Jingle Bell Hell 2014

I think this is my third (maybe fourth) time doing XLMIC's Jingle Bell Hell race (virtual version). I love the idea and love the fact that Marjorie even got to run it this year.

Anyway, I ran it this year and it was hellish :-). Not sure which run I'm actually claiming as my JBH run. I've been running local single track every Saturday and Sunday now that it's winter, hellish I know. Last weekend was so warm I ran in shorts, hellish. This weekend I couldn't find my Santa hat, hellish. It's Christmas and there isn't any snow on the ground, hellish.

Anyway, here are a few recent trail pics.

Lots of drab single track this time of year. Bring on the snow.

My favorite hat...

Back seat of my car. More trail junk is in my trunk :-)

 

Thanks for the virtual hosting of JBH XL, maybe some day I'll mange to be out your way to run it in person.

 

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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 :-).

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Jingle Bell Hell "Race" Report

I decided to do XLMIC's Jingle Bell Hell run today and take a few pics.  Here are the rules:

• Must be at least 5K in total length...no maximum.

9.6 miles in the bank - CHECK!

• 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. 

Hell is that I "had" to run 1.5+ miles on the road to reach beautiful single track because I was "too lazy" to drive there.  How ironic is that?

• Must be done the weekend of Dec. 17-18, 2011... any time of day or night.

Ran on the 18th - CHECK!

• You must laugh at least once... can be an evil laugh, a laugh of futility, any kind of laugh but laughter is a MUST.

I laughed several times while thinking of childish pictures I wished I had the guts to take and post 

Anyway, here are some unflattering pics from my run.

The starting line

Mile 1 - ditched my favorite running hat

Mile 2 - put on a Santa hat once I hit the singletrack

I totally stole the Santa hat idea from TriMoEng.

Mile 3

I'm about 10 pounds overweight and it looks like a pound of it is in my neck :-(.

Mile 4

Mile 5 - ditched the Santa hat

Aid station at Mile 6

Mile 7ish

Mile 8 or so

Mile 9.6 - done!