Polar Dash 2013

As I said in my last post, I took quite a long break from running and on New Year's Day I ran my first race since May! This was my second time running the Team Ortho Polar Dash, so I knew what to expect, but I was more nervou than ever to run. This is the first race in a series of five races that Ryan gave me for Christmas. And as an even better gift, Ryan decided to run this race with me! Not until the race was over did I let Ryan know just how scared I was to run this race. I guess I was scared of not having a good time, of my hip starting to hurt again, and mainly I was scared that this race would prove that I didn't have it in me! All of my fears, however, went away the minute we got near the course. Ryan and I had stayed the night in Minneapolis, which made getting to the race very easy, and we did not have to worry about waking up super early either. It happened to be freezing cold the day of the race, in fact when we woke up it was below zero! The high for the day was only 7 degrees!! The race directors had posted on Facebook the night before, allowing the 1/2 marathoners to just finish a 10k and receive their medals because of the cold! That scared me! I was nervous about being warm enough during the race, and so Ryan and I had packed a lot of warm clothing, and spent quite a bit of time that morning deciding on how many layers to wear. I decided on a pair of running tights under my Lululemon insulated pants, a tech T, and 1/2 zip pullover and the ever famous Polar Dash Fleece! I also had to wear the penguin hat that was given as race swag! I did a little test run outside of our hotel, and along with a neck gator and mittens, I was feeling pretty good! After a good breakfast, we headed over to the race site. The race didn't start until 11am, but we made it to the parking lot at around 10am. With over 9,000 people running, we didn't want to have to wait too long in the cold. The Polar Dash takes place alongside the Mississippi river in Minneapolis, in a very residential area. Runners are not allowed to park in the neighborhood surrounding the course, we were instead asked to park in a parking lot/ramp about 1.5 miles away from the start of the course, and take a school bus to the start. Once on the bus, my sister called. She had braved the cold and had come to watch us! That made me very happy! I always feel better knowing someone is waiting for me at the finish line! She also took over as the official gear holder, which was great!! Team Ortho, who puts this race on, does a great job of keeping their runners warm. We were able to wait in the warming tent until just before the gun went off. About 10 minutes before the start of the race, we left the warming tent, and made our way to the starting line. I was super excited, and not even one bit nervous about running this race! The wait for the starting gun was very cold, and I worried that I had not put enough clothes on! The starting corral was so crowded, and I could tell that this would be another race that involved a lot of bobbing and weaving around other runners and walkers. Once the starting gun went off, I was right, the course was so tight, and it was very hard to break away from the pack and get any space!Ryan and I stuck together for most of the first mile, I was feeling great (but was sweating so badly, as I had again, overdressed!). I stopped for about 2 minutes to rearrange my clothing, i told Ryan to go ahead and that I would catch up. Once my clothing was situated, I was able to catch up to Ryan, and it felt so good to really stretch my legs out at a good pace. I didn't even notice, that I had left Ryan far behind me. I knew he wouldn't mind, and so I just kept going. Right before the turnaround, there is a pretty long hill, and I spent some time walking, thinking maybe Ryan might catch up. At the top of the hill, I sped up again, made the turnaround, where I finally saw Ryan again, and took off down the hill. I was still sweating, and icicles were forming in my hair, as I made my way though the crowd to the finish line. I was excited as I cross, and happy that soon I could be in our warm car!! After crossing the finish line (with a slow time of 38:22) I found my sister and waited for Ryan to come across the finish line. We were both excited to be done, because all the sweat was now starting to freeze and we were chilled to the bone! We collected our medals, and our hot chocolate (so good!) and made our way to the bus. We could not believe the line that was waiting for the busses back to the parking lot, it was HUGE!! Luckily, my sister had gotten there early and found a close parking spot. She gladly gave us a ride back to the lot and we were grateful to be out of the cold much quicker than waiting in line for the busses!!While the race was freezing cold, and my time was much slower than last year, I had a wonderful time, and am so very glad that Ryan not only pushed me back into running, but was there with me as I made my comeback. While this is only the second race we have run "together", meaning I have left him behind during both races, it is truly a great thing to be able to start together. I really love him being there with me!!I love it so much, that I proposed to Ryan that we should commit to running a 5k every week for the next 6 months (starting in March, as this cold weather running is brutal!). He agreed, but said we should maybe cut it back to two 5k races a month. I am super excited to look for some races to fill our calendar, and even more excited to have this adventure with Ryan!! I am really looking forward to it!!