I did it! I ran in my first road race. With the stubborn pounds still left on by my pregnancy–let’s face it–I’ve been slightly lazy about losing it, I decided that maybe it’s time to do something. So I have been running a little bit, not too much to kill myself, but enough to get me moving and feel a little better 🙂 James had an idea that we should try to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving together. I asked him if he thought that would be a good idea–I run REALLY slowly. But he said it was what he wanted to do, and he was excited about doing it. So we signed up for a Turkey Trot that was right by where James’ Aunt and Uncle live in Virginia. There were over 800 runners! I was excited to do my first race, but even more excited that I got a t-shirt to prove I did it! The course was a 5K (3.1 miles) and was SOOO hilly, I almost died. But we did it! And James was so happy to be running next to me the whole time. It was so fun to do it with him and quite the bonding experience. He is very encouraging! I definitely wasn’t in it to do any sort of “racing”–I just wanted to finish and I was happy to do so. Afterwards, our nephews ran in the Fun Run- 1 mile race. They did so well for being so young! Riley, who is only five, finished in under nine minutes! They did great. And we got to spend the whole morning with James’ brother Adam, and his wife, Rachelle. Rachelle ran in the race as well, but she is a runner at heart and finished in the top of her age group. Great job, Shell!

Hopefully I will keep it up and shed some of those stubborn pregnancy pounds!! Check out some pictures–the one where I’m pointing to my number is just because–well, you’ll figure it out yourself. 🙂