Day 351 - 5K+

Well today I had a dumb idea. "Save money and warm up" was the thought in my head when I decided to walk to my last 5K event of the year. Upon waking up, I looked out my window to see the first snow of the season, "Great", I thought. Amazingly, I managed to FINALLY dress myself properly for the event. After 11 previous events of either being over dressed or under dressed, I left the house just right adorned in my fleece hat, a running tech shirt, a fleece jacket, workout pants and tennis shoes. What an accomplishment for this girl!

I headed out and as I snorted snowflakes up my nose in route to the 5K, I thought, "Maybe walking wasn't such a good idea". That was quickly followed by, "Ouch, my foot hurts," as I continued the 1.92 mile walk to the starting line. Upon arrival, I gathered my event t-shirt, goodie bag and jingle bell and headed to the starting line. As I started the event, I enjoyed the snow covered landscape and the calm of the lake. My fellow runners and walkers provided the soundtrack of snow crunching and jingle bells jingling.

Soon I was headed home, and again found myself enjoying the scenery of the freshly fallen snow and recounting the year's past events and conditions. I've raced in heat, bitter cold, snow, down pours, and mud. I survived them all, and have learned a lot on how to (and how not to) prepare for them. I'm looking forward to taking the experiences of this year into the next and for now, will continue to stretch and rest this aching body. Ouch.

Note to self: for next year's events, do not add an additional 4 miles to a 5K (3.1 mile) event by walking to it!