I needed one more event this year to meet my requirements for the Wheaties Fuel Ambassadorship and the year is drawing to an end. This is only a 5k put on by 4 Peaks racing and not really intended to be competitive with people dressed up in all sorts of holiday outfits. I thought this could be a fun event to do with my wonderful wife and offered it to her. She happily accepted my offer and it was on.
 |
| There really was a Santa Running. |
We woke up this morning at 6 am and had a normal start to the day. We wanted to get out there by 7:30 so that we could have an opportunity to hand out some Wheaties Fuel Samples. The run was located near our house by 43rd Ave and Pinnacle Peak Rd at the Victory Lane Sports Park. We were lead in to park in a dirt lot and met by smiling volunteers. They were still getting set up when we got there at 7:30 am which was the beginning of packet pick up. I had registered through Active.com and only had to walk up to the M-P sign and tell the volunteer our names to get our bibs and goodie bag. For such a small race they had a very high quality timing chip set up with race bands and real chips intended to be attached to your ankle via a velcro band.
 |
| behind me is the toys for tots table |
I didn't realize that the event was sponsored by Wheaties Fuel already so this made it harder to hand out product being that everyone already had a box of it in their bag along with a coupon. The registration area also had a place for same day registration that was well run. There was a tent accepting non wrapped toys in return for a raffle ticket. The toys were part of a toys for tots program and the raffle was for various items from sponsors of the race. There was a local women's workout clothing company with cute running shirts my wife looked at and a tent offering free massages pre, or post race. A late arrival was a 5 hour energy tent giving out free samples of 5 hours energy. There were plenty of porta potties and lots of holiday cheer with Christmas music being played over large speakers the whole time.
 |
| they are small, but you can see the bells safety pinned to my laces and the corners of my bib |
When picking up your bib at the registration tent there were jingle bells to attach to your shoes and bib for the race. This seemed like a wonderful way to do a jingle bell run so both my wife and I participated. I thought before I left that some jingle bells and a santa hat would be good along with all my Wheaties Fuel gear to represent my ambassadorship, but there were some very festive people. I saw several Santas, more elves, a couple abominable snowmen from Rudolph and even a walking Christmas tree. I liked that it was a race more about the spirit of it then the competition. I was also really impressed to see several people wearing couch to 5K shirts. I applaud anyone making the jump to an active lifestyle.
 |
| You can see the registration tent in the back ground while I hand out cereal to people |
 |
| Handing out more product and giving out coupons to festive participants before our grueling 5K |
I walked to each participant that left the registration tables holding their bag and offered samples of Wheaties Fuel as well as a coupon. I had a good reception from most and probably handed out samples to half the participants in the race. It is always great to spread the word about a product I eat every day and have already converted most of my immediate family into eating. After handing out everything we went back to the car to drop off everything before the big race. This was a great time to take a picture with our shirt from the event before things started.
The race itself was over trail like terrain as well as gravelly areas. There was almost always at least a person width of well groomed area, but with the amount of people doing this race I ended up in bad areas most of the race. The bad areas had uneven terrain, lots of bigger rocks that would make it easy to twist an ankle and even limbs from plants and trees crossing your path. At the half way point there was one aid station with water, even Santa was helping out with the water distribution. This was enough since 3.1 miles really isn't much of a run anyways.
 |
| Taste the Win!!! Wheaties Fuel |
The spirit of this race was evident more then anything in the amount of children and families involved. It was awesome to see so many kids dressed up of all ages. The after race provisions were what I would expect for such a short race, water, bananas, oranges and pretzels. 4 Peaks puts on a good race and for them to do such a good job on a race of such a small size was very impressive to me. I left telling my wonderful wife that I would love to do the race again dressing up silly, and even take our kids one day to participate in this kind of event. I would never recommend it for anyone trying to set a new personal record, or meet high levels of competition. On the other hand I would be happy to have my own family run the Jingle Bell Run with me any year.
No comments:
Post a Comment