Jingle All the Way 5K

Just before Turkey Trot that my friends bailed on me for, Jessie sent out another email asking if anyone wanted to do this jingle bell 5K. I dragged my feet, not sure if I wanted to dish out another race fee, and not sure if I'd end up doing it alone again. But since I had a good race on Thanksgiving, I really wanted to see if I could run the entire 5K distance, so I asked a couple of my other friends if they'd be up for it, and Heidi was!  Awesome!

The day before this race, I'd run 6 miles (and IHOP with Paula!) and wasn't sure how my legs were going to fare. I was also exhausted and was cursing my alarm when it went off early for the second weekend day in a row. I sure am glad that Heidi was doing this with me because a) otherwise I might've been tempted to bail, and b) I hadn't heard a peep from Jessie and the others since everyone said we had signed up. I hadn't done laundry for awhile so I had to scramble around to find some clothes to accommodate the cold weather, and found some old fleece ski liner pants in the bottom drawer...done. I drove into DC and actually found parking not too far away and without driving around the block *too* many times.

Freedom Plaza.  Heidi and I actually did our very first ever race together from this same spot,
years ago  (14 yrs?) for the St. Patrick's Day 10K

Picking up our race numbers, collecting our shirts, meeting up with Heidi and bag drop off all went smoothly and we timed it perfectly so that we didn't have to wait too long for the race to begin. Like the turkey trot, dogs and strollers were allowed, but the numbers weren't nearly as high and as such didn't annoy me half as much as the last race. Heidi and I started out, and she told me that she would match my pace. My only goal was to run the entire distance. 

About half mile in, Jessie did find us, and it was good to see her, Eileen and Marcie as they ran by. Heidi and I continued at our pace and finished the first mile in 12:39, which is not bad for me, and Heidi said it was her usual pace also. I've never had anyone who runs the same pace as me since Nelda and I trained together for my first marathon in 2007, so that was pretty cool. The second mile was a little slower, coming in at 13:13, and included a bitterly cold wind tunnel. I don't know how to drink while running, so I opted to jog through the water stop, but did slow a little so that Heidi could get a quick couple of sips.

Nice little run through downtown DC.

Once we were in the last mile it became clear that we were going to be able to meet my goal of running the whole way, and we actually sped up a bit!  We completed mile 3 in about 12:48 and then it was a sprint to the finish. Heidi got a little tripped up on a cup that someone had dropped, but we were so close to the finish that I darted ahead - I'm such a bitch! Karma got me though as a group of slow[er] runners completely blocked my path to the finish, which made me super annoyed. I crossed the line and turned around happy to see Heidi had quickly recovered and was just a few steps behind me. We did it!  Total time: 40:32.

From there we grabbed a bottle of water, collected my bag and started heading over to the Hamilton, where Jessie said everyone was meeting for brunch. Unfortunately it was completely packed when we got there and decided to go around the corner to Old Ebbit instead. Jessie and Eileen came and joined us for about 2 seconds before going to eat with Marcie who had found seats some place else. Heidi and I enjoyed some good food and a couple of refreshing drinks before parting ways. I headed home, took a shower and then went with Jon so he could get breakfast and we cheered the Ravens on to a very necessary win. Not a bad Sunday (though I'll have to make up some time on my bike later).