Ok, well I did have fun at this Christmas Run this morning.
I get home from work at 1:30am. Decompress from work and after an Ambien, I am asleep by 2:30am. My alarm is set both on my alarm clock and cell phone for 8:10. I woke up just before that as the BF got up to kick the heater up a bit higher. I made coffee, and mixed in a bit of Click with last nights coffee and had a piece of toast with PB&J.
I was showered, dressed, and ready to go at 9am. I checked the temp outside. 24 degrees!
I didn’t wear what I planned on wearing. I wore my black tights, with Zensah calf sleeves underneath for warmth mostly. A gunmetal Sparkle Skirt, the Newtons, a black Reebok workout top, an UnderArmor long sleeved and my Nike running jacket with Black Diamond gloves. I was cold starting out but was sweaty by the first mile!
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| The portapottie line was long. Less then 10 potties. |
There were about 2500 people doing this race. I thought the start was very crowded. Too many people had dogs with them, and little kids near the front. It was a crowded mess.There were lots of Santas, grinches, a christmas tree costume, the Abominable Snowman, the Polar Express – who dumped their costumes/boxes on the side of the road less then a mile into the run.
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| Pic of the Large crowd of runners & spectators! |
Santa started us off. He told us when he said “Ho Ho Ho”, we had to say “Merry Christmas” and we could start. We started at about 10:04 – 4 minutes late. It took me about 30 seconds to get past the start line. I started my Garmin timer, and it said timer started. But the GPS wasn’t on. Grrrr. Oh well. I got my timer. Garmin said 27:15 for the 2.5 mile run.
We ambled the North End residential streets and it was pretty congested until after the 1st mile when the 2.5 milers turned off towards Camelback Park and the 10k’ers kept going straight. My calves were cramping, but I kept plodding on. I got 2 side stitches, but I didn’t stop. There were others stopping and walking or stopping to fix their shoes, but I stayed at a pretty even pace. I think I started out pretty fast. Fast for me. I finished strong, but could have gone a little bit faster. I wasn’t too tired or out of breath.
The course didn’t have volunteers at all of the intersections. There were some agitated cars waiting for a turn to cross the road and could have injured someone. Some cars kinda bolted in front of a few runners and some people had to stop for the cars that obviously could not have waited any longer.
There were no water stops along the 2.5 miles. I would not have drank anything if there was. Too dang cold.The course was well marked with a few small signs and big chalk arrows directing the way on the turns.
At the finish there was the guy in charge of the run telling us to smile big for the finish. I didn’t smile, but I did wave for the guy taking pics before the finish line.
I obviously land on my heel more then I think I do according to these pics the BF took.
At the end there was bottled water, chocolate milk, hot chocolate and coffee. There was a tent with bagels (one of the kids that was handing out bagels was eating bagels with one hand and serving with the other – YUCK) There was oranges, cookies, and hot soup – tomato basil and veggie. I took veggie.
This run was cold, but I think last year was colder. I felt I did pretty good. Didn’t feel sick from not enough sleep or let my out of shape body slow me down anymore.
I am pretty proud with how this race turned out for myself.
