Baby It's Cold Outside!

BRRRRR... It feels very premature for the temps we've been hitting here in Western Pennsylvania recently! Being chilly also means that it's a great time to bake and heat up the house!

Homestead Phil typically plays the trombone during our church services. Recently, he was asked to start playing the electric base which he has not played for about 25 years! He watched some YouTube videos, practiced with the band on a Thursday night, and played with the band on that Sunday morning! I'm so proud of him. He is so musically talented. I have trouble changing stations on the satellite radio sometimes. That's about the extent of my musical talents! I know some of our church friends miss hearing him play on the trombone already. Homestead Phil tells me that they miss hearing the brass but they don't know that they already enjoy the bass. Right now, he's just blending in. I'm sure he'll have a solo in no time! :)

I say all of that to say ... he has been leaving EXTRA early for church services the last two Sundays. I don't need to arrive nearly 2 hours before service. That leaves me on animal duty. I mean.. I do have two extra hours, right? :) I snapped this selfie on Sunday morning while I was traipsing around the animal area making sure I didn't forget anyone! BRRRRR!

After church, this cutie came over to help bake some Pumpkin Rolls! She's my niece Mykala who prefers to be called Myki. After all these years, I still can't bring myself to call my baby girl niece Myki. She's cute and VERY helpful nonetheless! :) Her and older sister are coming over soon to have some girl time and some more baking fun!

I'm semi-famous for the pumpkin rolls. I used to sell them back in the day when I was Jenn The Baker. I could likely still sell them but no time. Back in the day, I would bake nearly if not more than 100 pumpkin rolls from end of October through end of December. Not bad for a little online baking business, right? :) I likely should have snapped a photo of them. Oops. At least I snapped some pics of the kiddo with me! Well... she doesn't prefer to actually take a nice photo so this is what the end result is :)

Running Update - November 21, 2018

Since my last running update, I've only been out two times. I'm still being very cautious to not cause more injury/injuries to my legs. The new fancy compression socks have been working wonders! I now have a pair to wear during recovery as well. I should have ran yesterday but alas I have a million reasons why I did not. Today, I was just far too busy and tomorrow is not going to be above freezing.

I was very pleased with my times and my lack of pain following the run. For those of you who are new to reading about my running adventures, I apply the Run / Walk / Run philosophy by Jeff Galloway. I'm currently pacing at running for 15 seconds followed by a brisk walk at 30 seconds. I'm not the fastest but I sure am faster than I would be if I tried to slowly jog the whole distance without any walk breaks.

Here's a pic of my fancy socks and new running shoes. It did take me about 8 photos to get even this one. It's hard to be working on a warm up walk and try to snap a photo at the same time! haha

And here's a snap shot of my distance and time. I feel like I'm on the upswing of my awful times from when I was in pain or trying to avoid injury albeit still a minute slower on the first mile than I'd like to be. At the same time, it's been in the 40s while out there. I hear that causes some slow down while running as well?

Running Update - November 9, 2018

I survived my "long run" last Saturday - 3 miles! My legs felt fairly good and my lungs held up! I was so pleased although my pace did slow as the miles continued. Considering I was on the injured list recently, I was very happy to get out there three times last week! I'm going to be brave and post my times! I warned you that I'm not a fast runner and it had been a month since my last "long run" of 2.5 miles. With using the Run / Walk / Run ratios, as long as my legs keep from hurting, I can go quite a long distance compared to if I just ran without the walk breaks.

I had been eying up a 5k race on the 10th. In order to have my "long run" day line up with the race day, I had to give myself an extra rest day after the long run. It made a lot of sense since I really don't want to be injured. So I took Sunday off and my legs felt great! I rested on Monday as well and my legs still felt great! I got ready for my run on Tuesday and my legs hurt before I even got ready for the run. :( I went anyway and my times were awful. I was slow because it wasn't comfortable. I've been in touch with my half marathon runner and blogger friend, Becky ('lil Burghers and MrsGregWillis.com). She recommended for me to purchase a roller of sorts for my legs. I also reached out to a high school friend regarding compression socks and she gave some great recommendations! First one being, take an ice cold bath to soak my legs after the run for 10-15 minutes. Say, what? She also recommended wearing a hoodie while soaking as it would be cold. Yes. It was. BUT it was magical! My legs felt better! Here's my times from that awful run on Tuesday: (I may need to add another topic to my blog as this run was not FUN!)

My legs were still a bit sore yesterday although I planned on running anyway BUT.. since it starts to get dark at like 3pm (I joke of course), I didn't make it out. It's been pouring down rain all day today and it's cold. (Am I making excuses?) We'll have to leave soon to visit our Amish friend. Maybe if we get back before dark, I'll make it out. Otherwise, my compression socks should arrive tomorrow so maybe I'll give my legs one more day to rest and get out tomorrow! My high school friend is in the compression socks industry but she has been ill. When she's feeling better, I'll disclose where I got the fancy socks from!

Needless to say, I won't be at the 5k race tomorrow. I think I need to just focus on keeping my legs healthy and enjoying the running. It's crazy that I actually do enjoy it and no one is chasing me! :)