I didn’t blog yesterday because I was exhausted. I got in a small workout and my eating wasn’t really enough as my day was a bit rushed with errands. Today sucked for eating, but it was a cheat day, so whatever.

I had another really big accomplishment today making this week tremendous in terms of progress. On top of moving off of the band for pull ups & upping my dead lift 50lbs, today I ran that longest that I have ever run without stopping for a walk-break/pass out.

To get a team WOD in for the Holly Jolly Challenge, my team, “The WOD Quad” signed up for the Turkey Trot around downtown Austin. We opted to do the 5 mile run which, to be honest, scared the living you-know-what out of me.

If you ever read my blog, you know that I despise running. I have hated running my whole life. From the time that son of a bitch gym teacher made us run it in 6th grade until now, I just hate it. I suck at it and I am often bottom of the barrel in it.

Today, I gained a bit of confidence in the running area as we (Me, Paula, and Jody) completed the 5 mile run in 57 minutes. I took zero, that’s right, zero walk breaks. Honestly, I have to say that my team really helped me here. They asked me if I would have been able to do it had they run on and simply, no, there’ is no way I would have. If I were running alone, I would have taken walk breaks, sit down breaks, whatever.

This is the benefit of Crossfit or, well, any exercise program where you have people that you have to be accountable to. Now, Paula and Jody weren’t drill sargenting me into running this thing. They were actually very nice and offered walk breaks on many occasions, but well, I guess I am getting better cardio and endurance because there were actually parts of this run where I didn’t feel stressed or taxed at all. This is just downright odd to me.

There were certainly times that I wanted to quit. Mostly during the hills that the mean planners of the route decided to throw in, but I didn’t want to let the team down.

You might be wondering “where was Victoria?”. Well, sadly, she came down with a rather nasty stomach bug yesterday and couldn’t run with us today. She is feeling better today and was missed by us all. I am sure she would love to run with us on the next one.

Lastly, here are my sheets for yesterday and today. I hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend it with people they love, I certainly did although I did miss the rest of my family. Victoria and I spent the evening at my grandmother’s house in Leander with her neighbor and their two kids. It was a really good time and I’m happy I got to hang out and overeat with them!

I am so thankful for the people and communities (Kung Fu and Crossfit) that I have in my life. These two schools of thought and training have changed me in so many beneficial ways. I don’t know what kind of person I would be without them.

While we are on the subject, I am also very thankful for my job. In a time where people are losing jobs left & right and people out of work can’t seem to find their way back in, I am extremely thankful that I have a job that allows me to learn new technology while still being an important player in the company and in customer interactions. I know I complain a lot, but that is really how I feel if we get down to the nitty-gritty.

Ok, enough with the sappy, here’s the sheets. Don’t kill yourselves shopping tomorrow.