - so chill there).

I had quite the "OH CRAP" moment while we were standing in line for security. Ryan, out of no where, asked me when my driver's license expired. I looked and it had ALREADY expired! It expired back in September (on my birthday). UH OH! I was really sweating it. I was worried that they were going to tell me I couldn't get on the flight. I have a valid passport, but it was at home (I guess I should travel with it as back-up, just in case). Thankfully they either didn't seem to notice or it wasn't a big deal because we made it through without a hitch. (And thankfully they didn't notice or care in Detroit either on the way back - but I still am NOT going to risk it over Christmas - off to the DMV!)

I have to say, my LockLaces came in very handy when dealing with security at the airport. No need to untie and retie. [[Check out my original review of these awesome little things here if you haven't already.]]

We had a layover in Chicago both on the way to Michigan and back. This time (unlike times before when we have had to RUN through the airport) we had about an hour and a half between flights. We walked around a bit to see what we wanted to eat and ended up settling on America's Dog - which had YUMMY vegetarian hot dogs (one with ketchup and a dill pickle on it for me) and vegetarian hamburgers (one with the works on it for Ryan). It was scrum-didily-umptious!

Another cool thing I noticed at O'Hare were the drinking fountains. I always try to travel with my own water bottle (that way we are buying less EXTREMELY overpriced items at the airport AND we are making less waste). Normally you have to tip it sideways and can't fill it all the way up in a normal drinking fountain. WELL, in comes the fountains at the O'Hare airport! They have a top spout (and it even had a filter that showed how much life was still left in it). I tell ya, it's the little things :)

One of my co-workers let me borrow a couple books for the flights, so on the way to Michigan I read Jesus > Religion and on the way back to California I read The Shack. Both of them were great little reads and helped the time to go faster.

Ryan hates red eye flights (since you don't get the best rest, so start off a little tired on your trip) and although I would prefer them (then you aren't losing a day of travel time that you could be enjoying), we took a day flight and ended up getting to Detroit around 6pm EST (after leaving our house around 2:30am EST). Not too shabby. We saw a beautiful sunset in Chicago when we were taking off. AMAZING, but COLD (I think we landed at O'Hare it was a blustery 19* - thankfully we didn't have to leave the terminal :) ).

All-in-all, for it being one of the "busiest" travel days of the year, it was pretty relaxed and smooth sailing for us - PRAISE THE LORD! And Ryan didn't even get gruffy (he likes going places, but doesn't so much enjoy the "art of travel").

Workout Recap - Week 48

Sunday, November 24th – Easy pace 8 miles with the hubby,  210 second Plank (part of the Plank Challenge I am participating in), Foam Rolled & Stretched

Monday, November 25th – Elliptical for 60 minutes & 210 second Plank (part of the Plank Challenge I am participating in)

Tuesday, November 26th –   Stationary bike for 60 minutes (17.33 miles)

Wednesday, November 27th –  Travel day, 240 second Plank (part of the Plank Challenge I am participating in), Foam Rolled & Stretched

Thursday, November 28th –  Treadmill for 60 minutes (all on my toes), 240 second Plank (part of the Plank Challenge I am participating in) & Stretched

YES, I am a SPOILED runner. The BELOW FREEZING temps and SNOW kept me inside on the treadmill!

Friday, November 29th – Strength Training (abs, back, arms and legs), 270 second Plank (part of the Plank Challenge I am participating in) & Stretched

Saturday, November 30th – Easy pace 3 miles with the hubby (in the COLD) & 300 second Plank (part of the Plank Challenge I am participating in)

Beautiful trail run

My treadmill run on Thanksgiving morning was tough. I decided I wanted to run it ALL on my toes (forefoot striking rather than mid-to-heel like I normally do). The run itself wasn't too bad, but MAN, my calves BURNED for the next 3 days! I forgot how it feels to be sore :) 

As you can see I didn't foam roll towards the end of the week - which is due to me not bringing one with me back to Michigan. I did bring my Surefoot Foot Rubz roller ball that I got in my RunnerBox for October, so I used that on my arches and even had my hubby use it on my calves. 

The Plank Challenge  is COMPLETE - WHOOO HOOOO!! Man was it tough. I think I was able to do about 2:30 in straight plank, but anything over that I would find myself in pretty bad form. I decided it would be better for me to take a few second break every couple minutes so that I could keep proper form than do it all in one plank and not get the full benefits (or potentially hurt something). So although I didn't get up to a single plank of 5 minutes, I am still proud that I was able to do 5 minutes worth of planking (I would say over about a 6 minute span). Not too shabby, especially for never doing a plank before November :).

I am VERY pleased with my workouts this week. As you will see from my upcoming posts, I was EXTREMELY busy over this past week, but even with that being said, I was still able to fit in all of my workouts. Make it a part of your routine, schedule it like any other appointment you have, and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

How were your workouts this past week? 

Squat Challenge

Who wants to join in on the Squat Challenge for December?!

Last month I participated in the Plank Challenge, so I thought WHY NOT? Although I didn't get up to a FULL 5 minute plank, I did do 5 minutes worth of planks on the final day (after about 2-2.5 minutes I  had to take a 15 or 20 second break... I couldn't seem to go over 2.5 minutes without dropping or having REALLY BAD form).

My legs seem a lot stronger than my core (so maybe I should have done the Plank Challenge for 2 months since I probably need it more than a Squat Challenge), so I am not as worried about not being able to make it, but shoot, 250 squats at one time is still NOT a joke!

PS Since December is 31 days you can either start today (and finish on the 31st), do Day 1 and Day 2 BOTH today, or maybe you saw the challenge on my Instagram and started yesterday (and will finish on the 30th). Whenever you start - LET'S DO IT!

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