Runnin' in a Winter Wonderland

Well the weatherman was right, darn it. We did get a couple inches of snow as you can see from these first sights that greeted me this morning...

The good news was that the snow had stopped. So it was just a pleasant 22 degrees with a windchill of 16. Not a bad day for a run.

My next-door neighbor Niki came over at 10:30 and, armed with my lucky new Twins stocking cap, we headed to Stevens Point.

Part of the fun of the Frostbite 5 is people dressing up in funky winter hats and full-blown Christmas costumes, too. Some creative -- and fast -- elves were on the scene. And a Mrs. Claus kicked my butt!

We were lucky because they got even less snow up in Point and some of the streets we ran on were perfectly clear. So I was feeling good at the start of the race. In fact, with sunny skies to boot, the first 2 miles went great and right on my pace schedule. Then we turned up the river road -- street following the banks of the Wisconsin River -- and we had a mile of snowy running. I hate running in snow. I'm a Nervous Nelly about slipping and falling. So that part slowed me down a bit.

I had a small sideache from mile 3 to 4 but I breathed through it. I knew my time would be slower than my best "practice run" but I was determined to finish close to it. And I did! I guess it's my best personal time for a 5-mile race since this was my first effort. So yay me!

Would I do it again? You bet. It honestly didn't feel as cold as I thought 26 degrees would feel. I somehow managed to wear the exact amount of layers to be warm but not too warm.

I'm pretty sure it was all the lucky hat *(:^)