Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday -- even if it's not a holiday where you are :)  Mine so far has been fabulous.  Let's see....  Getting up at 6:00 a.m. on very little sleep, driving in the dark and the rain to the zoo, sitting in my car in the rain waiting for the turkey trot to start, running around the parking lot of the zoo in the rain waiting for the turkey trot to start, running the turkey trot in the rain (noticing a theme??), running down the hills in the rain, mostly running up the hills in the rain, finishing in the rain, walking around the zoo to check in with my animal pals in the rain, enjoying the wonderful heated enclosures that got me out of the rain, and last but not least, driving back home in the rain.

Oh, did I mention it rained for our race?  *grin*  Actually it wasn't all that bad.  It rained somewhat heavily for about 30 seconds in the middle of the race (just as we started to go back up the hill), the rest of the time it was a light but steady rain.  The race was not four miles as I had thought (and I swear they said), but instead was 4.4 miles.  My iPod registered it as 4.37 miles.  I did bring a nice dry rainjacket and my camera to go through the zoo afterwards, but the race finishes deep in the zoo (by the elephant habitat) and I didn't want to walk all the back out to my car (in the rain) to get either item.  Instead I just walked around the zoo seeing who was out in the cold and rainy weather.  My otter buddy Eddie -- no idea what his name is, but we've agreed his name is Eddie -- was having a blast.  He loves the cold and the rain.  I was thoroughly frozen by the time I stopped to say hello to him (he was my last stop on the way out).  Now I'm semi-dry, sort of warm, and ready to chow down on some MickeyD's. 

I did the 4.37 miles in 0:53:50, so just over a 12 minute mile average.  Except for the few really steep portions of the hills, I ran the whole thing.  Learned I need to do some hill work -- going down the hills, not up.  At least when it's wet, my brain tells me I'm going to slip and fall and so I'll start doing this odd stride that my knees do not enjoy.  I need to learn to trust myself going down wet hills.

Saw a woman with the oddest running stride I think I've ever seen, and that includes that woman with the crutch from a few races ago.  Ladies, remember in grade school we had this piece of playground equipment that was a short length of rope with a loop on one end and a small ball on the other?  You put the loop around one ankle and then did sort of a Jerry Lewis-style motion with your feet to get the rope and the ball to spin around your ankle while you jumped over it with your other leg.  That motion with your feet?  That's how this woman was running.  Her knees were nearly together while her feet kicked up and out to the sides at about a 45 degree angle.  It amused me for at least a mile.

Okay, I need some food and then maybe a nap, then it's off to dinner with friends.  Happy holiday!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl