Jingle Bell 5k Run

How is training going? Good. 

Today Lan & I went into Port Orchard for their 1st annual Jingle Bell 5k Run. It was a lot of fun!!

The temp was only 41* so I had on a heavy shirt and mittens, with my jacket and long tights. We got there at 1pm and Lan got into line for registration. They were going pretty slow though so it took 40 minutes to get him all done and there were only 50 people in front of him but by race time the line was WAY back so they closed registration and just asked that everyone be on the honor system for payment after the race. I hope everyone did. Most of the people were dressed in Christmas outfits and everyone had bells on, some had lot of BIG bells on.

It was so cold that people were dancing in the street to keep warm, see, out past the cold people waiting in line.

They had a 1k run for the kids first, that was FAST!  Those kids were all so cute and they all had #1 so they were all winners.  This lady barely got her kids registered in time for the race, I saw them finish and they were all smiling and had a good time.

 Anyway, The race DJ/MC asked for all the kids and strollers to be in back of the runners and the walkers back too, that was cool. I hate having kids run around my feet when I'm running and their parents just seem to not give a shit that their brats are all over the place.

I ran as Linda because shes in Las Vegas, shes running the Rock & Roll Half Marathon tomorrow night.

I started out right at the front, only 2-3 people in front of my position but I was quickly swallowed up by a LOT of faster people. That's OK, I had planned it that way. Lan was right with me for the first 20 feet, then he went ahead and I didn't see him again. Port Orchard is flat so there was only a very slight rise in the road, can't even call it a hill. We ran from the courthouse out to the Annapolis dock and back.

These were taken about 3/4 mile into the race, I was being passed like crazy. But I didn't care.

I had started out a little too fast so had to slow down and get a good pace going on.

That dog in the white tee shirt was real fast, he passed me here and was done breathing hard before I got done.

I wish I had texted photos off my phone, there were some good ones.

Anyway, I finished the 3.1 miles in 29:21, a Personal Record for me. I'm pretty glad of that since Lan had asked me what my goal for the race was right before we started it.

Lan finished in 25:11 and Steve & Brayden finished in 26 minutes.

I saw a lot of TriBabes, including Lisa, Terry Harter, new FB friends and more. A lot of women recognized me & I have no idea who they are.

It was a good race, for a good cause (Rheumatoid Arthritis) and I'd like to do it again. Maybe not next year but sometime.

Lan and I had this huge cinnamon roll for our reward. Shame on us!