The Great Santa Run part II

So the next time I'm at a party and they're playing the game where you have to say something you've done and everyone who hasn't done that thing has to get up and frantically find a new seat, I think I've got a winner: I once ran down Las Vegas Boulevard with 10,000 people dressed up as Santa Claus.

It was a fun time. Surprisingly enough I don't have much to say about it. We started at the Fremont Street Experience (the older, more crappier casinos' answer to the glit and glamour of the Strip), ran down Las Vegas Boulevard, zig-zagged a few blocks, then ran down Fremont Street and finished at the entrance of the FSE. It was hard to get to and I hate driving in Vegas.

We did get to see our good friends the Sidwells, though, which is always fun. The baby served as wake-up call at 12:07AM, 1:22, 2:30, then from 2:45 until we decided we might as well be in the car not sleeping than in bed not sleeping and packed up to make the drive home, around 3:20. The Sids are good sports.

Here are some pickys.

The vast Cathedral of Babylon that is the Fremont Street Experience.


The UNLV football team was there helping out. I suppose not having a bowl game to prepare for freed up their December schedule a bit.

Perhaps one of the few occasions where you can put your dog in an outfit and not come across as an old grandma. And yes, mom, I'm looking your way.

This is Reindeer Sleigh Santa. He had an entire box strapped onto his front. I'm guessing this is what being pregnant is like, but only if you had gas and the reindeer repeatedly kicked you.

Of the various incarnations of Santa, perhaps none was as polarizing as Brett Farve Santa. His passing elicited every cheer and jeer from "Go Packers!" to "Packers suck. Go Cowboys!" to "Go Sasketchewan RoughRiders, East Division championship team from the CFL!"

Serious. Some lady said that.

Our merry crew of Santa runners: (from left to right: Bald Santa, Cheesy Santa, Homeless Drunk Santa, In-a-Constant-State-of-Bewilderment Santa, and High School Musical Santa)

Strangely enough, one of the highlights of the morning for me was this Elvis impersonator's rendition of Viva, Las Vegas. It was touching, really.

The start of the race. We were so far back we didn't start moving for about a minute. And we were probably in the first quarter of all participants.

All in all it was a good time, though I'm not sure I'll do it next year. Vegas has too much traffic, too much hustle and bustle, and I always come away from there with a cynical disdain for mankind.

I did get a free Santa suit though.

Update: It looks like we broke the record, though apparently some charity in the UK is posed to break it again this weekend. I actually care very little, what with my plans to break the record for longest balancing a poodle in an Abraham Lincoln costume on your head while taking a bath in Strawberry-Kiwi Snapple while singing the words to Led Zeppelin's Ramble On backwards buoying me up. Viva La Pointless World Records!