The fiancé and I had to wake up at about 5:30 a.m. yesterday because I had a 10:30 race half way across the state on our way back home - my second in the 10k series...the ELF RUN! My parents’ made us a nice breakfast and when we left their house it was 8 degrees. I was starting to worry because the weather was not warming up and I was super tired from lack of sleep the night before. When we got to the race, I went in and picked up my packet and the fiancé and I went back to the car and turned on the heat until race time since we had the dog with us.
At the start of the race, I was feeling okay but I was COLD. Race time temperature was showing 14 degrees without the wind chill. Within the first mile, any exposed skin was numb and by mile two even covered skin was numb.
This 10k series has you run two 5k loops. The first water station was at mile 2 and I don’t think I’ve ever had water that cold in my life. For the most part, the race course was pretty hilly. In the second loop, at the water station, the water cups had a layer of ice on the top that you had to break through to get to the water. I was so cold by the end of the race, I couldn’t really feel my legs. I made the decision that I needed to purchase some good running tights because my running capris and compression socks weren’t cutting it. This is not altogether a bad thing – I couldn’t feel my legs so my normal tight legs that occur around mile 5 of any run didn’t happen and even though the cold was burning my lungs, I was feeling alright. I ended up with a 7 second PR and was incredibly happy, albeit shocked, with my performance.
I finished the day under a warm blanket and had my “PR Salad” from Cheesecake Factory for dinner. With my goal to break an hour in a 10k before the end of 2013 looming, I have one race on New Years’ Eve left to do it.
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