We Came, We Froze, We Trotted

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Things are nice and quiet at my parents house since we aren’t in charge of any cooking. I can’t imagine how crazy it would be to cook such a huge meal.

At 5:15 this morning I was pretty close to texting my friend Sarah and bailing on the 5 Mile Turkey Trot we signed up for. It was cold, it was early, it was dark… but I sucked it up for the sake of a fun race with my friend.

Like a well prepared runner I had multiple outfit options laid out on my bedroom floor.

The temperature was only in the mid 20’s when I woke up with a real feel in the teens- YIKES. I was a bit concerned since I am used to running in shorts and a tank top in relatively warm weather. I ended up wearing  my wind warrior athleta tights, a sports bra, racerback tank top, long sleeve tech shirt ,a nice fuzzy jacket and my thanksgivukkah t-shirt plus a warm headband and gloves.

The hoodie was a good choice since it added some extra warmth in the beginning but was easy to push off when I got nice and toasty.

We arrived at the Rockland Lake State Park around 7am, picked up our bibs, and stayed in the car as much as possible. Sarah’s dad wins the award for best father today since he not only put up with us but braved the freezing cold weather for the sake of photo ops.

Even though I was all bundled up in my layers I was still worried about how bitter cold it was. Sadly even once the sun was up it didn’t warm up too much. I antsy to start running and get my body moving (and sweating!).

The race had about 3500 people signed up although I wouldn’t be too surprised if some people bailed due to the weather. Once we were lined up by the start I started feeling a tiny bit warmer since we were surrounded by people. Sarah and I had pretty low-key goals for the race– stick together, maintain a decent pace, have fun, and don’t die of hypothermia. I’m happy to say we succeeded at all of the above and ended up running a great race despite the arctic weather conditions.

The course was gorgeous and had us looping around a lake. All the hills were over within the first 2 miles and after that it was all downhill or flat (my kind of race!). The scariest part was avoiding patches of black ice on the road. There were parts when we literally had to stop and tip toe over the mini ice rink in front of us. Better to walk than fall flat on our asses, right?

The first mile I was pretty freaken cold and it took until mile 2 to really warm up and regain feeling in my extremities. This is probably thanks to the wind dying down briefly. I even got hot for half a second (maybe even half a mile) but then the wind started WHIPPING as we completed the last half of the race right next to the lake. Brrrrrrrrrr

 

Running with Sarah was amazing. We both had our own music but frequently shouted out comments to each other (like “WATCH OUT FOR ICE!” “LOOK AT BATMAN UP AHEAD” “OH DEAR GOD ONLY 1 MORE MILE!”). I told her after that it really pushed me to keep the pace when I probably would’ve slowed down on my own… and she said she felt the same way. If the weather was a bit warmer I think we would’ve gone a bit faster, but I think we were both worried about pushing too hard in extreme conditions.

When we were insight of the finish line I was incredibly excited to see that the clock was showing less than 50 minutes. The start was a bit slow so we probably didn’t cross the starting mat until 2 or so minutes after the clock started. We both sprinted the final few yard and threw up our arms in victory.

 

We proceeded to dance around to the music playing at the finish line, much to the amusement of the announcer, and of course took some obnoxious post race pictures.

Two very happy trotters. After the race we went to a nearby diner for a well deserved brunch. Don’t worry, I still have plenty of room in my belly for cranberry sauce and stuffing.

A year ago I couldn’t imagine running 5 miles… let alone “casually” running a 5 mile race in subarctic weather. It’s amazing what a different 1 year makes, I can easily run 5 miles after barely running for the past 2 months. I still haven’t done all that many races- 3 Damon Runyon 5k’s at Yankee Stadium + the diva half marathon, but I think 5 miles is my favorite distance to run. I’m happy I ended up dragging my sleepy butt out of bed for what ended up being a fun race… and a good reminder that I’ll some how survive a winter of half marathon training.

 

 

And lastly, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without my favorite youtube video ever- Seth Rudetsky + Turkey Lurkey Time

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!