Jingle All the Way — Christmas Day 5K, 10K & Half Marathon

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Christmas morning is long if you are not the one opening presents. There is a wide flat stretch between waking up and whenever dinner is supposed to be, and in Long Beach a few hundred people fill it by running along the water in a Santa hat. The half marathon goes off at 7 from the grass at 5400 East Ocean, with the 5K and 10K following at 8, all of it on the shoreline path where the only spectators are people walking dogs who did not know a race was happening. What makes it worth the alarm is who shows up. Nobody is chasing a personal record on December 25th, so the entire field runs at conversation pace — which almost never happens at an organized race, and is the reason the people who do this once keep doing it. Califlow Runs puts it on, there is a kids dash for anyone dragged along, and bib pickup happens on site that morning for whoever decides late. Registration closes Christmas Eve. Friday, December 25.