The Freezing Cold Half Marathon

Here we are before the race modeling our running tights.

"I am excited to wear my new tights and hat" said my husband.  Add that to the list of things I NEVER dreamed I'd hear my husband say in a million years.  Of course, he meant his running tights and hat, but still.  Years ago if you had told me that he'd wear tights of any kind without it involving a dare or monetary compensation of some sort, I would not have believed you.  Its just more proof that our definition of fun has drastically changed.  Don't get me wrong, we still like dinner and a movie date nights and eating pizza.  The difference is that we ALSO like new stuff like running marathons, arranging babysitting so we can do long training runs together, and if you've been watching my recipe experiments lately: we like zucchini and squash, A LOT.

Maybe we're growing up?  Maybe a house full of little boys and their endless energy has been wearing off on us?  Who knows? 

Last year, I saw that there was a half marathon in downtown Chicago in January. I mentioned it to Jon, who scoffed.  I briefly contemplated it, but let it go.  Fast forward a few months and we are officially training for our first marathon  marathons.  Our training was going well and I was hyped up after a successful 20 mile training run in September, so I casually mentioned to Jon that the January half marathon was happening again this winter.  I had a whole arsonal of reasons why we should do it:

1. After two marathons, how hard could a half marathon be?
2. It wasn't that cold last January, I mean, we ran 6 miles outside on the day of last year's race.
3. It would keep us training through the holiday season instead of taking December & January "off" like we normally do.
4. Maybe we could even get a date night in the city out of it by having the kids spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa's the day of the race?

I'm not sure which reason persuaded him, but Jon said we should do it and I signed us up.  Later that week, we told some friends who were over for dinner that just signed up to do a freezing half marathon in January.  They laughed.  I think they thought we were joking.  When we said we were really gonna do it, one of them laughingly said that we had crossed over "the line."  It may be true.  Some people think we also crossed a line when we decided to keep having lots of boys or when we bought our second minivan (yes, BOTH our cars are minivans).  I guess its just how we roll.

I tried to talk some other runner friends into doing this race with us, but I was not successful this year.  So, this morning, Jon & I bundled up and headed to the lakefront.  I pretty much wore all my cold weather gear at one time (running tights, running capris, two compression shirts, two pairs of gloves, a headband, a fleece hat and thermal socks).  All my black lycra on at the same time is definitely my best look!  Ok, maybe not, but I wanted to stay warm.  The forecast was 16 degrees at the start and 21 degrees at the finish. 

After we crossed the finish line, we're both smiling so it couldn't have been THAT bad.

I'm not gonna lie.  The first mile or so, my fingers and toes were kinda numb.  I actually pulled my fingers out and made a fist inside my glove.  By 3 miles, my hands were sweating.  I ditched my second pair of cheap gloves after that.  The race was beautiful.  Gorgeous views of the Chicago skyline, Lake Michigan, and runners dotting the lakeshore path for miles before and behind me.

I took this during mile 7.  I didn't want to stop running, so I took it while running, so its not the best.  It doesn't do it justice, it was gorgeous.  Sunny skies, the city skyline, and frozen pieces of ice bobbing up and down Lake Michigan--some of the best scenery possible.

The path had a few tricky sections where it wasn't pavement, but sand/grass/snow combinations that were a little slippery, but they were short.  Overall, it was a clear pavement path and not slippery at all.  The race was really well organized.  I went into the race with 2 main goals: to not fall and to finish.  My training the last two weeks was subpar given the sickness that my kids kindly shared with me.  As always, the race adrenaline kicked in and by mile 5, I realized that I had a chance to break the 2 hour mark if I could keep my pace up.  I actually picked it up the second half and was able to finish at a 9 min pace (my overall time was 1:57:55).  Not my fastest half marathon, but not my worst by a long shot either.

When we got home, I told Jon that I love races because they are like performance evaluations.  I love exceeding my expectations for a race.  Maybe I was able to this time because I always set them pretty low going into a race which may make me a sandbagger, but I don't care.  In this stage of life where my "performance reviews" involve statements like:  "You never remember to pack our snowpants or boots so we can play outside at recess (on the first day of snow)", "Why haven't you finished watching all the Star Wars movies with us?" and "I don't like what you made for dinner", its nice to have a positive performance review.  By the way, I didn't finish the Star Wars movies because of that horrible Jar-Jar Binks.  I did the original three with the boys, but then Episode I just killed me and I couldn't stomach finishing it or watching the horrible dialogue in Episode II.  So there! 

Many thanks to our good friend Steve who came to our house to watch the boys for an hour (when Grandma & Grandpa had to get to another engagement) so that we could go to The Cubby Bear and get our free post-race beers (the best part in Jon's opinion).

It's a little early to make it official but I think there is a decent chance that we'll be doing this race again next year.