Jingle Bell 5K Race Report

I woke my mom up at 7am. She said, "enjoy your race... I'm staying in bed."

Yeah, I don't think so.

So we got up and got dressed. After enjoying Friday's 50 degree temperatures, Saturday was a frigid 31. Our meteorologist predicted snow, so we bundled up and prepared for the worst.

We arrived at a nearby hospital (the host of the race) around 7:40 and I couldn't believe how many people were there.

My mom kept checking out what everyone else was wearing. It ranged from shorts and a t-shirt (for those super fast runners), to a few people in very 5k-inappropriate clothing (my mom spotted one woman in riding boots and another man wearing tall dress socks).




We went inside, and got our jingle bells. I attached mine to my shoelaces (and I'm thinking about leaving them there all winter!).

We were belled-up and ready to run.



They told us to line up according to pace, but no one really listened and the starting line was a mess. There were so many people there, that I couldn't hear what the announcer was saying.



(Note the christmas gift on the left side of that picture. He arrived with an entire group decked out in holidayesque costumes. What impressed me most is that he ran the entire 5k in that box... without any arm holes!)

My mom was all set to go. This would be her first 5k ever and she had been training really hard for it.



Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, we heard a gun, and people just started running.

It was a slow start weaving around christmas trees and walkers and I didn't even cross the start line for at least 10 seconds into the race.

Mile 1 - 9:45
Mile 2 - 10:35
Mile 3 - Approx 10:00

I finished in 31:15 and I was pretty happy with that time. The course was flat except for one 1/2 mile stretch during the second mile that was a steady uphill climb.

Once I was done, I waited at the finish line for my mom. She had previously said she expected somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes.

Only a few minutes passed before I saw her red vest in the distance...



(Except that man's head is in the way.)

She made the last turn into the final stretch.



I got one final photo of her before her big finish (and the battery in my camera died).



She finished in under 36 minutes.



She said she only walked a little bit during that uphill portion, which is great.

We left and went out for delicious bagels.

Overall, it was a pretty successful race. And our specific event raised $27,000 for the Arthritis Foundation.