Happy Thanksgiving! First of all, I do not do well in cold weather (running wise or anything else) and for me it was beyond cold this morning in Salt Lake City. Secondly, I had never signed up for a Turkey Trot before due to the cold. However, three weeks ago a few of my running friends from work motivated me to sign up for City Creek Cold Turkey Run (i.e., a 6k race). At the time, thinking that it would be a nice autumn day, I figured that it would be a great opportunity to get in a twenty-plus-mile run by running to and from the race. Still wanting to accomplish a long run, I decided to wake-up early, suck it up and head out into the cold. It was 12 degrees and the wind chill made it even colder. I’ll have to post a pic, but I wore five layers (i.e., the one time I had hyperthermia from running was due to not having enough layers, so I always wear plenty of layers), my Under Armor tights, grocery sacks between my shoes and socks (i.e., in order to run through the snow), mittens, a neck gator, an extra thick stocking cap, and safety glasses to keep my eyes from freezing up. Packing a thermos full of hot water, I headed out for the 8.7-mile jog up to the starting line at the State Capital Building. Two miles into this run, I knew keeping my hands warm was going to be my big challenge as I clinched them within my mittens and just continuously rubbed my fingers together. I would be lying if I said I did not think about calling it a day at this point by turning around and going back to my warm home.
After running up windy State Street (i.e., I figured to get in some extra practice for my next marathon, I would follow the Salt Lake Marathon course to downtown), I was glad to reach the starting in order to spend fifteen minutes next to the campfire to warm up my hands. Not surprisingly, my friends from work were there and ready to go. Four minutes after 9:00 am (which seemed like an eternity while standing in the cold) they finally started the race. While running up City Creek Canyon, my left hand went completely numb because I had my mitten rolled slightly down my hand from when I started my Garmin watch. Consequently, on the way back down the Canyon to the finish line at the Capital Building, I was pretty much focusing on getting movement and feeling back into my left hand. In short, it just felt great to finish the 3.85 miles in a time of 23:56 (i.e., 6:13 minutes-per-mile). After the race I headed straight back to the camp fire to warm-up, enjoy some delicious post-race muffins, and talk to my friends from work that both ran terrific races considering the brutally-cold weather. As the sun started to heat up the Salt Lake Valley into the high 20s, I jogged 8.55 miles back to home. Overall, I’m glad I competed in and finished this race, plus I have a feeling this will not be my last Turkey Trot (it now has to be one of my running traditions).
In regards to my daily non-running workout, I completed 300 sit-ups, 30 sit-ups, a 90-second wall sit, and a 60-second plank.
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