Jingle Bell Hell!

 While enjoying my unexpected day off yesterday (Services had their wing Christmas party from 2-4, which meant the gym was closed and I didn't teach Zumba), I finished my grandma's present. She's the one who taught me to crochet, which gives a little more meaning to this shawl.

I hoped that by taking it easy, I'd be able to tackle Jingle Bell Hell today.

Breakfast of champions.

2nd breakfast of champions. This is how I fuel, people. Sugar and dairy. 

 The plan was to do a double digit treadmill run, since it's rainy and gross outside, and I needed to do a long run. Ideally 12 miles, but I would be happy with 2 hours, since I read somewhere that it's more about time on your feet than distance for those of us who run more like trudging pack mules than elegant gazelles.

 I had an overly optimistic goal of tackling the "10K Fun Run" program on our treadmill twice.

I put in "A Christmas Story" to set the mood. And soon, I felt like Ralphie trying to climb back up the slide when he was visiting Santa.

What the heck was I thinking? Before today, I had never made it past a mile, let alone even finished it!!!! This so-called "fun run" has hills where the incline is 6.5, 8.5, and 10.5, all for 2 minutes each before it lowers again. To those of you who live in mountains, this probably would be a fun run. To this little Hoosier, though, you might as well call it the Devil's run.

 Precor= 1
Kasey=0

I made it halfway. In 40 minutes. My heart felt like it was going to explode, even with walking those darn 10.5 incline.

 So, I switched to flat running. It was more important to finish the run than kill myself on the 'fun run" setting.

 This flat run by itself would have qualified for longest treadmill run ever (previously, it had been 6.5 miles. I prefer the outdoors 100 to 1 over the treadmill, even in the cold). So, my combined total of 10.3 miles still left me happy!

And sweaty. Very, very sweaty.

I survived my personal Jingle Bell Hell!

How's your weekend going? 
For you runners, what's your least-favorite kind of run? 
And for the crafters, are you done with your hand-made Christmas presents?
Anyone else done shopping? I finished Wednesday, but my husband hasn't even started. Unless you count the compression socks he had me order for myself using his card. :)