This may have been the coldest race of my shirt running career. It started with me seeing a post on facebook about the weather on race day being 25 degrees. WHAT?! 25 degrees?! (Rethinking running.)
Went to dinner with a friend the night before and was laughing at how I would be running in the freezing cold. We both sarcastically thought I should sleep in and not run. A tempting thought but I already had the race jacket that was so heavily marketed I am pretty sure it is one of the only reasons people signed up for the race. My thought was, you can't proudly wear the jacket unless you run the race.
Similar to my experience with the See Jane Run race where it was canceled. I have no interest in wearing the shirt of the race, I didn't run it. (I did keep the champagne class though. :) It sits proudly with all the other "drink wear" I never use.)
Rather than waste the jacket I decided to dig out my ski wear and bundle up. I got out the neck wrap and this great headband/ear warmer I got from Team in Training. I set these two things aside along with my compression tights (thanking the Run On guy from several years ago for convincing me I needed them!), sports bra, tank top, long sleeved shirt, arm warmers and a fleece jacket. Oh, and can't forget the aluminum plastic sheet thing I got from the White Rock Half Marathon one year, keeps in the body heat. (It's what I am clutching in my hand in the photo.)
I got up the next morning and put on all my layers, went to the train station and waited. There were only two other people there, they looked at me funny because I had the sheet wrapped around my legs like a long pencil skirt, my arms crossed in front of me, slightly hunched over with my neck warmer up over my mouth. The perfect fashion statement. Whatever, my legs were warm.
As I stood outside waiting in my designated corral, I again had my sheet around my legs. Compression tights are good for compression, not so great for keeping you warm in 25 degree weather. I was wishing I had worn the tights and a pair of yoga pants. Lots of people were staring at my legs, or the sheet. Surprisingly, I was the only one with one of the sheet things. I would have thought more people would use them in cold weather...but then, I am perhaps the only one that saved it from the last race; I think the idea is you toss them when you get to the car. Little did they know they had a pack rat in the mix. If I could have, I probably would have picked up other ones out of the trash.
Again, whatever, I was warm...well, warmer, still fricking cold.
Right before we started I carefully folded up the sheet and tucked it into my jacket; wouldn't want to just throw it away! Freeze, freeze, freeze....and then we were off!
It was a good race. Nice pace and lots of space to run...or in my case, jog. Didn't even notice the cold after running for a bit. I did well, 34:15, my best time in more than a year. Part of that was due to not stopping, even at the water station; I was determined to beat my time at the Texas Half 5k, which I did.
After the race they had the most wonderful chocolate fondue and hot chocolate for everyone. So delicious!
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