On December 5, the Ugly Sweater Run came to Hartford, Connecticut, which began and ended at Bushnell Park. I’ve never done an sort of ugly sweater event before, so I was really looking forward to participating in this run.

The race started at 11 am, and the weather was actually really nice out considering it is now December. The temperature was a little over 45 degrees, which was perfect running weather to don our ugly sweaters.

There were a bunch of Christmas themed inflatables near the start and finish, one of which is the biggest inflatable Santa both East and West of the Mississippi River. They also had these really cool snow globe inflatables where you could go and stand or sit inside of the snow globe.

I went into this race deciding to just take it nice and easy. I didn’t want to overdo it because I didn’t know how uncomfortable it might get wearing an ugly sweater, and leggings made out of an ugly sweater print, and all that jazz, and I really just wanted to have fun. I also got a head cold at the beginning of the week, and it turned into a chest cold, so I didn’t really know how well I was going to even be able to breath, which ended up being the main reason I wanted to take it easy.

The race was a lot of fun, and the course was fairly flat which was nice. The Ugly Sweater Run started on Capital Ave, in between the Capital Building and the State Library. The course looped through different areas in Downtown Hartford. We even ran down a cute little street that was all decorated for the holidays, and looked really cool with everyone running down the straightaway with all their ugly holiday sweaters on.

We finished the race with a time around 32:30, but the event was not actually officially timed. I like when bigger races are like that, because it shows that they’re encouraging people to just come and have fun, rather than try and give it your all so you can win.

The Ugly Sweater Run also benefits an organization called Save the Children. Save the Children is an organization that help invest in childhood, for every day, in times of crisis and for their future. It’s always nice when bigger chain races help benefit other charity events, that way you feel like your money is actually going towards something, instead of the race just trying to make a profit off of you.

There are 18 locations that the Ugly Sweater Run is located in, with dates ranging between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you’ve got a really ugly sweater that you would like to show off, I would highly recommend checking out the Ugly Sweater Run and seeing if there are any events near you. Trust me, you will not regret it!

When I heard about the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Las Vegas, I knew I had to do it. I had previously participated in another Rock N Roll Half Marathon in San Antonia, Texas and thought it was so much fun. Vegas has always been somewhere I wanted to visit, and thought what better reason to go than to run. The Rock N Roll Half Marathon took place on November 15, 2015. This event also has a 5k, 10k and marathon. The marathon had the same start time as the half marathon, and the 10k began 30 minutes before the half/marathon start time. The 5k for this series was held on November 14.

The course started off at Madalay Bay, and ran down along the airport and past the “Welcome to Vegas” sign before turning around to head back towards the strip, which was just about a mile. The second mile was located right past the starting line, and when I got to the mile 2 mark, there were still people waiting in corrals to even start the race. The race started at 4:30 pm, and I didn’t start the race until around 5:15. This means that the last few people to cross the start line probably waited at least 1 ½ hours before starting, because it was around 5:35 when I passed mile 2.

I feel bad for the people that had to wait over an hour to start because it was soooo windy out, which made it pretty cold, and even started raining just after the race began at 4:30. I originally planned on wearing shorts and a tank top, and I am so glad that I ended up buying a long sleeved running shirt while at the expo, because otherwise I would have froze even more than I did before the race started.

So after passing the start line at mile 2, we continued down the Las Vegas Strip all the way to Downtown Las Vegas. My dad even hopped in and ran with me for a couple of miles from mile 2 to around mile 4.5. Around mile 3 they held a wedding ceremony in New York New York for any runner that wanted to either get married or renew their vows. In order to participate in the wedding, the couple had to be running in the half or in the marathon. I ran past part of the ceremony and it was really cool seeing a group of runners all taking their vows in the middle of a race.

The course just continued straight down the strip, past where the finish line was, and into Downtown Las Vegas. Once in Downtown Las Vegas, the course ran up and down a couple of blocks before turning onto Fremont Street. Mile 9 was reached right before the turn onto Fremont street, where we ran past the “Welcome to Downtown Vegas” sign. The course turned back towards to the Las Vegas Strip off of Fremont Street, and ended at The Mirage.

The course was nice and flat and only had a gain/loss of 150 feet in elevation for the whole course. The only tough part of the course was the last 4 miles. I was running at a really steady pace the whole time, and was feeling really good, I had plenty of energy, nothing was really hurting, it was great. And then the last 4 miles came along and the wind was blowing against everyone. Luckily the wind wasn’t constantly terrible, but it blew really hard rather frequently. I knew I didn’t have much left and that I was feeling really good, so I just pushed myself that much harder to get to the finish as quickly as possible.

This race is also a really tough race to do for time. Originally I was hoping that I might be able PR in this race, but it is seriously impossible to do. There are so many people in this race, and everyone is everywhere. It was hard to pass people at times too because a lot of people just walk this race, and everyone’s paces were different so it was difficult to weave in and out of people. There were so many people at this race that even when I crossed the finish line, people were still just passing the finish line on the opposite side of the strip, which was between miles 4 and 5.

I would definitely do this race again because it is a fun race and seems to go by so fast because there is just so much to see while youre running! If you're looking for a half marathon that is just for fun rather than for time, I would highly recommend this race!