Christmas Running

I  honestly never imagined that running could become a part of the Christmas tradition for my family but that is exactly what has happened.

Last year, my eldest daughter and I took part in a Santa Dash which, thanks to poor quality santa suits that split far too easily, turned out to be an even more fun than we expected 2.4 mile race through Bridgnorth to raise money for the Shropshire Smile Maternity Charity. This year I joined, my husband, two of my daughters and their boyfriends and lots of friends from our running club to take part in a Turkey Trot in our hometown.

The Turkey Trot was sponsored by the local brewery which meant a free pint of ale for participants on finishing. This proved to be a not insignificant motivator on the way round the course - especially when any hills were involved. Participants were encouraged to run in festive fancy dress which made for quite a spectacle. It was a wonderful feeling as the race started to be running with Christmas puddings, elves, Santas a-plenty, Christmas trees and the odd character from the nativity!

I dressed up in a so called 'sexy santa suit' that was far from sexy and my husband squeezed into the jacket that was all that had survived from my Santa Dash costume last year. The jacket was definitely a little on the skimpy side but with the addition of a tinsel belt and a borrowed santa hat, we were good to go!

Photo by Adrian Roberts

We ran all the way round together at a nice steady pace and crossed the finish line holding hands. It was lovely.

Photo by Adrian Roberts

We waited at the finish to cheer my daughters but began to get a little concerned when there was no sign of them.  I should perhaps explain a little about the fancy dress they had opted for.

My daughter's boyfriend's mum had had the slightly crazy idea of turning her dad's mobility scooter into a sleigh with some craftily sculpted cardboard painted red and decorated with tinsel. This would be 'driven' by one of her daughters dressed as santa and 'pulled' by her son and daughter and my daughter dressed as reindeers. It had been her intention to be the fourth reindeer but an unfortunate work commitment meant that she had to drop out. My other daughter stepped willingly into the reindeer onesie to fill the vacancy.

Photo by Maureece

They looked fantastic but had perhaps misjudged how difficult it would be to pull the scooter. Their festive harness broke before they had even crossed the start line leaving three untethered female reindeer to run free whilst the one male reindeer had to put his back into pushing. I am sure that 5 kilometres would feel like a VERY long way.

Photo by Chris Bourton

Much to my relief, they did eventually come into sight. With a couple of willing volunteers helping to push and taking advantage of a short cut, they made it home.... all smiles!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable event - fun and friendly and in aid of a Childhood Leukaemia Charity.

The complimentary pint of ale at the finish slipped down a treat (as did the second pint that my non-beer-drinking daughter donated to my cause). Lovely. It did mean, however, that I spent a good part of the afternoon on the sofa sleeping off the combination of exercise and alcohol.

All of the photographs I have used in this post have been borrowed, mostly from good friends who were visiting for the weekend and came out in the cold to support us. This is because my own camera that was being used to take photos has been misplaced. I do hope it turns up soon - not just because I want my camera back but because I can't wait to see what other memories have been captured.