A New Year, A New Race

Danie and Kim--10k finishers!

Happy 2012!!!  It's finally the year of the Ironman.  :)  I started the year off with a race!  I have been in Minnesota for the holidays and the weather has been awesome.  It's been in the 30's or 40's most days and there hasn't been snow or ice on the ground.  So, about 5 days ago I thought it'd be a good idea to run the Polar Dash 1/2 Marathon on New Year's Day (and to convince my cold-weather hating friend to run it with me).  The weather forecast was clear and upper 30's--perfect running weather for this Ironmom.  Well, my signing up must have been Mother Nature's signal to remind me why I like the weather in Arizona...

Last night, it rained--then it froze and snowed.  This morning the winds were shaking the house.  I headed out on the slick roads and made it safely (albeit slowly) to the Twin Cities.  Danie and I made our way to the race start.  It was cold and windy.   The night before the race director emailed everyone and said that any 1/2 marathoners who wanted to run the 10k could do so without penalty.  The 1/2 marathon course was described as 2 loops following the 10k course.  The course was really an out and back--twice for the 1/2.  It was also a hilly course. 

Danie and I were doing well and felt good out on the first loop.  However, when we turned around,  we found ourselves running into the wind.  The combination of hills, repetition, and wind (and the easy out given by the race director to run the 10k instead) helped us decide to end the race with the 10k.  The last stretch of about 1/2 mile was in direct and unrelenting wind.  So, instead of finishing a half marathon dead tired and in pain--we ended a 10k feeling good!

After the race, I hit up one of my favorite St. Paul eateries--the Highland Grill.  I had a delicious turkey burger and awesome sweet potato fries.  I also had my first soda of 2012--a cherry coke, but after a year of not drinking pop, I could only finish 1/2 of it (a good thing!). 

Happy 2012 to all of you!