Turkey Trot 10k

My last race of the year was the Turkey Trot 10k in Columbia, MD. It was VERY cold that morning (seriously, my pony tail had ice hanging from it when I finished - that's a first for me!). Once we got moving it really wasn't that bad though. I think I was the only one of my running friends not wearing a face mask (and if I owned one I would've worn it - at least at the start!). The great thing about this race though is that it's small, so we literally parked our cars right in front of the start line and waited in our nice warm cars. After awhile though we got out to take some photos - we danced around to stay warm, and got a little goofy!!
Holly and Michele were very creative with their costumes and wore feathered hats and gloves.

 

 

 

 

Running the race with Holly...

Waiting at the finish for Patti and Tabitha to cross. They had the best post race food ever: HOT potato soup!!!

This race was bittersweet for me - it was my last race in MD with some of my closest running friends. It was a tough race to run; there were just so many emotions. I'm so very thankful that I got to run one last race with Holly and my other sole sisters.
So here is my very last race photo for the year of 2013!

Dazzle Dash

We did the 1.4 mile "run" through Christmas lights at the Howard County General Hospital's Dazzle Dash again this year. It's a favorite of my daughter's. She has asked to do it so many times since November 2012 when we did it the first time. It was a lot colder this year then last year so we were all bundled up pretty good.
My friend Patti and two of her kids (Brady and Lydia) came down to run with us (they stayed the night at our house since Patti is also doing the Turkey Trot 10k the following morning with us). We met up with Tabitha and her entire family too. The kids all love this "run" and are super excited to do it, but no one is nearly as excited as my little girl. The little speck of pink way down at the bottom of the photo is Katelynn; she is off and running - not waiting for anyone!!

Thankfully Patti brought her camera (cell phone) along so I have some photos to share. It really is a nice, family event.

 

 

 The kids all love the Chick-fila cow. If I remember right they were giving out some free samples.

 

 

 

We will miss this run next year. I'm really hoping they do something similar in Florida.

National Veteran's Day Virtual 11k Run

I signed up to do the National Veteran's Day Virtual 11k again this year since I had such a good experience with it last year. Unfortunately it didn't work out as well this year. I didn't even receive my race items until two weeks after the event (and that was after several e-mails inquiring where my things were). I don't even have a photo of my bling - the medal was not as nice as last year, the tech shirt I ordered this year was a waste of money, and the bib was pointless since I didn't have it for the actual run. Still, it was good to run in honor of my fellow Veteran's.
I ran the race around post with my running friend Michele (she didn't get her things in the mail on time either). She took a bunch of photos of us just being goofy.

 

 

Michele loves to run around the lake on post (it is pretty, but it's only about .8 of a mile, so it gets old quick). We had to do a photo with it in the background for her.

 

It was fun to be out running with Michele; she's a great motivator on runs. Next year I'll be looking for a real race instead of a virtual one. I'm not a huge fan of virtual runs - I miss the camaraderie of the other runners and the people cheering and just the whole atmosphere that comes with a real race.

Run For the Ta-Ta's 5k Fun Run

I liked the Halloween fun run so much that I went ahead and did the Ta-Ta's 5k run at the Grand Opening of the Severna Park Fleet Feet store. This time I brought my whole family. We met up with Tabitha and her two youngest and my good running friend Heather. Tabitha was smart and brought her double jogger. The kids said they wanted to run so we opted to do just a one mile portion of the out and back run.
They let the women run first and then the men have to chase them down, so Katelynn and I started running and when Chris and Denver caught us I turned around and headed back with Denver while Chris continued on with Katelynn. Needless to say we both ended up carrying them a good bit of the way. Run's are hit or miss with my kids - sometimes they want to run the whole thing and other times they just want to run/walk or as with this one they just want to be carried. We will be taking the single jogger with us if we do another run with them in 2014.
Since our kids were the only ones their the running store gave them some pretty cool gift bags!! They made out like little bandits - watches, water bottles, shoe laces, sunglasses. They were pretty excited.