This was a last-minute add-on to my race schedule, courtesy of Bibrave (I am a new Bibrave Pro, and received a comped entry to this race). I had no intentions of racing this one, as my "goal" 5K was the following day, but I did want to enjoy it as a fun run and from what I could tell from the Santa Hustle website, this looked like a perfect race to just go and have a good time. The Santa Hustle promised aid stations with cookies and candy, and Christmas music along the route. Plus, it offered some of the nicest race swag for a 5K: a really cute red half-zip jacket (plus a Santa beard and hat). I can't say enough about the jacket - it is really adorable and I'm quite frankly amazed at its quality. It is a huge step up from the usual race t-shirt. Based on the promises made about the course itself and the apparent quality of the swag, I went in to the race looking forward to a fun time.
Of course, things don't always go as planned and I ended up running late the morning of the race. I was really worried about parking and packet pickup, and I thought I might actually miss the start time. It turned out that I didn't need to worry about either: there was plenty of free parking around Veterans Park, and packet pickup was incredibly smooth. I got from my car to packet pickup to the start line in less than ten minutes. Not bad for a race with over 1000 participants!
I put on my race swag and my number, and was ready to go. Most runners wore the race jacket and hat for the run and it was fantastic to see this sea of Santas lined up to run along Milwaukee's lakefront.
There was a costume contest too, so aside from a few very well-dressed Santas I saw some people dressed as gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and a very enthusiastic Buddy Elf. He was adorable.
It was chilly at the start: the temperatures were in the 30s and being right next to Lake Michigan the air just felt cold. But the sun was shining and overall the weather was nothing to complain about for a December day in Wisconsin. The pre-race set up was great: a giant inflatable Santa and other fun props for photo-ops, real reindeer, and some fun Christmas music. All we needed was a little snow! (Just kidding - go away snow! I'm loving this non-snowy December).
The race had a corralled start, and because I planned on taking it easy and enjoying the run, I lined up with the 9:00 mile corral. However, in spite of the corrals, my first few blocks were spent pushing through a crowd of walkers. Oh well - this was just a fun run. Eventually I made my way out of the crowd and settled into a 9-minute pace. This was my first race with my new Garmin, and it was nice to actually know my pace rather than just feel it and hope for the best.
And because I'm never one to say "no" to a cookie, I did grab a cookie at the first aid station. Do you know what it feels like to eat a cookie while running? It feels like choking. But I tried. And I even took a mid-run cookie selfie. Please appreciate it - I had to take off my mittens, hold up the cookie, hold my phone still and keep running. It took a lot of work to get that picture. :p
So obviously the Santa Hustle was more of a fun run/walk than it was a race, and the results definitely showed it. My 9:10 pace merited me 4th place in my age division out of 139. Huh. I'm a little bummed on that actually - they had age group awards that went three deep, so I missed out on an age group medal by 10 seconds. Judging by how cute the race swag was, I would bet the medals were adorable. Who knew? My time was 28:29.
I'd recommend this race as a fun thing to do with a group of friends before brunch, or as a first race for someone who just finished Couch to 5K. This isn't a place to PR, it is a place to have fun (and there's nothing wrong with that!)
Interested? Check out the Santa Hustle website for the various events in other cities around the USA and even a virtual event.
Awesome review! This looked like so much fun!
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