A much better outing

Today's run went fantastic. Now granted, it was only a 5k race, but it still felt good to have a decent run despite the cold weather.
I ran a 24:22, which won me a third in my age group. I was the fourth female to finish overall, and the 31st finisher out of the entire field of 100 or so. I'm so comfortable with the shorter distances now, hopefully in eighteen weeks I'll be as comfortable with my marathon as I am with the 5ks...and hopefully, this time around, I'll actually be able to do as well as I think I'll do. (Unlike Chicago, where my physical preparation did not measure up to my mental preparation.)
Last night was my work Christmas party. Lame-o. I work in a small office which is part of a larger company. Although I know everyone who works in the other offices, because I don't interact with them daily I'm very much on the outside of their inside jokes. There's definitely a clique of "cool" kids and I kind of feel like the band geek out of the group...not that there's anything wrong with being a band geek.
At the end of the night, I was just glad to go home. I made my necessary appearance to keep the gossip-mongers at bay. We all know how those folks work...the second you don't show up somewhere that they think you should be they come up with some fantastic rumor about you. Gotta love that junior high behavior. I'm just glad it's over with for another year.