Early Christmas Gifts

Yesterday was a great day for multiple reasons....

1. I finally finished the lace patter on a pair of mittens I'm knitting. I had to restart this one mitten 5 times.
2. I got to take TWO naps! (They're only 10 minutes each)
3. For the first time ever I made a batch of royal icing that correctly flooded the cookies I was frosting. 

I also got two early Christmas gifts....

Mother nature was super nice. She gave us a 43 degree sunny day. I got to run 10 miles without a hat or mittens. There's still green grass and I even saw a runner wearing shorts. I absolutely love being able to do a long run this time of the year. 

And speaking of long runs, that's where my other gift comes in. I run the same route for 90% of my runs since we moved here two years ago. A few weeks ago they decided to replace a water line that runs directly under a section of my running route. How dare they?! That meant I had to run around town and no matter where I went I was going to go up a monstrous hill.

I headed out on my run yesterday afternoon not knowing where I would go or for how long. I caught up with a girl that was heading toward the bike path and decided to follow her. I was thrilled to get to the construction zone only to find out that it was no longer under construction!! And from that point on I knew where I was going and for how long.

It was a pretty awesome run. Thank goodness I had eaten plenty of fudge before hand to keep me fueled during the surprise long run :)

Oh, and as a side note - I normally do not take pictures while running. I busted my running watch yesterday which means I needed my cell phone to keep track of time.