Races

The kids and I ran a couple of races together--a Thanksgiving first for our family!  Despite very cold and windy weather (22 degrees, and even less when the windchill is factored in), we all enjoyed the experience overall.

Lukas and Isabel ran a 1/2 mile race with other children ages 3-9years old.  Lukas went out very fast and, therefore, had to walk a few paces in the middle, but - by sheer will power and determination - he continued and ended up finishing 5th or 6th just behind a few of the older kids.  Isabel ran-walked the entire way with her Papa by her side and simply enjoyed the experience.

The kids and I before the races began

The kids waiting for their race to begin

The kids with their participation medals after finishing their race (Lukas also received a T-shirt for finishing in the top 5)

I ran in the official Turkey Trot--my very first 5K!  I had been following a training program since the end of the summer since I hadn't run consistently since my college days.  My goal was to run the race under 30 minutes and I exceeded my goal by 3 minutes--about a minute faster than I ran 5Ks in my training program!  I certainly wasn't the fastest in my age group, but I really enjoyed the experience and finished feeling good about my accomplishment.  Since I crossed the finish line faster than my family and I expected, Olli and the kids didn't actually get to see me finish as they were still in the car warming up --hence no finishing photo below.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to run another 5K sometime in the near future if I want a photo of me crossing the finish line!

Getting ready for my race to begin

After the races, we prepared for a delicious Thanksgiving meal at our house with some friends from church.  Since we were going to be 8 people, I prepared my first whole turkey (in the past, I've only made a chicken breast) and it turned out pretty well.

Preparing the 13.5 lb turkey