This week, while running around our neighborhood as darkness approached, Troy and I had a brilliant idea...do a nighttime Christmas lights run!  We decided on Friday night planning on doing 8 miles or so.  But, as the time drew closer, Troy had an even more brilliant idea...12 Miles of Christmas set to become an annual event.  We invited our friends, but only one was able to join us, and he said he'd run half of it.  So, we set off on our run.  It was an easy pace and we ran in beautiful neighborhoods, and saw some awesome light displays.  Running gave you a chance to really see the displays and take in the atmosphere.  We looped back to the car after about 4 miles, grabbed some water, dropped off my gloves and hat, and then set back out for 2 more miles.  Then, we headed back to the cars so Chuck could leave, and I grabbed more water and picked up my gloves again.  :-)  I ate a mini bar, and we set back out across the road in the opposite direction.  Luckily, we found some construction sites with a portapotty around mile 9 because I really needed to use the bathroom!  (Note to self: Provide aid stations if making this an annual event!  Need to recruit some friend's houses along the way!)  Then we set off again for the final push back - we ran through a neighborhood of huge houses, and then came up on my favorite part of the whole run - this undeveloped stretch of road connecting the old and the new neighborhoods.  We were looking over the lights below and running in near total darkness except our lights and it was beautiful.  Peaceful and silent.  We countinued on, encountering some teenagers partying, and they yelled out "Hello, runners!" as we passed them.  It made me smile for some silly reason.  We headed back to the car, just about collapsing inside once the 12 mile mark was hit.  We were cold, tired and hungry!!  I picked up some food when we picked our son up from work and the waffle fries were just about the best things I ever ate.  Okay, maybe not really, but it seemed that way. 

All in all, it was a really fun run and I can't wait to do it again next year.  Maybe with a little advance planning, we'll have a group of us next year.  But, if not, that's okay too.  It was a blast.