Runfessions?

This month's Runfessions kind of have me in a flux...

If you caught my Thankful post earlier this week (if not, it's HERE), you all would know how full my heart is. It's really hard to find things to runfess about when everything is sort of on the up-and-up. There are a few things of recent, though, that I thought would be runfess-worthy, but I was surprised at how easily I just shrugged my shoulders at the situations.


For example:

Our annual Turkey Trot.
Now in its 6th year, this event has gotten bigger (and, dare I say, better?) every year. A neighborhood friend (who also is into fitness and running) and myself  "founded" this event back in 2012. We thought it would be fun to have a small local event to encourage people to get out and get some fresh air and exercise on what is usually a stressful day filled with lots of food. We mapped out a route that would encompass three distances (1-mile, 2-mile, 5K), and encouraged participants of every fitness level to join us. There were no registration fees, no event shirts, and not even a finish line to cross, but everyone was encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to donate to our local food pantry. We had maybe 30 people show up for that first Trot and we had a blast. Fast forward to the 2017 event...we had upwards of 140 people show up, with oodles and oodles of food to donate. WOW! We tried to organize a group picture, but people just kept walking up...and bringing more food. There were so many people, the group picture did not turn out that great because it had to be taken from so far away in order to squeeze everyone into view. I gotta runfess, though, that I love that pic anyways because it represents a fabulous hour spent doing something positive for ourselves (running and walking) and also something even greater for our community (food and monetary donations for others).

Another successful Turkey Trot

Wednesday morning. 
As is typical, I was up and out of bed early. I had planned to do a short strength session (upper body) and had laid out my workout clothes the night before. I got dressed and went downstairs and did the exercises, posted a selfie, and did a bit of blog reading. It wasn't until I was headed to work that I realized I had completely forgotten to do my daily 20-minute cardio (usually a power walk through the neighborhood). OOPS. You know what? The sun still shown and the world did not end. I gotta runfess I felt ZERO guilt in accidentally skipping that (daily) early morning cardio... and I am quite alright with that.

at least the strength workout happened....

Our family's Thanksgiving dinner.
I love Thanksgiving! I usually host "the dinner" and honestly do not mind all the work that goes into preparing my house, my mind, and all the food. My parents joined us, as did my sister and her guy. Our Pennsylvania daughter is home for the week, and our son is on fall break from college. The kicker, though, was when our younger daughter woke up with the stomach flu, and the smell of the food did not agree with her. She had a fever, a headache, and no energy, so she stayed in bed and did not join us at the table. I did not even think of getting any pics of our dinner...no shots of the antique china (from my late in-laws), no family pics, and no group shots of us gathered around my grandmother's heirloom table. Despite the less-than-ideal setting, it still was Thanksgiving and the food did not disappoint. I'll just runfess that it was what it was, and I'm alright with the fact that our daughter had to miss out on it (she's not a fan of turkey anyways).

A sampling of our Thanksgiving feast

Black Friday.
I'm feeling kind of meh at the prospect of Black Friday shopping this year. I saw a lot of stuff that I like in the ads, but nothing that I absolutely gotta have. In other words, Black Friday FOMO is not really an issue (this year)...but I runfess that I still will probably head out Friday morning to snag a few good deals on stuff I really don't need.

Black Friday? Yay or No way?

Runner's World 40 Days of Awesome.
Hmmmmm. Every year, Runner's World magazine promotes a winter streaking extravaganza, where you commit to running at least one mile every day from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day. It sounds a lot more high-maintenance that it really is, but I simply do my regular routine (running 3-4 days/week) and then run a simple, easy-paced mile on what would normally be the "non-running" days. I have done this for the last four winters, but I'll runfess to you all that I'm not feeling a strong sense of compulsion to do it this year. Since there's nice weather (unseasonably warm) in the forecast, I will start the Streak (technically, the Streak already started at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning)...and we'll see how it goes. If I'm not feeling it, I'll bail. #staytuned

To streak or not to streak....

So, there you have it. My Runfessions are not too earth-shattering this month. Could it be that my Thankful post topped off my proverbial glass (you know, the #glasshalffull glass)? How about you? Do you have anything to runfess to the general (running) population? Ever skipped a workout and had ZERO guilt in doing so? Black Friday shopping? Streaking?

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I'm linking up with Marcia for the monthly Runfessions. 

I'm also linking this with Meranda and Lacey and Rachel for the Friday Five 2.0.