I felt fairly strong and went out pretty fast. I was very focused on keeping my footing on the snow, especially in the beginning with all of the people around. I was wishing I had the yak trax that my group was talking about yesterday and noticed that there were a handful of people wearing them. Once we spread out a little, it was much better. The hills on the way out felt great, and this is where I found I was passing most people (both uphill and downhill). At the one mile mark, I looked at my watch and realized I started too fast. I continued to feel strong until the turn-around. Here I slipped and fell. I got up quickly and pulled myself together. Around 2 miles I was noticing that I was feeling more tired. The hills on the way back seemed harder to me, and with all of the snow I felt like my feet were sliding back down the hill each step I took. My third mile was a little rough, but I still managed to have enough to run hard at the end when I saw the finish line. It wasn't my best race ever, but I am happy with my performance considering where I am at in my training right now and the weather conditions today.

My head and body were a good temperature (I wore a fleece hat, a fleece lined nike shirt, and running tights. However, my fingers and toes were numb before the start of the race. I wish I had worn thicker socks and gloves. I also wish I had some of the yak trax for better footing.
I should have gone out slower and let my speed build.

Ran 1 mile slowly just around town


Poor footing, a fall, need more endurance


This was definitely a small town race. They didn't have race numbers, just a card that they gave you at the finish with your place number on it, which you turned in to someone who ranked you by age group. It was very organized though and started on time (actually about 2 minutes early).
They planned to have a water station at the turn-around point but they didn't end up having one.
The goody bag was decent- an insulated bag and instead of a t-shirt they had fleece headbands in a variety of colors and let you pick your color. After the race, they had plenty of bottled water, bananas, and pretzels out. They also gave you a meal ticket and let you pick anything you wanted from the menu. The chicken and noodles were great, and they also had hot dogs, sloppy joes, chips, biscuits and gravy, OJ, coffee, and hot chocolate.
They had really cool trophies for the winner of each age group- a snowglobe with your age group on the inside.
There were some great activities after the race- an ice sculpture carving contest and an ice cream eating contest.
A really fun race, despite the cold weather!