Break A Leg, But Not Literally

Not much to tell other than is cold... Last night, checking doors and locks before going to bed, I discovered that our front yard was totally covered with... SNOW!!! It was nice to see it, but discouraging. I had a race the following day in Snoqualmie, WA, 45 miles from home, with limited parking, meaning I needed to leave very early, around 6:30am.... a weather forecast in the low 30's indicated to me that the freeway would be ... icy?

Indeed, it was. After driving 4.2 miles, I already had past 5 separate accidents. Called my husband and he recommended to turn around. I told him I would be fine. And fortunately, thanks God, I was.

At 7:15 I arrived to the place, and found challenging to enter in the building. The whole parking lot was an ice skating field. After some tricks, I made it, picked up my package and saw the display of trophies to be given three deep in each age bracket. I decided I'd get one, didn't matter if 1st or 3rd place, I wanted one, they were gorgeous.

I had 2h 15 min to spare before the race started as it was delayed till 9:45 am to give chance to the ice to melt. Fortunately, we were all inside an Elementary School, and could keep ourselves warm. All runners wanted to Break A Leg, But Not Literally, so we welcome the delay. The sun was trying to show up, and we're glad it did.

The race finally started with a bunch of kids in front of the pack. Although organizers told them to go to the back, they simply didn't move. For me, it was kinda neat to see all these kids running for their school, and got a flashback in time to the school activities when my kids were little. I smiled.... good memories...

The run was really nice. The sun was present, and my three layers of technical fabric gear were perfect for the occasion. I ran good along the whole course with only one thing in my mind. A trophy!

Darn it. I got 4th!!!

Division 4/10 - Overall Female 60/280 - Overall 165/502

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The weekend before I ran another race under miserable weather conditions. I drove 1h 15 min to Fort Steilacoom, and it was pouring, windy and cold. The race was organized by the Army, and when I asked, where is the race? They pointed out: That trail... OK! It was XC terrain.

While in the line to pick up the package, all of us were asking why do we do this... The common answer was: Because we can, because we are alive. That was good enough to decide to stay despise the rain, the cold, the wind and the terrain. My fear in unstable terrain is due to my ankles, so the strategy was to run slowly enough to avoid any sprain. Also I would need to run with a rain-non-running jacket I had, so running slower than usual would help me to not get too hot. And there I went. The rain stopped minutes before the race, but the terrain was muddy and slippery. I ran comfortable, had a lot of fun and got second in my division. All the runners, me included, did way better than expected... Why? We concluded the course was shorter than 5K.