October brings us the best holiday of all – Halloween! If you’re like me, costume 5ks are the highlight of your year.
After running a couple dozen road races in costume over the years, my closet costume fetish has officially been exposed. Costumes make racing ever more fun and let me tell ya, guys definitely do a double take when they get passed by a girl in a red-and-white polka-dot tutu!!!
Check out a post on the Brooks blog to see me in one of my favorite race costumes – Lady Gaga! http://talk.brooksrunning.com/2011/06/17/brooks-id-member-dressed-as-gaga-wins-fremont-5k/
If you’re looking to run a road race this month, but aren’t sure which costumes work well for racing, then look no further. I’ve done the arduous hours of research to discover the costumes and accessories that do and do not work well for racing:
Costumes/Accessories that work:
1. Capes (in fact, they make you even faster!)
2. Wings (light and small are best)
3. Tutus (fun on women, hilarious on men)
4. Full-body morph suits (crowd-pleaser! visibility is limited, though, and they aren’t great on hot days)
5. Hats and tiaras (as long as they are secured to the head/hair, they work really well)
6. Boas
7. Hand-held accessories that are light and stiff such as swords and pitchforks
Costumes/Accessories that don’t work:
1. Wigs (unless they are on really well or you don’t plan to sprint all-out at any point)
2. Full-body animal suits such as the Brooks Beasts costume (even on a cold day, you will get sweaty and no one wants to be stuck in an outfit full of their own B.O.)
3. Masks (fun, but very hard to breathe in and see out of)
4. Hand-held accessories that are big, bulky, and/or floppy such as a lasso/rope or a baby in a Baby Bjorn
The best thing about racing in costume is that you will get cheers from tons of complete strangers. So, if you choose a wind-resistant outfit, you may just have the fastest race of your life! Plus, you’ll look good doing it. : )
