Some colleagues and I decided to enter this charity event that supports the KidsCan foundation. KidsCan does a great job in helping children achieve big things, or small ones, but making sure they do what children must do and have all they need in terms of food, education, and support networks.
The race is only an excuse to get people together and raise some much needed funds. The circuit was a 3km that was later changed to a 2.5km for safety reasons, and there was about 300 santas on the start line.My warm-up was very poor but I avoided the cravings for a beer and a pie at O'Hagans. We did a few stretches (see photo attached) and then the race was on. I swear I saw people with the Nike Lunar races and other racing flats gear. I said to my mates that we only needed to stay in the front group.
We run in a bunch of 20 for the first 500m and then the pace picked up a bit, the bunch went down to 7 or 8 th. By the halfway point my heart rate started to pick up and I was breathing my own facial hair (see photo), so I decided to go for bigger strides. It turned out the first three guys upped the tempo a bit more. All the field was coming the other way and we had to negotiate our way through a lot of santas, my side jumping skills came handy at this point and I had a clean ride. Some other weren't that lucky and I heard a few bumped into each other in the heat of the race.
The last km was less chaotic and I was able to stick to the front guys, there was a final turnaround and 400m to go, someone launched a sprint and I tried to follow but had no legs, then the old diesel engine picked up and I managed to finish 2nd in a time of 7.20. I rolled through the line in joy. All in all a good fun race, I'll make sure next year I get a proper running programme and a tapper week for the event.
Ho Ho Ho!
I didn't know Santa shaved his legs. Does Mrs. Claus know?
ReplyDeletefast santa's! and a good sounding Foundation:)
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Fast not fat Santas, good example for the kids!
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