Islands Running Club after what I hope will become an annual running party! Pictured above are the party attendees after our yummy breakfast. Top row: Karen and Lindy (we let them stand on the fireplace so they could be in the back row of a picture for once.) Front row: Cynthia, Barb and Lisa.
Saturday morning Lindy and Karen started bright and early, so they could have 18 miles by the time we got to breakfast, I joined them 6 miles in for a total of 12 and we picked up Lisa with 10 to go. Lisa was very disappointed when she realized she could have taken an even shorter option to breakfast but we needed her every step of the way! I had mapped 10 miles from my house in what took us in a Z pattern, Lisa of course complained every time we weren't heading directly to the restaurant. :) Barb chose the biking option today and parked at the restaurant and biked for two hours so she would be equally sweaty while eating with us.
The run was great as always. We took a new canal and I really liked it, nice and smooth (no speed bumps to trip on), and it was fun to run through Freestone Park, with lots of runners out and about. We went to Joe's Farm Grill and all got delicious breakfasts. We need to talk to them about adding hot cocoa to the menu though, that was a disappointment. Next time we will have to bring packets and get hot water there.
After breakfast we had a running gift exchange. It was so fun! We had all chosen a running related gift valued in the $10 - $15 dollar range and then we played the 'stealing' game. Karen was first and kept getting stolen from but we all ended up with really nice stuff! Its fun to get and give new gear!
I had left a car at the restaurant the night before so I drove everyone home and hated for it to end. I had looked forward to this run for weeks and felt just as excited for it as I do for races, etc. I hope we can do it every year and I hope more people will be able to make it in years to come, but I'm so glad we had our core group there this time.
Here is an idea of the fun gifts: ininji toe socks, balga socks, blinky light, long sleeve tech shirt, fuzzy socks, aluminum water bottle, ragnar jewelry. Everything was popular, but everyone ended up with the right gift for them. Merry Christmas! I can't wait for next years running party!
