When I registered for the race I submitted a conservative pace of 8:30/mile and the website told me I'd need to submit proof I'd do that (via previous race results), but I didn't feel like investing that kind of energy during registration so I said "Fine, put me wherever." Which ended up being the fourth coral to start and to be honest I have no idea what pace that put me near, but I did have to duck and weave to find some space to really get running. The course goes through Forest Park, which is very scenic albeit desolate at that time of morning possibly due to the unfriendly temperature. The volunteers were fantastic and I certainly felt a lot of sympathy for them - at least I was generating heat while running. About half way through the race I grabbed a cup of water and noticed a thin sheet of ice had begun to form. Also, they started salting the road around the aide stations to keep people from slipping. So yeah, that cold.

Maybe next year I'd submit my proof and get into one of the earlier corals. I probably should have gotten a little more water in. My stomach was pretty grumpy over the lack of hydration once I stopped.

I found my husband who'd ran the 5k and been done for quite a while by the time I finished. We attempted a selfie with the medal (I gave him mine since they don't give the 5k runners medals), but we were doing such a tragic job at it a nice passerby stopped to take the pic for us. Then we grabbed our hot chocolate and chocolate fondue. It was amazing, but we were just so cold we opted to grab our gear bags and head back to the shuttle.


A few crowded spots on the course.


I liked the race. There were, I believe, over five thousand people between the 5k and the 15k so it's really amazing how well organized it was. There was a line for the shuttle to the race, but other than that I would have never realized how many people were actually there. I've never run a 15k, so I ended up with a PR. My goal was to go sub 8:00 average and I ended up with 7:53 so I'm pretty happy with that. :)