Holiday 5K & Parade

There aren't many races in our area, so I was thrilled when I found a couple 5k's around Thanksgiving. I was even more excited that I talked Shelly into running one with me the Friday night after Thanksgiving.

Shelly picked me up about 5:45pm, and our families came a little afterwards. This was one of the most fun races I've ever done- because we ran the parade route, almost the entire course was lined with people cheering. They gave us jingle bells to put on our shoes, and tons of people were wearing bright lights. I wondered how it would be running in the dark, but it was really fun. It was a down-and-back course that circled around through a park all lit up with lights. My only complaint was that the first half was downhill which meant the second half was completely uphill. It was fine though, and the weather in the low 40's was great.

I loved being able to see friends, neighbors, and church members there. The race was a lot of fun, and as a bonus I ended up finishing the 5k with a personal PR time of 21:19 (6:52 pace). I've decided those short 5k's are a whole lot more fun than some of the more grueling long races! I was so proud of Shelly- this was her first race and she did awesome too!

Afterwards, we met up with our families to watch the Christmas parade. I didn't bright the camera, so all the photos are from my iphone, which isn't the greatest quality- especially in the dark, but I wanted pictures and wasn't about to run a 5k with the camera in my pocket.

It's always so fun to watch the kids get so excited with things like parades. I especially loved watching Emily during the parade- she was completely mesmerized with all the lights, floats, and music. I just loved watching her sweet little face.
The parade was one of the best we've seen. The kids got candy, there were all sorts of fun samples and prizes handed out. The floats and lights were amazing. One of our favorite things was the floats that had hot air balloon torches on them. They would fire them up and you could literally feel the heat- it felt great in the cold!
Emily did get a little scared with some of the loud noises and fireworks. She was perfectly happy to spend a good part of the parade nestled in Jeff's lap with her blankie and her fingers. My favorite part was that it was only Friday and we still had another free weekend day to enjoy as a family. Holidays are my favorite!