Santa Runs Tacoma 5K Recap

Candy Cane Girl ready to head out the door!

Saturday morning I woke up around 6am and got myself all ready to head down for the Santa Runs Tacoma 5K race.  I was dressed head to toe like a candy cane and I was excited to meet up with the girls from Team Will Run for Ice Cream.  The family and I headed out of the house around 7:45am, a tad bit later than I wanted but we still got down to the starting area with tons of time to spare.  I found my fellow candy canes rather easily and we had fun posing for a few photos.  The photographer came by and snapped a few photos of myself and Mel (the others had run back to their car) so we cheesed it up a bit! 

Love Mel's homemade shirt!  So cute!

Then the group returned and we were asked if we would like to send a message to the troops in Kabul, Afghanistan- they will be sponsoring a satellite 5K race for I Corps of joint Base Lewis-McChord on Christmas Day and were making a video to share with them from home.  We decided to sing a bit of "we wish you a merry Christmas" and then say a big thank you as a group- we even made it into the video clip!  Here it is if you would like to watch it, it is kind of long and we are at the very end.  You can catch a few glimpses of our sparkly red skirts here and there throughout the video though!

Santa Runs Tacoma Video

We finally discovered where the costume contest judging was, but there were some great costumes so even though we were pretty darn cute I don't think we stood a chance!  I thought it was great when a lady came over and asked if our group was a running club or just really cute- she thought Kim was our coach since she had on a black top!  Too funny.  Nope, not a running club- just super cute! 

The Gang (L-R): Kadie's daughter, Kadie, Me, Karla, Kim, Mel, Zoe, Kerrie, Alma! 
Not pictured- Jamie and Sybil

Singing for our soldiers!

I realized I had not used the bathroom at all and the lines were getting really long- I didn't want to chance starting in the back of the pack.  I had about 12 minutes so I jogged about 4 minutes down towards the Marina, hoping to find a bathroom (even a bush at that point!) and I spotted a little store open so I took a chance they might let me use the restroom.  Score- she handed me the key, I used a real bathroom really quick, thanked her profusely and jogged back to the start line!  About 10 minutes later I was warmed up, my bathroom needs were met and I was ready to RUN!  We were lined up nearly at the front of the line which was an odd thing for me- I am never quite brave enough to seed myself up with the really fast runners but I figured what the heck!  The gun sounded and we were off and running, up the hill that starts this course off with a bang! 

Zoe on the left, me in the middle- heading up the big hill at the beginning

I could feel my pace was pretty quick, but if felt good and I knew I needed to have a fast first mile because of the hill in the last mile.  Kim and Mel were up ahead, cruising along and I kept them in my sight the first mile.  Kerrie was right in front of me and I knew Zoe was right behind me.  Alma was so funny she cruised past me and was chatting with these two girls (high school maybe) and told me she found some friends to talk to - I said "must be nice to hold a conversation at this pace!" and then almost died from muttering that short sentence.  Did I mention I decided against listening to music?  I find myself much more focused in short races without music to distract me.  Is that weird?  I don't miss it one bit- there is so much going on and I can hear the sounds around me.  Although apparently there was a snowman at the turnaround- I totally missed it.  Was it made of actual snow?  How did I not notice it?  Anyways...

At the halfway point there was a snowman I didn't see, but I did see Mel and Kim go past on the other side, then Kerrie and Zoe right in front of me- I was slowly getting slower.  My lungs were not happy, and I just could not take a good deep breathe- probably due to the cold air.  But I was also quite warm at this point and was carrying my gloves and wishing I could rip the fleece hat off of my head!  The sun peeked out and was blinding us as we closed in on 2 miles.  I was trying with all my might to get my pace back down around 8 minutes but it just wasn't working.  Suddenly this little guy was next to me on one of the hills- he looked at me and says "I hate hills"!  I laughed and said "you and me both!"  He was doing the 10K and I told him he was doing a great job -he was probably 7 or 8 years old.  Gotta love those kids out there!

There I am- being beat by a reindeer!  And see the little guy in green behind me to
the left?  That's the kid I was chatting with. 

The last half mile goes up a pretty good little hill, just steep enough to be difficult.  I was repeating over and over in my head that 5K's are supposed to hurt, 5K's are supposed to hurt and I knew I would be done in another couple of minutes.  I could hear Will shouting to me and I just ran towards the finish line as quickly as my legs would go.  I was so happy to be done! 

Almost there...almost done!  My "tie" was flailing in the wind!

My focus face.  Don't trip, keep running, don't trip, run fast...

I found the group and we cheered on the other runners for a bit before checking our official times.  Turns out the Candy Cane Gang are a pretty speedy bunch!  Kim won 1st place in her age group; Mel got 3rd, Jamie got 5th, Kerrie got 6th and I got 8th in our age group; Alma got 3rd and Zoe got 6th in their age group!  We wandered around a bit and drank some chocolate milk.  The sun was out and it was such a pretty day- we really got lucky with our weather aside from the chill in the air (hello- it is December, what did I really expect?)!

Done- such a sunny day! 
Niko is signing up for a marathon in the background.

Soon I said my goodbyes and headed back to our car.  What a fun day, a fun race with some fun (and speedy) candy cane girls!  And a special thanks goes out to my hubby for being our official photographer- you are awesome!  I didn't hit my goal time, but I am still happy with my results- plus it gives me a goal for the St Patty Day race in a few months! 

My official stats:
Mile 1-  7:36
Mile 2-  8:16
Mile 3- 8:35
Mile .1- 7:13

Official Chip Time: 25:20
Average Pace: 8:10
Overall Place:  139/1,041
Female Place:  39/690
Division Place (Female 30-34):  8/103

Can't wait to do this again next year!!!