run, zoe, run!: Santa Runs Tacoma 5K Recap

Friday, January 6, 2012

Santa Runs Tacoma 5K Recap

Oh hi! It's me, Zoe. Remember me? Probably not, as I took a wee bit of time off from blogging. But I'm hopefully BACK for a bit. I actually ran a race last month, dressed like a Candy Cane, and got to see some wonderful running blogger ladies.

Here are the Candy Canes singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" for the troops before the race

The ladies, and links to their recaps:

Alma, Kadie, Kadie's daughter Al, Tiffany, Kerrie, Karla, me, Mel, Kim

Don't we look super festive in our red Team Sparkle skirts, red/white striped socks and fun accessories? Oh yeah, we totally ROCKED the look...and the race, of course!

I carpooled to the start with Kerrie and Karla, and we arrived at a decent time. The weather was fairly clear and looked promising when Kerrie's van was outside my door, but as soon as we hit Tacoma...fog. Dense fog. Gloomy fog. What happened to that morning sunshine at my house?

We found our teammates and tried to keep warm. An SUV by the porta potties was idling, so Karla and I stood by the engine and warmed up. It was sweet! (But, not sure if it was supposed to be running? After the race, the SUV was still idling...oops). I added a couple bells from a race two years ago to my sneakers, and the made a fun jingle with every step.

Sidebar:

Kerrie took note of my jingle bell shoes & wrote about it--friendly competition and all---, and I'm borrowing her "sidebar." ;)

End sidebar.

Our team was stopped by the official race photog and he asked if we wanted to send a message to the troops overseas. Heck yeah! We sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and thanked them for their service. It was pretty awesome.

After failing to find the costume contest judges until the end of the contest (I think the group dressed as reindeer won), we hung out at the start line to wait.

I fit into Mel's XXL throwaway jacket

The back of Mel's shirt

Ultra-cute Kerrie, VannaWhite-ing Mel's shirt

I took a CANDID of MEL! Oh no! But it's good!

After some waiting, goofing off and laughing the race started...

Luckily Tiffany's hubby was taking pics of her and I snuck into one of the photos. Action shot! The start of the race went immediately uphill onto an overpass. Ugh. But that meant the finish was a complete downhill sprint!

Me and Tiffany at the start!

For the first part of the out-and-back I tried to regain feeling in my frozen feet and keep Tiffany and Kerrie in my sight. Mel and Kim were long gone and there was no way I could keep up with those speedsters. My Team Sparkle skirt was riding up, along with the Running Skirt underneath it, so I was constantly pulling them down. At one point I swear my compression-shorted butt was probably on display, as I felt I "lost" my skirt. It was probably around my boobs. Ergh, that's always annoying.

The fog was dense over the waterfront, so there wasn't much of a view...until the turnaround point. All of a sudden the clouds opened up and *choir singing* the sun appeared. It was BLARING down on us on the run back. I didn't have sunglasses and my eyes were squinting the rest of the race. But then I saw Kerrie and met up with her. "Go Kerrie!" I said and she gave me a puzzled look. Come to find out later that she heard me gaining on her via my "bells." I thought maybe she would keep pace with me, but it wasn't happening. Sorry Kerrie. I was trying to get you to go faster! (But Kerrie totally got a PR, by the way.)

The finish line was in sight! But the big overpass was straight ahead. I looked down and thought of Hell-Yes-Hill and made that last hill my biyotch (but in all honesty, I think the hill made me its biyotch from the look on my face in the race photo below). Then I saw Kim ahead...what???? I sprinted with all the energy I could muster up. Nearly caught up to Kim! Finish! Yeah!

Not the best photo. Ugh.

Kerrie came in shortly after and I high-fived her. She ROCKED! She looked strong! That PR was totally in the bag. I grabbed us some waters and told my teammates that I wanted to go back and cheer for Karla--it was her first 5K ever, despite already running marathons and such.

Karla finishing her first 5K!

Our team ended up doing pretty well! Kim got 1st in her AG; Mel & Alma got 3rd in their AG; Kerrie & I got 6th in our AG's; Tiffany got 8th in her AG; Jamie got 5th in her AG. Not too shabby! Unfortunately ribbons were being given to....the first FIVE in AG's....not the first three as usual. BUMMER! Kerrie and I were only 1 place off! I'm going to make us special 6th place ribbons. Hee hee.

The sun was out in full force and the beautiful day was still ahead. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning!