Thanksgiving Recap

I was up bright and early on Thursday to run the Atlanta Half Marathon. 

I was in start wave A, which was the first wave and set to start at 7:30 which meant I was at the race around 6:30.  This gave us plenty to time to park and walk to the start/finish area, take care of business and get warmed up.  It actually wasn't that cold considering it was November.  I think the temperature at the start was close to 50 degrees. 

About 10 minutes into the race I was wishing I had worn a short sleeve shirt. 

In my start wave was the 1:50 pace group, which I thought to myself I would try to hang with to ensure that I break my goal of finishing in under 2 hours.  We started out kinda slow, which was nice because I was actually worried about starting too fast.  It probably helped that the first mile was up hill!  And pretty much every mile after that.  The course was a beautiful tour of downtown Atlanta, but it was quite hilly.  The hills didn't bother me too much the first half, but the last 4 or 5 miles the hills started to take their toll on me.  Mile 12 was the worst, there was what seemed like the longest and steepest hill going around the Capitol Building, my legs were tired, I had a cramp in the arch of my left foot along with a blister and all I really wanted to do was stop and walk just a bit, but I told myself that I'd come too far and I had run every step of the way and I couldn't let myself down by walking in the next to last mile. So I just kept pushing and putting one foot in front of the other.  That mile was by far the slowest mile of the race at 8:53/mile.  But it was pretty much down hill from there and on to the finish.  I crossed the finish line with a new personal record for the half marathon...1:52:22!!!!  I killed my time from last year and beat my goal. 



I finished!!!

So with the race done, I was ready to get my shoes off and get home to my ice bath! 

I discovered that this little fella makes ice baths much more tolerable.  I cranked the heater up and had the bathroom nice and toasty while my lower half of my body froze in the water. 

So after I thawed out, I thawed my sweet potato souffle out that I made a froze earlier in the week.  Then I popped that bad boy in the oven while we got ready to head to my brother and sister-in-law's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. 

After dinner, we played with my sweet nephew, watched a movie and then went shopping. 

We braved the crowds and craziness at Walmart so the hubby and his brother could get some DVDs.  While the boys were digging for movies, the SIL and I went shopping.  I found some good deals on toys and PJ's for the kids and I got 2 long sleeve running shirts.  We did not go after the big ticket stuff like TV or computers so we were in and out in less than an hour. 

All that shopping made us hungry so we headed to Waffle House for a late night dinner.

On Friday I woke up and figured I would head back out to the mall and see what Black Friday deals I could find.  I think I bought more stuff for myself, than I did for people on my Christmas list. 

I found these boots for $25

And some jewelry for my dress that I'm wearing to a Christmas Party. 

Saturday, the hubby and I did more shopping and Sunday we were all shopped out so we stayed at home and just relaxed.  The hubs watched football while I watched back to back episodes of home renovation shows on HGTV.  I love seeing how those people can turn ordinary spaces into amazing rooms and homes.