This race took place on February 13. It was extremely cold and to be honest, I seriously contemplated not running this race, even though I already paid for it. The temperatures were suppose to be in the 20s with a wind chill of 10 degrees! Yes you read that right. 10 degrees! I must have lost my mind because I still went and picked up my race packet.
The above picture I am having a little fun with someone dressed up as an ear bud at the expo. One of the reasons I really wanted to do this race is because of the finisher's jacket that you received in place of a shirt and the unique finisher's medal.
After picking up my race packet, we headed to go eat and celebrate Valentine's Day. Then it was off to get home and prepare to wake up early to make the drive to the start line.
As the news predicted, it was extremely cold on race day. Since I can't run being bundled up alot from the waist down, I chose to wear one pair of long pants, a tank top, long sleeve shirt and a sweater. I also had on a hat, ear warmers and gloves. I also bought a face warmer to help keep my face warm and try to avoid wind burn. Now that I was already to go, we loaded up in the car and left.
We made the long walk to the start line from where we parked and let me tell you, I couldn't feel my legs and we still had about 30 minutes before the race even started. I tried my best to stay warm and waited for the signal to start.
I had a goal to finish this race in 1 hour and 30 minutes or less. Due to the temperature, I lined up at the start line with that goal already thrown out the window. Yes I have run in cold temperatures but not in below freezing temperatures.
So we were off. The first part of the race was a little rocky due to the fact that there were some runners that would stop dead in front of you. No joke and it would take everything that you had not to run them over. Once you got through that part, the race was fine.
A little hillier than I would have liked but for the fact that a majority of my training for this race has been on a treadmill, I really couldn't complain. I walked a couple of hols but for the most part kept a good pace. I was unable to keep the face warmer over my mouth and nose because it kept fogging up my glasses. I was able to keep it around my neck though.
I was coming up the last half mile or so and there was an unimaginable strong gust of wind that I had to run into. Like I told another runner next to me, this is insulting. We pushed through though.
Much to my surprise, I approached the tunnel for the finish line close to the time I was hoping to finish in. I did, however, started a few minutes past the time that the clock started so I had to wait to get my official time.
My husband was able to snap this pic of me coming into the finish line tunnel. Normally at this point in the race, I am sprinting to the finish line to try and knock off a few seconds and finish strong. In this particular race, I just wanted to finish and get warm.
After crossing the finish line and receiving my race medal, I finally looked at my GPS watch. Much to my surprise, I did in fact reach my goal. My watch said I ran 9.54 miles but the official time was 1:30:03!! I most certainly will take it. It was freezing and I completed it. That in itself was an accomplishment and I am quite proud that I didn't quit. Even with the weather advisory plan in place from the race officials. Although there were times that I wanted to detour and run the 5k route. I quickly talked myself out of that.
Here is a pic of me at a photo opportunity after the race. I am sure as you can tell, I was about frozen and in pain. I later went to find a warm place to use the restroom and warm up a bit. I was so cold that I was numb from my waist down and my legs were blood red. It took quite some time for me to warm back up all the way.
Here is the finisher's jacket and medal. On race day, I vowed I wouldn't do this race again and even now it would take a lot for me to reconsider doing this race again. I enjoyed it despite the cold temperatures. So that is the only thing keeping me from doing this race again.
So until next time.
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