Sunday, December 15, 2013

Jingle Bell Hell 2013

I decided to do XLMIC's Jingle Bell Hell again this year and actually post a race report :-). I did it last year and just never got around to posting about it, but still managed to win the Weasel-Your-Way-Into-The-Donuts prize :-). I did it in 2012 and was pleasantly surprised to receive a gift and a hand written note. That was probably the first thing I received from a blogger friend and it was pretty cool.
The rules:
Must be at least 5K in total length...no maximum.
- I ran 5.4 miles Saturday (and 6.4 miles Sunday).
Must be done on a challenging course (and if you hate treadmills, that means it could be on a treadmill) because the idea is "Hell" ... that is the important part.
- I ran on some local single track after 4 inches of heavy snow. It was awesome, but made my pace hellishly slow.
Must be done between Dec. 14-22, 2013... any time of day or night. This gives you two entire weekends to choose from.
- check, ran on opening day 12/14
You must laugh at least once... can be an evil laugh, a laugh of futility, any kind of laugh but laughter is a MUST.
- laughed at myself for worrying about mountain lions after reading there was one sighted not to far from here :-).
So, on to the actual race report :-). I feel like the last runner on earth to get a Garmin and Brooks Cascadia trail shoes,but Santa brought both early, so JBH was the break in run for both.
I got to put the first set of tracks down :-)
Just put down those tracks

Besides the slow pace, I had a "hellish" hair day. I've always had thick hair and get my hair cut every four weeks. I missed my last hair cut due to travel and my ear wrap bunched my hair up making it look like I had put my hair up in a small bun :-). Serious hair hell for sure.
"Bun head"
No mountain lion tracks :-)
Breaking in some new shoes
Post race cookout :-)

Hopefully Patrick doesn't read this so I can reclaim the only male virtual racer prize title I took two years ago :-).

12 comments:

Kate Geisen said...

Hair hell is the WORST!

Hope you love the Cascadias!

Jill said...

There's mountain lions in Missouri???

Not true: you got a rolly stick from the blog exchange in 2011 :). I have an impeccable memory.

Looks like hell to me, snow and bad hair all mixed into one! Hope you win!


Anonymous said...

Post race cookout is awesome. So was your run, but hello, cookout!

Kathy said...

Ah, your hair looks just fine. My husband looks like Eraserhead every morning!

One Crazy Penguin said...

I can't even focus on the race report since the food looks so good! I'm really waiting for all this snow to melt. Tired of running on ice!

Teamarcia said...

Yes I too have lost my train of thought ogling that grill.
So Cascadia is the way to go on the trail? I just ordered Brooks Ghost GTX. I'm screwed.

ajh said...

Love making fresh tracks in snow. I would pause if I heard about mountain lion settings. In fact I probably wouldn't go. I need to do more virtual races. Sounds fun.

The Unexpected Runner said...

Nice trail! And love your new kicks! At least there's no snakes in the winter ;-D

KovasP said...

Great looking shoes! Hair hell is questionable as to making a run difficult I would say.

Raina said...

I think you have fabulous hair! Not joking either! The ear warmers just make it stand out :)
Great run! Very cool you were able to make some fresh tracks, and in those awesome shoes!
Hope you have a very merry Christmas, Mike!

Debbie said...

hehe, oh mike, this would be my kinda race, if only!! sooooo fun, but i don't run, so i will enjoy the run through you!!

where to start, the hair, or should i say "bun".....very nice ;)

i can't believe you "JUST" got those trail shoes, you are soooo far behind the times (i...have never even heard of them)!!

i won't touch on the mountain lion but the post race cookout is marvelous. now that's my kinda thing!!

merry christmas!!

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