Dashing Through the Chuck

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Kim and I participated in a local Santa themed 5K that benefitted Toys for Tots. This was the first year for this event and had an overall cute idea - they encouraged every runner/walker to dress in Santa form and bring a toy for Toys for Tots! It was also an afternoon event and after the race, several local businesses were welcoming Santas from the race with special incentives. For example, one local restaurant offered a free appetizer for showing up dressed as Santa and they also donated a percentage of the meal total back to Toys for Tots! Such a fun idea!!

Originally, three of us had registered as the "Three Santateers" (with Brayden as our reindeer), but one "Santa" wasn't able to make it at the last minute. We did ask around but no one was able to participate with us, so we brought our "Santa" friend along...in the flat style!

Our crew! Hah!

This race was a fun run - non timed and encouraged walkers and runners alike. We were snapping the above picture when we kind of missed the call to line up to run. Whoops!

We'd planned to walk this race together, so we had a few shenanigans along the way. Where's flat Santa Melissa? Oh! She's hiding behind the tree!

Hey, if you can't have fun with life, what's the point, right?

Flat Santa Melissa says "Go Santa, go!"

Flat Santa Melissa encourages racers not to litter!

Even Brayden got in on the fun!

It was a GORGEOUS afternoon! This race was a double loop course around the lake front promenade.

Once we reached what we thought was the turnaround point, we were kind of confused - there wasn't anyone standing there, telling runners where to turn around. I might have missed it, but I looked all over and couldn't find a sign or a person. I remember hearing "The Marina"...which is a landmark, but there wasn't a sign or anything which I thought was kind of odd. Instead, we calculated the turnaround point out per my watch and turned around once we reached that mark.

My friend Kim only had time to stay for about one and a half miles, so once she left, I decided to run the rest of the way.

A group of marine recruits were out there and as I passed with the stroller (running this time), I heard them say a remark like "wowww...oh my goodness". I wanted to tell them not to feel bad because after all, they were probably high school students and not used to running 3 miles but I didn't say anything.

After returning to the start/finish area, we waited around for the awards. They gave awards to the top 3 finishers as well as the "best dressed Santa".

They also had hot chocolate and cookies available for everyone which was nice!

This event was so much fun and I seriously can't wait until next year to go Dashing Through The Chuck once again!