Jingle Fest Run

One of the great things about living in a small town are the small intimate "fests" that go on. I'm talking about things like the holiday parades, small town carnivals, fireworks, and running/walking and bicycle races.

This is the Jingle Fest run. 3.1 miles in 4 laps of the downtown area. It is run mostly in the dark. You were supposed to wear lights on your body...but don't tell that to a real runner. The lights would weigh him/her down. There was also a lot of bells in the shoelaces.

In addition to the race...a steel band was playing Christmas carols, and the Boy Scouts were selling popcorn and hot cocoa. A beautiful big-eyed brown lab was watching my every popcorn move, and she ended up with 3 of my dropped kernels.

It was set to start at 5 p.m. I put on a sweatshirt, a jacket, and my Stormy Krommer. (It's a hat. Google it. Think Elmer Fudd.) The weather outside was frightful. 39 degrees with a light rain.

It was camera challenging. I tried to get one of our fancy lightposts in with the red ribbons, and the camera speed had to be quite low.

I'll sum up the race with a few lines from one of the worst Christmas songs ever...The 12 days of Christmas.

FIVE running Santas,
FOUR Misses Clauses,
THREE green elves,
TWO fools in shorts,
and a running three-leg-ged dogggggggggg.

Happy Holiday Season. HO-HO-HO.