Last month I decided to run the Jingle Jog 5k in Cumming. I ran this a couple of years ago and, while the course is a bit hilly (hey, it is Georgia) I wanted to see how I would do since my 5k time had been consistently improving.
I was fortunate enough to get a bib through J's company (thanks Hansgrohe!).
As tradition has it (and to make it easier when I get up in the morning) I lay out Flat Jen - it made me laugh that I ended up with Bib 1....ha!
The race was only about 5 minutes from my house (yay for local races!) and it had a later start time, so I always welcome getting a few extra minutes of sleep. Parking was super easy, and I had some time to stop by the Hansgrohe water table to chat with them as well as walk around to check out the fun outfits people were wearing.
As I walked around the race area, I heard someone yell "JEN!" I turned around and saw my sweet friend, Zoila, and her hubby, Chris (who I went to college with).
I hadn't see her since the Peachtree Road Race so it was wonderful to catch up with her! Chris was running with some of his Army buddies, so Zoila decided to join me. The only goal I had for this race was a course PR, and Zoila wanted to push herself a little more.
The race started right on time, and we were off! Within the first half mile you go up a decent hill, but we stuck with our intervals and made it up. The course has rolling hills (as do most race courses in Georgia) but we kept a good pace and enjoyed each others company. The volunteers on the course were great, but there were some super creepy looking "gnomes"...they reminded me of a bad version of the dwarves from "Snow White". I didn't get to take a picture of them, but just trust me on this one...
The nice thing about going up hills is that you have to come down, and we had a very nice downhill finish. Once we crossed the finish line i saw that I got a 6 minute PR! We walked up and got our shirts, some water, and then hung out for a bit. One of our OTF members was also running so I walked back to the finish line to try and see her finish, but sadly I missed her! :(
Although the website said "No dogs allowed", there were a couple of cute pups who trekked the 3.1 miles with their humans.
Local races are always fun to do, and this is one that I really enjoy. I'll be back again next year gunning for that PR!
Did you do a Christmas race this year?
Until next time,
Congrats on the PR! I ran a Jingle Jog too and it was tons of fun! It was at sunset and most people had giant foam glowsticks.
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