Some Trotting Turkeys!

I recently (2 weeks) realized that if I'm going to get any exercise at all, it's going to have to be before school (too much running and work after school).  So I have been getting up to do a half hour walk/run on the treadmill.  I feel better knowing I've done something active and it helped get me get ready for the turkey trot this year!
 

This year's Turkey Trot was cold freezing!!  When I got into the car at 4:45 (yikes), it was 17 degrees.  Chrissy and I met at my folks' at 5 (she beat me this year) and then I drove her, my dad and me to Dan and Steph's.  I told Danny I thought they were nuts to bring the kiddos, but they had them pretty bundled.

When we got down to Detroit it had warmed up a bit (22 degrees now).  We went into a building to stay warm before the actual run.  Maddy didn't want to be in any pictures, but she was there too.  One of the best things about the turkey trot was seeing all the fun costumes.  Chrissy and I always say that we're going wear something fun, but we haven't yet.  We saw a lot of tutus and thought that would be an easy thing to make for next year (we'll see if we actually do it).

This year they staggered the starts.  The 10k was an hour early than the 5k, so we decided to go ahead and just do the 10k (since my dad and Danny were doing it anyway).  We got near the end of the line (there were 20,000!!!) because we thought we'd be walking the whole thing.  I was so cold though, that I started running in place to heat up.

Steph's family did the 5k this year so the three of us (and the kids in the stroller) stuck together.  Right as the race got started, so did the snow and it was coming down pretty good and blanketing the streets.  It was actually very pretty.  I was so cold though that my little jogging run in the beginning never stopped and I ran the entire thing.  Even when the girls walked, I ran in place.  It was like if I stopped, I knew I would get cold (or maybe my legs would give out on me...).

I actually got pretty hot and took off my scarf, socks (I wore them on my hands instead of gloves/mittens) and then (when the kids were saying they were cold) I also took off my jacket.  Now I was wearing three shirts, two pair of pants, two socks, two jackets a hat and a scarf so peeling off a few items didn't mean I wasn't covered.  My chin was cold but that was just because it was wet from the snow and the wind made it feel icy!

At about mile 4 or 5, Maddy and Timmy Ziggy had had enough and started to complain about how cold they were and TZ started to cry.  So Steph broke off from us and headed straight back to the car.  Chrissy and I soldiered on though!  I had stopped my run for a second and my body felt like it would fall apart so I just kept going.  If you would have told me I would have run that far even a few days ago, I would have told you, you were nuts!

As Chrissy and I went, we saw runners falling down around us (literally)!  The streets were really slick and it was scary.  We realized that slow and steady was the way to go!  Seeing the finish line was awesome!  We knew my dad had finished (he did like 8 and a half or 9 minute miles... we did not).  After we crossed the finish line we got our medals for finishing.  They weren't going to give Chrissy a medal because she forgot her numbers at home. For $40 bucks though, she was going to get her medal so I gave her mine and then got a medal from someone else handing them out.

We thought we had lost my dad because my mom and brother had both called me.  He was where we normally meet but I think he thought we may have gone back to the car.  It was good to see him.  The roads were really slick on our drive home and we saw many cars that had spun out.  Slow and steady though was the name of the game for the morning and so that is what I did~ getting us all home safely so we could shower and then eat great Thanksgiving dinners (guilt-free!).
Happy Thanksgiving!

10K BABY!