It’s important to establish family traditions, so this Thanksgiving weekend, we embarked on a new one: the Thanksgiving morning Giere 5K Classic.

Peter and my Mom baked the post-race (or for those of us who couldn’t wait that long, the pre-race) meal.

Then we strapped on our running shoes and got ready to run. My mom brought official bib numbers, which made us all feel Very Important. (Next year, timing chips?)

Since we didn’t really know the area, we had to study Google Maps to figure out where we should run.

My Dad (the race official) sounded the whistle, and we were off. We ran two by two…

The weather was quite snowy, which made for a beautiful backdrop, however not ideal conditions for running. I don’t think anyone followed the agreed upon course since visibility was a challenge through the big snowflakes. But everyone made it back to the house, excited to have participated in the first ever Giere Classic!

The wet snow had an effect on our bib numbers. Next year we may affectionately rename the run the Smeary Classic.