HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Well, belated. Still counts. Especially because I tried to post this YESTERDAY, but the internet refused to work. Rude.
I had a great time in Minnesota, but I’m home now. It feels nice.
MN was a WHIRLWIND of family at times, and occasionally kinda boring. My grandparents.. Are grandparents. They’re kinda old. They don’t really like doing much.
But, it was great! We had a few family Christmas parties, I baked a little, and ran a good amount. I love training in MN because it’s soooo flat! I also got to RELAX like it was my job. It was nice to not really have to do much!
A seriously old treadmill. In it
On Christmas Eve, I took a hilarious run on my grandpa’s old treadmill. It was really cold out that morning, so I figured what the heck.
I almost broke it. I swear.
That thing was LOUD. I was pretty sure I was gonna break it, especially when I was sprinting. I did intervals kinda. But it was SO OLD SCHOOL.
Chocolate oatmeal with cottage cheese. :)
Of course, I refueled with oatmeal. :)
The highlight of my time with my family was our Christmas Eve party, where we played a White Elephant present exchange.. It was so fun! My family kinda bent the rules, but whatever. To play, you roll dice, and if you get doubles, you choose a present. If you have a present and don’t like it, you can roll again and if you get doubles again, you can switch your present with someone else or switch your unwrapped present and pick a new present to open. It was so fun! I got a solar system that spins (#nerdalert) and an iTunes giftcard. WAHOO!
We also had a super nice dinner (I was underdressed.. thus is the problem of the traveler who doesn’t know what’s happening until she gets there), and luckily they did make some food that I could eat. Salmon, salad, and fruit salad. There was also cheesey creamed corn, macaroni, rolls, and lots of meat. I really enjoyed what I could eat! I also brought the fruit salad back to my grandparents.
Best fruit salad ever.
And ate almost the entire thing by myself. In fact, it was pretty much my all-day Christmas snack after breakfast. SO GOOD.
Present opening fuel!
Christmas was really awesome – we had brunch with one of the families, but unfortunately they only had fruit salad I could eat. But, I pre-ate in anticipation of this. Either way, it was good to catch up some more.
Oh, and there were the presents. Basically, everything I got is running related. It was a REALLY HAPPY Christmas morning for me. I got..
PINK. Noice.
A running jacket.
PINK again. Double noice.
Compression sleeves.
They look funny, but they
Injiji socks for my vibrams.
This is just a preview.. Everything else was shipped home. MOUNDS of chocolate, seriously.
Chocolate and nuts.. AKA fuel!
aaaaand..
All I wanted for Christmas.. Is yooooooooou.
A GARMIN!
1st couple picture. obsessed. He's quite photogenic, eh?
Meet Felix. He’s my new boyfriend. I think I have an unhealthy relationship with him already.. Whoooops. I’ve taken him out twice so far, once yesterday for a 5 mile run and once before we left today for a 4.5 mile run. He came with a heartrate monitor. I’m already super obsessed. Wanna know a secret? I run faster/harder than I think I do! Or, at least I did during my speed-focused 5 mile run. It just about killed me, but I kept my pace up and pushed it to the limit. Felix helped a lot with it! Every time I felt sluggish/wanting to stop, I’d look down and see what I’d already done and want to go more. I think having him will help my training A LOT.
Hope your holiday was as awesome as mine! How was your holiday? What was the favourite thing you got? What was the favourite thing you gave?
Funny story about the giving.. We got my grandparents a Kindle Fire. My grandma opened it and said, “No way I’m using that.” ..Uhhhh.. At least my grandpa is going to embrace technology, I guess.
Also, did any of you see War Horse? I saw it on Christmas Day and it was.. Interesting. I thought some parts were WAAAAY over dramatized, but I loved the story. I really want to read the book.
See ya guys!
Chelsea
White elephant exchanges are so fun! Sounds like your Christmas was beyond awesome, you got some wicked cool gifts too! :)
I saw war horse yesterday– I loved it overall, but I agree about some of the over dramatic scenes. The end made me spout waterfalls from my eyes though, it was so beautiful!
I totally want to read the book now. I bet it’ll make me cry like a baby, haha
I have those compression sleeves and garmin, you will continue to adore both!
so jealous you got a garmin forerunner! i’m hoping to get one for my birthday! do you love it?
I looooove it! It’s so great. I used it for an indoor workout today because it was raining.. And it was still totally awesome and did what I wanted it to. I’m going to post a full review of it, so look out for it! :)
wooo congrats on the garmin! that’s so exciting :)
Ahhh I love all your gifts!! My garmin is named Dexter, but he’s kinda old. Felix is looking pretty cute to me right now! That jacket is adorable too, and I need compression sleeves!!
Compression sleeves are great! I’ve been wearing them for recovery and they’ve helped noticeably. I love your Garmin’s name :)
OMG I have to name my Garmin!! lol, so excited you got one too! And your compression sleeves match my pink compression socks, love it!!! Sounds like you had a fun vacation – at least getting to run a ton! Sometimes when I travel its really hard to get runs in. And I know whatcha mean about visiting the grandparents being boring….ah well. hope you had good reading material? lols. and that treadmill!! hilarious! I ran on one of those in a hotel once – actually, I ran for 10 minutes then quickly switched to the bike because I was kind of scared for my life hahaa.
Naaame it! Dooo it! I’m lucky because my grandpa was a runner, and over last summer he showed me the routes there when I was around for a while. So, I know a lot of running routes there and can pop in and out quickly, without issue. Aren’t those treadmills scary? I was scared to go too fast, haha.
Yay, you got a Garmin! Thats so awesome :)