The Ugly Sweater Run

Saturday morning we rolled out of our warm beds and dressed in many layers so we could go participate in the Ugly Sweater Run 5K. It was a brisk 30 degrees so running in a sweater was not such a bad idea.

 

Some of us even donned mustaches

 

Porter was foul that morning and refused to wear his Ugly Sweater. He compromised by at least wearing his Minion hat.

This is the back of The Mister's sweater. Glorious.

 

We met up with our friends for a pre-race group shot. I love that I have friends who also think donning a hideous sweater and a fake mustache and then running a race sounds like FUN!

 After that, I amused myself by taking photos of perfect (and awesomely attired) strangers.

 

Ack! Misuse of vintage felt goodness! 

 

One of the race sponsors was Samuel Adams and included in our entry fee were coupons for both a pre-race and a post-race beer. I don't drink, but even if I did I'm not sure I could handle drinking a beer first thing in the morning when it is below freezing outside. And then running 3.2 miles. Maybe it warms you up? They were also pouring shots of some vanilla-flavored liqueur. My gosh, you should have seen the lines for the porta-potties all along the race route! Definitely ridiculous for any other 5K but for this one it was perfectly understandable.

At any rate, these folks are demonstrating one of the reasons Colorado is a great place to live. Colorado is known for being very health-conscious and we do a lot of outdoor exercise. We're also know for our beer (Coors, zillions of micro-breweries). So why not combine the two? It's perfectly reasonable in Colorado to run a race while drinking a beer.

 They obviously didn't pay attention to this sign. One of the items in our swag bag was a pint glass with the Sam Adams logo on one side and the Ugly Sweater Run logo on the other. I think it's my new favorite glass. It's pretty cute!

 Folks did not limit themselves to Ugly Sweaters. The outfits were really hilarious.

 Yup, he ran the entire race in Santa & Mrs. Claus slippers. Next year, The Mister wants to wear a pair of red long johns like this one. With the flap open.

 Knitted Adult Onesie. With Attached Santa Hat. I'll just let you enjoy that one for a minute.

I have to tell you, this race was SO FUN! In case it's not obvious, it was incredibly casual. There was no race clock. If you wanted an actual time, you had to keep it yourself. They let us onto the race course in huge waves and there were nearly 7000 ridiculously-dressed people there that morning. There were no mile markers and the race aid stops consisted of various giant inflatables that you could take photos with, a hot chocolate station, and a huge pile of trucked-in snow that people were using for snowball fights. People regularly stopped for photos, waiting in long porta-pottie lines, skipped, and sang. When the race course looped back on itself, we watched people just cut it and ended early (presumable to go snag their post-race beer). The finish line was another giant inflatable with a machine shooting bubble foam in the air. There was a Best Worst Sweater contest and a Best Mustache competition as well.

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

We are already planning our outfits for next year.

And because I love Ugly Sweaters, go here for a really adorable FREE printable of some Ugly Christmas Sweater gift tags that you can print and cut out.