Two awesome races happened to fall on the same day this year so Sirrah and I split races to give you amazing readers TWO fun races to read about. She and her boyfriend Ryan ran NYRR Dash to the Finish while my fiancé , Jeremy, and I ran HoBOOken. Dash to the Finish started at 8am, HoBOOken started at 10am. You would have to be super ambitious and super fast to be able to run both.

This was the second year I ran HoBOOKen. The weather was consistent two years in a row -sunny, beautifully brisk, perfect running weather that can set you up for a PR, like I did last year, in my tutu. This year, due to lack of sleep and beer consumed the night prior, I took the course at a leisurely pace, making it my slowest 5k ever. PRs can work in both directions.. right?!

It’s surprising to me how many people don’t embrace donning a costume to frolic along the beautiful Hoboken waterfront. Luckily, there were also several group costumes that were really creative, like a family of Vikings who turned their baby stroller into a viking ship (not pictured) or some clever costumes, like these:

80s Hair Band, complete with their own sound system!

Love this couples costume! Beer and Pong Cup!

Another great couples costume! Pizza and Pizza Delivery boy!

Even pets got into the holiday spirit! Thats a princess on her back

Jeremy isn’t really into dressing up.That being said, I was able to use the power of the ring to convince my fiancé to not only run it this year, but also dress up! After scouring Amazon for a costume that would ship in time for the race, then 3 days away, and tons of “No, I’m not running in that” comments, we settled on Jeremy’s favorite superhero. He wore the boy version of my outfit last year: Superman! He also let me style his hair to do that sexy, Clark Kent curl. It’s true love.

For my costume, I chose the childhood classic, Where’s Waldo. It dawned on me that children today don’t know the magic of sitting in your dentist’s office, racing to find Waldo on the page before your sister could. (#winning)

Several adults, excited by the iteration of a childhood staple, shouted variations of “I found Waldo!” as I ran by. It was almost as glorious as running a more serious race and having crowds shout your name because you took Katie and Sirrah’s advice to write your name on your singlet!

Don’t forget the post race Brunch tradition! Our friends, The Birds, ran with us and we all went to The Ainsworth in Hoboken. We don’t think the restaurant was quite aware the race was happening, even though they were mentioned on one of our swag bag flyers as a place to eat post-run, because they quickly became overwhelmed with costumed runners.

Race Stats

Race price: 4  $30, Option for charity bib @ $100

Race Organization: 3 It’s a small local race. This year, the race started on Sinatra Drive instead of River Street. No real organization to bring runners to the start because it was literally right there.

Level of Communication: 2 Too many emails. If I already signed up for the race, why are they sending me weekly reminders to do so??

Race Course: 4 Flat course, out and back. Beautiful view of the city

Swag (in the race packet): 1 Didn’t know this was possible, but there was less swag than last year. A bunch of flyers, a pen, a mint, a map

T-shirt: 2  Black, short-sleeve cotton shirt

Medal: N/A It’s a local 5k, what did you expect?

Post-Race Swag: 3 Water, bananas, bagels, yogurt

Spectator Support: 3 Families and puppies came out to support their costumed loved ones.

 Overall Rating: 3

Even though I am giving this race a 3, I would absolutely do this race again. It’s a fun run that the whole family can enjoy!