Santas Fun Run

On the 9th of December it was time to suit up, Santa Style! That is, I joined in for the Santas Fun Run, organised by Rotary Club of Riga International. The purpose of the run/walk is to dress up like Santa and then cheer, have fun and run through the city for a good cause. The suits were provided by the organisation. When pre-registering with a team of 4 students, the costs of entering were just 20 Ls. Them tossing in the suit for you to keep!

However, when we wanted to pick up our suits and pay we found out that two of our suits were already taken (same back numbers) by the Belgian consulate. Of course, me and my teammates were like 'wtf' and couldn't imagine how they could be more important than us - we laughed. We decided to inform the organisation and sought for a solution to this problem. After some hassle they told us that we could get two suits on the spot, the starting (and end) point being Dome Square. However, due to a series of unfortunate events I was the only one of my team running. 

Concerning the run itself, it was fun, but also warm! As it was around -7 Celsius I didn't think it was a good idea to leave home/ the dormitory without my winterjacket. During the run itself there was no place to leave your jacket so I had to keep it on, and together with the Santa Suit, dressing up as one fat Santa Claus. I changed my clothes at the toilet in McDonalds, where me and two other ERASMUS Santa Students were drawing quite some attention from the customers. After warming up with a cup of coffee/ cappuccino there we were ready to go. Then, when arriving to Dome Square we found ourselves accompanied by many ERASMUS. It is also that the goodbye party of ESN of that Saturday-Sunday was cancelled, granting the people that had registered for that the opportunity to still register for the Santas Fun Run.

Basically, the run was 1 short lap in Old Town. Since it was quite busy at the start it was more jogging really. Other then that, laughing and smiling at each other the whole time. Of course that one time I was actually screaming for fun I got taped by a fellow ERASMUS, me not knowing he was actually filming with his mobile phone. ^^ After the finish we were given a medal, as well as a RIMI bag with in it a bottle of water, tangerines, a coupon for a free German sausage (Bratwurst of course) and a choco nut (candy bar), the latter being almost completely frozen due to the low outside temperature. Together enough for the first energy boost. 

Then I headed back to McDonalds for another hot cappuccino, as the first one was not so bad. It was then when a female employee from McDonalds (busy spreading discount flyers) approached me to ask me if I was the only Santa and whether I had any presents for her.
After I said no, sorry, she told me I had to bring them for next time. ^^ I also told her that she could find many more Santa's when moving a bit further into Old Town. In fact, when she asked about this I had to almost laugh out loud, putting a big smile on my face. 

After this second stop at the Mc I went back to Dome Square to get my German sausage as by that time the que had cleared a bit. Afterwards, Kiwi bar (future Erasmus students; note that you get discount on drinks at this venue when showing your ESN card), where all Santas had discount on drinks. It was fun to see so many Santa's in one bar! After having my lunch there and a chat I returned to home, me reflecting back on a succesful Sunday.