The Saturday following White Rock Marathon brought a new and unique running experience. The Great North Texas Santa Run benefited My Possibilities, a continued learning center for adults with cognitive disabilities in North Texas--a cause that is near to my heart. I could not have planned a more perfect run for a week after a cold and rainy first marathon. The race had a very lofty goal--to set a world record for most runners dressed like Santa Clause. Race registration included a Santa suit complete with hat, beard, and belt. We all wore race bibs, but they were just for show as there was no official timer or prizes. See--perfect low stress run after months of high intensity training!
What 1600 Santas Looks Like!
The Gift That Keeps Giving!
I knew several people who would be participating in the race, but didn't realize how hard it would be to find them when all 1,629 runners were dressed in Santa suits! Thanks to text messages and Twitter we were able to meet up with most of our friends and took lots of great pictures before the race. After participating in a group yoga pose (trying to set a record for number of Santas doing a yoga pose, of course!) we followed the gaggle of Santas to the start line....only to find that we were headed to the finish line. Oops!!
It is Lesley J!
Look Who Stopped By!
I'm so glad that we found Mark L. and his son Cairo near the start of the race because we had a BLAST running with them. I have never laughed so hard while running, Mark and Erik had all kinds of holiday puns going and Mark kept calling out to the other Santas. Poor Cairo (15 years old) was alternating between mortified and amused by his dad's antics. Erik and I planned to take this run super "easy" but ended up running the 5K in just under 28 minutes--pacing us at just under 9:00 miles. Not exactly "easy" but totally fun. The weather, incidentally, was PERFECT! It was in the upper 30s, sunny, and no wind and I am working really hard to not be bitter about that.....
Naughty or Nice?
Mark & Cairo
After the race we shared even more laughs and took more pictures. This run was a riot and I hope that it becomes a holiday tradition. Please consider this as my holiday greeting to you! I hope that you have a safe and wonderful holiday season surrounded by family and friends and all that you love most in this world!
I'm not even sure how we missed hearing about this race! I mean we dressed at turkeys in November...of course we'd love a December race dressed as Santa! Looks and sounds like it was fun!
ReplyDeleteY'all are just too cute! Looks like this was a lot of fun...a great way to wrap up the 2011 racing season!
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