Scampering and trotting

Remember how I mentioned my "off-season" was about to come to an end?

Well, it technically comes to an end today I guess. Because I've got two, count them, two races scheduled in the next three days. Throw in a regularly scheduled rest day on Friday - although I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around being allowed to have a rest day when I haven't been running much lately. *shurgs* - and follow that up with the first official training run of the Winter Warriors program.

Yup. Pretty sure the off-season is over as of today.

So the two races, what are they?

Tonight it's the Santa Scamper. I don't know if you could really consider it a race. It's more of a fun run. A one-mile dash down College Avenue in Appleton before the start of the Christmas parade. It's a fun one. Last year I turned in my fast mile EVER (8:56). I'm going to see if I can beat that this year, but I might have to pull cool aunt duty and run with my 9-year-old niece. We'll see.

Then Thursday, before I consume turkey and watch the Packers (hopefully) beat up on those Detroit Lions, I'll be running the Festival Foods 5-mile Turkey Trot. I ran the 5-mile version in 2009, the only other time I ran a 5-mile race, and skipped out last year due to cruddy weather and not wanting to get sick the week before I left for the Rock n Roll Las Vegas (a decision that obviously didn't work since I ended up sicker than a dog for that half marathon). Yes, the mileage hasn't really been up there the last two months, but I'm hoping I've still got enough in me to bust out a new 5-mile PR Thanksgiving morning. Besides, can't go wrong with a Thanksgiving Day turkey trot where you're guaranteed to walk away with a pumpkin pie (not that I like pumpkin pie).