As any of you that live in the Washington, DC metropolitan area know, the beginning of this week was more like a lovely spring day than the middle of December. Temperatures topped 70 degrees and people were out and about in their shorts and flip-flops. Basically, everyone else was dressing like I do in December.
Not wanting to miss out on the wonderful weather, Rizzo and I met up with our good friend Brenn for lunch in Reston Town Center. Cece ate her food far faster than the rest of us and was getting antsy so I took her to walk around the Center while Rizzo and Brenn finished up their meal. It was a good thing I did because Cece and I were able to witness one of the greatest musical events of her lifetime (you know how old she is so please understand the sarcasm in that statement). That's right, we got to watch a group of ukulele players regale us with Christmas carols. It was fabulous and Cece was clearly a fan.
Sunday night I was honored to attend the Excellence in Education Banquet. This event honors the top 5% of graduating seniors in Loudoun County Public Schools and is hosted by the Loudoun Education Foundation. Each student honored is recognized and receives and award presented by the Principal of their school, the LCPS Superintendent, and the School Board Member from their district. I remember going to this same banquet 18 years ago when there were maybe 40 kids. The event has become so large that we have to hold two banquets, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, with over 250 kids being recognized. This is one of the best things that the Loudoun Education Foundation promotes and it is a great thing for all the kids involved. I always look forward to this event and can't wait to attend again next year.
Monday night was a regular bowling night (I did terribly) and Tuesday night wasregular running night (I felt good) so I decided to hop on the scale Wednesday morning to give myself a mid-week check and I was happy with the results. That, however, didn't last long because Rizzo is some sort of sorceress that creates cookies that are impossible to stop eating.
You see, on Tuesday night Rizzo whipped up a batch of pizzelles from her family's world famous recipe. One batch makes between 7 and 8 thousand cookies so I took some of them to work to share with my coworkers on Wednesday. Not wanting to steal the thunder from the another coworker who was bringing in the daily goodies for the holiday season, I left the cookies in my office for those that visit could enjoy a nice treat. The allure of the cookies and the close proximity made me get up and eat 5 or 6 cookies during the day. This is far less than any of my coworkers but it still wasn't the best use of my daily caloric intake.
Santa guarding the pizzelles in my office.
As much as Rizzo was trying to sabotage (not really) my healthy lifestyle with her deliciously decadent cookies she was also helping me by letting me stay on my normal workout routine. Our good friend Rizzo had a "Mom's Night In" Christmas party with a bunch of her friends from her various exercise groups (Stroller Strides, Body Back) on Thursday night. Knowing that Thursday night is my regularly scheduled running night, she went to the party later just so I could get in my run. What a good egg!
The warm weather is certainly weird this time of year but it does make it easier to get out and run. I have enjoyed running during the Christmas holiday because I get to see lots of nicely (and not so nicely) decorated homes in Herndon. There is one house in particular that is in downtown Herndon that I love the decorations. This lights are classy, the ribbon and string isn't overly done, and the historical look of the house is really spruced up with the Christmas decorations. I tried to take a selfie in front of the house but a selfie at night with no flash doesn't exactly work well as you can see below. Either way, running through decorated neighborhoods is fun.
Look closely. I promise I'm in the picture.
As the weekend approached the temperatures dropped significantly but I wasn't going to let that stop me from getting out to get in my regularly scheduled Saturday long run. Rizzo, Cece, and I went out for our weekly morning breakfast then it was time for Rizzo and I to take turns for our Saturday runs. I stepped out with shorts, a short sleeve t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, and a hat. I should have worn more because by the mid-way point of my run I started to lose feeling in my fingers and my nipples could cut diamonds. Of course, I was already halfway through and the only way to get back was to run back so I got pushed through, clocking in 5 miles and a cool picture of the old stonework that was used to support the railroad that used to run along the W&OD Trail.
Good gracious, there are way too many selfies in this blog.
Saturday night we attended a lovely Christmas party that was awesome because I got a great six-pack of beer but also a challenge because it was an overwhelming amount of delicious food. I did my best to fill my plate with as many vegetables as I could find while still allowing myself a nice little treat or two (it was a Christmas party after all). I was also inspired to keep myself in check knowing I would be weighing in for the last time of the year on Sunday (we are going to be visiting the Rizzo clan in North Carolina for Christmas so we won't be in town for the Dec. 27th weigh in).
Sunday was the big day. I was a bit disappointed because I gained .8 pounds for the week, putting me at 210 and making my overall weight loss 57 pounds. I suppose this isn't so bad considering the holiday goodies in the office and the Christmas party. I'm going to use this very small setback as inspiration to work harder this holiday week.
This week we will take a one day break from holiday blogs then hop right back in with a special Christmas poem. Be safe.
