A year ago my friend Stephany mentioned this race in Amana, Iowa. I thought she was crazy and said to myself I'd never do that. However here I am 1 year later and I ran the race. It was 16 degrees out with a windchill reading of 3 degrees. It was so cold that both of us dressed in multiple layers. I had dri fit long running skins on, with long running pants over them. Sports tank, with a long sleeve Under Armour shirt and then a long sleeve dri fit jacket and then my inside of my winter coat on. Then I had my warmest gloves and scarf with me. Lastly I had my headband on. Stephany had several layers on as well.
I got that idea from one of Jason's Triathlon magazines.
Here is a picture of Stephany and I before we received our race number.
This next picture is of us before the race with our race number on.
Here is a picture of us taken within 5 minutes after the race of us completely exhausted. The cold weather was super difficult to run in. I felt like I had asthma all over again. I was breathing weird the entire time and thought I wouldn't finish.
The post race food was fabulous. There was water, power aid, hot chocolate, apples, oranges and lots of home made goodies from the community.
My time was 29:30 and I was 9th out of 25 for my age group of 30-39 which was broken down in 10 year increments for this race. I was 38th out of 80 Females. 94th place out of 151 finishers. My mile pace was 9:31 so it wasn't my best race. However this was the coldest weather I have ever ran in. I finished and I wasn't last!
My time was 29:30 and I was 9th out of 25 for my age group of 30-39 which was broken down in 10 year increments for this race. I was 38th out of 80 Females. 94th place out of 151 finishers. My mile pace was 9:31 so it wasn't my best race. However this was the coldest weather I have ever ran in. I finished and I wasn't last!
10 comments:
You are awesome...and crazy! Way to hang in there and make it to the end. It sounds like a miserable race but you can say you did it! I'm glad they had lots of yummy post race food for you. You deserved it.
Crazy! You are absolutely, wonderfully crazy! And totally awesome!
Thanks for your nice words.
I woke up early this morning thinking about running, so I decided that I am for sure addicted to it. I guess there are worse addictions, but this one makes me a little crazy. I am in shock myself that I ran outside in this cold. I don't like the cold and I dread winter so this was a huge step for me to not only go out in the cold, but stay in it for more than 5 minutes. One of my goals this year is to run a race at least once a month.
Way to go! How did the screws work? Did they give you any blisters? No one runs their fastest in cold like that. It's a challenge just getting your legs to move when it is that cold! Great job!
The screws were super small, about 1/2 an inch I think, and they just went into the sole of the shoe. I could only tell there were screws in the soles when I walked on plain pavement and could hear the clicking. When I walked on the ice and snow the screws just helped dig in for a better grip. I didn't get any blisters. It's good to know that no one runs their fastest in that kind of cold because I felt like I could have done so much better and was surprised at how hard it was to breathe and I felt like I was running in slow motion.
I can't imagine that this didn't just kill your lungs. I have no idea how you were able to run in such frigid weather. I'm completely impressed!
By the way, I waved at Pocatello yesterday and said hello to it from you and Jason. :)
Oh how I miss Pocatello. Great place to live. And I miss the mountains.
As far as the race goes, I had no idea what to expect for breathing. I've never run outside in less than 30 degrees so I didn't know that I'd have that kind of reaction to breathing in the cold and that my chest would feel so tight and that it would be so hard to take each breath. I also felt like I was running in slow motion and that I needed to speed up the entire time, but every time I'd try to run faster my lungs would just ache so I just kept a steady pace. I was sad to see that I didn't beat my personal best time of 28:31, but then at the same time I was super excited to just finish under 30 minutes given how I felt and I was suprised it was under 30 minutes given that I felt I was running slow. I have learned a valuable lesson and that is to train outside in the cold so I can do better next time I run a race in this cold.
I was going to ask you how do you train for such a race in such cold weather. I gues you just do.
Also, did you not have to shed some of those warm clothes during the race because you got hot?
And where was Jason and Brendon? Don't they run, or are they just fair weather friends.
Dad Clark
I heard the only way to train for cold weather races is to have the right gear to wear and to just get out and do them. I should have had a face mask and that would have helped my breathing, if I would have picked up one that gives you a warm exchange of air to take in then I wouldn't have been hurting so bad.
I did end up shedding my winter coat and tying it around my waist and running with it that way. The rest of my clothes stayed on and I wasn't too hot, it was so super cold that I probably could have kept the winter coat on almost.
Jason had to teach Body Step and Body Pump on that Saturday. Also Jason doesn't like to run and wouldn't run out in that cold.
Brenden was at a Boy Scout overnight campout with the rest of his brothers so he couldn't do the race, however he was bummed out and wanted to.
My next race is February 26th and it sounds like Brenden wants to do that race with me. I just hope it's warmer that day by at least 20-30 degrees.
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