Every year, the holidays come around, and it can be both good and bad. Good in that you get to spend time with family and friends, but bad because everybody gets caught in the hustle and bustle of the season. We forget what the holidays are really supposed to be about, and it creates more stress for all of us. It is also a tough time for people if they have lost people close to them, as it is a reminder of the holidays coming, and those loved ones won’t be around. Remember what the holidays are about! What is the reason for having them? Having faith makes it easy to remember the true meaning behind the holidays, especially Christmas. But those times are even more important when you get to spend it around those that are most important to you!
I have gotten to spend the last 29 years of them with Sarah. Do I really need any other reason? For others, it is more stressful than ever, and you need to learn how to manage that stress.
The last one, be true to yourself! Keep everything in perspective. Go with the flow! Enjoy life, and this ride we are on. Truly say no if it is too much. You do not have to do everything. Many times those things we think that we absolutely have to get done, really do not need to be done at all. Take a deep breath. This is also a perfect time to go do some exercise, and blow off some steam, and get our minds cleared and ready to tackle what is really important.
With days like we are having this weekend, it is nice enough to go out and enjoy the weather yet. The cold is really going to hit next week again, which adds even more stress to the holidays. Take the weather as it comes. You can’t do anything about it anyway! Make alternative plans. Work out inside. Do inside activities in general. For those of us who have lived in SD our whole lives, it is no different than any other year! Tis the season! We are from SD. We are tough! The snow also adds more holiday spirit to everything as well. So be happy! These next several pictures are all members of our run club. We are just happy to get out to go run, and spend time with friends. The weather is just something we deal with everyday. As long as you are wearing the right clothing, you can tolerate anything!
Take each day as it comes. Enjoy the holidays, and for what they truly mean. The bottom line–be happy!
Spend time with those that matter the most to you! Celebrate well, but together. Don’t create stress where it really does not need to be. As long as you have family, and friends, what more do you need!
Family time! Nothing more really needs to be said! Keep moving everybody!
We have kept the Reiffenberger tradition going once again to run in the Annual Turkey Day 5k here in Watertown on Thanksgiving. It is always a great way to start the day! “If you want to eat, first you have to move your feet!”
Each year brings different reasons to reflect on for what I am thankful for. This year is no exception. I actually am physically able to run now, which I am definitely thankful for. My daughter Megan is back home from Virginia for good, which no words can describe this! My mom’s birthday was also on Thursday, which makes Thanksgiving even more special. Then, another reason to be out for this event is because it is a great way to support the community, and Watertown DASH!
Nick also made it home for Thanksgiving, and Molly and Tanner made it up later that afternoon. They ran a Turkey Day 5k in Marshall, MN! Everybody got home!
Many of our Watertown Area Run Club members also made it, and we were all out to support a good cause, and to be hanging out with friends. It was a good time to be catching up with some of them as well.
Now, one of the best things I like about this holiday is the food! I love to eat, so I have to keep moving my feet so I earn it. It starts off with the pie at the finish line!
But you have to walk/run the race first. We had another good turnout! Here we are crossing the start line!
Now, I may be running, but the pie was on my mind. And, we were having Sarah’s parents, and sister, over for Thanksgiving, so I knew the turkey and all of the “fixings” were something to work up an appetite for!
My favorite meal! We had already ran, so it was time to indulge a little. We had earned it! If you keep moving, then you can splurge once in a while. That is what life it all about. Enjoy the things as they come, but work on it in between as well. Nothing comes easy! This food tastes even better when you have worked up an appetite!
Here is the rest of the WARC members who came that day! We all earned our meal that day. Now sit back and think about things. What are you thankful for? What has been provided to you in your life now? Good, bad, work, relax…and enjoy! Appreciate what you have, and who you have in your life. And most of all, if you have your health, be extra grateful! You can never take anything for granted, or assume something, or someone, is always going to be there going forward. Live life to the fullest! Strive to Survive. Be thankful…and keep moving everybody!
Well, with this time of year, it pretty much is safe to say that it will be dark when we start running in the morning, and will be dark if we run or walk after work. We need to be safe and be able to see where we are going. That is when it becomes important to have the right equipment available to you. The beginning of the “charge of the light brigade”.
Now some of you may be familiar with the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, a poem commemorating the hopeless charge of 600 British light cavalry against the Russian troops on Balaclava Heights, October 25, 1864. The charge was led by “incompetent leaders”, but the poem wrote about the men involved who served under them, and their bravery, dedication, and passion. Now, as runners, we have a lot of those same characteristics. We will go run under any circumstances, or situation, and brave the elements and the environment. Sometimes with the weather conditions it may seem like we are getting ready to go to battle. We need to learn to be safe, and have it where not only can we see where we are going, but other people, and cars, need to be able to see us coming as well.
Our group on Wednesday night is getting ready to go for a run. We try to stay on the bike trails as much as possible, and that works yet when there is no snow. That will change soon! Safety has to come first for all involved.
Now you can see lights from the front, but the one Sarah is wearing, on the far right, has a headlight beam in front to be able to see where we are going. This is really important. The bike trail, and the road, has dips, holes, uneven ground, sticks, etc, and we need to see where we are going.
The lights in the back help others see us, especially cars. I have said many times, when I go out for a run, I want to be able to come back home again afterwards. Safety! Safety! Safety! My daughter Megan has one of these too, and she was out walking her dog early one morning last week, in the dark, but on the bike trail. It was adjacent to the road though. A car came up beside and stopped, and told her they loved the lights she was wearing because they could see her as they were coming! We want to see, but we need to be seen!
These are the ones we now have. Jenn McElroy had this one, and I thought it was perfect. The lights are important to be seen, but I wanted one with the light beam in front to see where we were going. These work great for going out for a walk as well.
Here we are this AM getting ready to take off, and light beams leading the way! “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, or at least our modern day version of this! We are leading the rest so we can see where we are going.
Bottom line, we are a close group, and we want to keep it that way. Always have safety in mind. We want to see where we are going, but others need to see us coming. We are quite the force when we are all in a group. It is very easy to see us coming from a distance. Because, once again, we want to have these runs together, but we want to be able to go back home again afterwards. Be safe! Be smart! Be seen! Keep moving everybody!
We have had Dakota now for over a month. She is getting bigger by the day. This Golden Retriever puppy is quickly becoming a part of this family. She has also become a new Vikings cheerleader as well. Skol Vikings!
We have been having many adventures with our new family member. She is great to sit on our lap reading the paper, or watching TV. We are getting her trained to go walking with us. Suffice to say, she is not really a morning dog! She will get to the end of the driveway, and then just sit. We will have to keep pulling her, and coaxing her to get going. When we finally get to the halfway point, then she is leading the charge to head back home and she will be pulling us!
Here she is on the way out! “I am not going and you can’t make me!”
Then on the way home. “Hurry up! I know there will be a treat waiting for me when we get back!”
Which, of course, she is right! The chew treats definitely keep her busy for awhile, and out of trouble! Day or night we will take her. We just have our lights hooked up, and away we go! Some day she will go running with us as well.
The newest member of our family definitely has our hearts!
And I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual! As a member of this family, she will go exercising with us, even if we have to pull her to start with! She will learn as time goes on, and then there will be no stopping her! She definitely goes full throttle during the day!
Then when she decides she has had enough, she will literally just drop where she is and go to sleep! Hilarious!
She is definitely now a part of the Reiffenberger family for the long term! She is an important part of this family, and is fitting right in. She gets to follow the rules too. She will be exercising as well. Just like us, there are good days, and bad days. Sometimes we feel like we need to get pulled along as well, but the reward afterward is well worth it. They make great training partners…training partners for a lifetime. They give you something else to get motivated by. They so desperately want to become a part of the family…which she is! Welcome to this family Dakota! Keep moving everybody!
The Watertown Recreation Trail Challenge ended at the end of September, having started on May 1, and Sarah was the winner for the most miles walking on the trail during that time. Congratulations! It does not surprise me at all. She is automatically out by 6 AM every morning to take the dogs for a walk. Regardless of the weather, she is out there!
Sometimes, now, she will have two dogs out there at the same time. No easy task, especially when one of them is a puppy, and is all over the place! She still handles both of them, and keeping them untangled as well. Dobby, my daughter Megan’s dog, is always eager to go for a walk, but Dakota, the Golden Retriever puppy, is not really a morning dog. I will expand more on this next week! But it helps when Dobby is along, as he pushes her too!
I don’t know how things will be once we start having snow to go through, but Sarah will still be out there trying regardless! Now this award was just for the walking miles she did. It does not count all of the miles she put in running as well. She was training for how many different half marathons as well, putting a lot of long runs out on the trails during this time period as well.
The most recent half marathon was just last weekend in Lincoln, NE. The Good Life Halfsie Half Marathon. She ran a 1:56, once again breaking 2 hours! That is not an easy feat! Plus working fulltime as a physician as well. There are no excuses for her getting out to exercise as well. In fact, many of the times going outside she is the one to be pushing me! When it gets too cold out, or raining, I would still rather be working out inside. She will go out in almost anything!!!
I think it is probably safe to say we push each other, but she is definitely the one to get out early to take the dogs. Many times I will take at least one of them out after work, but she is always first thing in the morning. Way to go Sarah! She, too, practices what she preaches to her patients as well. No better way to do this, than to do by example! Get out and move–no excuses! Congratulations once again Sarah! Keep moving everybody!
