Turkey Strut part II

Thanksgiving morning came a little earlier than normal for the Gibbs household. When my alarm went off at 6am, I was not a happy camper. I would call myself a "morning person"(even though others would disagree) so this should not have been an issue. But I wanted to lay in my bed and dream about the food I would be consuming later in the day.

Since that wasn't going to happen, I got out of bed and joined the rest of my family. We got dressed, ate our bananas or coffee, grabbed our gloves and hat and were out the door!
As we drove the course, I started to panic. 1) because my lazy butt hadn't trained and 2) because the first mile was STRAIGHT up hill...seriously. Em told me to deal with myself b/c it was only a 5k.

After getting our timing chips, making friends in the porta-john line (or dad running around cheering) and seeing old friends, we headed to the starting line. Dad wanted to be right up front and I would have been content being the last one in line!!!
We ran into Em's old cross country buddy and she decided to run with me and Em. WHAT?!?! Yes, these 2 former cross country stars were going to run with me.

Well the race started, my ipod turned on, and the uphill run began. Em was very sweet to run with me the entire race even though I know she could have been as fast as dad.

When we crossed the finish line, our sweet dad was waiting with cups of water and LOTS of snacks. My dads hands were filled with cookies, bananas, crackers, chips, granola bars, soda and who knows what else. I love this man!

Dad was one of the top 3 in his age group (great job old man!) and Greg, Em and I finished in one piece. Please notice how RED my face is in this picture...for the love! Dad also decided to wear the brightest 2 shirts he has..orange and yellow. Great fashion sense dad.

Em had a great idea of stopping by Krispy Kreme after the race. Yes, all of us walked in with our race numbers on and everyone gave us a weird look. We got doughnuts and coffee for the family and headed home.
Even though I was dreading the race, I ended up having a great time with the family. Em and I have never run an entire race together. We started the Wilmington half marathon together but she left me around mile 5! :) Apparently Dad and Greg are trying to talk Mike and I into running a race with them the day after my birthday! We'll see about that one...