Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Before digging into turkey and all the fixings and spending the day vegging on the sofa watching football (GO EAGLES!), I decided to get in a quick run this morning.



As much as I hate cold weather and really dislike the snow in DC, in PA it's all so pretty.

So I pulled on all my cold weather running gear and set out for a loop around my hometown.


Pretty, no?

It was a little dicey finding places to run. Lots of sidewalks hadn't been shoveled, and some streets didn't have very much shoulder room for running with all the plowed snow.



With some creative navigating, I was able to get about 2.5 miles of running in.

It was a nice quick loop and when I got home I made a nice warm mug of hot cocoa and curled up on the sofa to watch the end of the Thanksgiving parade.



And now, it's time to watch all the football!



Wishing you and your families a very happy Thanksgiving!

Quick housekeeping update: Comments are back. A few people told me they missed them, so I'm bringing them back for now. They'll stay as long as the spam doesn't get too crazy.

Anyway, greetings from a snowy and very cold PA!



I safely made it home to my parents house yesterday afternoon -- managing to beat the rush of people fleeing from DC to beat the storm.

I left around 10:30 a.m. and while traffic was heavy, it pretty much moved the whole time.

My brother's best friend left DC at 3 p.m. and it took him 3.5 hours to get like half way home. Sooo, yea things got progressively worse as the day went on.

As you can see from the picture above, PA is currently being graced with an early season snow storm. There's easily three inches out there now and it's still coming down hard.

As much as I don't like snow, winter and the cold in general, I'm glad to be enjoying this storm from PA -- in part because PA knows how to cope with snow and in part because the snow stays pretty here for longer. (Less traffic means less gross black snow!)

Right now I'm curled up on my parents' sofa, with a big mug of hot chocolate, getting ready to start my MBA homework. Man it reminds me like I'm in high school again.



Oh and the Terps basketball team won again last night! We beat No. 13 Iowa State and we're now 5-0 on the season! We'll be cracking into the top 25 real soon!

Saturday did a nice job of reminding me all I have to be thankful for, and it really couldn't have come at a better time with Thanksgiving just a few days away.

I spent yesterday morning grabbing brunch with my cousin Sarah, who I don't see very often. We were trying to remember the last time we saw each other, and we think it was about two years ago.



It was seriously so nice to catch up, and given all that time, there was obviously tons to fill each other in on. I got to hear all about her nursing program and her job hunt (She graduates from her program in December and is hoping to do pediatrics work in Baltimore. Holler if you've got connections!)

And I filled her in on my MBA program, work and running, etc. It was just a really nice way to start the weekend.

Then the day got even better when I got news that my cousin Amy had her baby girl that morning!



My new baby cousin Heather is happy and healthy, and I of course am beyond thrilled to have another little one to spoil.

Between Heather's big sister Abby and big brother Johnny and the twins and now Heather, I have so many little cousins that I get to love on.


First frame is me and Patrick. Second frame is Johnny, Abby and Cameron (Nikki and Rick are the adults!)


This was last week when I went to story time at the library with Abby, Cameron and Patrick.

I've always loved having a big family with so many cousins, and I'm so, so grateful that I live so close and get to spend some much time with my cousins and their families. As I grow up, family is definitely something I come to appreciate more and more, and I'm so lucky I get to spend as much time with my extended family as I do.

As if that wasn't enough awesomeness shoved into one day, I capped the night off with Friendsgiving. My best friend Emily and I cohosted a potluck-style Thanksgiving feast with a handful of our friends.



We crammed everyone into my apartment, ate a ton of delicious food, played Cards Against Humanity and in general had a really fun night.

By the time the last people left, sometime around 1 a.m., my heart was just bursting with joy and happiness. I had spent the entire day surrounded by some of my favorite people, and I collapsed into bed feeling so surrounded by love.

I am truly blessed to have the friends and family that I do, and I couldn't be more thankful for the amazing day I had yesterday.


Me and Laura and the boys at their first tailgate

Oh -- and of course, I would be completely remiss if I didn't also mention that I'm also pretty thankful for the Terps victory over Michigan yesterday. In our first season in the Big Ten, we've beaten Penn State in Happy Valley and Michigan at the Big House. We're 7-4, knocking on the door of 8-4 and a trip to a pretty solid bowl game to wrap up our season.



So yes, all in all, I have so much to be thankful for, and Saturday was truly the perfect reminder of that.

It's crazy to think that this weekend four years ago, I was getting ready to lace up my shoes to run my second marathon. Though the race was tough at points, and I crossed the finish line almost in tears because my knee hurt so bad, I set something close to a 30 minute PR.

I obviously celebrated by housing a Philly preztel.

So I know in my last post, I talked a lot about how I was struggling to get back into running after my many injuries, and wondering if it was really something I wanted to push myself to do.

Maybe writing that post was the cathartic release I needed because the next day I was looking up running groups and trying to see which group runs I might be able to fit into my schedule.

In the past I've never really been a fan of running groups because I was always worried I would be slowest person there. But it just so happened that the leader of the group run that I was thinking about giving a try posted that she was also pretty slow and would make sure to hang back with anyone.

Since I know my speed has taken a nose dive since my injuries, that was the little bit of extra encouragement I needed to show up.

The were maybe 10 people that showed up for the run, and we split into two groups -- those planning to run three miles and those planning to run five. I opted for the three mile group, not wanting to push things too hard.

I ended up having a ton of fun running with the group. We ended up doing 4 miles and everyone was so friendly and nice.


My post-run sweaty, happy face.

I'm definitely planning to join them again this week (assuming my knee cooperates -- it's flaring up right now and I've got an ice pack on it while I'm watching the Eagles implode against the Packers.)


This is my the-Eagles-are-playing-like-crap face

So last spring when I was all excited about running and racing, I signed up for a whole bunch of races this fall, and I was so excited to do all of them.

But then I struggled through my first round of training in the summer.

I did my best and wasn't planning to break any records at my first race of the fall -- a half marathon. I just wanted to have some fun with friends, which I did.



But then when I tried to bounce back and keep up my running for the rest of the races, my knee problems set in, and I found myself scratching race after race from my calendar.

Part of me is obviously sad and frustrated that I haven't been able to run, but a small part of me is also relieved to have an excuse to not run all these races.



My heart hasn't really been in running lately. I don't know why. I don't know if it's a phase, if it's running itself, or if it's just racing that I'm over. I used to live for distance running and registering for races and collecting an insane number of medals. But lately, I haven't been feeling it.

Sure there are a million ways I could "fix" this. Find friends to run with, mix things up, focus on shorter races, etc. etc.



But I don't know that it's a problem that needs fixing or if it's even something I want to fix.

I've been enjoying spin class and doing other things to get my fitness fix. But it's weird because running in many ways was and is such a huge part of my identity. (See, for example, the name of this blog.)

If I take running out of the equation, or step away from it for a little bit to focus on other things, then what?

Running used to bring me such joy. I loved it so much. But after a few years of battling injuries, a lot of that joy has slipped away. Now I just feel like I should be running because it's what I'm supposed to do. I mean after all, I'm that crazy runner girl who gets her kicks from amassing an insane number of miles. Right?



I haven't run a single mile in more than two weeks because of my knee, and honestly, I don't miss it that much. Or maybe it's that I don't miss being tied to a training plan or having some race looming over my head.

I'm not really sure. But I do know I like the feeling of not having to run all the time. I like doing other things right now, like spinning. But I don't think I want to step away from running for forever.

Maybe for now, I just need to let myself do the workouts I'm in the mood for, whether it be running or spin or yoga or whatever. And I definitely need to stop throwing money at race entry fees for races I end up not being able to run.

Sometimes I don't know how I'd get through the tough stuff in life without my workouts and the endorphins they bring with them.

On Wednesday, some shit hit the proverbial fan if you will. It's nothing life or death that I'm talking about, just some bad, really hard-to-deal-with stuff.

And honestly, I haven't been myself since it happened.

So today, I forced myself to do the one thing that might bring some sense of normalcy back to my life -- get back into that Monday night spin class I've really started to love.

I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to push it on the bike. I haven't been eating much because of the stress, but I figured I'd go to get myself out of the house, around other people, and just see what I could do.

I certainly didn't crank the tension, but I was able to get my legs moving and take my mind off the bad crap for an hour. Plus, the endorphins are still flowing and they're doing a nice job keeping the stress at bay for now.

And to not make this a complete downer of a post, I got a bit of happy news when I got home from spin and saw I'd kicked some butt on my financial analysis exam. I was pretty nervous about all the math I'd be doing in my MBA going into the program, so it's nice to see that maybe some of those fears were a little exaggerated.