I went to the mall yesterday and all of Milwaukee had decided to start their holiday shopping. The Mix is already playing non-stop Christmas music. And the Salvation Army ringers are out in full force, nearly two months before the actual holiday.
I must admit, all of these things made me grumble a little bit and think: For goodness sakes! It's not even Thanksgiving yet!
However, as we grow older and life becomes more hectic and hurried, the holiday season goes by faster and faster, and that's a bit sad since what the classic song says is really true: It's the most wonderful time of the year!
This morning, Dave and I kicked off our season with the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis at the Milwaukee County Zoo, and I'm happy to report that I'm now officially in the holiday spirit.
The Jingle Bell Run is one of many things on my "I really need to do that" list that I never actually get around to. When we were reminded of the run earlier this week (it's that time already?!) and invited to participate, I couldn't say no.
Even though it was our first free weekend as a married couple and even though I wasn't crazy about the idea of getting up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, I really couldn’t say no when I read about the little girl who would be honored at the run this year.
Her name is Abby Chossek and she's 3 ½ years old. She was diagnosed with pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) when she was only two years old. She suffers from constant stiffness and pain and tires easily, which keeps her from doing the things that normal pre-schoolers can do. In a "Joint Effort for Abby," more than 60 of her family and friends came together for her to participate in the Jingle Bell Run/Walk.
We arrived at the Zoo this morning around 7:30, giving us plenty of time before the 8:30 race to register and get ready to run. Driving to the zoo, we weren't overly excited to be up and about to run 3.2 miles in the cold wintery weather, but as soon as we arrived and saw the hundreds of participants milling about, we got more into it. 
We paid our $30/person and after we registered, we pinned our race numbers on our shirts, I attached both sets of jingle bells to my shoes (Dave thought they'd be too distracting for him) and we took our stuff to the car. It's silly, but I was feeling pretty nervous as we waited to start ... 
I knew it didn't matter that much how well I did, but I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to make it three miles without walking part of it. I hadn't worked out in two weeks, and it'd been a heck of a lot longer than that since I'd last been running.
We made our way to the starting line, and the excitement, adrenaline and camaraderie of the other races I've done came flooding back. I'm still a race novice – I've only done two other 5Ks and then the marathon – but at that moment, I decided I definitely wanted to do more of them. 
The whistle blew and we were off. Dave wore his MP3 player but I went without music so I could listen to the people around me and the sounds of the jingle bells on our feet. I even managed to take the camera out of my pocket and snap a few pictures while we were running. We kept a fairly slow and steady pace, but we really didn’t get passed by many people. As with most races like this, besides the hardcore runners in the front, the rest of us were just in it for the fun of it. We passed by billy goats and polar bears and black bears and ostriches, and the course was fairly flat except for one hill that was a huge pain to run up!
We ran past the finish line after only about 13 minutes and we realized that we had to run the same path again before we were done. We didn't quite understand why they made us do the same 1.6 mile route twice in a row rather than do one 3.2 mile route – the zoo is big enough! That meant we passed all the same animals again – and we had to get up that darn hill again, too! 
Before we knew it, though, we were done, and thankfully, we'd run the whole way. The clock said 33:30 when we crossed the finish line, which was a little ridiculous, and – we think – wrong. A guy near us said he thought he'd done the race in about 16 minutes but the clock said 22 minutes when he finished.
Dave and I did our first 5K together three years ago and neither of us could run very well then and we still ran it in about 27 minutes … so we are really hoping that that time clock was wrong this morning! But either way, we finished and we were proud of ourselves. Even without being in any sort of running shape, we can still get out there and jog 3.2 miles without too much problem. 
After the race, we went back inside the building we'd registered in, and we waited in line to get some food. It was all provided by Whole Foods and it was definitely the best post-race spread we've seen. There were bananas and apples, cookies, bread, and chicken noodle soup and tomato soup. We got some food and popped a squat in the middle of the floor where we ate among the hundreds of finishers around us.
We were back home by about 10 a.m. and we were both feeling really good. We'd given a little money to a great cause, we'd done something good for our bodies and we were feeling energized for the rest of the day.
This was the 22nd Annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis. I was really impressed with the event and hope to participate in it again – I might even get a team together next year. Hey! Maybe a Play in the City team! Now that would be cool.
Even if it is a bit early to be ringing in the holidays, it's never too early to be getting in the spirit - and doing something for a good cause!
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