I made some last-minute changes to my travel itinerary for the holidays, so I fueled up (both me and my car) and hit the road this morning back to PA.


Yes that's a venti. Don't judge.

And now that I'm home, I figure it's time to post that race recap from the Jingle All the Way 5K from a few weeks ago. I know I'm super far behind, but in my defense I was waiting for the official pictures to be posted.


Not an official picture of me and Emily pre-race

This race was the day after the Ugly Sweater run that I did with Emily, Jennifer and Anne, and I managed to convince Emily to run it with me because there was a promise of pictures with "sexy Santa."



And also Mrs. Claus



Yes, we signed up for this race because of the photo ops, but that's obviously not why we loved it.

This race is put on by Pacers, which hands down organizes on some of the best races in the DC-area. Well-run, tons of fun, excellent volunteers. I've never had a bad experience at a Pacers race.

I had done this race years ago, back when it was a 10K and out on Hains Point. Since then, they've moved the race to a way better location and made it an 8K.

This year though because of some construction, it was a 5K, which was perfect since I wasn't in shape for anything much more than that.

The weather was way colder for this race than it was for our race the day before, so I busted out my Under Armour cold gear for the second time of the season.



The race started out down Pennsylvania Avenue right toward the Capitol. This is why I love DC running. You just can't beat the sights.



Photo from Swim Bike Run Photography  

The sun came out as we got moving, which helped warm things up a bit. It was still pretty chilly in the shade, but in the sun, it was comfortable.

After a nice tour of some of DC, we looped past to the Capitol and headed back up Pennsylvania Avenue to the finish line.

I finished in 27:27, which is not a bad time, especially considering I'm just starting to get back to regular running.


Post-run sweaty selfie

This race officially wrapped up my racing calendar for 2014. It wasn't the most banner year of running, but I like to think I at least finished on a positive note.