No Medals?! - Santa Suits on the Loose 5k Race Report 2021

 So.... the first thing you'll notice about this post is that there aren't any photos. 

Guys, I lost my little camera.

Again!

I ran a 5k in Jacksonville in 2018, where I lost a really great camera, a little Samsung point and shoot... 16mp, easy to hold, with wi-fi and NFC. 

I replaced it with a Canon PowerShot Elph 180 (which came bundled with an SD card, extra battery, and lots of other accessories). I used this little guy all the time, he was a great pocket camera for road trips or quick shots at races. 

I know I had it during the race, so it had to have gotten left somewhere after the race. But where??? Or did I lose it later? I honestly can't see it in my mind anywhere after the finish line of this race. 

Well, anyway, on with the (bare bones) race report!

Left the house around 5am, got to the beach around 7:30. Parking was a little difficult, so I ended up across the street at Panama Hattie's. I was able to pick up my packet and my tee shirt and take it back to my car before the race started, then I headed back over to the start area. I'm sure I took a bunch of photos, but I don't have them now, lol. 

We took off at 8am, and my run was pretty uneventful... nothing sticks out in my memory, anyway. I didn't run very much, and the last half-mile was a quick walk because I got sucked into a conversation with an older lady who asked me about my skirt. Turned out she was a local Zumba instructor and she was trying to get me to join her gym. 

I finished with a Chip Time of 57:57 (pace 18:40), 746th out of 851 total runners,  and 41st out of 47 in my age group. You can see me and Zoomba Lady run it in, in the video below. 

I took a quick selfie with Zoomba Lady then went to get my medal. We were told that there were no more medals! What? Apparently, they had not ordered enough medals (I think they only ordered 750, and weren't expecting more participants than that). The RD came over the bullhorn and said that if we didn't get a medal today, we could put our name on a list and get it at a later date. Okay, but how will that work for out of town folks, like me? I went back to the medal table to inquire about said list, and the volunteer just shrugged her shoulders in a sucks to be you kind of way, and just said there were no more medals.

At this point, I was a little frustrated, because I'm a bling whore. I want my medal. But I wasn't going to take it out on the volunteers, so I just considered it a loss and headed back to the car. My plan was to grab my bag of clothes and go back to the restrooms at the pier to change. But when I opened my trunk, imagine my surprise when I saw that my clothes bag was missing! Oh, shit... I left it on the dining room table at home! Crap. I have no clean clothes to change in to, other than the race shirt. So, I swung by the local Walmart to pick up some clothes - I had to get jeans, undies, a bra, and a new shirt. I took my purchases to the bathroom and attempted to change. The bra I got didn't fit, so I just put my sweaty sports bra back on (eww), but everything else was okay. I returned the bra and the jeggings a week later, to my local Walmart. 

After that, I hit Buc-ee's on the way out of town, as I needed to go up to Ikea in Jacksonville. Santa Buc-ee was out, so of course I got my photo! 

I hit up IKEA then went to Freddy's Frozen Custard for lunch. A quick stop at Wawa for a big-ass soda for the road, and I made my way home late that afternoon. 

When I pulled up my email, I noticed this message from a few days ago, stating that people who registered prior to December 3rd would be given priority for receiving a medal. I registered in October, so I should have been given priority at the race today. But, how would they know, in the hecticness of a finish line, right? 

A few days later, they followed up with an additional email, thanking everyone for an amazing event, and asking those of us who didn't get a medal to email them to request one. So that's what I did. 

I got my medal a few months later, and it's super cute and worth the wait, I suppose. But I sure do wish I'd gotten it when I earned it.