New Years Eve and New Year's 2.5K's

Yes, as promised, my Cute Husband and I got together the 5th and 6th Bi-annual Team Brenton 2.5K.  He did most of the legwork.  He's dedicated like that.  And even more amazing because he had "Christmas at UPS" aka "working on hardly any sleep for the entire month of December" going on while doing it.

Yes, I'm wearing my running skirt.  And, yes, that is my Cute Husband wearing shorts over on the end.  Yes, we think he's crazy about half of the time.

The idea is that you run a 2.5K on New Year's Eve... preferably so that you can begin your New Year's Day 2.5K right afterwards.  We begin ours at 11:40pm... and ran around a well lit mid-town golf course.  It was pretty cool because about half way through - it was midnight!  Lots of fireworks (now legal in AZ) went off and I think I got my first kiss ever in the middle of a run!  We ended at about 12:20am.

A few friends showed up... and since we decided to go the pace of the slowest person so no one would be left alone, it was untimed, but quite fun!  Even better was afterwards, one of our friends had homemade hot chocolate... which included, from what I understand, lots of whipping cream and candy bars.  It kind of made my gingerbread cookies seem bland.  It really was some of the best hot chocolate ever.  I would have drunk more except for the fact that it was about 50 degrees out and we really didn't need hot chocolate.  Especially after warming ourselves up with some exercise.  That and I probably needed to run around that golf course a couple of more times to work off the hot chocolate to begin with.

A few other friends couldn't show up, so they participated in their own way and time.  I hope to have a few photos to post of those at some point.  That was the great part about this run - you could participate in your own way where ever you happened to be.

The best part?  We asked for a $5 Payless Shoe Store gift card donation to go towards the kids at the school I work at.  Many of them don't have a decent pair of shoes to wear and shoes there are always needed.  People were SO generous.  I was quite overwhelmed at the generosity of people... at last count we had $185 in gift cards to donate to this cause.  I had to go back to work this morning... after 2 weeks of not getting up until the sun did... it was harsh.  The best part of going back was being able to give the gift cards from our run to the principal and see her excitement and surprise!  I can't wait until the shoes actually land on the feet of those who need them.

There aren't many better ways to start off a new year than a run with friends, food, and generous people!  Here's to a happy and fulfilling 2012!