This weekend I ran a Jingle Bell 5k on saturday and the Chili Chilly Extreme 5k on Sunday.  

First, the saturday race. It literally runs by my boyfriend's front door so it was hard not to sign up for it. I haven't been training much at 5k pace so I just decided to go for it.  Of course I took off too fast, and of course I paid for it.  The course was pretty much one of my regular short routes, but it was fun to be with all the people in the neighborhood, and it raised money for the arthritis foundation. Finished in 28:56- about half a minute off my PR, but I'm ok with that. (Left to right: our friends Amy and Barb (Pippi the dog), my bf Nicholas and myself.)

Sunday: The chili chilly extreme 5k.  This is a race out at the county fairgrounds.  We wanted to run it last year, but it's a trail race and it had been raining for about 48 hours prior so we opted out.  This year it was in the 40's and the river wasn't as high since we've been in a drought for most of the year.  The race was closer to 4 miles, and it snaked through corn fields (I had a run in with a cut off corn stalk), through trees and paintball course obstacles, and across the river about 8 times.  The going down to the river went well until the time I was running down (it was quite steep so it was easier with momentum) and caught a tree root with my toe. Splat I went onto my stomach into the middle of a plant with very nasty burrs.  All I could do was laugh, and be glad I didn't hit my head.  The getting out of the river was often very difficult due to the mud and the slope, but there were ropes to use as well as your fellow runners.  It was fun, but I've decided that trail races aren't really for me- not a fan of the twisting ankles, and I'm just too clumsy!  Finished around 52 minutes, but after saturday I was too tired to race even without the falling.  Here's some before and after pics:

These were my 11th and 12th races of the year, concluding my second year of running. Wahoo!

Great report!  Love the picture of everyone's feet/shoes.