🗓️ November 2025 in Review
November was a quieter, in-between kind of month. Snow showed up, the Christmas movies went into overdrive, the races wrapped up, and most of my energy went into running, Hallmark nights, and getting a jump on the holidays.
Highlights
- Veterans Day off: No work and no school. The boys and I went to BJ’s for lunch, and the main event ended up being their argument over who got to brush the snow off my car.
- Thanksgiving break: I had five full days off for Thanksgiving, which included two Thanksgiving races, plenty of food, and some much-needed downtime. It also included race packet pick-up, a Crumbl run for our pies, a second lunch at BJ's (what can I say? Pizookies!), and a Black Friday outing to get Caleb's race medal engraved.
- Kids & outings: School movie night for Lilo & Stitch (where Caleb ate eight cups of popcorn), the grand opening of Boscov’s at the mall for fudge and candy (plus a Snoopy watch for Holden), and a return to the Home Depot kids’ workshop so they could make teddy bear frame ornaments — Caleb’s first time back in over a year.
- Hallmark season took over: My evenings were basically claimed by Christmas movies, which set the tone for the whole month.
- Early Christmas wins: I got a huge chunk of my Christmas shopping done, which makes heading into December feel slightly less chaotic.
- Apple Watch revival: Caleb fixed my long-dead Apple Watch so I could start using it for my runs again. Truly a little tech-genius moment.
- Cutting back on sugar: I officially started reducing my sugar intake and finally saw the scale start to move down a bit.
What I Read
It was a slow reading month. Between work, running, and Hallmark marathons, I only finished two books. Think I'll manage to read 50 more books in December to hit my yearly reading goal?! Oops.
- Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc ★★★☆☆
- Sister Wife by Chrstine Brown Woolley ★★★★☆
Books Read: 2
Yearly Progress: 50/100
What I Watched
All I watched were Christmas movies for the entire month! I got through a total of 18 total in November. My evenings were pretty much spoken for... and I'm okay with that.🏃 What I Ran
Runs this month: 9
Total miles: 16.24 mi
Total time running: 5:10:33
Fastest mile of the month: 17:14 on 11/27 (↓ 0:09 from October)
Average pace per run: 19:21 | 19:22 | 17:50 | 18:32 | 19:23 | 19:29 | 23:02 | 18:08 | 18:30
Average monthly pace: 19:07 / mi (↓ 1:02 from October)
Notes: November brought the first snowy runs of the season. We shifted from the track to neighborhood loops, and Holden joined me for quite a few of them, while Caleb slowed way down. Between training runs and the two Turkey Trots over Thanksgiving break, my pace crept down a bit, and I hit a new fastest mile at 17:14. Now that the races are behind us, the next challenge is staying motivated to keep going in the cold. Time to find the next race to sign up for? I think so.
Extras
- Loved: Running with Holden; watching Caleb casually fix my Apple Watch; cozy evenings with Hallmark on in the background; feeling a little bit ahead on Christmas shopping for once.
- Sucked: Cold, snowy runs; trying to cut back on sugar when there are pies and cookies everywhere; still having a couple of migraines (even though it was “only” two this month).
- On the Menu: A Dubai Pizookie at BJ’s; lots of Crumbl (including free chocolate chip cookie thin day) and our second Thanksgiving getting their pies; taste-testing a soup cook-off at work.
- Made Me Laugh: Holden asking if the shower water was cold because of our internet; Caleb inhaling eight cups of popcorn at movie night; Holden bemoaning his first financial crisis: "I only have six dollars to my name!"
⏭️ Coming Up in December
- Kids & family: A birthday party for one of Holden’s friends, the December Home Depot craft, and our town’s Winter Bingo (hopefully with less tears this time). Plenty to keep the boys busy!
- School: Another movie night at school and Caleb’s Christmas concert for both band and chorus.
- Theater: My aunt and I are seeing & Juliet, our next show of the season.
- Holidays: Christmas, some time off work, and watching as many Hallmark Christmas movies as humanly possible.
What I Learned
So that’s it for me! See you next month!
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