Jingle Bell Run = Christmas Fun!

Nick and I ran the Jingle Bell Run together. We put bells on our shoes, Santa hats on our heads, drove to downtown Portland and had a holly jolly good time. We arrived at a parking garage that was about 4 blocks from the starting line. I had pre-planned this so new exactly where to go....off the 4th street exit, straight down 4th to the Smart Park (street parking is free on Sundays but there wasn't a spot anywhere and we had no time to drive in circles.).

By the time we parked, got our hats, gloves and etc on and headed towards the race we had 10 minutes to spare. That was good and bad. 10 minutes meant no standing around in the cold waiting for the start, 10 minutes also meant no time to wait in the honeybucket lines, arghhh, that's tough news for a morning race (i.e. lots of coffee!). Since Nick always takes off fast and leaves me in the dust, we agreed on a meeting place and then positioned ourselves towards the middle of the pack at the start line. A few minutes later and we were off!

It was a nice flat course, an out and back on Naito along the waterfront. There were around 3000 participants (according to the announcer) and it was a crowded race. I passed a lot of people and got passed by even more. It was the kind of race where everyone dresses up and just has a good time. I liked the out and back course, it was the first time I've run one of those and I really liked seeing the front-of-the-pack runners heading back towards us. I never get to see the people who win, until today!

Nick and I ended up finishing about 30 seconds apart from each other because he stopped and waited for me at around mile 2. We ran the rest of the way together and about a half block from the finish line he smoked me and sprinted away.  I'm really proud of him for having a positive attitude and finishing strong, he was great company the whole time and for a 13 year old who'd rather be in bed on a Sunday morning, that's saying a lot!

Oh yeah....and I got a 5k PR so Merry Christmas to me! Time today was 36:48. My next 5k will be under 35:00 (ultimate goal? under 30:00 in 2011).

I got passed by THIS!, it scared me for a second until I got a good look: