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| Santa Hustle Christmas Present |
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| Look at all the goodies! |
So you may have heard that the Santa Hustle was cancelled after that extreme cold front moved through last week. Well! The race folks felt so bad about it that they mailed her stuff and information for her to complete a "virtual" Half-Marathon on her own. With a break in the weather today, we chose Christmas Eve because this way I could pretend that this was my Christmas Present.... so I would not have to get anything else. Not that I ever have any money anyway.
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| Time to dress up for the Race |
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| Bearded lady looks Super Sexy! |
We started out at the Kewash trail. Cheryl put on the required hat and beard and prepared for the start. I sang the national Anthem. (most of it anyway) And Cheryl made the horn sound and launched off.
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| Beard didn't last long |
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| Now it rotated to the back! |
I have to say, this was a GREAT half marathon for me as a spectator and photographer. I could easily find Cheryl in the crowd. I also volunteered to be a race pacer AND a race official. It was an easy gig...since I was the only one around.
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| Cheryl at the front of the pack! |
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| She is Still first at the half way point. |
The path started out snowy but became muddy late in the race. I met her at the turn around and eventually met her at the finish. It was almost like being beside her the entire way.
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| It's a sprint to the finish! |
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| So fast she lost the beard AND the hat! |
Cheryl had a pretty good race. Even though she turned in a rather disappointing time, she managed to come in first not only in her age group; but also in her Gender and OVERALL. I should point out that sweeping the categories is much
easier when you are the
only one in the race.
Final stats. Overall place: 1 out of 1 runner(s)
Age group: 1st out of 1 female runner(s) age 40-45
Gender place: 1st out of 1 Female runner(s)
She set a new PR for Virtual Half-Marathon.
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| The Santa Hustle Official Finishers Medal |
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| She looks happy. |
But she is still happy with her medal. This medal completes 2016 and ties 2015 for overall medals achieved. Even though 2016 was a rather dud running year, most of those medals were gained in the fall and early winter. Perhaps 2017 will offer better terms in the running world. Boston will be a big boost... so here's to hoping!
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| Time for Christmas Pizza! |
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| Super thin crust is a challenge to handle |
After the run, we whipped up a Christmas Pizza and pigged it down! Nothing like a pizza with seafood on it. Salmon, shrimp, pineapple, and Sarana peppers. Lots of Cheese and Broccoli.
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| Unless you use a fork.... |
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| like civilized people. |
Cheryl has figured out how to make the pizza crust paper thin. The catch is to cut the pizza in small sections. I found eating with a fork works well.
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| IKEA build time |
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| Kitchen BEFORE |
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| Cheryl does the heavy lifting. |
And finally, I put one of the numerous IKEA furniture pieces together. I'm getting pretty good at these. I didn't even need the instructions! I also put it together in a record time and with no "miscalculations". In other words, everything fit together nicely. Cheryl baked cookies and moved the new piece into place.
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| Task complete. |
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| Kitchen AFTER. |
There is still a few items left to put together in the shop. Perhaps we will take a stab at that tomorrow. For now, I plan on being a bum for the remainder of the evening.... and possibly having a slice of Cheesecake or Pumpkin pie. ( or maybe both!)
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| Cookie Baking Time! |
Hope everyone is having a wonderfully Merry Christmas. Things look pretty good so far. Only a few Stockings trickle in, but Cheryl says we won't work on them until after the weekend. (Not really any point with the Post Office closed until Monday. So looks like some more lazy time for us. I could use a week of sleep, I think. Cheryl says she feels the same way. We shall see.
