The Reindeer Run

December 9, 2011 by Woody Noland

The holidays are upon us and that meant it was time for the annual Reindeer Run in Brevard this past Saturday. To kick off a day of small town festivities, almost two hundred people ran the 5K race on a chilly mountain morning. There were tons of costumes, pre-race pictures, and lots of youth entrants sporting reindeer antlers. After a mass singing of Jingle Bells in place of a starter pistol, we were off, taking care not to be crushed by the tiny reindeer herd sprinting for the front.

John Carpenter, Morgan Williams, Hank Birdsong, and Woody Noland represented High Rocks in the race and everyone felt good about their runs. While we did not repeat our costumed performance from the Halloween 5K, it was nice to feel aerodynamic again and everyone’s final time dropped significantly without dragging a fat suit around the course. Hank and Morgan did especially well with Hank finishing first in his age group and Morgan second in hers. Congratulations to all the runners and go Team High Rocks!

If anyone feels like joining the High Rocks squad, there is a special race coming up in a few months. The Krispy Kreme Challenge (www.krispykremechallenge.com) is held on Feb. 4, 2012 and presents a unique twist to a 5 mile run. Participants run 2.5 miles, eat a dozen glazed donuts, and run 2.5 miles back. It takes place on the N.C. State campus and has quickly grown to more than 7500 runners supporting the N.C. Children’s Hospital. Not only have Hank, Don, Mark, John, Zach, and Woody all signed up already, but there are alumni (Scott Collins and Strickland Parks) committing as well. All CHR people within a reasonable area, come join in the ridiculousness!!