Santa Run Recap from the Heartbreak Hotel

I guess it's just a good day for wearing red and white.  Brent here coming to you live after watching my Michigan State Spartans blow another very important game in heart-breaking fashion to Wisconsin, and finding a way out of going to our first Rose Bowl in 24 years.  It's okay though, we're all used to walking around with our hearts ripped out of our chest.  That's all we know.

Before I go sulk for the rest of the night, I do have to say that the Santa run was great this year.  I saw bib numbers approaching the mid 1500's, so it appears that it grew three-fold from last year.  Mike brought his lady this year, and since she has a bum hip right now, they decided to walk it.

Pre-Race

This was probably my last chance to prove I'm still better off the end of this year than last, and not put up some near-30 minute 5K pace.  I knew I was in a Santa suit, and that would slow me down a bit, but I took some extra measures with a belt and safety pins to make sure my suit didn't malfunction this year.  I figured not losing my pants this time just might help.

Santas Everywhere

Even Santas on the roof

Once we got going, I thought it was a pretty slow pace.  A lot of people stopped to walk less than a mile in.  I heard a small child about a 1/4 of a mile in ask his mom if they went a mile yet.  Everyone within an audible distance of that let out a little chuckle.  A lady running near me was carrying a bag and handing out candy canes to the volunteers and spectators alike.  That was really thoughtful of her.  The medics on call were singing on the ambulance's speaker "Here comes Santa Claus. Here comes Santa Claus running down Robert T. Longway."  Nice.  

...And they're off

When we got just past the first water stop I heard a guy yell out 13-something as the time.  I freaked out thinking that I was running like a 12 or 13 minute mile, and tried really hard to speed up.  My mom, brother, and sister came out to see me again this year and I waved at them as I passed the cultural center.  

Action Shot

The last mile me and another guy in a Wings cap were fighting each other off, and he eventually just turned it out on me at the end, and I didn't have enough to get it back.  We had a nice fist bump of recognition at the end, and a good conversation to follow.  He had another friend that was shooting for a sub-35 time and we watched for him as he pulled in around 33.  Then I talked to the both of them, and found out they came up from Detroit.  Hopefully I'll see them around.  I need some new friendly competition since a lot of the guys I used to see are M.I.A.  Anyway, I manages a 27:38 by the clock, and it took me a little bit to get to the start line since I was sitting in the middle of the starting pack.  I'm happy with that.

Finish

After, we went to the Torch for a delicious burger and I had a few Atwater Vanilla Java Porters, which was the peak of this Santa's jolliness today.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to wash away some Spartan depression with a bad 80s movie ("Three O'Clock High") and some Saugatuck brews.