Run Run Reindeer

It's our tradition to run in the Run Run Reindeer.  We have run this almost every year since they started it in Ivins.  It has grown and this year there were 500 people. They also made some changes to the run.  It used to be on the first Saturday of December and was the way we brought in the Christmas season.  But they changed it this year and it will always be the Saturday before Christmas.  They also changed it from a 1 mile kids run, 5K and 10K to a straight 5K.  And you don't have to donate a toy to Toys for Tots.  You pay the entry fee (which was higher this year) and then you can choose to donate a toy or not.  They had nice t-shirts and huge finisher medals this year for everyone, along with Chick Filet giving out chicken sandwiches afterward.  A local radio station was also there.  It is really getting big.

Anyway, back to the story.  We woke up on Christmas Eve and it was raining.  Not really what you would want to run in.  Ethan decided he didn't want to run and I decided that I would go up and watch but I didn't want to get all wet.  We went to Ivins City Park and it was a zoo.  I should have picked up our packet the day before,  So we had to wait in line to pick up our packets with our t-shirts and numbers.

When we were all set we saw our neighbors who are our good friends.  She asked me to walk the 5K with her because her foot has been acting up.  Well, I couldn't say no, so I decided to walk it with her.

 Bryan and Courtney were ready to go.

When they started the race my friend looked at me and said, "Well, we can't go through the starting gate without running."  So we ended up running for a bit....but my foot was killing me and her foot wasn't doing too great.  Ends up that I have plantar fascitis which is really painful.  But we did the walk and it was a lot of fun to walk and chat with my friend.  There were so many people behind us that we didn't feel like we were going slow and we were getting great exercise.

We finished, got our medals, picked up our Chick Filet and our donuts, then huddled by the fire to get warm and dry.  We were really wet but it wasn't too bad. 

Courtney beat Bryan and she is very proud of that.  She has now challenged Grandpa Pack foolishly thinking she can beat him.  Hahaha!  We have a race almost every weekend in St. George so they will be racing sometime.