It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

…and it’s started early.  Yesterday on NPR they mentioned that because of where Thanksgiving fell this year there is maximum number of days between Thanksgiving and Xmas…which means max days for catching “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” on the radio.

Speaking of Christmas music, at 5am yesterday morning I was subjected to an hour and a half of it while on deck coaching.  I love holiday music as much as the next person, but it’s not December yet.   I’m not sure how many times I can take George Strait’s “Christmas Cookies”.   And this morning I found myself covered in ice after scraping a very thick layer of frost off the car (my cotton gloves were frozen).  It’s feeling official.

Good news is the chicken coop is holding up.  Temperatures in the past few weeks have dropped into the mid-20s (feeling like high teens) and so far their water has yet to freeze inside the coop.  Good sign.  And they’re still laying.

Another good thing: the Smokies Half Marathon in less than two weeks!  After two months of smooth sailing on the running front, last week I hit a bump.  I did an 11+ mile run on Thanksgiving day, 5 days after my 10.5 miler (the weather Thanksgiving day was gorgeous, and that weekend they were predicting freezing rain, so decided to squeeze it in early), and my body hasn’t felt good since.  I’ve taken a few days off of running, but still sticking with some cross training (mostly swimming and yoga.)  So we’ll see.