Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Here in Minnesota, we have been blessed with a very mild winter! I am very much enjoying this weather, as it has made it easier to train. Last week alone we had more than 2 days in the 40's!! Yesterday, Christmas Eve, it was a balmy 47 degrees!!! This was wonderful, as it allowed my cousins and I to start a new tradition: A Family Jingle Bell Run!


Being our first year, and having many "new" runners in the family, we started small (and slow!) but had a blast running in our festive costumes!!

Not everyone in the family was excited to run, in fact Missy, the cousin I am running in Disney with, was less than thrilled. But I think she had fun once she got out there, and it improved her mood greatly once she was finished! Gotta love that runner's high! I am very proud that she got out there and pushed herself to run! I know it isn't easy, and dressing up funny when you already don't feel good is also hard! She was a great sport!

It was unfortunate that I did not know that my cousin Kelly was going to run with us as well, otherwise I would have gotten her an outfit as well. I was super excited that she did in fact run, and she was able to use my socks as arm warmers, and wear a fun little reindeer hat (I wish it was more visible in this picture!). Everyone else in the family had a good time laughing at us, and my auntie Julie took tons of pictures! We really didn't run much more than a mile (maybe a mile and a half if we are lucky) but it was a good time, and a fun thing to do on Christmas Eve while waiting for Santa to come! Celebrating the wonderful weather we are experiencing!

As we were running, there were lots of cars honking and waving! Everyone who saw our little pack of elves was smiling! I hope next year we can continue the tradition, even if we have 4 feet of snow and a normal below zero temp!!