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I ran in the Santa run 5k today and it was a little bit weird. I have owned a Santa suit for over ten years now and when I found this race on the web I couldn’t pass it up. It was the first year of the event and these guys need to get it together. I didn’t know it until after the race but there were no clocks or timing chips so there was no way to figure out your time or place……hmmmm. I am pretty new to running but this seemed odd to me.

My best friend and his wife just lost their first baby who was only three weeks old. I felt terrible about this and decided that I would run the race in her memory. So I donned my outfit with a message and a picture.

Ok to the race. Everyone lined up and they had us do some weird ho-ho-ho jumping jacks and then the horn sounded. I really wanted to try to win this race if at all possible so I started out of the gate fast. One guy surged in front of me but I was able to keep him in my sights. The course was a triple loop and by the time I made the first loop I was starting to get really hot(nobody near the front of the pack was in full Santa gear just t-shirts that were issued for the race). I had to slow it down a bit. A few people started to pass me and I knew there was no way for me to keep up with the leaders. Maybe if I ditched my coat but there was no way I was going to do that(it had a picture of my friend and his wife and their late baby on it). So I set myself at a pace that wasn’t going to kill me.

Loop two I got passed by a guy with a stroller and that was the last one. At one point I looked back and there were like ten people on my heels. I picked up the pace again and left them in the dust. Now I was starting to pass a couple of people again and getting some more distance between me and the crowd.

I made the final turn and turned up the heat. I was at a full sprint and I saw the guy with the stroller and his buddy. I flew past them at the last second and finished somewhere in the top ten. And I was the first Santa in full gear to finish which I consider similar to an age group win.

By the way I’ve heard people say that if you aren’t going for the win it’s rude to sprint past someone at the end. Which I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you go for the best time and place you can?

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/29/2008
• Time: 19:00:00
• Total Time: 00:00:00.00
• Distance: 3.11 miles