As I'm having a morning of typing up 'End of 2012 Race Results, Notes, and Thoughts' sort of posts, there's one more race to share. This one was a 5K, another free one on post. There's one about once a month, and we try to get to the ones we can. Again, yay for MWR!
This one was the Holiday Dash, or some similar name, held the week after the Jingle Bun Run. It was the last MWR race for 2012. Pretty nice way to end the year's race season too. Not quite as perfect running weather as the week before, but still pretty nice. They raced the course in the opposite direction from usual, which I wasn't as fond of. The 5Ks on post typically run the same route, so I guess they were trying to mix things up. But it meant that the race started with a steeper uphill, instead of finishing with a nice coast downhill. Not as much fun for me, I'll admit - I'm a little flat-lander coastal type. I like my flat races :) With my legs still tired from the week before, it wasn't my best time, but it was still a respectable run, and I had fun.
We did dress up for the race, which contributed a lot to the fun. Zach was still getting over a running injury, and I'd had the big race the week before, so we both figured we'd go out and just have a good time, not worry about speed so much. Zach pulled out his Santa suit from the Great Santa Run a few years ago, and I was an elf to accompany. You can't tell from the picture so much, but my hat has elf ears on the sides! And of course, the stripey knee-highs again. Turning into good luck running socks, I think! I also carried jingle bells too (you can see them in my hand). Zach laughed that carrying the bells helped him keep an eye (ear?) on my pace - if the bells were nice jingling nice and steady, I was truckin' right along. The more tired I got, the bells bounced and jingled a little more erratically :)
Wearing costumes ourselves definitely made me notice was the lack of Silly Holiday Spirit in the runners!! I don't know if it's TX or this area or this post, but we were the only ones really dressed up! There were a few sporting Santa hats and one or two reindeer antlers, and one other elf, and that was it! Maybe it's coming from bigger running areas than where we are now, but the holiday runs always included a bunch of costumed runners in attendance. I remember one runner decked out as a Christmas tree - green sweatshirt with tinsel and ornaments, and a headband tree topper! Lots of kids at this run (I think it was part of a school PE program?) so they had some Santa hats, but very few of the adults. Humbugs!
So, of course, being two of the few festive runners, as well as the only Santa in the bunch, we got noticed! They had us come to the front to start the race with all the kids, and we had lots of Ho Ho Ho-ing to do as we ran along, but it was fun. And of course a lot of jokes about where did Santa's belly go ("This is what running'll do for you, kids!") The best reaction to Zach's suit was as we were cutting through the gym after the race to get back to the parking lot. We passed a family with a few little boys, and the smallest (about 6 years old?) just looked up at Zach with these ENORMOUS brown eyes. "WOW! Santa's at the basketball court!" - you could just read it in his face. So cute!! Zach bent down and talked to him a moment, and chuckled with the little guy's dad. Priceless face, though, lemme tell you!
And the press was out there! Besides starting the race, our holiday garb got us interviewed! It was the last race of 2012, so the post paper's sports columnist came out to write it up. He came up to us at the end and interviewed us as we were enjoying our post-race bananas and cheering for the other finishers. And yes, we did make it into the paper! Not the front page of the sports section, but one of the articles with a front page leader. In the picture they printed, you can see Zach's Santa very easily over the kids in the picture, but my striped elf hat and socks are a little harder to catch. But we're there!
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