I woke up this morning at about 9 am. The plan was to sleep till 11am to start to get me back on schedule to return to work Sunday night. Working 11-7 I find it easier to ease into staying up all night especially after any time off like the crazy schedule I have been keeping lately.

When I woke I was remembered that my son had asked to play a game as a family last night and had commented that although it was a regular thing we had not sat down as a family in a while to play a game. As the kids get older this seems to be harder and harder every year. I had told him that last night was not going to work since his mother and I had been up since 3am from Black Friday Shopping. But I promised that we would do it today.

I walked out to the living room to find that it was a bright sunny day out. My wife and kids warned me that it was really cold and windy out and suggested I wear a jacket when I ran. I personally can't stand wearing anything besides Shoes, socks, shorts, baseball cap, and a tee shirt while running. Other than that I will wear a light jacket if it gets to be 30 degrees and avoid pants at all costs. I put on my normal running clothes and started stretching as I listened to the latest The Extra Mile Podcast Episode 55.

I then headed out to face the cold no jacket, I had checked the temperature before I left which showed 50 degrees. The plan was to run 5 miles and as I headed out I felt great and the weather was perfect, sunny, cool, and windy. I was running 2.5 mile out and then back and as I got to the half way point I looked at my watch which showed 26:30, which was about 1:30 min less than usually which made me want to push harder. As I ran back I kept reminding myself to keep up the pace. I must have got in a habit of running 12 min mile pace because I seem to fall back to that pace. As I could see the end of the run was about 300 yards left, I looked at my watch, 53:30. I really wanted to come in under 55 minutes. As I finished I hit the stop button on my watch and glanced down. I Ran 5 miles in 54:39 @ 10:56 min/miles pace, weather was mostly cloudy / windy, temperature around 46 degrees. This was great for me since I had just ran a race in 57 minutes.

I walked home to cool down, The Extra Mile Podcast ended and I started listening to Run Vegan Run Episode 31 "Happy Thanksgiving" and hopped into the shower. Since I had signed up for the Hot Chocolate 5k race next weekend I figured I would have to go to Northampton to pick up the race pace as I had done last year. I thought it might be nice for all of us to drive down together and enjoy the day. I called the Northhampton Running Company to make sure they had the packets. They advised that the packets were going to be given out on the day of the race.

So what to do now? I decided that we all go shopping together which already had to be done and then pick out a game for a family game night tonight. Between Hannaford’s and Wal-Mart we spent about 2 hours shopping and fooling around together, Paige drove as always. She really is getting better every time. We came back with good food, Fact or Crap, and the movie UP. We got home made homemade pizza (Ham, Cheese, and Pickles) Aleah’s idea and then sat down and played Fact or Crap as a family. Two hours laughing and having fun. Next we went to the living room to watch UP together. To some this may not sound like much but to get 5 people including two teenagers to spend over 6 hours together as a family is a small miracle.

As I write this I sit here is the living room alone, which I have become somewhat accustom to. I think i am going to try to make sure we have a family night every weekend. Before I know it all the kids will be gone.

Finally I was talked into registering for the Sterling 29th annual Freezer 5 which is on New Years Day. I hope I made the right decision. It sure will be cold. However My goal is to run though the winter and this race is a great way to start the year off right, with a race.

Everything Always Looks Better After a Run
FishaDad