Dashing through downtown

So yesterday was the first Reindeer Fun Run in downtown and, as advertised, it was pretty fun. I felt sorry for the organizers because on top of the chaos that's probably inevitable the first time you stage such a large-scale production, the number of registrants exploded from 190 on Thursday to more than 400 two days later, on race day -- which they couldn't have anticipated.

The line for race-day registration was so long that the start of the race was delayed about 15 minutes. The unexpected turnout also meant that organizers ran out of T-shirts and goody bags. Luckily, our running club provided Santa hats with jingle bells for members to run in.


It was a hard run for me, maybe because it was so cold or because I didn't stretch or because I had a couple of glasses of wine and not enough sleep the night before, I'm not sure. Anyway, I started feeling really sick with about half a mile to go and then (this is disgusting) I finished the race with three or four blocks of running-slash-dry-heaving.

It was really embarrassing because of course that's the only part of the race where there were a lot of spectators, but there was nothing I could do about it. Thank goodness there was nothing in my stomach. I just don't know how to pace for a 5K.

Kaitlin beat me by about 15 seconds but we were in different age groups so we both got to go home with a gold-medal ornament. My time was about a minute slower than at the 5K we ran in June, but I think this was a harder, more uphill route.

P.S. Know what I love? Fresh Market coffee.