Jingle Bells

Last time I updated, I was thinking of turkey, and here it is almost Christmas.

Kyler and I ran the Jingle Bell Run this past Saturday, and I was proud of him. I'm a bit of a fool when it comes to racing as I live by the motto that I first heard uttered by my buddy Rob D., that "DFL is better than DNF is better than DNS. " As a former Marine, DNS is not an option, and only death or severe wounds would keep me from finishing.

So, it was in that spirit that Kyler and I headed to Lancaster for the Jingle Bell Run despite rain and temps in the mid thirties.

We picked up our packets, and had about 25 minutes until start time, but elected to stay indoors rather than warm-up. It was so cold and miserable that we also decided to run with all our gear on rather than strip down. I may be a fool, but I'm not stupid, and I didn't feel like freezing.

We lined up in the pack, and we were about 30 yards from the start when the command was given. We had to pick our way carefully through the first half-mile, and never got into our 9:30 pace that we hoped for until around a mile into the run. Kyler was warm, and dry, but overdressed, and even though it was cold, he began to overheat. He also had to contend with running while carrying about 5-8 extra pounds of clothes, some of which was getting wet.

There was a brief moment in the run when Kyler's enthusiasm began to wane, but at this time another boy about his age passed us. It was enough to light a fire, and he picked up the pace, and was able to retake the lead. With a 1/4 mile to go, I opened up my stride, and forced Kyler to open up his. With about 100 meters to go, we raced to the line. I must say, my boy is developing a kick. And this is comes solely from playing soccer. Other than that, he has not trained for any distance running.

Final results: 30:40; 464/923 (overall); 27/39 (age group, 14 and under)