Santa Run starting banner on a cloudy winter day

Running as a Santa in Stockholm

HO HO HO!! It is I, Santa Kai-Lin! This past month I had the privilege to don a Santa beard, hat and baggy Santa suit and be amongst hundreds of fellow Santas. It is definitely a sight to see: a sea of red and good cheer. As a student in Stockholm, I am not always doing school work or in the lab, sometimes I am running a 3km charity run as the good old Tomten.

Check out some pictures from the fun event below and read more about how I even got to attend.

How did I become Santa?

Last year this time, I stepped out the T centralen station and giant blobs of red zoomed around me. What was that? I quickly realized that groups of people were all dressed up like Santas. My immediate thought was “I have to get involved. I have to be Santa”.

A collage of people running in santa outfits. On the top left, two Santas in the metro. On the top right, a santa posing in the crowd. On the bottom left, a canvas bag with the Santa run logo. On the bottom right, Santas running through Gamla Stan
A collage of my Santa run photos. Pictures by Kai-Lin Shen

Soon after, I found the event online and realized that it was a recent yearly charity run called Santa run. I am personally not a runner at all but I love the fun and contributing to a fundraiser. For the past year, I started sharing about the Santa run to all of my friends and family, and convinced some friends to join me .

The start banner for the Santa Run with a sea of red Santa hats waiting for the start of the run.
The start banner filled with Santas starting the run. Picture by Kai-Lin Shen
A christmas candy shaped held in my hand
Getting free jul candy after the run. Picture by Kai-Lin Shen
A girl in a Santa costume posing.
Santa me posing after the run. Picture by Molly Llyons

Especially as we approached the cloudy and dark winter here in Stockholm, I found it helpful for me to actively search for events and activities to look forward to. I genuinely had so much fun and it was a much needed injection of bright festivities in my life during the school semester.

Finally, signing off as Santa Kai-Lin and wishing everyone reading this a God Jul and Happy Holidays!

Kai-Lin - Molecular Techniques in Life Sciences

Kai-Lin - Molecular Techniques in Life Sciences

My name is Kai-Lin. I am currently a master’s student in the Master's Programme in Molecular Techniques in Life Sciences. I come from the sunny island of Jamaica and completed my bachelor’s degree in Singapore. I felt drawn towards this programme because of the high calibre of research that Karolinska Institutet produces and the collaborative nature of the Stockholm trio. Since coming to Stockholm, I have started to enjoy taking walks (and getting some sun) whenever I can. Hopefully, I can share some of those mini adventures with you on the blog!

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