Ugly Sweater Run 12/15/13

In the spirit of trying out some holiday themed runs (and thanks to a Living Social deal that seriously cut down the registration fee!), I did my first Christmas themed run on Sunday with the Ugly Sweater Run. This was definitely a just for fun run, both in the spirit of the run itself and for me personally since there was no way I was beating my shiny new sub-30 minute PR on a cold day in Omaha, a day after finishing my longest training run ever at 7 miles. Thus, my only goal for this race was to get in the 3 miles I need for my training, have fun, and take loads of pictures.

Packet pick-up was at a local sporting goods store on Saturday and included a bib, moustache tattoo and lovely knit cap instead of the typical race t-shirt.

It was 18 degrees when I got out to the run site, so I was grateful for my many layers. I couldn’t find a traditional ugly sweater, so I just borrowed a big old pull-over of my husband’s and wore my official Ugly Sweater hat.

Not my most stylish or attractive pre-race picture!

I enjoyed walking around pre-race to see all of the fantastic creativity of people’s running outfits. Clearly I was not open minded enough in thinking about an ugly sweater! I saw an entire family with solid color sweaters on, with their initial spelled out on the sweater in duct tape (a la Harry & Ron’s sweaters from Mrs Weasley!). Even their dog had an initial sweater! There were loads of costumed dogs which was fun:

There were lots of blow up Christmas decorations, including a tree with Marines stationed underneath to accept gifts for Toys for Tots for the run’s featured charity:

There was a giant Santa for pictures (and if you wanted to get to an actual 5K, you had to run through the finish line and around to Santa’s left toe, at least according to the starting line announcer).

There was a big beer cart for post-race celebrating – we got tickets for two drinks with our registration fee!

There wasn’t anyone getting beer pre-race, but there was a huge line at the hot chocolate stand pre-race!

There were blow up arches for the start and the finish:

Starting line

Finish line

They let us go from the start line in groups, which was great since there were apparently 3000 people out there. There were so many people hanging out in the “festival” space that there wasn’t a big crush at the start line anyway. It was nice that nothing felt super crowded out on the course. There was a mix of walkers and runners, with very few people who seemed to be in much of a hurry. It was a very fun vibe! Lots of dogs and strollers, which also made it nice that they spaced us out.

I was in the second group and it was a nice easy run. I had my Garmin, just so I could make sure I got 3 miles in since I needed that for my training for the day, but consciously did not check my pace as I went along. When I saw something or someone I wanted to take a picture of, I stopped and walked and I also walked a couple of hills. I didn’t have any pain or soreness, which is impressive given I did this less than 24 hours after finishing a 7 mile training run, but I definitely didn’t have any “oomph”. It was an easy, fun run. At mile 1/2, they had a “reindeer crossing”:

And the aid station a little after the 2/3 mile transition had hot chocolate:

According to my Garmin, the finish line was actually at 2.88 miles so I ended up running through (and high fiving Marines – always fun) and then running back up the sidewalk to finish my 3 miles for the day. I finished with an overall pace a little less than 11 minute miles, which is respectable considering the amount of effort I put in. It was really very nice to run outside for the first time in a week! The roads were all clear but the sidewalks are definitely still icy.

I didn’t hang out for the moustache or ugly sweater contests after the run. I headed out to meet my guys for lunch. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite outfits from the run, so you have some ideas if you decide to do an Ugly Sweater run of your own in the future!

This guy had an actual wreath (complete with the dentist from the Rudolph cartoon – Hermie? Herbie?) attached to the back of his sweater.

I saw lots of tinsel skirts and scarves.

I couldn’t help but notice he had the wrong day flagged! Lots of household Christmas decor was used for clothing. I saw a few people with ornaments hooked to their sweaters.

These people had cardboard placards decorated as gifts, along with one person in a tree costume!

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