Jingle all the way...

My Saturday morning started early with the buzz of the alarm clock at 5 AM. Even though my eyes were barely open, I hopped out of bed to pull myself together for the Jingle Jog 5k. I have wanted to do this race so many times in the past and have never gotten around to it due to other conflicts. I wasn't going to miss it this year! I made a peanut butter sandwich with pumpkin butter, grabbed my ipod full of Christmas tunes and my santa hat then headed out the door.

I have a habit of arriving earlier than necessary for races and this was no exception. I only wish I had the same habit for other occasions in life. My thought in getting there a little early is to avoid an issues with directions or parking once I get there which usually saves me a lot of unwanted stress. I arrived just as the vendors were getting set up so I kept warm in my car entertaining myself with facebook and taking a quick 20 minute nap. (I have no issues sleppeing anywhere which is a bonus for times like this...).

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and braved the cold to head across the street and pick up my number. For a 5k, this race had more vendors than any I had ever seen. There was a truck from the Salvation Army to pick up toys along with their brass band and a catering truck offering hot chocolate and coffee. In the vendor area, there were bouncy houses for the kids and a rock climbing wall, more than a few restaurants offering up BBQ sandwiches, brunswick stew, breakfast burritos, cupcakes, doughnuts and the like. All at 8 AM.

The race itself was a bit of a spectacle for the variety of costumes. Everything from santa hats to elves to someone dressed like a pink pig (which I am not sure how that fit into Christmas but to each his own...). Plenty of dogs were costumed and out for the run as well. I ran part of the way with a father - daughter pair. The daughter was probably 9 or 10 and the Dad kept sprinting ahead so he could take pictures of her running. He must have done it about 10 times. Hopefully he got a good shot. What felt like minutes after we started, I was sprinting across the finish line. If you are ever in the Atlanta area, this would be a fun race for the holiday season. This was their 23rd running so make plans to attend next year!

In other news, I had BIG plans to do my holiday baking today only to discover that after 30 some odd years of faithful service my oven has gone to the big appliance store in the sky. I might have cried a bit. I doubt if we are going to be able to afford to get a new one any time real soon so there will be no Christmas baking this year. I am the person at work and in my circle of friends that brings copious amounts of baked goods in at Christmas each year so to not be able to make treats, well, it is very sad. I am currently investigating recipes for things that can be made on the stove or perhaps I could start a new tradition of holiday cleaning (or not...) :)