On Sunday, I ran the Jingle Bell Run with my husband J and friend E. I had wanted to run this last year but was injured — so glad I got to this year! This race was fun from start to finish!
It was a balmy 23 degrees when we got to the race so we hung in the car for as long as we could before heading over to the starting area. We made a quick pit stop, and I saw one of my favorite costumes of the day – a group of 6 guys with huge inflatable reindeer heads tethered together “pulling” another guy dressed as Santa with a cardboard sleigh. They were guided by two women dressed like elves. And yes, they ran that way! Unfortunately, my camera was not loving the cold weather and failed on me so I didn’t get any pictures of them or some of the other fun costumes we saw along the way. E and I agreed we were going to have to be much for festive in our outfits next year ~ we also made a pact that we better beat the reindeer 🙂
 |
| E & I post-race and ready for a beer |
The 3 of us ran together for the first half mile or so, then J headed off – he had a goal to hit 30 mins. E wanted me to just run and she was going to just try to hang with me and keep me in sight. I had no goal except to have fun…I even left my Garmin at home! It was a nice course with some rolling hills. I settled into a nice comfortable pace and enjoyed the sights. This race went by so fast – before I knew it we crested the last hill, turned the corner and could see a great down hill stretch to the finish.
There was a huge bottle neck at the finish as many people just came to a dead stop. The bottleneck continued as runners moved down the street in search of water and medals – this was my one complaint about the race, it was very disorganized at the finish! E, J and I re-grouped – J hit his goal of 30 minutes and E got a big PR in only her 2nd 5k!
Now it was time to celebrate. There were at least a dozen local pubs sponsoring the race, (did I mention the race medal was a bottle opener!) so of course a post-race beer (or 2) was necessary!
Definitely a fun race and one to keep on the schedule for next year!
Sounds like fun and what a great medal! and useful!
This sounds like a lot of fun! I once did a race where we had 10 of us wearing blinking red plastic noses and all of us hanging onto a rope…in the snow and ice! Did you guys beat the reindeer? 🙂
Sounds like fun – love the medal!
Wow, sounds like some people rally went all out with costumes – fun!
Sounds like a great way to close out the year! Nice job all around.
So, did you beat the raindeer? How fun to get a medal for a 5K – sounds like a fun tradition to do each year. Congrats on the race!
@ XL and Carrie — yes our pride was preserved – we beat the reindeer 🙂
Sounds like a great time! And what a medal…nice 🙂
Well done….the Jingle Bell is a great event! Glad you didn’t freeze!
Good job!
That medal sounds really cool! 🙂
Congrats to all of you on a great race!!