The Thanksgiving Event

Most years we spend Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family at my aunt and uncle's house in Connecticut. We call this weekend "The EVENT" because its the only time of the year we all get together... and to bust on my aunt for all of her crazy planning :-)

Every year the bar gets raised a bit. Last year it was the new hot tub. We used it  A LOT again this year. On Thanksgiving morning our family won the team award at the Newtown Turkey Trot! Andrea won the women's race and I was second in the men's race (beaten by the same guy who beat me when I ran this 5K in 2012... by almost the exact same amount). Another new event at the event was a surprise engagement party for Andrea and I on Friday night. It was a ton of fun and great excuse to open dozens more bottles of excellent wine!

The weather was great in CT this year - afternoons in the 60s. I even jumped into and won an open cross country race on Saturday morning before we headed back down to JFK for our flight home. The nice thing about getting home on Saturday evening is that you get a ski day on Sunday!

The last three photos are from Utah on Sunday... last weekend we were skiing up Great Western with no shirts... a week later it was frigid and feeling like winter:

Still ticking... Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Family turnout for the Commodore Hull Road Race

It dawned on me over Thanksgiving that I haven't posted anything about running here since Chicago. At that time, I was planning on running CIM... but the hamstring that was bothering me leading up to and during Chicago didn't bounce back quick enough, and I decided to just jog my way through November. I posted some of my thoughts on my training log on November 3rd. Essentially I've just been run-commuting (my forte!) and enjoying the relaxed and no-pressure running. I'll start ramping it back up soon, and will post something about my spring 2015 plans shortly.

We had an excellent Thanksgiving back east in Connecticut, highlighted by a nice family turnout at the Commodore Hull Road Race, bingo, hot tubbing, Christmas sweaters, and plenty of good food / wine.

With my parents and cousin Andy at the Turkey Trot

Running (slowly) with flowier hair

Drone view of the Commodore Hull Road Race

Ammunition for an excellent multiday Thanksgiving celebration

Andrea and I

Krong family

A white, snowy Thanksgiving in Connecticut this year

Grandma is partially proud of us, and partially scared of us

We spent a lot of time in the new hot tub

Thanksgiving in Connecticut

I headed back East last week for the annual Thanksgiving "Event" at my Aunt's house in Connecticut. I say "event" because its like a 3-4 day affair. It was great to see my family and spend a couple of really fun days with everyone.

I also jumped into the local turkey trot, using the 5K as my first harder workout of the new training cycle [Race Recap]. My hamstring seems to be healed up, so I'm excited to be ramping up the training again. I got in some great runs during the trip and then did a 20 miler on Sunday after flying back to SLC, so I'd say things are looking good.

One of the highlights of the trip was finishing the 5K, then looping back and running in the last half-mile w/ my Dad.

With my Dad after the Turkey Trot

Big Bailey

Sasha

Chloe

Immediate family

Dead after dinner

Chloe looking for a bite

Cousins

Outdoor music night

Thanksgiving

We took a little break from blogging after Philly, but now we're back. In the upcoming week we are planning to post some analysis from the race - what we did right, wrong, and what we learned that will be useful going forward. Its easier to think a little more clearly once you get a little distance from the race and have some time to reflect. As you can imagine, we have talked a lot about these things over the past week.

After leaving Philadelphia we went to New York City for a couple days. The weather there was crummy, but we did go to Radio City music hall to see the Christmas show, and that was a lot of fun. From there we went up to my Aunt's house in Connecticut for the rest of the week. Her house was essentially a 4 day all you can eat buffet, so its safe to say we are NOT in a calorie deficit!

Physically we are both feeling pretty good and have run every day since the marathon.

Its nice to be back in Utah after a week on the east coast. Eventually it will be time to get serious about ski season... but the temperature is still unseasonably warm, so we'll enjoy the nice weather while we can!

Some random photos from the past week...

Philly newspaper from last Monday. Sadly, 2 people died during the race.

This was the cover photo from the newspaper. I'm in there on the right side, just behind the leaders.

Turkey Day

Bingo and fireworks are some of my family's traditions on Thanksgiving!

My grandmother, cousins (on my Dad's side) and sister. I am the oldest... but not the tallest!

The immediate family