A quick news flash!

I've been meaning to post for a while now, but the days are just flying by!!  Final exams are in full swing here, so I've been keeping pretty busy, but I have three great things I really want to share...

First of all, my family ran a 5K on Thanksgiving- our first one all together!  It was very cold and a little misty over in Piedmont, but I really had a great time (and I think they did too).  We did have one unexpected surprise, though: HILLS.  And lots of 'em!  Having never been to Piedmont before, I had no idea what this race would be like, but I definitely didn't expect such a hilly course.  Even Nicholas, who runs cross-country and is used to a fair number of hills, said he'd never run anything even close to this before.

Despite the hills, I ran pretty well: I finished in 36:53, which is less than a minute slower than my 5K time for a flat course, so I was pretty satisfied.  My dad finished right around the same time as me, and my mom surprised us all by coming in around 41 minutes- not bad for a woman who has never run before!   But of course, Nicholas was the victor of the day, running the course in 20:20... he even placed third in his age group!  He got a ribbon and we were all very proud, though we would have been prouder if he had won a pie (the first place finishers got pies)....

Second, as I mentioned before, I was right on the cusp of hitting a new level on Nike+ before I left for Thanksgiving.  Well, thanks to a few long runs over the weekend, I'm now on orange!  That's 50 kilometers logged... not bad, right?!  I'm enjoying the glow of this victory while it lasts, because I'm going to have to run another 200 kilometers (about 110 miles) before I get to level up again.... it's gonna be a while!

And third, and perhaps most exciting of all, I've officially gone insane and registered for ANOTHER half-marathon in February: the Disney Princess Half-Marathon.  Only this one's at (drum roll, please) DisneyWorld!!!!  Now I know you're probably thinking, "Wait, aren't you already running one in DisneyWorld?" to which I'd reply, "No, no, no, the one I'm running is in DisneyLand here in California.  This one's in DisneyWorld, which is in Florida.  Big difference."  Basically, I'm participating in Disney's Coast to Coast Challenge, where you run two races within one year, one in each park.  I'm super excited about it!

I've also recruited my friend Courtney to come with me!  She's going to run the 5K instead of the half-marathon, but I'm still very excited for the company.  We'll get to train together over Christmas, travel together, go to DisneyWorld, and (best of all) go back to the Harry Potter theme park together!  We went two years ago and we've been dying to go back ever since!

Now I know it's a bit gutsy to sign up for a second race without running the first one, but I don't really care.  I just want to go and run and have fun with one of my best friends; how well or how fast I run the race is irrelevant.  It's just about the experience, and it's an experience I'm thrilled about!

I really must get going...  If this post sounded a bit rushed, that's probably because it was. :)  This is really just a study break, and so I have to get back to the books now.  I have big plan for a run on Saturday, so I'll try to post again this weekend.  Until then, cheers!