Our Thanksgiving Tradition.

Brrrr! It's a nippy 28 degrees in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Not a time for fashion statements! There's a few minutes to go before the start of the annual Lake Norman Turkey Trot, sponsored by The Center for Advanced Medicine and Clinical Research http://www.buttar.com/ . All proceeds from this race goes to support children with cancer and with autism. The Turkey Trot includes a half marathon, a 10K and a 5K. We opted for the 5K and it is my sweet son's 1st race ever! My personal goal is to complete the race under 30 minutes.

Normally, when I go run, I use the time for personal prayer and meditation. For this race I decided to use the time to recite the Rosary. Usually, I complete the Rosary a few minutes before I've completed a 3 mile run. In this race I was only halfway through the last mystery when I crossed the finish line. What was my time? 28:38! Oh, and I also placed 3rd in my age division! Goal achieved.

Go, Paul, Go! Run! You can do it!!!! There's my Munchie-Boy in action! His time? 37:27! Way to go, son!

We're done, we survived, and we are very hungry! One happy and tired family who have earned their feast!

Would I do this again? Of course! Maybe next year I'll try for the 10K! (But don't hold me to that!)

And a special thank you to our darling daughter: our frost-bit, shivering, personal photographer who did not want her own photo taken. Sorry Sweet-Cheeks! You did a great job capturing the action for that I thank you.

A Certain Photo...

It was the photo of shame. My family vacationed in Jamaica this past summer and my daughter took a photo of me in all my "flabulous" glory. I was horrified. I did not think I was the least bit overweight but photos don't lie, right? But this photo...so unflattering as it was...was the the impetus to get me off my butt and to try to get back in shape.

Fortunately, I've enjoyed running in the past so I figured that was the quickest and fastest way to get in shape. It was the end of June and we had the Turkey Trot coming on Thanksgiving (a family tradition) 5 months away. My initial goal was to get in shape to run the "trot" in a decent time, preferrably under 30 minutes. Thanks to a good training regimen and the advice from my husband (former triathelete) and of the creator of the blog: Muddy Runner (http://muddyrunner.blogspot.com/ ) I am ready and have a pretty good chance of achieving that goal. In addition, I've lost a goodly amount of the "flab" in the process.

This year's race will be extra special as my 10 year old son will be running with his dad and I for the 1st time! Gotta love a kid with a healthy mindset!