We drove down to Nashvegas in our running gear, checked into our hotel and then ran/walked about a mile to the start of the Rudolph Red Nose 5K. The race happened to be the start of the parade and was out and back along the parade route. It was pretty awesome to run downtown to Christmas music, with all the lights and the crowds cheering.
{The course - right down the main strip of downtown!}
Of course I made a Walmart and Target trip to buy us festive "costumes." Sam had a pointy elf hat (complete with elf ears.) I had some knee-high Santa socks (with faux fur, of course) and some obnoxious present bows attached to my hat.
The race was fun - lots of families, kids, strollers, and dogs. I was very distracted through most of it...I kept wondering why Samuel said he'd run with me but was running about 10 yards ahead of me the whole time. Finally, I managed to gasp out his name and get him to come back to me so I could make a snarky remark about his running - he said he was "pacing" me. His pacing ended up being awesome (and I thanked him for it later) because I beat both my fake goal (the one I say out loud) and my real goal (the one that I secretly attain to) and ran the 5k in 30:47! Wooooot!
{Evidence of some of the cute outfits}
The end of the race was also the end of the parade so we started walking and were able to see the whole thing. We'd walk and stop whenever we wanted to see a particular band or the Shriners or a float. Sam called it "TiVo-ing" the parade and we've decided this is our new way to experience them.
{Sam (really small on the right) TiVo-ing the parade}
We had so much that we lost track of time and totally missed our reservation at the Opryland - we had a big fancy dinner and carriage ride through the lights planned. But neither of us cared, we went for cocktails and steak at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and just enjoyed each other. If anyone is ever in Nashvegas for the first weekend in December - I 100% recommend the experience we had - as a family or with friends - it was a really good holiday experience and I'm so glad I got to have it with Sam before he leaves.
{Our race bags had Rudolph noses in them}
Too cute. I hate you.
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