WRD: The Last Few Weeks
Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!
I’ve missed a few weeks, and I’ll try to wrap them up short but sweet! I’m still counting down, ready for the year to end. Putting this year out to the curb, waiting for sanitation to pick it up and take it to the incineration facility.
Week 50
This week was a short work week as we were off to Sicily on Thursday until Sunday.
Monday – we started the week off with RPM #79 in the morning and Pilates in the evening.
Tuesday – I managed another run in the morning (whoo hoo!) and in the evening I took my badass self to the gym for RPM Sprint and RPM – back to back again!
Wednesday – cardio and strength at the gym.
We landed in Catania on Thursday evening and spent a lot of time Friday walking around checking out the tourist attractions. On Saturday we went to Giardano Bellini to run – it was glorious! The weather was amazing (windy, but amazing) . We did quite a bit of walking in town; lots of steps! but also lots of espresso, chocolate, pastries and pizza. I LOVE Sicily! Sadly it was all over already on Sunday.
- Running 11KM
- Biking 3x RPM
- Gym 1x
- Pilates 1x
Week 51
A tough week as far as work went. Even missed my last Pilates class until the new year.
Monday – #nevermissamonday is apparently a thing for me now! RPM #80 in the morning.
The rest of the week though… lots of stress at work, working late and just not having the energy mentally or physically to do anything else. My last day at work was Thursday and we have a new colleague that I seem to be training – she doesn’t speak Dutch so I’m naturally the one on the team that speaks English the best (everyone else is Dutch). Trying to do a lot of things at work for end of the year as well. I’m glad I put the time in, though my workouts suffered for it.
Saturday – early run in Nijmegen with the parkrun team! Super nice! it’s not official yet, but the route has been approved and so the team is just running every Saturday morning until the kick-off. We had coffee at one of the runner’s parent’s house afterwards.
Sunday – Ron and I went to Sonsbeek here in Arnhem to work out a route for our own parkrun. Of course I know Sonsbeek is hilly but, dang, it’s HILLY. I think we have a route now though. My fellow parkrun team member Dafne and I will run it on the 27th together to see what she thinks about it as well.
- Running 12KM
- Biking 1x
- Gym nope
- Pilates nope
Week 52
On vacation!
Monday – another #nevermissamonday; this time I biked to the park (5KM) ran two 1-round options at Sonsbeek (5.5KM) and then biked home (5KM).
Wednesday – HAPPY CHRISTMAS
After traditional oatmeal-buttermilk pancakes (and digestion) I hopped on the bike for The Ride (#15) and once the sun went down Ron and I headed into town to run and see the Christmas Lights.
Friday – I worked a half a day. In the afternoon I ran with Dafne and her husband Hans in Sonsbeek. We pretty much know our parkrun route now (2x 2.5KM). We just need to figure out start area and finish area. You guys will likely get sick of hearing about parkrun but I’m so determined to get this off the ground here next year!
Saturday – Another parkrun in Dusseldorf. Yep, we went again; drove Friday night and stayed over at a hotel near the park. Well I should say I went again… poor Ron got food poisoning from the pizza place we ate at Friday night. He definitely was not up for running Saturday morning. We’re lucky we made it home without incident…
Sunday – Back to Back RPM (new release #85) with Vincent. It’s been FOREVER since we’ve gone to the gym together – he’s been injured since right after the New York marathon but is allowed to bike now so we went to the 9 and the 10 o’clock sessions.
- Running 23KM
- Biking 10KM to the park / 1x The Ride / 2 x RPM
- Gym other than RPM, nada
- Pilates no class until 6/1
That’s a wrap!
Did you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or both? How about Holiday Lights Running? Are you keeping active but not “punishing” yourself with exercise? I know it’s that time of year where there are lots more indulgences than throughout the year, but hopefully we are all of the same thought that exercise shouldn’t be used to punish ourselves for indulgence. Are you ready to get the 2020 party started?
I just realised this is the last weekly run down of this year. I’m so glad that this link-up has kept me a bit more active with blogging and to have “met” (some in person – yay!) so many wonderful blogging friends. Here’s to another year of keeping each other accountable!
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It’s really great to see you smiling so much this week and running! Great to have you back on the Weekly Run Too. Wishing you all the best in 2020 friend
thank you Deborah xx
For the record, I’ll never get sick of hearing about parkrun! I think it’s so amazing and I’m happy that it will be coming close to you. I hope that it continues to grow in 2020 :)
Poor Ron :( Hopefully he is feeling better now!
I know that 2019 was a hard year for you. Wishing you nothing but good things in 2020 :)
ah good because parkrun will be a recurring topic – i’m going to make this happen if it’s the last thing i do! Luckily Ron is ok, but of course Sunday late afternoon suddenly I was feeling sick. I always say I have an iron stomach but I was also riding the porcelain bus a few times. I’m back in business again though! Thank you so much, Kim – here’s to a much better year!
I guess I didn’t realize you were actually starting parkrun! I thought it was already established! My running club has a bunch of runs scheduled throughout the week–is that what parkrun is?
I hope Ron is all better. Yuck. Food poisoning is the worst. I got it really bad about 10 years ago at Panera and I’m still traumatized by the experience!
Yes, I’m on a core team to actually get parkrun “off the ground” here in town. Some places already have their teams and volunteers in place (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Nijmegen) and have the go-ahead from the parkrun organisation itself. We have only a core team so far but we are very determined to get it going. parkrun is actually a weekly, 5K, timed event on a Saturday morning and usually the same route. But once you are registered for parkrun you can do it all over the world with your barcode. It’s a lovely running community and also a great way to challenge yourself each week or just have group to run with on a saturday morning.
Ron’s better now, but I had a tiny bit of it Sunday and Monday. Nothing like what I had at KFC in 1989 (the KFC near the Howard L stop, if it’s still there) which I imagine is comparable to your Panera incident. AWFUL. Won’t eat fried chicken out at all anymore.
Sod all the Christmas stuff, I’m excited about your new parkruns!!! My friend Dave has just been instrumental in setting up the new one in Birmingham and I can connect you on FB if you’d like – I also have a friend working on the next new one. SO EXCITING. I might even come over and do one, you never know.
I would love to be in touch with your parkrun friends – maybe they can give me some tips to get volunteers and just get people excited in the first place about parkrun. And please do come over! I would love that! Feel free to “like” parkrun nederland or sonsbeek parkrun on Facebook (parkrun let us have a FB page to get some momentum – we’re the only ones with an official parkrun FB page!). We are having a public testrun on the 25th of Jan and are hoping for more than just the core team showing up – haha!
Yay that you’re back to running! I work in finance too, and there are so many year end deadlines, and then once new year hits we have our monthly close, all of which to say is that work is too darn worky this time of year…oh well it’s a living. I can go either way on fitness over the holidays. We had nice weather so it was easy to get out for some extra running, but at the same time there’s nothing wrong with getting some extra rest and taking it easy.
yes very happy to be running again! and a totally different approach as well! running, walking, jogging, whatever I fancy. No timelines or specific KM’s to run, just getting out there. And yes, it is a living, but I really don’t like the stress of month/year end and then throw new people into the mix, it’s just all too much sometimes. i agree that the nice weather helps to get out during the holidays and that rest is also ok!
Can I just say how great it is to see you running again? :-) I’m not in the park run loop…do you (ideally) run the same route each week, so everyone knows where to show up? Or do you vary the distance or route? It probably varies with each location, right? I think it’s great that you are on the “steering committee” for getting it started. I’ve been trying to get more things going in my area…just posted the flyer for our annual New Year’s Day run.
Thank you Kim! parkrun is the same route , same time every week! so you show up with your barcode (registration), you run, you have a good time, see friends and have a coffee afterwards if you fancy it. It’s the same everywhere and as long as you have a barcode you can run any parkrun anywhere in the world (you can even do it without registering, but registration also gets you time registration!). It’s an awesome concept but I’ve only done 6 parkruns because we haven’t had one in the Netherlands yet (coming soon!). Maybe you could also get a parkrun started? you can look on parkrun.com for more info :)
I’ve learned so much about parkrun from all you great run bloggers! Sorry about the food poisoning, that definitely puts a damper on this. Here’s to lots of great runs for you in 2020!
It’s such an awesome concept! Yes the food poisoning did suck, though I wonder if it was a virus after all as I was also sick on Sunday and Monday! Thanks Jessie – here’s to a better year!
Poor run – hope he’s on the mend
Yay on getting parkrun up and running. Wish we had it here
Totally thought of you with that trash bitmoji
he’s much better now, thanks! it was pretty bad! I had a tiny bit of it Sunday evening/ Monday so maybe it was a bug after all. I’m set on getting parkrun set up! you guys have so many organised runs in NYC though, but it would be cool to have it! The trash emoji was made for me LOL!!
Love your 2019 graphic! It wasn’t a bad year for me, but I know you are ready to be done with it! Sounds like you are finishing the year on an upswing — hopefully that momentum will get 2020 off to a great start. Is Ron feeling OK today? Being sick away from home is the worst.
yes I laughed when I saw the graphic! I feel more positive now that we are finally closing the book on this year. Ron is ok now but it was really bad. I had a bit of a bug as well but nothing like what he went through.
I love that you’re starting a parkrun! I’ve loved having a parkrun to go to especially on those days where I need some company (even from strangers) or a little extra motivation to get out and run. Luckily mine is situated between my work place and home. It’s actually at a golf club so they designed the route around the greens. So glad to see you out running again and I know you are just going to get stronger and stronger in 2020.
I love parkrun so much and have wanted this for so long so I’m really bound and determined to make it happen! Thank you so much Shathiso – I’m looking forward to a much better year!
That route for your parkrun looks beautiful! Sounds like you’ve had a full couple weeks. Sorry about the food poisoning for Ron :( Hope he’s feeling better!
it is so pretty in this park! Really, all throughout the year! It has been pretty full on these past weeks. Can’t believe I was in Italy just two weeks ago! Ron is definitely better now, hopefully we’ll not have to experience that again (ever!!).
I have to be honest, not sure that I’m really ready for 2020, but it’s gonna come whether I’m ready or not. Hopefully there are some good things around the corner! Well, eventually.
All that traveling . . . it sounds so amazing (except the food poisoning, of course, poor Ron!).
Congrats on getting your Parkrun together!
I can imagine you are not quite ready but yes it’s going to happen! we just have to keep a positive focus for good things. Italy was lovely, would have loved to stay longer. Dusseldorf is just around the corner but still, terrible to get sick when you aren’t in your own space!
I loved getting to see all your travel and adventures over the last few weeks. Your Parkrun is going to be a huge success!!
I did my PT and gym work over the holidays. it’s critical to my sanity and recovery.
I did not get to do any holiday workouts or lights runs or anything fun like that. Boo.
Thanks Jenn! I hope it will be a success. we really want to get it off the ground around the first day of spring! I’m glad you are able to do some work on your recovery and I totally understand needing it for sanity!! I’m so sorry you weren’t able to do any fun holiday workouts. Next year is going to be better, I promise!
Love seeing you running! So glad your Parkrun is coming together!
I so hope Ron’s feeling better.
Thanks Michelle! I love that I’ve been able to run and also work on parkrun. Ron’s completely fine now, but let’s hope that doesn’t ever happen again!
You had a great week along with your vacation! So cool you are running again. Sorry to hear about Ron. I hope he recovered quickly.
[…] Because we left around 1:30pm I knew we were bound to hit traffic. We made a couple of stops but of course it took the longest once we actually approached Paris. We *finally* got to the hotel around 8pm (It’s a 5.5 hour drive normally, but, Paris on a Friday night…). We checked in, dropped our things in the room, then left again to have pizza and wine around the corner from our hotel. I really though Ron was so brave after the Pizza Incident in Dusseldorf! […]