December 19, 2015

Christmas Winers

Last night was my annual Christmas Winers meeting (if you don't remember, Winers is the name of a wine club my friend Renee and I started for our girlfriends). Christmas Winers has always been extra fun, because we do a white elephant gift exchange. Yesterday, my friend Melissa hosted, and made the theme an "Ugly Christmas Sweaters" party. I went to the thrift store and bought the only Christmas sweater I could find--thankfully, it was pretty hideous, even if it was ginormous on me.

It was kind of funny, actually... I had to drop Eli off at a birthday party at 6:00, and it was near Melissa's house. I had an hour to kill, because Winers didn't start until 7:00, so I planned to just pick up a couple of things from the store or maybe just browse before going to Melissa's. I could have sworn that I grabbed my coat when I left the house, but I realized that I hadn't; and it was FREEZING outside. All I was wearing was a long-sleeved t-shirt with the hideous Christmas sweater over it! I was too embarrassed to wear it into the store, so I just hung out in the car until going to Melissa's ;)

It was fun to see my friends--it's been a while since anyone has held a Winers meeting (we used to do it every month, but now it's been just a couple of times a year). Unfortunately, I couldn't drink any wine! This is so odd, but I have turned into a total lightweight. The recent weight loss, combined with the fact that I usually only drink once a week or so, has lowered my tolerance so much that even one glass of wine would have been too much to responsibly drive home. Jerry had to get up early to work today, otherwise I could have had him pick me up. But anyway, I was happy to be able to chat with my friends!

Amanda, Jessica, me, Renee, Shawna, and Kerri (there were actually 12 of us total,
but we didn't have anyone to take a group photo, so we did two separate ones.
The white elephant gift exchange is always fun. We draw numbers to determine the order we choose gifts. The first person chooses a gift and opens it, and then the second person can either steal that one away, or open a new one. Then the third person can steal one that's already opened, or open a new one. And so on. Then, at the end, the first person can steal any of the gifts.

Renee ended up with my gift, which was this wine glass that says "I love my cat" on it (and Renee is actually allergic to cats, so she doesn't have any!). I also threw in a wine trivia game.


The last person to take a gift ended up stealing mine, so I ended up being the last person to choose. I could either open the last gift, or I could steal someone else's. I decided to open the last one, and I nearly died when I saw what it was.

First, the back story: Several years ago (I believe 2009?) I wound up opening this gift of some ceramic bunnies. Everyone cracked up at how perfect a white elephant gift they were, and I decided to hold onto them for a year and then regift them at the next Christmas Winers. Somehow, I managed to get them AGAIN, so they spent another year at my house. Eventually, I gifted them away, but they still made an appearance each year at Christmas Winers!

So, it was hilarious when I opened the gift and saw bunny ears sticking up:

Why yes, I do have shoulder pads in my sweater!
Now the bunnies will be taking up residence in the Foster household until next Christmas Winers ;) Super fun Winers!


This morning was my long run. I wasn't feeling confident after my failed tempo run on Thursday. It actually snowed yesterday, and the roads in my neighborhood were icy, so I decided to run on the treadmill. The best part about 10K training (versus half marathon or full marathon training) is that my long runs are short--so the most I'd have to run on the treadmill is eight miles or so. Today's run was a scheduled 6 miles, but I decided to go for 6.2 so that I could earn my 10K badge on Smashrun. (When you join Smashrun, all of your previous runs don't "count" toward the badges... so everyone is on the same playing field.)

I set the treadmill at 6.5 mph, and left it there the entire run. Almost immediately, I started getting those weird ab muscle cramps again. I have no idea what those are from! But I have realized that when I breathe deeply, they ease up, so I spent all of today's run breathing in for four steps, and out for three steps. My legs and lungs felt great, but the ab cramps made the whole thing a little uncomfortable.

I did earn two new badges on Smashrun, though!



I'm going to try and earn the Shortest Day badge on Monday... to get it, you have to run during sunrise and sunset on the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice). The runs have to start prior to sunrise and sunset, and finish after sunrise and sunset. It only happens once a year, so I am looking forward to doing it! Any of my fellow Smashrunners going to go for it?


Don't forget to send in your Motivational Monday submissions this weekend!

8 comments:

  1. I remember reading your blogs just before I started in 2012--I have regained some of my weight but I'm still much smaller then what I used to be.

    Thank you for letting me believe in myself!!! #motivating

    And, seems like a great part! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think winter solstice is Tuesday. I would hate for u to do ur runs on the wrong day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking the same thing! But it's listed as starting at 11:49 PM tomorrow, so Smashrun is using Dec. 21 as the official date. I would hate to do my runs on the wrong day! Lol

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    2. Gotcha! Enjoy your runs :)

      Delete
  3. Third time is the charm. These bunnies just keep finding their way to you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I signed up for Smashrun after your blog about it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just wanted to thank you for sharing the Smashrun site...I am a total data nerd and absolutely love all the interesting tidbits that the site features! And great job so far with your 10K training...you are motivating me to try and get some of my speed back over shorter distances after a sloooow marathon training cycle last summer/fall. Keep up the great training & posts :)

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  6. This sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!! As my friends and I have been finding it harder and harder to get together (everyone has small children, etc right now), this sounds like such a great way to do that.

    ReplyDelete

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