Personal Record! On New Year's Eve!!!

"There is no such thing as bad weather; only bad clothes."
-Runner

If you're going to close off the year, might as well close off with a BANG and get a new Personal Record (PR)!!! Which I did, so yeah, pretty pumped!

It was not a record in speed, nor in distance. No, my friends. My new record is: The Longest Distance I Have Ever Run In -28C.

Yep, that's right -28C.
The goal: 10k.
The layers: 3 pairs of thermals top & bottom; two pairs of pants, a fleece vest, a wind breaker, a full fleece, gloves, toque, and fleecy neck-warmer.
The layer I forgot: Vaseline for the exposed skin.

The crazy brave souls ready to start running. Can you spot me? Blue fleece, light blue neck-warmer, black toque. kind of in the middle.

I was very nervous at the store! I think all 8 of us hardcore crazies were*. Everyone else had the Right Idea and chose to stay inside. As everyone put on their big winter mitts, I worried that my piddly little running gloves weren't going to be warm enough. But, I reminded myself, you're always taking your gloves off mid-run, as your hands get so warm.

Oh, well! Here I was to try!

The manager kept things smart: we were doing a 5k loop, which would put us no further than just over 2km from the store if things went wrong. The halfers were aiming to do 16k, but I felt that 10k (two laps) was enough for me. I was grateful as I had no desire to be far from the store in case I wasn't dressed warmly enough.

Thankfully, I was! There was no de-layering, and no strong wish for extra layers. I quickly learned that it was too difficult to breathe through my fleece neck-warmer properly, so I popped that down to my chin. Within two km I had the delightful feeling of my eyelashes freezing over. Quite fun, really. I loved looking at the world through tiny icicles. It feels like winter.

I ran the first loop with my buddy Mike. Mike is awesome. Mike is Mr. Encourager. We had a great time together...alternating between talking and breathing. It was tough! I've never run in so many layers before. I felt both weighted down and restricted in my movements.

At the end of the first loop, we saw a fellow Running Room gal, who joked about "I've been joined by a new friend". I thought she meant us. Then Mike contributed, "there's a moose on the loose!", and I thought...that's a little bit insulting to say to a girl!

And then I saw the moose. The REAL moose. Gangly legged and all. This one was just a calf, but it was way taller than I was. It was munching on some twigs from a tree next to the path...that would be our running path! That moose was only 10m away. We slowed to a stop to admire it, snap some photos (for the smart people who thought to bring camera phones), and get pretty excited about our wildlife encounter. Then off we went back to the store!

Yes, we were that close to this moose, and I still wouldn't have spotted it without someone pointing it out first!

At this point, some of the runners called it a day...the cold can bring out some aches and pains, and they chose the wise path of listening to their bodies.

Mike and I both felt great, so after a brief pause to farewell our comrades, we continued onwards.

Loop 2 was a bit tougher, as I was starting to feel fatigued. Interestingly, we both noticed that our walk breaks were at the same areas, which was kind of fun. I also noticed frost developing along my hips, arms, and torso...places where my sweat was starting to evaporate! It was kind of fun to see. Mike warned me that my cheeks had also become frosty. They didn't hurt, and every time I breathed out I could feel my cheeks warming a bit from the humidity of my expiration, so I wasn't too worried. That was when I learned about the benefits of Vaseline, though. Next time, I'll remember! Ha...listen to me talk as if there will be a next time!

We finished the second loop - including adding on a set of stairs - and did a bit extra to make it a full 10k. When we finished, some fellow runners/store workers took a few photos .

Post-run! My expression says it all. What you can't see is all the frost that melted off my cheeks and eyelashes...the store was pretty warm when I got back inside!

*In case anyone is wondering why on earth I would choose to go out in this weather...I have a doctor's appointment for Tuesday to see if we can figure out a solution to my bad knee! As I haven't been running, my knee hasn't been sore. Kind of hard to get a problem diagnosed when it's no longer a problem! So I knew I really had to push my knee before my appointment...The good AND bad news is that after my 10k run today, my knee isn't sore. So out I go again tomorrow...