Thanksgiving & Anniversary Weekend!!!

 This blog is going to be a long one, so hang on for the ride. Audrey and I were able to get away this past weekend to celebrate our 5th year wedding anniversary, and here is the story. We left Kemmerer at 5:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning heading for Bountiful, UT to run in a 10k Turkey Trot. It was put on by the South Davis Recreation Center and they also had a 5k race and a 1k race for kids. In the 10k alone there were 200 participants.
We had some snow that had fallen pretty heavily on Tuesday evening, and I was hoping that the roads would be cleared by Thursday morning. They were halfway cleared in Wyoming, but as soon as we hit the Utah border they were perfectly clear and dry. They use a salt mixture in Utah and Wyoming only uses sand. Needless to say it took us a little longer than expected to get to the race.

But we made it in time because we left so early. When we started the race the temperatures were hovering somewhere between 10-20 degrees. We took off at a pretty good pace and maintained it throughout the entire run. The worst part was the cold, and the best part was the views of the mountains that we had. They looked amazing with all the snow on them!

One section of the Wasatch Mountains, looking out of our hotel room window.

 Audrey and I finished the race together in 29th and 30th place out of 200 or so runners. Click on the link for the official results. http://www.milliseconds.com/participants/final_list/overall/143679 They had Starbucks coffee and some bagels at the finish. Here are some pictures from after the race.

The finisher's medal from the Turkey Trot 10k.

Thumbs up for a fun race!

Warming back up in the Rec. Center after the race.

It was nice to be able to stretch and eat a little something inside.

Audrey after the race.

All smiles for a run on Thanksgiving day!

A fellow runner was nice enough to take a picture of us together.

 We took advantage of the locker rooms at the Rec. Center and got showered up before we headed to our Thanksgiving lunch. We went to Einstein Bros. Bagels. This has become on of our new favorite places to eat out. They have amazing sandwiches, soup, bagels, desserts, and gourmet coffee. The atmosphere is really laid back too. So we got our lunch and enjoyed talking about the race.

Our great Thanksgiving lunch!

You should eat here if you never have, they have a wonderful selection and great food!

Coffee always helps to warm up after running in 10 degree weather.

Just enjoying my lunch company!

 Thanksgiving night we decided to go and see a movie since it had been a long time since we had been to a theater, let alone a really nice one. The movie theater in Kemmerer just isn't that nice! It was a lot of fun to sit in nice comfy chairs and be out on a date with my wife. A great way to end a wonderful day.

Thanksgiving night we went out on a date to a movie!

We hadn't been to a theater in a long time.

 Friday morning we decided to get up early and go for a short little run before we headed out to go shopping on Black Friday and on our Anniversary day. We took off from our motel, which was located kind of on the edge of town, so there were really no sidewalks anywhere, and the wind was starting to pick up, so we cut our run a little short and headed back for nice hot showers and breakfast before we faced the madness of all the sale day crowds.

 

This is what you look like when you run outside at 6:00 a.m. in the winter.

Our first stop was Striders Running Store. They had a few items on sale, but nothing that I felt like I had to have. We got a few small things there - socks & gels.

Our next stop was Ross (fitting I know). Audrey found some really good deals on some clothes and a new yoga mat. They have been offering Yoga classes at our Rec. Center in Kemmerer on Monday and Wednesday nights and we have been going. Audrey has gone for quite a while, and I've gone twice now. It is really good for flexibility and lots of running magazines are saying that it is really good cross training.

After Ross we went to Salt Lake Running Company.

They were having a great deal on select shoes, and Audrey and I both found a pair of Newton Running Shoes in our sizes. These are a different type of running shoe because they have 4 lugs on the ball of the foot that elevates the front of your foot. The idea behind them is that when you run you want to land on the ball of your foot instead of on your heel. There are a lot of people who run who land on their heel and this leads to numerous injuries. So with this distinct design it helps runners to have better form, to have less injuries, and to be able to run faster without as much energy.

My new Newton Running Shoes. On sale for $44.00 compared to $175.00.

That was a lot of fun to find them in our right sizes. Saturday we had a slow morning, gathered up our stuff, checked out of our motel, went for a short run at Kay's Creek Parkway (a paved trail we found that runs along a river) to try out our new shoes (they worked great by the way), ate lunch at Mimi's Cafe, got groceries, and headed home. It was a fantastic anniversary!