Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Dog

On a whim about a week ago I decided to throw $20 to the wind and sign up for the 20th Annual "Jingle Jog" here in Atlanta to kick off the Holiday Season officially. To be rather frank, I found it while searching for dog events in the area and thought, there are so few races that allow dogs, why not.

After an incredibly bleak response rate from my recruiting inquiry to my coworkers, and an even bleaker response from my still-recovering-from-finals-plase-don't-wake-me-before-6:45-husband (which I understand), yet again it was down to me and Tilley.

We headed out and after a brief missing of the exit and turning around, we got into THE worst race traffic I have ever seen. Made DC's Cherry Blossom 10-Miler look like child's play. After almost 15 minutes of inching, I hooked a right and hopped the curb and parked along the road and we ran down to the race site with literally like maybe 9 minutes to pick up our packet (in this case, being checked off a list and handed a number and grabbing 3 jingle bells, 2 for Miss Tilley's leash, one for my right shoe) and to get ready for the start.

O, THE HUMANITY.

I don't know how many people were there, but it was a TON. Now to be clear, I wasn't in it for time in any shape or form, just a regular run. I hadn't worked out since Sunday having been feeling poorly early in the week and then consumed with work and a few holiday prep activities. Thus, I didn't mind that we weren't seeded by pace, or that it wasn't suuuper clear where the start line was. I assume that the brass band we passed a few minutes in playing "Jingle Bells" was probably it. But then it hit me. I am okay being ducked around and ducking around as folks find their pace....but it's trickier when holding a cord attached to a VERY short dog who is used to running with ONE, not THOUSANDS. So I finally picked her up for the first quarter mile or so and yes - KEPT RUNNING with her. Too bad there's no photo of THAT. I finally put her down to the side and we set off in the slightly less chaotic melee.

It was a fun (but hilly) run, and was pretty chilly and windy the whole way. I had on my (new, adorable PI) knicker tights, a singlet, and a longsleeve top and windbreaker. The windbreaker came off mid run then back on right as we finished. The best, though, was the collective holiday fasion. Tilley had on a custom made lei (her signature apparel) made of faux holly and white poinsettia, and I had my twin hair ponies/piglets that were festooned with the same. I had started out from the apt wearing a Santa hat, and was hot and thought, this is a bad idea, so went for the Hammer Gel hat and hair accessories instead (good choice). We saw many Santa and elf hats, we saw some fantastic candy striped elf tights and socks, and we even saw 7 guys pulling a Santa in a wagon; the fellas were dressed in brown a la reindeer. It was the usual mix of people overzealously sprinting then walking, pretty decent athletes who were there this time pushing kids in strollers or with dogs, etc.

For the most part, everyone was low key and festive about the whole thing. Tilley stayed right by me but at one point I heard someone coming behind me and kind of pulled Tilley over from being a whole 2 ft away to 1 ft. The 20-something girl passed me and gave an audible groan of disdain "hummmmmnnnfff!". As in, how dare you spoin my serious race. IT IS A JINGLE BELL JOG, lighten up! If you are racing try something that has chip timing, not one that encourages kids, dogs, and costumes. Good news? We passed her handily later, and I refrained from "hummmmnnnff"ing back at her. The other oddity came in the finish chute, again, with the high tech stay-in-line-and-get-a-finish-order-card method. Tilley and I were behind two highschoolish types, walking down the chute, and this woman about my age kinda elbows past me. Now to be clear. I am in this for fun, but also to educate people about sportsmanlike behavior if needed, so I politely step back up and say "oooopsie, actually we are supposed to stay in finish order". She looks at me litearlly like I have horns (or reindeer antlers) and barely steps back. I kinda take up extra room with Tilley because I swear, she's kind of elbowing up. Please.

Tilley was a real trooper...in fact, we had passed two women with a springer spaniel, and one of them came up to me afterwards and complimented Tilley and said it's so clear she really loves to run. I told her we typically rin a good 4 miles a few days during the week and a 5 on the weekends and she was like, omg! Tilley was proud :). Tilley had to giggle once on the course when a dog stopped - mid run, no time to pull to the side - and laid a steamer. Thankfully the owner had a bag on board!

After the race, we checked out a few must-sees: the life size polar bear that Tilley remarked was "JUST LIKE BEAR AT HOME", Santa (of course!), a Nutcracker that "seemed friendly but kinda freaked me out", and a Buffaloman from the wing place, whom Tilley was particularly fond of. Then we headed to the food. We shared some bagel, banana, water...and the rest of the goodies were SUBLIME. They had buffalo wings, BBQ, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, and...wait for it...wait for it...a Mayfield Ice Cream van! They were giving out their Snow Creme popsicles. We each got one; I let Tilley enjoy about half before cutting her off. We both got lots of compliments on our matching holiday attire.

All in all, a fun morning!

Here's a video of Tilley barking at the traffic and "freaking out that we might miss the start" - she quieted to some MFFFFS and growls by the time I got the camera on: