Summary 30:01 - 9:40/mi 40/59 OA 2/4 AG Long Version This is the middle of a 3 race winter series that I have been at for the last five years. I can always count on seeing a lot of my running friends, many who I met at these races. After the string of below zero days, the forecast called for an overnight low above zero, high in the the teens to twenty, some wind, and the possibility of more snow. When I left home, the temp was in the mid single digits and I hoped for at least 10 degrees by the 10 am race time and decided what I would wear at that temp if the wind wasn't too bad. The course is an out and back on a street with moderate traffic and has a side loop of about half a mile on both the out and back portion. When I entered the registration site, I was greeted, by name, by a lady I didn't immediately recognize. I quickly figured out it was Melodie who I had met with her husband, Greg, at a race last spring. Some of my other friends were already there and others kept showing up. Ted came in from setting up the cones and said the side loop hadn't been plowed. A few of the hard core runners did the course as a warm up and said the wind was brutal on the return part as it was right in their face and a bit strong. That coupled with the temp on my car thermometer of 7 degrees had me add to the clothing I was planning on and to wear my Yaks. Unlike most races, there was no rush to leave the building and get to the starting line. My friend, Terry, who is much faster, was planning on a trail run in the evening so was going to take it easy. She said she might run with me. We took off at what I thought was a quick but reasonable pace. At about a quarter of a mile, I looked at my GPS and saw an 8:12 pace. I thought, "holy carp", and dialed back my pace, watching Terry pull away. A little shy of a mile, we turned onto the loop and trudged through several inches of heavy snow in some places and found clear spots in others. We also got a taste of the wind as we ran into it for a short part of the loop. I wasn't doing too bad up to the turn around but the wind almost stopped me in my tracks when I rounded the cone. I struggled back to the side loop which was really hard as I was tiring. Coming out of the loop, I was again almost stopped by the wind but knew I had just a little over half a mile to go. About that time, a young gal just smoked by me. I don't know where she'd been before that. At the finish line, Leonard took a picture of a group of us who finished about that time. We usually stand around and cheer in our other friends but decided to wait for them inside this time. Inside, we shared stories as to how cold we'd gotten and which body parts had been affected. I was unusual as I had ended up overdressing and was too warm. Mallory came in, almost in tears, as she was so cold. Then there was a young guy I don't know who ran in shorts. I heard several people say that it was their slowest 5K ever. A little more visiting and the awards and it was time to call it another good day and head home. TomS

Freeze Your Fanny How appropriate was that name Tom that's a good race for those conditions

Hi Tom, I love running these winter races I actually have a chance of placing in most of them because only us crazy people show up to race them. Way to tough it out. I was going to run the Snowflake race but had to work Saturday! Nice to see you still putting in the miles. Larry

It sounds like you had a good time Tom. Thanks for sharing

Heck of a winter around here so far, eh, Tom? But at least you're out there running and racing in it. Sounds like a good race again for you (but maybe without that wind!) and it's always a pleasure to read your RRs.

Wow Tom! Congratulations on getting out there in running in those frigid conditions. It sounds like one heck of a tough race what with the wind, snow and cold. I'm sure running in yaktracks doesn't help either. Way to go!

Nice that you got out there and were rewarded for your efforts! But what 's up with that guy in shorts???