Santa Runs Tacoma

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Santa Runs Tacoma 2025

By Diane Martin

12/13/25 Tacoma
Runners woke with relief on the 13th, no torrential rains forecasted for the race! I entered the fray just as cheers went up for the Half Marathoners crossing the start line.

Since the race included a half marathon, a 10k,and a 5k the turnout was huge. Silver Striders were a large percentage of the 1300 plus participants, about 20%. A groan escaped my lips when I saw a female in my age division. No ten points for me today! I spotted Steve Husko in line signing up for the 10k; no way was he going to miss the chance for a first place position in his age group!

Though I preferred the fun of crossing the Murray Morgan bridge, today’s races mirrored the St. Paddy’s day race starting on Pacific Avenue and heading towards Shuster Parkway. A fast downhill start with an out and back for each race. Half Marathoners would run all the way to an uphill turn around at the Wilson Way bridge. IOkers would enjoy a flat stretch along Ruston Way before heading back to the uphill climb.

The cool air felt good during the return of the 5k challenge back to the finish. It was a thrill to see the young ones holding hands with parents eager to pass on run genes!

I was happy to see the finish line and to receive cheers of “good job”! My thoughts turn to breakfast/lunch with all my Silver Striders friends, thanks to Patty Husko’s tireless efforts to bring us together for our final 2025 get together!

We’ll look forward to seeing each other once again in 2026.
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Santa  Runs Tacoma my personal perspective

By Mae Elcock

It was my first time at Santa Runs Tacoma. It was a great opportunity for me because Kimmer offered to pace me in the 10k. She was dressed as a Christmas Tree and I was lucky to get a taste of her coaching expertise.  The hills on the course made it hard to improve my 10k time for 2025 but it was a great run, perfect weather and lots of fun for sure.  Great costumes and a woman handing out tiny ducks – I was ducked, just like a Jeep. 

Kimmer is the consummate coach, in addition to pacing me, she prodded several other runners up the hills on the return trip.  They definitely “snapped to” when the human Christmas Tree gave them a poke in the back along with words of Emphatic Encouragement. Kimmer also reminisced about the run years ago when Judy Fisher encouraged her up that very same hill. It was a magical day. 

Steve Husko just made it to the start line after a last minute sign up. 

Other Silver Striders finishing the Ambassador Series seen at the starting line were Ray Arrington, Joe Elcock, Diane Martin and John Phillips.  I also saw Amanda Hoskins finishing the Half.  

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Few Do It Better Than TCMA

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Michael Magnussen

 

 

 

I arrived at Santa Runs Tacoma to a brisk and windy (but dry) morning. The beginning of the race started well and I felt comfortable and loose. It wasn’t until the Dune Peninsula turn-around that my right achilles started to bother me… By the time I had come off the trail back onto Ruston Way I had started to realize that pushing through the pain wasn’t going to do anything but cause injury – I was already a little off-pace so I started walking for sections to loosen up my ankle and would gingerly run for awhile until it started to hurt again.

As I ascended up the hill to the Pacific Ave. finish line I was noticeably hobbling. Although I finished more than 10 minutes off=pace, I was able to win my age group – but will have to save my quest for my fourth Super Athlete ring until next year. At least I finished the Grand Prix series and didn’t injure more than just my pride. I’m looking forward to better training and racing in 2026.

As far as the course and organization went, few do it better than TCMA. Although I live on the Seattle Eastside, I always try and come down to Tacoma for a few races a year to take in the beauty of Commencement Bay and visit my former alma mater. 

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Jerry’s notes: The final race for 2025 gave us results for some of our year long programs.

AMBASSADOR SERIES – We had some last minute finishers in the Ambassador Series. They were Joe Elcock, Ladius Wolfe, Mike Henderson, Dennis Zaborac, Dave Anderson and Sandra Madden. Congratulations to all! Our total finishers for the 2025 series is 35. We had 17 honorable mention, with 6 or 7 races, way too many. Come on Silver Striders, you only needed 1 or 2 more races to be finishers. Let’s hit 45 finishers in 2026!

AMBASSADOR AWARDS – We had 20 runners qualify for Ambassador Awards! That is good considering the criteria. Lets shoot for 25 next year.

SUPER ATHLETE – This award is difficult to achieve. There will be 12 Super Athlete rings presented this year with two being gold. Congratulations to David Crawford and Ed Heckard! Finishing the year ranked number one in the TOP IO at all four distances is an incredible feat.

CENTURY CLUB – We will be welcoming 5  new members to the Century Club. These runners have finished 100 series races. They are Dennis Zaborac, Diane Martin, Karl Johnson, Robert Davies and Jim Dollar (posthumously). This brings Century Club membership to a total of 37.

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Santa Runs Tacoma Recap – by Kimmer

 

 

 

 

 

Kimmer Muenz

Santa runs Tacoma was held this past weekend and many people came out dressed with holiday spirits. There was three races – 5K, 10k, as well as a half marathon. The race was very well organized and promoted such a cheery, festive atmosphere.  There was music  playing, and the weather was perfect, considering what we all had been enduring the previous few days. The rain held off for us, it was warm, dry, and no wind.

The course was fun starting on a nice decline, a few miles along the waterfront which provided a nice recovery until you turned around and were presented with a pretty tough second half with a gradual uphill to the finish.

For me personally, I had the honor of giving, which meant more to me than any blue ribbon, or personal best. I was able to run beside Mae and offer a little mentoring as well as a bit of inspiration two two other runners. It’s the season and nothing meant more to me than to be able to make sure the three of them had a great race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kimmer Muenz and Mae Elcock

Results:

Winners for age divisions were:

5k Women
Laura Richey 50-54
Elizabeth Mills 55-59
Beth McManis 60-64
Susan Russell Hall 65-69
Kathie Young 70-74
Donna Jackson 75-79
Connie Peterson 80-84

5k Men
Michael Diego. 50-54
Scott Johnson. 55-59
Frankie Toney 60-64
Sam McManis 65-69
Michael Lacombe 70-74
John Wiltshire 75-79
John Schmidt 80-84

10k Women
Tricia Swan 50-54
Jill Hayes. 55-59
Nancy Markham 60-64
Mae Elcock 65-69
Bobbie Busch 70-74

10k Men
John Yellowlees 50-54
Paul Donion. 55-59
Terry Brentin. 60-64
Mickey Allen 65-69
Steve Husko 70-74
Ray Arrington 75-79
John Phillips 80-84

Half Marathon Women
Amanda Hoskins 50-54
Eri Agee. 55-59
Teresa Cheatham 60-64
Cynthia Wu 65-69
Ann VonGer 70-74

Half Marathon Men
Joel Fenlason 50-54
Michael Magnussen 55-59
Yoshiyuki Nakao 60-64
Tom Dean 65-69
Stan Grochowski 70-74

Other Silver Strider Ambassador Series participants were Jeff Hiram, Ladius Wolfe, Liz Murray, John Schmidt, Diane Martin, Bruce Sadler, Joe Elcock and Patty Husko. Forgive me if I left anyone out.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Arizona.