This was my 3rd year doing this race and I plan to continue this tradition year after year. Our whole family drove down from Buffalo to Cleveland. We spent the night at the doubletree Lakeside. Our friend that lives in Cleveland picked up our packets ahead and brought to hotel. I did have a friend that picked her packet up race morning and she had no issues.

We arrived race morning to find some of the most amazing race costumes. The theme this year was the Bumpus Hounds so dogs were welcome to run and even earn their own medals. I’m not really a dog person I’ll admit but loved seeing all the dogs. They were so cute. It really added to the fun vibe.
My mom and son ran the 5k for the first time. I did the 10k. There was one water stop for the 5k and 2 for the 10k. The views on this race are so beautiful. I love running by the big Cleveland sign.
The medals are so beautiful. Up to par with a Disney run. The entertainment prerace was exciting and I love they have the movie playing on a huge screen at the finish. The huge inflatable pink bunny was a great touch!
The swag included a long sleeve cotton shirt. Tech would be nice but I’m happy with this one. Also we got a drawstring Christmas Story Run bag. Inside was a small bottle of hand sanitizer, chapstick and a light bulb. Also included is free admission to the Christmas Story House. That’s a 15.00 value. This really is a lot of bang for your buck.
I recommend touring the house later on in the day when not as crowded. And only issue I heard was the busses back from the 5k seemed to be running slow or not enough. Last year that didn’t seem to be an issue. Friends and family ended up taking an uber because they didn’t want to wait in the cold. Running the 10k that wasn’t an issue for me.

Another fun year, can’t wait to do it again

I did a video recap of this race if you were interested in watching. Here’s the link:
A Christmas Story Run 2018 Recap, Cleveland Ohio

This was my 3rd year doing this race and I plan to continue this tradition year after year. Our whole family drove down from Buffalo to Cleveland. We spent the night at the doubletree Lakeside. Our friend that lives in Cleveland picked up our packets ahead and brought to hotel. I did have a friend that picked her packet up race morning and she had no issues.

We arrived race morning to find some of the most amazing race costumes. The theme this year was the Bumpus Hounds so dogs were welcome to run and even earn their own medals. I’m not really a dog person I’ll admit but loved seeing all the dogs. They were so cute. It really added to the fun vibe.
My mom and son ran the 5k for the first time. I did the 10k. There was one water stop for the 5k and 2 for the 10k. The views on this race are so beautiful. I love running by the big Cleveland sign.
The medals are so beautiful. Up to par with a Disney run. The entertainment prerace was exciting and I love they have the movie playing on a huge screen at the finish. The huge inflatable pink bunny was a great touch!
The swag included a long sleeve cotton shirt. Tech would be nice but I’m happy with this one. Also we got a drawstring Christmas Story Run bag. Inside was a small bottle of hand sanitizer, chapstick and a light bulb. Also included is free admission to the Christmas Story House. That’s a 15.00 value. This really is a lot of bang for your buck.
I recommend touring the house later on in the day when not as crowded. And only issue I heard was the busses back from the 5k seemed to be running slow or not enough. Last year that didn’t seem to be an issue. Friends and family ended up taking an uber because they didn’t want to wait in the cold. Running the 10k that wasn’t an issue for me.

Another fun year, can’t wait to do it again

I did a video recap of this race if you were interested in watching. Here’s the link:
A Christmas Story Run 2018 Recap, Cleveland Ohio

This was my 3rd year doing this race and I plan to continue this tradition year after year. Our whole family drove down from Buffalo to Cleveland. We spent the night at the doubletree Lakeside. Our friend that lives in Cleveland picked up our packets ahead and brought to hotel. I did have a friend that picked her packet up race morning and she had no issues.

We arrived race morning to find some of the most amazing race costumes. The theme this year was the Bumpus Hounds so dogs were welcome to run and even earn their own medals. I’m not really a dog person I’ll admit but loved seeing all the dogs. They were so cute. It really added to the fun vibe.
My mom and son ran the 5k for the first time. I did the 10k. There was one water stop for the 5k and 2 for the 10k. The views on this race are so beautiful. I love running by the big Cleveland sign.
The medals are so beautiful. Up to par with a Disney run. The entertainment prerace was exciting and I love they have the movie playing on a huge screen at the finish. The huge inflatable pink bunny was a great touch!
The swag included a long sleeve cotton shirt. Tech would be nice but I’m happy with this one. Also we got a drawstring Christmas Story Run bag. Inside was a small bottle of hand sanitizer, chapstick and a light bulb. Also included is free admission to the Christmas Story House. That’s a 15.00 value. This really is a lot of bang for your buck.
I recommend touring the house later on in the day when not as crowded. And only issue I heard was the busses back from the 5k seemed to be running slow or not enough. Last year that didn’t seem to be an issue. Friends and family ended up taking an uber because they didn’t want to wait in the cold. Running the 10k that wasn’t an issue for me.

Another fun year, can’t wait to do it again

If interested check out my video recap of this race. https://youtu.be/DvqzNo_Crss

This is my fourth time doing this race. I figured I’d give a review of this year’s experience.
The packet pickup for this race is so easy. You can pick up bibs as of Monday before Thanksgiving. I had several friends doing the race and picked up their bibs for them as well so they didn’t need to drive to the YMCA to get. It was very easy. Runners roost had had a store set up at the expo with some really great deals. There was also a small section of Buffalo running themed merchandise. I got myself a great sweatshirt I wore to race knowing how cold it would be.

Before the race we parked at Target in North Buffalo. It’s about a 5 minute walk to start. Because it was so cold we stayed in car until about 8:50. Race started at 9:00. This helped us stay as warm as possible.
I did the race with my cousin who let me know she’d probably be walking the majority of race. Doing this race as a back of the packer, we had a great time and didn’t feel pressure to be fast.
I noticed one possibly two water stops. The costumes were amazing. This is a race you can go all out and fit right in. There is also some sporty fast runners as well. A great mix which makes it really fun.
There are no medals for this race. I wish there was but given the size I can see why it would be tough.
The after party at the convention center was really fun. They had a great band playing, free beer and some snacks (cookies, bananas, apples, and yogurt).
They provided shuttles to take us back to the Target parking lot. The line looked long but went really quick and once one shuttle filled one was right behind it. I would def recommend this race. It’s a fun Thanksgiving tradition no matter what your fitness level.

Do you like the movie Shawshank Redemption? Do you like running? Then this is the perfect race for you. I am a huge movie buff. When I heard about this race I knew I’d want to drive 4 hours to Ohio to participate. I’ve done this race 2 times. Both were in May however in 2019 for the 25th anniversary of the movie they are moving to July.
The race takes place near the prison where the movie was filmed. You get a ticket to tour the prison with your race fee. They give tech shirts. In 2018 they added a little fun and decided to divide half the runners into guards and the other half into prisoners. I did with a group of friends and we all planned to dress up as prisoners and I found out I would be on the guard team so had to change my costume. It had to match my bib afterall. They do encourage costumes and even have a costume contest. It is a really fun prerace atmosphere. With a lot of space, ample parking, fun music and great post race treats.
Let’s discuss the course. I’m from Buffalo and it is very flat where I live. This course is hills hills and more hills. Just a warning. But you run through the town of Mansfield. A cute small town, also with a few filming locations from the movie. They had a few water stops and we’ll manned by police to keep roads closed. Its a pretty big race and I did notice some walkers so if this race excites you but afraid you can run it I think you’ll be ok walking the whole thing.

The medals are amazing. Almost on par with a Disney medal. They’ve had different designs each year so always exciting to wait for the unveiling.

I mentioned they had the prisoners vs guards in 2018. The winning team got a discount code for the 2019 race. Luckily it was me! The guards won! In 2019 with the anniversary they are going to have several actors from the movie there at the race. I highly recommend this one.