A "pink nightmare" easy 5K

You'll shoot your eye out.

Every year for the last three years, my husband and I have done the virtual A Christmas Story 10K or 5K. You get a t-shirt, medal and other swag, and the money goes to support maintenance of Ralphie's house in A Christmas Story, my favorite Christmas movie.

You're supposed to run it on the day of the real race in Cleveland, but I figure as long as we do it before the end of the year we're OK. It was a nice, sunny day today, although a bit brisk and windy, and we headed out not long after a lazy brunch. I was worried about my knee and IT band, but we headed out at a nice slow pace.

I got to almost 2 miles before I got any twinges, and was careful to keep it nice and slow, so I never did get any actual pain. Yay! We finished our 5K and now we have the right to wear our t-shirts and medals.

I need to keep on with the glute and hip strengthening, but 3.1 miles was about 2.1 miles longer than I could run a couple of months ago without pain, so I'm calling it a success.

Merry Christmas to all of my readers and don't shoot your eyes out!