Fur Rendezvous 2012

This weekend marks the beginning of a 10 day winter festival, the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, so we headed downtown, with the temperature hanging in the single digits, to watch Brian run the 5K Frostbite Footrace.  Did I mention it was a little chilly this morning?  It makes last February's Pensacola Bridge-to-Bridge 15K Run look warm.  Thankfully, it is a clear & beautiful Saturday morning which made the elements slightly better to endure.

The festival is built around the celebration of when miners and trappers would come to town to resupply and sell their goods and do a little celebrating.  The "Rondy" captures the history and character of the region while giving Alaskans relief from months of cabin fever.  Where else can you run with the reindeer, participate in an organized snowball fight and watch world-class dog mushing events, all in a city's downtown?

Our running hero

 My little spectators

 So here is where I should tell you that this definitely was no ordinary footrace..it also has a costume fun run included.  May I also mention that it seemed like every other person wore a costume and really got into the spirit of "Rondy"... whatever that means, right?  I've attached several pictures of some of the crazy costumes that people wore this morning - many of which were super heroes.  Guess who was super excited about that?

 Cheering for her Daddy

 Not sure if this guy was aware that it was 5 degrees at the start of the race?

 Thomas was a little taken back by this GIRL who was dressed like Batman.

I tried to explain that its an equal opportunity world... but he could care less.

 I'm pretty sure this guy is wearing Superman underoos.

Notice also he ran this race in rain boots?

 Wizard of Oz folks

 Polar Bear... one of Abby's favorites

 C-R-A-Z-Y.  Period.

 There are a lot of layers with these two little kiddos to keep them warm.

 At first I didn't know what these were - until I looked closer and read their sign:

"Everyone Loves Whales"

 Two of the 101 Dalmatians

 A family of airplanes

 This man ran the entire footrace with his son in the hiking carrier.

Wow.  I'm impressed.

This was by far the most over-the-top costumes I saw - a father & son zombies.  Just weird!
I guess there just isn't any boundaries with what you can dress up as.  I'd love to see what all these folks do for Halloween.

While I was so busy looking at all the costumes and thinking I was looking for Brian wearing his red race shirt... he zoomed right by us at the finishing line and all I could get was this last minute picture.  I'll just call him our "Hooded Hero"!  Go Daddy!

This group certainly was creative and I have to give them huge kudos for their efforts.

They are all supporting the efforts to cure cancer... ALL forms of cancer.  Pretty cool, huh?  We especially like the 2 ladies behind the ribbons who are walking with the over sized bra/boobs. 

Way to fight for the TaTas!

Another favorite of Abby's - Elmo!

As we walked back to the car following the end of the race, we saw this string of horse drawn carriages headed to the Rondy Grand Parade that was starting just moments later.

After arriving home, and defrosting thoroughly, I got this cutie-cute picture of Marilyn just sitting around with her happy self as I took all of her cold weather gear off.  Even sub-freezing temperatures don't bother this little girl.