A few nights ago, I hosted the 4th annual “Doll Classic” run. Ok, the name is pretty lame I agree. Let me explain.
It all started in 2012 when my friend MJ asked me if I was interested in running the Fall Classic, a half marathon at UBC, with her. I had only run a handful of times but it was enough to know that I wasn’t interested in running on a road in a city. So I suggested that we make our own race to happen on the same day as the Fall Classic but it would be in the beautiful trails of Lynn Valley, North Vancouver. So for some reason the name “Doll Classic” seemed to make sense. (do you get it, doll rhymes with fall?)
The first year we ran 18km, it was just MJ and myself but our kids and husbands were at the finish line with noise makers and champaign and pancakes. It was awesome.
The next year, we decided we needed to do the Doll Classic again but this time with more runners. We wanted it to be a bit different than a regular MEC race so we implemented a few ideas:
- no entrance fee
- it wasn’t a competition, the whole point of the race is to stay together (which is a challenge for both the slower and faster runners)
- there would be a party at the end with full meals and drinks
- we would have a walking group as well
Oh, and instead of wearing a race bib, we decided to make pasties for all the participants, to be worn on the outermost layer of clothing. (inspired from our recent trip to burning man that year, MJ and I went with our families) Most of the runners enjoyed this silly tassel swinging uniform, but some were not very keen! We had 17 moms and 1 dad join us that day. Maybe the name turned off the male runners – I should really change it.
Fast forward, 2014. I felt like we needed to change things up, so we had the idea of doing the run at night instead. 19 participants ran or walked through the rainy, cold, dark, puddle infested forest with flashlights. And instead of pasties, we wore tutu’s. It was so much fun we decided not to change a thing for this year (except the theme).
The theme for this year was GI Jane. We were 21 women, we had some very creative costumes, an awesome spread of food and a rockin’ party afterwards. I feel so lucky to have so many adventurous fun friends.