That’s right! We are on winter break! On Thursday, A took his last midterm of the virtual semester, and I am proud to share that he earned straight A’s for the first time ever (usually, he’s AB Honor Roll). Talk about overcoming all the challenges this school year threw his way!
Sunday – 6.75 miles, running
We started the day at the Sandy Claus Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K (race report here). You already know that we got turned around on the course and went a little long, but we had a blast, and enjoyed knocked out this holiday race.
That afternoon, we enjoyed some hot cocoa with friends, in lieu of driving to the Daytona International Speedway for their light show. We would come back to it.
And A made these awesome reindeer brownies, so that was quite the win.
Monday – 2.67 miles, walking
I took a quick walk, giving my legs a break, but still starting the week on the “right foot.”
We had a crazy morning. First up, Mr PugRunner had to drop Delilah at the vet for her dental. This is always a stressful procedure, but we know she is in good hands at Dr. R’s.
A had to complete his two-part math exam. It went really well, and I was proud of him for taking his time and working through the harder problems. Pre-Algebra is no joke.
From there, our friend brought over her puppy. A had his first dog-sitting job, and this adorable French bulldog would be spending an entire week with us! Yay!
And Delilah’s procedure was a success. She did need some teeth extracted, but she is now back too 100% and doing great.
Our Christmas Countdown assignment was to donate to an animal shelter. Instead, we donated to a friend’s foster doggy, who is need of some medical treatments.
Tuesday – 4.75 miles running + 2.21 miles, walking
Our puppy guest had a good night, and everyone pitched in to handle walks, feedings, and medications (for Delilah). We are a well-oiled machine, when we try.
The weather was glorious, making for a fabulous run.
I had my last conference call of the semester with A’s homeroom teacher. All in all, we are very pleased with his progress, and had no concerns. I love his teacher and I love that protocols require them to check in, but I hate having these calls. I’m just not a phone person.
Next mid-term? Advanced Science. I was the most worried about this one – the science class is awesome, but the exams are always tricky. He did great, though, even with the addition of a writing portion.
We spent the afternoon making ornaments. He’s getting a bit too old to love crafting with his mom, so I just did some vinyl cutouts that he got to burnish on to glass balls. They came out great, and were so timely.
Wednesday – 3.67 miles, walking
This cold weather was really sticking with us, but that was no excuse to stay inside! Nope, I got out there and snagged more miles.
A had Language Arts that morning. The first part was pretty much a snap, but the second part involved a pretty big essay portion. It took a bit, but he kept himself on track and finished strong!
And then we made Paracord Survival bracelets to send to Operation Gratitude. These will be sent out to soldiers in care packages. Each one uses 7.5 feet of paracord and can be used in case of emergency. They are super easy to make, and the organization accepts donations year round. Click here for details.
A enjoyed making these so much, he made an extra for himself.
Thursday – 4.75 miles, running + 1.75 miles, walking
Oh, I needed this run. Badly. And it was everything I hoped for and more. Yay for the great runs.
And yay for puppy love.
One more midterm was on the docket: Spanish. Spanish has been a tough class to manage, virtually. This is A’s first big exposure to the language, and there’s just not the conversational piece you would get in a live class. He’s pulling through, though, and the test went quickly. We were able to call it a wrap on school!
Of course, we would have loved to celebrate Hanukkah with my stepdad, but COVID… So we will wait until Christmas, when we can do some a socially distant visit outside.
Since we didn’t have plans that evening, I suggested we make up our night in Daytona. The Magic of Lights display was at the race track, and it was a drive-through experience. For $25 per car, we could drive through a stunning lights display. It took about 30-40 minutes to get through it all and it was just so well done. Totally worth the late night.
Friday – 4.19 miles, walking
TGIF! It was a bittersweet day, as our house guest would be going home. The pugs all had such fun while he was here.
I got in a good, long walk. The cooler temperatures make it easier to get out and stay out.
Our four-legged friend went home that afternoon. We were so sad to see him go, but A did amazing with his first real job. Pet-sitting and dog-walking could certainly be an option for him.
We “elf”d some neighbors with bags of hot chocolate and peppermint bark as our holiday countdown activity.
And for dinner, we stretched our legs with a family walk to Food Truck Friday for tacos and more “Elf Poop” ice cream (chocolate with red velvet dough).
Saturday – 8.0 miles, running + .38 miles, walking
I wasn’t really looking forward to my long run. I was going to be alone and that can be hard to absorb, mentally. But the weather was decent, and I told myself I had to run a minimum of six, that seven would be desirable, and eight would be straight-up goals.
To my surprise, I was able to hit the goal! I felt great, and was so proud of myself for getting it done!
A surprise delivery of matching family pajamas showed up under the tree. We need to take a family photo with them on, but the lighting has been awful this whole weekend, so we will come back to it.
We decided to make it a movie night, but not before we snagged an early dinner from a second round of food trucks. Mr. Softee was there, showing off some festive sprinkles. These were the cutest, and so delicious!
Goal-getting
Whoo hoo! I felt like I was on fire this week! My ankle didn’t really hurt too much, in spite of the cold, and the extra miles, which was a pleasant surprise.
About a month ago, I signed up for the NYRR Season of Light Virtual 5K, with Carianne and Darlene. We completed it this week, and were very proud of ourselves!
Holiday countdown is going strong! We had to shuffle a few things around, but we will get it all figured out.
This week, I am looking forward to more decent weather, more great runs, and more holiday fun! And don’t forget to check back in on Wednesday to link up with the Runner’s Roundup! We are having a special theme this week, talking about our Year of Running! We’d love to have you!
I am linking up with the Weekly Rundown, with Confessions of A Mother Runner and Running on the Fly! Check them out!
How was your week in training?
What are you looking forward to this week? Any great runs?
Wow, you are really piling on some miles there! Nice job. Those reindeer brownies are really cute. Would love to have A dog sit Bandit! Oh well.
Do you think the duolingo app could help with the Spanish?
And he would love to do it! He’s an animal lover for sure!
He has duolingo, and it’s a great complement to what he’s doing, but they are not allowed to use vocabulary they haven’t learned in class yet. Duolingo doesn’t follow the same learning curve, so that makes it a little complicated, but he does a little work on it every day.
We had snow Friday night and off/on all day Saturday, so I’m looking forward to a week sans any kind of precip 😉 IT’s not going to be tropical (like last week LOL), but warm enough for the remaining snow to disappear. I love those reindeer brownies & toilet paper ornaments LOL
We are doing our best to make this time fun, so toilet paper ornaments it is!
I would love to see some snow, but I think we are going to stick closer to home this winter.
well you had a great active week with lots of mileage. Congrats on your long run they are harder solo for me as well. Happy to read that your son is doing so well with his virtual schooling. There was a big article in our home town that most of the grades have plummeted and they have never given out such low grades before. what a mess!
We are having the same problem in our brick and mortar and distance learning. This is part of the reason we opted to pull out of the district entirely to a dedicated virtual school situation. We knew that they would have all the platforms and resources in place to be able to better serve the students, as opposed to figuring it out as we went along. It was very much the right call, l I believe. I am still volunteering at his middle school and the principal there is working so hard to put stopgaps in place to help the kids. 🙁
Yay for winter break! And congrats to you all on a successful semester. Nice job with all those miles this week!
Thank you and thank you! I feel like we are in good standing for next semester.
Oh my gosh on those PJs – so cute! Congrats to your son! I know he had a rough time, which makes the success even sweeter! I don’t think Scooby would be a very gracious host — it’s great that Delilah likes having company.
Delilah is pretty easy-going, and Ollie was super respectful of her. We got Luna and Ollie together in advance, and they got along great. They both were awesome about backing off each other when they needed a break, and we didn’t have any problems. I was so thrilled.
Well, looks like a busy week for you! The boys and I always did Christmas crafts–a lot of them were ornaments, so I get wistful when I decorate the tree. Enjoy this time! Love that your pups enjoyed their guest-Cocoa probably would have barked at him the whole time, lol!
I loved making all the ornaments with him. I was hoping he would be down for doing salt dough Christmas trees, using his fingerprints for the lights, but he wasn’t having it.
The girls LOVED their visitor. Delilah didn’t have any objections (he was very respectful of her), and Luna and he just played and romped for hours. It was good for everyone.
I am so happy your son did well in his classes and tests. I am sure it’s been challenging for him. Please let him know I am also proud of him!!
I just told him. We are so proud of you, too.
It’s been quite the year.
Great week. All I saw was the ice cream. Lol.
Kidding. You are doing great with miles.
Enjoy A’s time off. He is quite a cook/baker
I knew you would. Wasn’t it so cute? Mr Softee made three different sprinkle combinations, and I wish I could have had a cone with each.
He really is great in the kitchen and I am so grateful for that.
Busy busy week! Congrats to your son on a strong semester! And yay for hitting 8 miles 🙂 You’ve done a great job with your comeback and building miles.
Enjoy the winter break!!
I’ve been working so hard to come back.
Eight miles! Yay! And your lad is so hard-working and entrepreneurial, lovely to see. I can’t imaging learning a language for school and not having all that interaction and practice – I’m learning Spanish now for (sort of) fun from an app and it’s hard not to have personal feedback and random conversations. Well done to you all!
I’m so proud of him. He has accomplished so much this year and it’s just really mind-blowing. I’m going to have to brag on him a bit in a blog post.
Spanish is tough. Mine grasp of the language is basic (I can ask for a beer and the bathroom), so I’m learning along with him.
Hooray for winter break and congrats to A for awesome grades! Thing 2 finishes her finals this week but she’s done with school by 1:30 so that’s nice. What a cute houseguest!
It’s crazy seeing it so chilly in FL but you’ve gotta love it for running!
I am so proud of him. I’m sure Thing 2 will finish strong!
I loved our houseguest. He was so sweet and good.
So great to hear that Delilah is feeling better – I know you must feel such a sense of relief! I love those reindeer brownies. I purchased some brownie mix over the weekend so I might try it out!
Enjoy Winter break!
You should try! They are so fun!
It was really stressful. Now Luna is in heat, so she will have to go in for surgery in a month. Ugh ugh ugh.
Yay for real races and winter break! This really is the best time of year to run in the south. Gotta enjoy it while we can 🙂
And those reindeer brownies look so cute and yummy! Every year I always say I’ll make a creative holiday desert and then I don’t. I’m so lazy when it comes to cooking haha.
These were super easy to make!
Yay for great running weather, right?
What a great week! And super job to A getting straight A’s!
So freaking proud of him!
I had hoped to sign up for the Season of Light 5K, but it fell right after I had the BCC removed from my thigh so I couldn’t. Boo!
I am so not a phone person either so I totally hear you on the parent/teacher conference calls. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m glad that I’m older and have adult children and don’t have to worry about my sons doing virtual school. Huge respect to those of you going through it!
Adding red velvet dough ice cream to chocolate for “Elf Poop” makes me wonder if said elf has some sort of GI issues. LOL Sounds delicous, though!
Ha! I know. I was kind of thinking that about the ice cream, but honestly, it’s so good!
Times are definitely different. We are having conversations about what we will do for next year, and it’s so hard to make a decision. Ugh.