Stopping By For Coffee

It’s time again to have a cup of our favorite hot beverage and enjoy a little heart-to-heart. Thank goodness the season for pumpkin-spiced insanity has passed and Christmas flavors are in.  I am linking up with Coco from Running With Perseverance and Deborah from Confessions of a Mother Runner for their Ultimate Coffee Date. Pull up a comfortable chair, pour yourself a cup, and let’s chat about all topics – running and otherwise.

If we were having coffee, I would first have to tell you about our trip to Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. It started out on an ominous note, with an unexpected snowstorm causing hazardous driving conditions (Hey, I live in southeastern Pennsylvania; one inch of snow causes us to go into panic mode.)

Things warmed up quite nicely by the time we got to Scottsdale, however. My oldest son and grandson played in the pool while Mimi took some photos.

My hubby Bill celebrated a birthday the day before Thanksgiving and found himself surrounded by great-nieces and nephews when it came time to cut the cake.

We had around 30 people for Thanksgiving dinner. My sister, her husband, her four children and grandchildren, Bill and me, two of our sons and their families, plus assorted in-laws and friends all got together in Arizona this year.  My sister rented one house that featured a fabulous pool with a rock slide, waterfall, lazy river, and swim-up bar, and we rented another house. Our house had a nice (but not fabulous) pool.

After dinner, the kids watched a movie while the adults played a cutthroat game of “Celebrity“. Much hilarity ensued.

In the early morning hours the day after Thanksgiving, we were awakened by a tornado warning, as a monster storm system blew through. The weather turned cold and windy, but my middle son, his wife, Bill, and I braved the cold winds that day to hike in beautiful Pinnacle Peak Park.

I am happy to report that Bill and I ran every day we were in Scottsdale. We didn’t run far – most of our runs were in the three-to-four mile range – but we got out every morning in an attempt to burn off some of the extra calories from all of the celebrations.

If we were having coffee I would definitely drink it out of my “Best Mimi Ever” coffee mug. My grandsons’ “other” grandma (my grandma-in-law?) got this for me. Coffee tastes better, sweeter when I drink it from this mug.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you about my latest endeavor. Even though I am not a very crafty person, I am planning to haul my sewing machine out and make some Christmas presents.

I can’t describe the project in more detail now, in case any of the potential recipients are reading this post, but I worked out the logistics in my mind and I think it will be doable. What could go wrong, right?

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that my running has been going really well lately but Bill has been less-than-enthusiastic about his running. It seems like either one or the other of us is having a good running streak, but usually not both at the same time.

For a long time, running was “my” thing. I started running races before Bill did. I often ran much longer training runs and did marathons and other long races. Bill ran mostly for fitness and to help keep his weight down.

Then Bill got bitten by the running bug and he began training for and running marathons with me. We trained together, raced together, and traveled to running destinations together. It was good for our relationship.

After running several marathons, Bill decided he did not enjoy the grueling long training runs any longer, so he often ran the half when I did a full marathon.

Just as I got injured a few years ago, his training began improving. He found himself in the position of having to encourage me to keep going.

Some nagging injuries for Bill have recently caused our roles to reverse yet again. It’s a good thing that we have been there to pick each other up during trying times. There is an emotional cushion that comes from training and running with the person who loves you most in the world.

I am now out of coffee and out of words. Thanks for joining me again for some coffee talk. I hope to see you again next month for another conversation over steaming mugs.

 

I am linking up with Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5 and Raisie Bay for Word of the Week.