Rudolph Run & Blitzen Bash

Back in September, all my friends were gathering together for dinner when my girlfriend, Keri, announced that her husband, Jay, had been claiming he could run a mile in 6 minutes 30 seconds. She said there was NO WAY he could do it and that she was betting mowing the grass on it. Suddenly, all the husbands were saying that they could do it too -- and then all the wives were also making bets. We decided we'd put the guys to the test with a timed race at a high school track. After rescheduling and rescheduling the race throughout the fall, we finally got the run settled for December 22nd. The Rudolph Run... followed by the Blitzen Bash, a Christmas-themed ugly sweater drunk-fest following the race.

The problem with a December run is that it's cold FREEZING outside. And on this particular day, it was also really windy. But the race had to go on. The guys refused to forfeit. So, I loaded up with double Nikons to shoot the race - one equipped with my 24-70mm lens and one with my 70-300mm. Normal people probably don't appreciate double Nikons as much as I do. But, I was really excited to be wearing two cameras.

Getting ready to run...

The runners.

The audience.

One mile was four laps around the track. The guys were running so well that all the wives started to worry they'd run themselves into a heart attack just to prove a point! Coach Mike kept track of their time and their splits and as he realized that Jay was looking like he'd make it under 6:30 - he ran the last turn with him while cheering him on! Jay was the official winner with a time of 6 minutes and 27 seconds!! Brad and Dave did awesome - Brad just barely over 7 minutes and Dave at 7 minutes, 21 seconds!!

GO, JAY!! GO!!!

After the men did us proud, we took them back to Jay and Keri's house, dressed them in ugly Christmas sweaters, fed them some delicious Mexican food and gave them lots of celebratory liquor. Aren't our outfits soooo pretty!?