I got up early, had my power breakfast (yogurt plus banana plus chocolate chips) and went to scrape of my car. Only Minnesotans would run in this. I was a little worried on the way to Jenna's house because the streets in Minneapolis weren't that clear and I was worried St Paul would be way worse. Although they may deny it later, anyone from the Twin Cities will tell you that Minneapolis usually does the best job of clearing the roads quickly. (I work in St. Paul. I know from the comparison.)
I got safely to Jenna's and we got in her car (which I notice she'd already had scrapped off) for the ride to Centerville. We giggled the entire trip. Because seriously, there was already two inches of snow on the ground, what else were we going to do?
Jenna ran the 5k and I ran the 5-mile race. (I could've been done twenty minutes ago!) Our courses were together for almost a mile. Here's how it went:
Start line: Oh my gosh, stop talking and start the race. Some other girl at the start said "in any other state they would've canceled the race, but in Minnesota..." So true. They originally billed this as a chip time race. I think because of the weather they changed slightly to a gun start and a chip finish because I sure didn't cross a mat at the start of the race.
Mile 1: I ran it with Jenna. She kept telling me to slow down. (I have no idea how fast I'm going.) I wore my YakTrax and it was one of the best decisions I made today. The wind is blowing straight at me. I cannot feel my face.
Mile 2: Oh good, the wind is coming from the side now. I cannot feel only half of my face. I wanted to hug the volunteer who was out there with a water stop. No one stopped.
Mile 3: More wind. More snow. Why am I passing people? This never happens.
Mile 4: More wind. More snow. Can't feel my face. Why am I passing people? This never happens. By this time we were on what I soon learned was a cross country ski path. Ask me how I know that. Will this mile ever end?
Mile 5: I am running on quick sand. Seriously, it must be like running on a treadmill. Try as hard I was wanted, I swear I didn't move. I was also starting to feel like I was going to puke. If you haven't puked yet, you can probably go faster. I was running back into the wind again. Now my face is frozen and so are my contacts. The last quarter mile of the course, where I'd usually gun it in a race, was absolutely the slushiest. Try as I might, I went nowhere fast.
FINISH! My clock time was about 52:34. My "I don't know if I can really do this but it'll give me something to aim for" goal was 52:30 so I was shocked. Jenna got my picture at the finish line (she was dry, in her coat and boots by this point). In her defense, her fingers were still frozen.
After the race we looked around the concessions tent and couldn't even get in the "warming tent". My contacts started to fog up. No. Seriously. My contacts started to fog up. So we went back to the car so I could change into my dry and warm clothes and headed back home. Giggling all the way.
A few of our friends couldn't make it for various reasons (we missed you) and one of them asked how it was. I told her the only other thing she could do that was as much fun as we had today is to go jump in a lake on New Year's day. Jenna completely agreed with my explanation.
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By the way, I totally forgot to tell you yesterday when we were out bowling that you looked great!
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