Race Date: Sunday, October 26th, 2014
Distance: 10K
Time: 59:07 (9:32 mile/pace)
Equipment
- Foam core sheets x 6
- White duct tape x 4
- Fridge decorations
- Bag of chips
- Empty cereal box
- Dry erase board
- Frozen dinner boxes
- Ice cream sandwich box
- Kid's drawing
- Wooden letters
- Head bandage
- Black and white cream makeup
- Tacky glue
- Shiny white fabric
Creating the Structure
Taking pieces of white foam core, I trimmed down and taped together the edges of the pieces to create the bottom and top half of the fridge. It was important to make sure the fridge wasn't too tall or else it would hamper my stride and I wouldn't be able to run very well. The sides had arm holes cut out; I was debating about putting in the arm holes, but if I fell it would be better to break the fall with my hands rather than my face.
I went with foam core instead of a cardboard box because the former is sturdier, and I needed sturdy for the race.
Once everything was taped together, the whole thing was wrapped with white duct tape. Besides making it water-resistant, this would help keep the costume together while out running.
Decorating the Freezer
For the freezer section, I glued down some shiny white fabric along the insides. The fabric was the most expensive piece out of the whole thing. Once that dried, I added a couple boxes of frozen dinners and a box of ice cream sandwiches (yum!)
A box of cereal and a bag of chips was glued to the top.
Decorating the Fridge
A piece of thin cardboard was wrapped in duct tape and added to the front for the handle.
A co-worker's kiddo drew the drawing and donated the letters and the star magnet. The dry erase board was glued on along with a clip. My original thought was to have the clip hold the bib, but then I worried that my bib would blow away!
A piece of paper with the words "Is this refrigerator running? Well you'd better run and catch it!" was added to the back.
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| Completed fridge |
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| Remember to pick up milk. |
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| The freezer part where my head goes. Love this fabric. |
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| Message taped to the back of the fridge. |
The other touches
Being a severed head, my noggin had a bloody bandage and white and black makeup.
Racing as a fridge!
When I first put on the costume, a kiddo in the mini van next to my car burst out laughing. That right there made all the effort worth it!
While my arm movement was limited and I had no peripheral vision, this was pretty easy to run in! The costume sat well on my shoulders and I didn't have to hold anything up. Not having to hold anything makes running in a bulky costume much easier. As this was a road race, there was plenty of room to maneuver around.
I wondered how people would take the joke on the back of the fridge but they seemed to get a kick out of it. One woman told me that she tried to catch me and thanked me for the motivation. That made my day!
This costume won the individual costume contest, but it must've been a very close call because second place was a kid as Fred Flintsone, prehistoric car and all. It was an amazing costume!
Lots of people dressed up for this race and were looking fabulous - I had a blast!
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| Finishing the 10K! |
