running the race of the holidays...

this afternoon i was standing in my little kitchen "making" Christmas sugar cookies (also known as rolling out the already prepared dough i bought from wal-mart this morning and using cookie cutters to cut various shapes) and listening to Christmas music and it hit me that i wish "this" was what i wish i could spent the majority of the Christmas season doing---enjoying the peace of my home and making things for other people to enjoy.  instead, i've spent the last 2 weeks running around (sometimes literally...i'll get to that later) trying to get everything done that "needs" to be done, spending hours at Christmas musical practice, and falling into bed exhausted every night (sometimes as early as 9:30!!)!  don't get me wrong, i love Christmas musicals and getting Christmas presents together for people, and making Christmas cards and everything else that goes along with this time of year, but don't i tell myself after every Christmas that i'm not going to run around like a crazy person the next year and that i'm actually going to enjoy this time of year?  when does "next year" become "this year"?  i encourage you to take a few minutes out of your running around to enjoy this time of year, even if it's only for a few moments like i had this afternoon. 

now for the real "running" that i've been doing...some of you know that my 2 best friends from college and i started training for the Ft. Worth Jingle Bell Run about 3 months ago.  we've made many attempts in the past to do something like this, but we have never actually accomplished something like this.  i am happy to report that WE DID IT!  we followed through with our commitment and last weekend, we ran the Jingle Bell Run together!  we really wanted to be able to run the entire 3.1 miles without stopping or walking any, and WE DID IT in about 42 minutes!  here are some pictures from the adventure...

Before the race...

they are ROCKSTARS!

WE DID IT!!!  :)

now that i've done 1 5K, i've been inspired to get better/faster and keep doing things like this...it was really fun!  :)  perhaps someday i'll have the skills to do a half marathon or even a whole marathon, who knows!