Plain Can Be Lovely

Happy Christmas Eve!

I believe in Santa

According to the Santa Tracker, Santa is making his way around the world right now so I thought I’d take this time to recap the Santa Shuffle 5k that we ran last year.

It was on Dec. 1 and Dan and I, along with our friend Jen, formed a team called Reindeer Games.

Reindeer Games ready for action! Me, Dan and Jen before the race.

The Santa Shuffle is a fun, untimed 5k run with participants of all ages and proceeds benefiting The Salvation Army. The run takes place in locations all over Canada. We decided to participate in the Toronto run, which took place in Wilket Creek Park and E.T. Seton Park (near Sunnybrook).

It was really chilly when we got to the race and I had trouble adjusting to the cold. Looking back I have to laugh at that when I compare last year’s weather to this year’s. There wasn’t even any snow on the ground!

We met up with Jeff, Jen and their baby Tyler (Jeff and Tyler were going to hang out on the sidelines and watch us run). There were tents set up and a live band. Finally it was time to line up at the start. We were more than ready to go due to the cold.

During the race, we ran with several fast elves, jolly Santas and heard a lot of sleigh bells. It was really festive and I couldn’t resist the urge to say “ho ho ho!” a few times. The route was an easy out and back and we were done before we knew it.

New this year, they had a finishers medal for every participant!

With my race medal.

Dan and his medal

Jen and I with our medals

Jeff, Jen and Tyler

The food after the race was amazing! We had hot dogs and warm drinks. I should also add that the race kit was full of goodies, including a kit from Dove (deodorant, body mist etc.), hand sanitizer (I’m always a fan!), treats and more. After the race Santa was also around so Tyler had his picture taken with him. They also handed out Lindt Chocolate Advent Calendars to everybody!

Overall we had a really good time and I wanted to participate again this year but the timing didn’t work out. Hopefully we can run it again in 2014!

The logo of the shirt Dan was wearing showed through his fleece!

Lindt Advent Calendars! These were amazing!

Another look at my medal. I was wearing it when I took this picture, which is why I cut off the side.