There were maybe 100 of us there this morning. The forecast I imagined kept some people at home. We were waiting on snow--the same storm which had crippled the midwest and was heading toward us.
The race started at 9 am. It was 19 degrees according to my car's temperature. FREEZING! Most people were dressed with hats, gloves, and coats---yours truly included. Others were in shorts! In the first mile I kept thinking about how much I had wished for this cold weather when running in the 110+ heat index this past summer in Oklahoma. I felt like I was at the other end of the spectrum this morning. Some of that heat didn't seem so bad afterall.
The race was timed with D-tag system and with a few simple instructions, we were off! It went something like this:
"Good morning! I know it's cold out here so I won't keep you long. Thank you for coming out. I'm going to give you two commands: "Runners get set and then the G-word."
Literally less than three seconds later he said, "Runners get set," followed directly by a boisterous "Go!"
We were off!
The crowd divided itself quickly and I found myself after the first mile or mile and half running by myself in between the two groups. I could see some of the runners in front of me and tried to think of them as rabbits and then not to, for fear that I would exhaust myself with 7+ miles to go. There were three people wearing red in front of me though that I did keep my eye on.
At about the same time I realized that I had way overdressed! So, as I ran I first took off my hat, then my gloves, and within a few more strides, my coat. I wore the coat around my waist for the remainder of the run. The cool air felt good on my skin.
Somewhere between miles 2 and 3 it started to snow. Lightly at first. Then, with bigger flakes, and toward the end with a bit of a wind and more ice than snow. I know this because my eyelashes were collecting the snowflakes and I had to clear them off twice so that I could see. You can see from my self-portrait below (taken back in the car at the end of the race) that my hair was covered with the snow/ice crystals.
Leading up to the turn around I noticed that I was getting closer to one of the people dressed in red. She and I seemed to be pretty evenly paced. I finally caught up to her and passed her at mile 8--a little bit with chagrin because I had enjoyed pacing off of her.
Another runner wasn't far behind though and he kept me moving as he sat off of my left shoulder.
From the turn around point on it became more and more difficult to run. The snow which had started just a little bit before was now accumulating. Part of the course had undulating hills and the snow was just enough to make it difficult to climb the hills and just enough to have precaution on the hills when running down--fearing that a foot might slip out from underneath.
The race, was great and I enjoyed the opportunity to run in the park, in the snow, on a frigid Saturday morning. :) My pace was pretty consistent for the first four miles, right around 8.5 minute miles. Mile 4-5 was a wicked uphill that I had somehow missed with the pre-race course description and map studying. That mile was around 9.5 minutes and the downhill mile back returned my pace to 8.5 minutes. I think I might have been able to keep my 8.5 minute pace however the snow caused me to be cautious and frankly, it reminded me of running in sand. An inch IS something when you run 10 miles! Overall, I was pleased with my time and the run.
Time: 1 hour 28 minutess and 11 seconds
Two races down, 18 to go.
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