A Brutally Cold Turkey Trot

I want to start by saying this was the coldest race ever but was it really?  I've done some pretty cold races.  Let's see......I did one in the Albany winter series that was brutal.  I had been sick during the typical January race and needed to find one.  Jameson went with me in spite of the long drive.  Yes, I drive a long ways for cold races.

Another really cold race I did was about 4 hours away - another 5K.  When I signed up I was thinking it was about 2 1/2 hours closer - oops. Emily went with me to that one.  We huddled in the car until the very last minute. It was another brutal day.  I think these two stick out because of the distance I drove. But I'm not one to back out of a race because it's cold and I have done others close to home.  I can remember one race where the RD let us all stay inside until about  1 minute before the start.

But this was certainly top five.  I'm not used to the cold yet. The temperature was about 17 which isn't bad but the wind was strong, biting and brutal.  I did have just a thought this morning of backing out. But I am cheap, I had paid and I needed a November race. So off I went.

We are huddled trying to stay out of the wind before lining up.

The problem was - well one of the problems is that you get bussed to the start. Which of course means then you just wait around.  I didn't get on the first bus but stupidly I didn't get on the last either.  I really didn't dress as well as I could have. Just don't remember how yet. My pants were too thin and I should have worn a hat, not a headband.  A coat wouldn't have hurt either.

I'm not sure how I managed to smile at the start.

Finally it was time to start. I was very motivated to pick it up a bit.  I had my fingers stuffed inside my gloves, my hood up and my feet were cold in spite of running.  But what I really noticed was my nose. It was freezing!  I felt like I needed a face mask.  My nose was running like crazy and I didn't really care.  Lovely.

Of course we were running into the wind the majority of the way. At times it felt like it was stopping you and pushing you back.  I also found myself enjoying going up hills because I felt I would  warm up more.  Crazy, right?

I'd say I warmed up in the last mile although I was never what you would call toasty.  Usually at the finish I hang around a bit and watch others come in. But today I headed right inside.

I hung around forever waiting for the random prize drawing.  A lot of people from "away" come to this race and I think it is the prizes.  They give turkeys away (20?) from a really good nearby farm.  There are many many good prizes. They were drawing numbers for at least an hour.  And again this year I sat there the whole time and got NOTHING as those around me kept clapping and cheering!

I did not get a medal because the age group was 50 and up.  I was 4 out of 18 (just missed it) and 60 out of 167. One of my goals is to be in the top half which I did.  My time was 29:46 which was actually one of my better times this year.  Must have been the hurry to get inside.

I'm glad I went  or I wouldn't have this very lovely t shirt.  I do seriously

like orange but I wish it was long sleeve.