Jingle Bell 5k recap and a #Giveaway

 

I had a grand plan for the weekend. Three 5ks, all with a Christmas theme. Two on Saturday and one on Sunday. It was a grand plan. Of course, things do not always go as planned.

I have not gone for a run in two weeks. Some PiYo, some dog walks, some 4 mile power walks in the living room. No runs. Lots of rain, wind, and snow.

My friend Kim was excited about the Jingle Bell Run, she is preggers and has had to skip the last few races because of life getting in the way, but all the stars aligned and this was the one she could go to! I met her at Bar A and we registered for the race. Well, she registered. I stood on line in the freezing cold, waiting for my bib and bag of swag. Forever.

They had one girl handing out bibs and about five people running for swag bags. When it was my turn to get my bib, she had me registered as a walker with no bib. Ummmmmm no. So she walked me back to the first table to get me a bib while all the others on line had to wait for her return. She stayed with me until I got my bib. Sweet, but not so great for those waiting for *their* bibs.

Back to the car I went, to stay warm until race time. We met back at the bar to pee before the race, and to stay warm.

 

 

 

 

The course was different than the usual ones that began and ended at Bar A. That was the first oddity. I forgot my watch and my earbuds, so I was basically running naked, although I had my phone and started Map My Run when the race began. Ten minutes late. Have I mentioned how cold it was?

Instead of running around Lake Como, this race  had us run halfway around it and then loop back. It went by so quickly! My legs felt heavy and I knew it wasn't going well. My arch ached a bit and I started thinking, for the first time, that this might be the only race I did this weekend.

 There was no water stop and no mile markers.

As we made that last turn before the finish, I pulled out my phone so I could pause the app after the finish. I glanced at it, and saw the mileage as 2.5 and thought that it needed to catch up with me, as the phone had gone to sleep during the run.

 

 Holy heck! I saw the time as I approached and knew something was up. My heavy achey legs PRd? No way. Sure enough, my app said 2.6 miles. Race Fail. If we had started at the usual spot, this would have been much closer to an actual 5K.

I got my water and waited for Kim to finish and we got our results together. On our way out we grabbed a granola bar, and headed for the food and drink table. The guy at the table was *throwing* drinks at us! He was freezing and wanted to go home, too.

 

I am glad I ran the race, but disappointed in the directors. Most likely, this race will not be on my list next year, although one never knows! I ended up skipping the afternoon race, due to the sore arch!

 

 Sunday morning I woke up with a sore throat, and that ended race #3 for me. Grand plans washed away!

 

I am taking part in an amazing Holiday Loop Giveaway on Instagram! My prize is a $25 gift card to Amazon, and there are 13 other bloggers giving away $25-$50 for places like Lululemon, Athleta, Sephora, Target, iTunes, and more! Hop on over and enter them all! Good luck!

 

Have you ever run a race that was short?