Ready... steady... GO!

That's how you start a race.
Often, the 'GO' part is supplemented with the firing of a gun, or the clapping of hands.
If you don't have a gun, you clap your hands. If you don't have any hands, you fire a gun (with your teeth).

Legally, all races must start this way. Failure to do so results in the race being demoted to fun run status, something no-one wants: as fun runs are rubbish.

Usually, competitors dress in shorts and vests. Shorts and vests are light, and cheap to wash if you get all sweaty.

A Santa costume is the exact opposite of shorts and vests. A Santa costume is heavy, itchy, and stinks of sweat even before you put it on.
Why anyone would want to run a marathon wearing a Santa costume is beyond me.

But run they do - and none faster than Mario Castorolo of Pisa, Italy, who ran the 2008 London Marathon dressed as Santa in a record 05:42:21!

Mario told me that next year, he will be dressed as a roast dinner!

WOW!