Race #9 was "Santa Jolly"

As the Autumn season is dwindling down there is one more race I just had to complete and for good reason. . .

Now, THAT is a lot of Santas!

As I detest trying to get a ride to Soldier Field I regret asking my husband to drive me because we had a "blast" driving around downtown and the South Loop trying to get there. As I walked to the line, I jumped into a corral not knowing which one it was. I asked some nice Santa's and they told me 12 min/mi which is not usually my time but oh well- what can you do? The race route was similar to that of the Terrapin 5k. . . 

So, I knew when I should take off to the finish line.

Here are more pics that I took  WHILE RUNNING ( this time) to show all the running Santa's!

The volunteers were dressed as elves, there was a cookie station and a candy station which might not have been the best for me because as I raced into the finish line I caught a cramp right before the 3mile marker. It got worse as I ran and ran into some family members. I kept pushing to the finish and when I got there I so wanted to vomit. I took deep breaths and walked it out and eventually got way to more people to take pics with and all the lovely costumes and decor of the post race events.

How adorable were these runners! Santa and his reindeer! Now, Fleet Feet did NOT disappoint. . .

Yup, this is a pic of REAL reindeers. They were oddly calm as I would be freaking out if I were one of these reindeer.

I thought this was highly amusing! Especially since I am a Bears fan and formerly a Packer gal!

Me catching up with some BGR! ladies that for many of them this was their last run in 2012- same as myself.

How this race was different? I did not use my runkeeper app on my phone. I did, however, use the phone to take pictures and listen to music as I ran. I pushed myself a little more. If I felt tired I would slow my run but for the most part I ran the majority and walked for a few seconds before taking off again. I should not have had a cookie because my mouth was already parched and I slowed down towards the end for my candy which I still chucked because it was slowing me down not trying to let them spill. All in all a very fun race and a great way to end my running season! Another post about my experience of all these races will come up soon!

Stay jolly and bright while you run!

One side note- there are a few other locations that this race will be. If you live near the Chicago area- Milwaukee is having there Santa Hustle on the 22nd of December. Ho ho ho!

* New Side Note- official time- 30:12:53 which beats out my PR of 31:44*