Taking 5 of the last 10 days off from running was definitely not the recipe for keeping my 100-mile monthly streak alive—but even so, November still ended up being a win. I logged 83.57 miles this month, which absolutely blows last November’s 21.52 out of the water. And with the 4 miles I squeezed in this morning, I’ve already doubled my December mileage compared to last year.
Now I’m down to 66.57 miles left until I crack 1000 for the year. It’s close enough that the finish line finally feels real.
But in the more immediate and vastly more fun category: the twins and I ran a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.
It was cold—28 degrees—but honestly, it could’ve been worse. The sun was shining, the wind wasn’t trying to kill us, and now that the girls are almost 14, these events come with zero stress and maximum fun. For the first time ever, I wasn’t worried about anything except enjoying the moment.
We all started together, tucked in with a few of Maya’s XC teammates. The opening stretch was packed, crawling along at an 8:20 pace for the first quarter mile. But once the crowd thinned, the girls surged ahead, and I picked it up to close the gap. We hit the first mile in about 7:30.
Kenna—running this thing completely untrained—fell back a touch but kept grinding. She still held strong and finished at a sub-8 pace, clocking 23:57 for 3 miles. Tough as nails, that kid.
Maya, though, coming off a XC state championship, was a different story. As the race went on, she just kept accelerating. At the halfway point her XC teammates fell back, and suddenly it was just the two of us.
Mile 2? 7:15 pace.
And then she absolutely dropped the hammer.
With one mile left, Maya kicked into another gear and we started passing people like we had someplace to be. Just before the final turn she looked at me and said, “We don’t have to sprint at the end, do we?”
I told her, “We can do whatever you want.”
She said she didn’t want to sprint…and then turned the corner and took off like she was shot out of a cannon.
She finished strong; I finished barely hanging on. Final mile: 6:38. Final time: 21:21.
We were back home by 9:30—before anyone else had even rolled out of bed—and I was carving vegetables and basting a turkey while still riding the high of that finish.
A cold morning, a shared effort, a fast last mile with my daughter, and one more memory logged on the road to 1000 miles. Pretty hard to beat.
