I had thought my outdoor running days were behind me until I heard a radio ad for a 10k called the Santa Shuffle for the Salvation Army. I texted Cat and asked if she was in. I knew neither of us had trained for it but I figured it was a good chance to jog/walk and get our legs and heads used to a 10k distance.
For December, it has been unseasonably warm! There is almost no snow and the sun has been shining but when we arrived at Nicholas Sheran park yesterday morning the cold wind was blowing. This is a smaller race than the Clause Cause, there was probably 60-90 people, a lot of strollers, and many people had dogs.
Cat brought her double stroller and the kiddos and when we looked over the route map it was titled “5k Fun Run” and showed a loop and said to repeat it so we figured that each loop was 5k to add up to the 10k.
When the race started she and I turned on our RunKeepers and started going. I pulled away a little since I didn’t have to push a huge stroller. I went at my natural slow pace and enjoyed my Hip Hop Workout playlist on Spotify.
As I came through the finish line I thought how it felt easy shorter than 5k, a short ways out my Runkeeper said I had covered 3 km so I figure that we had to do the loop 3 times instead of two. I felt really good! My legs felt light and my breathing wasn’t all wheezy like at the Clause Cause but I forced myself to stay nice and slow because I wanted to at least run through the first 5k before walking.
As I was coming close to the loop I noticed that people were finishing and getting their medals- this run was a 5k not a 10k! The radio ad had said 10k and the online registration said 10k! I paced myself for nothing! I wound up running it in 35 minutes and if I had known it was a 5k I would have set a faster goal. Oh well!
I got to watch Cat and her 3 year old Olive run into the finish and we all got medals, even her baby Kevin which was nice.
They had free chili for the runners after the race which was awesome after a run in the chilly wind. Chili for chilly! Yes, I’m a nerd, I know!
Cat and I dropped of the kids with her husband and went to a hot yoga session after the race which felt sooooooo good.
I’ll definitely do this race again next year only this time I’ll double check on the distance! Ha ha!
Those are some sweet medals!!
Right? Most local races don’t give medals so I was pretty stoked!
Looks like fun! Our Santa Shuffle was also this weekend and I was too busy to attend. I’m bummed because it was a beautiful day for it!