Jingle All The Way!

This happened yesterday.  Although it almost didn't.

Excuse the blurriness.  It seems to be all anyone could do when we'd ask them to take a picture of the 3 of us yesterday.  This is the least blurry of the bunch.

I've gotten on this 5K kick.  And by kick, I mean, I registered with my brother and some friends for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving on a whim.  Oh, here we are!

I'd always heard about it.  Seems like everyone in Dallas does it.  I was finally in Dallas this year.  Why not join the crowd?

And I kinda enjoyed it.  Not during the race, mind you, but after the race I was pumped.  None of us trained or prepped.  I finished in 41:22 and all of us were within a minute or two of each other.  Not an impressive time by any stretch, but we were all proud of ourselves for pushing and running the run/rest intervals.  Then we went home and binged on food.  The strollers and dogs annoyed me and I'm not even competitive.  Helpful hint: you are NOT in the back of the race queue like the race guidelines request if...oh...approximately 20 thousand people are standing behind you!

So for the Turkey Trot they give you a race packet and what to my wondering eyes did appear in it?  A Jingle Bell Run 5K for December.  I posted it on facebook.  A bunch of people were interested.  Rah rah!  Yay yay!

And then I forgot to register.  So did most everyone else.  By the time my phone calendar beeped at me to remind me of my impending 5K, I was pretty much decided that I would either 1. skip it or 2. go run it alone.  I was leaning towards the former.

Turns out these two had registered for the race after seeing my friendly fbook post.

So I definitely had to suck it up and run.

My time didn't improve from the Turkey Trot.  In fact, it got worse 30 seconds worse at 41:52.  I was only surprised because this race had far fewer strollers and dogs in the way (aka...these dog owners and strollers stood in the back, thankyouverymuch) and I was definitely able to take off running much quicker after I passed the start line than the Turkey Trot, but apparently that meant nothing.  Still, I did it and took the after race pic in front of the tree to prove it.

Just imagine if I actually followed my "Ease Into 5K" schedule for running! (more on that later)

The Jingle Bell Run was sponsored by, among many sponsors, Corona Light.  The after party was a whole bunch of free Corona Light and delish bites from local restaurants.  The healthy runner crowd couldn't be bothered to drink all those free drinks up, so we stuck around to close the party down and help out.

We also met Rudolph and Santa's Reindeer!

I'm one of those people who needs a target and a goal.  I've been having difficulty finding workout motivation without it and I think that these 5Ks just might be the answer.

My New Year's Goal for 2013 is to run a 5K a month.  Ideally, I'd finally haul my butt through all 6 weeks of this Ease Into 5K app on my phone.  But even if I don't, then I still have to face the punishment of pushing through 3.1 miles each month.

Next Month: The Electric Run!  You know you want it...