Jingle Bell In the Snow

I ran the 5k Jingle Bell Run in Seattle yesterday. It was the funnest run to date. I set a new time for my 5k, which was amazing with all the people. There were 3 waves, First 2 were runners and the last was walkers. My son and I ran in the second wave, and my Mom and all her walking buddies followed in the third wave. There were over 11,000 people all together. I timed myself because I knew their time would not be acurate. 44:27, that is over 2 minutes off of my turkey trot time just a few weeks ago.  The race started slow with it taking over 40 second to cross the start line. About 3 blocks into the race it started snowing and the crowd started cheering. We ran on the I-5 express way and as we went through the tunnel someone started singing jingle bells and it went like a wave through the tunnel. I felt really good the whole time I was running and I think it helped with all the people because you constantly had someone at your pace keeping you going. It was somewhat annoying that walkers were signed up for the running part and they were spread out all over the road. You have to bob and weave to get around them because they are all over the road. It did make it a little dangerous because at one point a fellow bobber and weaver and I collided. We both apologized and carried on but we both hit each other pretty hard. There were tons of costumes and that gave me somthing to look at as I ran. I thought I was going to have to walk at the turnaround point but for some reason when I turned that corner I got a burst of momentum. Coming of the express ways their is a hill and I pushed and ran up the hill. I amazed myself with my determination. Of course as I crossed the finish line and clocked my time I realized how fast I had done it in and teared up. My son was their waiting cause he always blows his Mama out the water. We waited for my Mom and her friends and cheered them on as the ran across the finish. The whole race was a high for me! Looking forward to January and training for a 1/2 Marathon!  Liz

Hey Liz!!!  Great job girl!  Don't you just love running in the snow?  It's amazing!   And I love people cheering you on ... it makes all the difference in the world.  Great job! When is the 1/2 marathon you're training for?  I signed up for one in June.  Should give me plenty of time to train for it! Deanna

Its the Tacoma 1/2 Marathon in May, so I will have plenty of time. I am so excited to challenge myself with this.We will have to keep in touch with each others training progress. We will see how it goes. Thanks, Liz

Great job, Liz.  That is a whole lot of people.   I try to find a sweet spot to run to avoid the weaving but I only end up with someone right in front of me that decides to stop and look back at everyone.  Luckily, I usually just break stride, and usually avoid a collision.  Nice time and persistence to get to that finish.  I'm training for a 1/2 in March, with a 10-miler in January.  Keep us posted. Rob

Liz, How great that 3 generations of your family particpated in the race.  Congratulations on your time!  I can't imagine doing a race in the snow - it must be pretty.

Mary