Running In My Drinking Shoes: November 2013

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving Day BoroDash 2013

We live in Tennessee. The South. God's Country.

Beautiful Tennessee Sunset

With that being said, there should be no reason it is 19 degrees on Thanksgiving.

We signed up for the BoroDash again this year after running it in 2012 and it being an awesome race. A fast 4 mile race that allows us to have a 3rd piece of my dad's chocolate meringue pie or thirds of my mom's delicious corn bread dressing.

The morning of, Ben said I was down right hateful. I hate the cold weather. H-A-T-E IT! So when we woke up to find temperatures in the teens where it should be in the 50's I wasn't having it.

Then the battle of hating the cold vs hating wasted money began. We had already paid for the race, so I of course didn't want it to go to waste, but I don't even know how to dress for a cold race since I rarely go outside when it's cold, let alone run in it.

After about 30 minutes of protest, and the guilt I was feeling since no matter what Ben was going to run, I got up and got dressed.

Shoes, Running Socks, Leggings, Sweat Pants, Climalite Long Sleeved Shirt, Hoodie, Gloves and Ear Warmers....and we were off.

Bundled Up and at the Starting Line

It was an absolutely beautiful day, despite the temperatures. There was no wind, so you'd never know it was only in the teens. The sun was so warm but I felt like I had dressed perfectly. I didn't get hot until the very end, pulled my hoodie off and immediately pulled it back on. It was WAY too cold for that nonsense.

Santa rounding the square in Murfreesboro

As it turns out I actually PR'd this run! Fastest 5K! That was exciting! And we got medals this year which was something we didn't get last year so that was awesome to be able to add that to our growing collection.

As we headed back to the car to head home I had to apologize to Ben for being such a butt all morning and tell him that I felt so much better and was glad he gave me some grief about not wanting to run.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Tennessee Homecoming 2013! #500Strong

Party of the Southland is a group of friends who the majority met in the Pride of the Southland Marching Band at the University of Tennessee. We have tailgated together for 10 years, and party, run, travel etc together whenever possible.

For the last few years, most of us have not marched homecoming. For various reasons: live far away, cost, butthurt about days past etc. After last year me and Ben decided we would march this year. And we'd convince anyone we could to march with us. We had no idea what that would turn into.

2 weeks before the deadline to register for homecoming Ben created a Facebook page along with the campaign slogan #500Strong. He wanted to get 500 alumni to march homecoming. In 2012, they had roughly 130. This was going to be a huge task but with the help of basically everyone, I don't know many people who didn't convince at least 1 person to march they almost hit their mark.

469 people.

Yes. FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE!

In 2 weeks! They used recruiting videos, old rivalries, and training daze to convince people along with just plain peer pressure.

Ben realized that if people had more to come for rather than just a few hours on Saturday they were more likely to come. So he started planning. He had a run for those people who wanted to come on Friday morning, a private party Friday night at Saw Works Brewery, and an after game rally point at Central Flats and Taps Everything went off without a hitch. To my knowledge everyone had an awesome time, while the game didn't turn out as we had hoped, hopefully that's not what people are remembering from this weekend.