Christmas Running (and Violining)

On Sunday, I played in church and then had a 4.5 hour string quartet gig at a very upscale Christmas party about 1.5 hours away.  I had my morning run before all that and ended up not getting home until nearly 1am. I was exhausted.  Then on Christmas Eve, I had to get up pretty early to run, then head to a gig where I was hired to play back-up on a few numbers (on electric violin) and to play O Holy Night on solo violin (acoustic) with a pianist.  The church asked that I wear a red ball gown so I made one over the last few weeks...ended up costing me only about $80 but it turned out great.  I played four church services plus a rehearsal for a total of 7.5 hours of work.  During the first service, it started to snow!!!  We haven't had a white Christmas for 16 years.  It was so exciting!

By the end with all the nerves of performing, mixed with the gig the night before, the running and the lack of sleep, I was EXHAUSTED!  Headed to my folks for leftovers of Christmas Eve dinner and headed to bed.

Woke up this morning to white!  Decided to do my strength run (warm-up, then 3 x 2 miles @ 7:28 pace, with 1/2 mile easy in between) on our street since it was mostly clear of snow with just a half dozen icy spots to avoid.  The sidewalks were a mess so I spent most of the time in the road.  It was a nice run...a little slow from avoiding the ice but it was done by 10 so I have the whole day to rest. Then we headed to my sister's for brunch with her family and my parents.  Delicious!

Happy Christmas everyone!  Here are some Christmas photos of my running buddy, Sentry!