Run Run Rudolph 5k Race report

Saw an advertisement for the Run Run Rudolph 5k somewhere and thought it sounded like fun.  And I wanted to run some races in winter to keep myself  motivated to get out and run.  If I don't have something to look forward to/train for, it's way too easy for me to give in and stay snuggled up warm on the couch instead of heading out to run.  So I pre-registered myself for this race and a couple of others.

Since it was a race with a Christmas theme, I had intended to wear a red shirt, green skirt, and some really awesome red & white striped socks.   But I couldn't find my black tights (I've got multiple pairs of black running pants, but apparently no tights... and the socks just wouldn't work with regular pants)  So I switched and wore purple, with some awesome stripey socks, and my green santa hat:

Saturday morning was cold, so I added my running jacket to the above and hit the road for Huntington.  There were all kinds of activities going on with the race ("Reindeer Games" as they called them) and there was a lot of fun to be had.  Kids running everywhere.  Santa was there.  Rudolph was there.

I had decided I wasn't going to run this race hard or try for a PR or anything; i was just going to run for fun and see how it went.  At the race start I was a bit too close to the front of the pack so I took off a little faster than I probably should have, and by mile 2 I was feeling tired and had to slow it down.  Mile 3 was a little easier.  The running crowd was great and stayed close to the same bunch of people the whole way.  I was totally inspired by the blind runner I saw; absolutely amazing (I think she ran the Marshall half too...)

This wasn't the best run for me: I felt tired; I should've left the jacket in the car because I was hot; I wasn't properly hydrated.  In spite of all that, it was an opportunity to run and I mostly enjoyed myself - the atmosphere was awesome.  And even though I didn't feel the best and felt it was a tougher run, I still managed to squeeze in an under 30  minute finish (barely, but i made it!)

Official time: 3.1 miles, 29:54, avg. pace: 9:38
Garmin time: 3.09 miles, 29:59, avg. pace: 9:42
Splits:
Mile 1 - 9:36
Mile 2 - 9:52
Mile 3 - 9:42
Mile .09 - 8:58