Race Report: NYD5K 2016

This race has become somewhat of a tradition for me. I have signed up over the past 4 years but have only started (and finished) the race 3 times. There was a minor issue with freshly falling snow, extreme wind, very cold temps and barely being able to walk (let alone run) back in 2014… Food was eaten instead.

Since this race is in January in Chicago… there is very little chance that it WON’T be cold and I am ok with that. This year, we got a lovely sleet storm on Monday and then the temps dropped… making it actually feel like winter for the first time this season. Go figure… timing…

As I was walking to the race, I knew I would not be running for time. The race is a LP race which means it is along routes that I run frequently and I knew that the most of the course would be covered in ice still because we would be running on the inner path instead of sidewalks.

I also remembered seeing that Tiffany had posted to FB that she and Harry would be running. She has been injured so I wasn’t positive if they would still be there but I decided to keep my eyes open for them.

Even though this race starts at 11:00 am instead of the usual earlier start time, I also knew that the weather and people being far more hungover than they anticipated would mean for lower numbers… All on top of this being a smaller race to begin with.

Despite living near the race, I have already learned that NOT wearing my winter jacket and taking advantage of gear check for this race is just not an option anymore. After making sure my coat could be stuffed into my normal polka dot race backpack (I like polka dots) so that worked out because the wind was brutal and there was no sun.

Luckily I got there only 15 minutes early and it didn’t take long for me to spot Tiffany… Her bright pink top and high ponytail helped. After teasing her (also TX blood) for wearing two pairs of gloves and thus incapable of operating her phone in any capacity, I told her I would take a picture so I snapped one of her and her husband. Then her husband snapped one of us… I totally stole this picture from her blog 😉

We lined up and were off without any huge ceremony. It was slower than normal at the start of the race, part due to ice and part due to walkers NOT lining up in the back…

Harry (Tiffany’s husband) took off to run a little faster but us two hamstring injured chicks took it slow and chatted. We definitely slipped and slid a bit but for the most part didn’t have too many issues… and gratefully we stayed completely upright.

A broken < Insert Body Part of Choice > would not be a good way to start off the New Year… especially before I have even had a cup of coffee.

I really enjoyed being able to run most of the race with her. As we were heading back, my slightly hungover body decided water would be a good idea with about 3/4 of a mile left to run. She kept running and I sipped on a cup of very cold (but not frozen) water. Then I proceeded to walk over an large icy patch that was also going downhill… I didn’t really think that was a good combination

After that part, we were luckily on the sidewalk which was nice and ice free so I was able to run at a more normal pace. I even managed a little kick into the finish (though not much of a kick). Harry and Tiffany were nice enough to wait at the finish line for me 🙂

We hopped into the short line to get our official results as Harry joked he wanted to see how bad it was.

I knew it wouldn’t be a great race time due to the ice but I also didn’t care. This is always a race I just run for time.

Not my worse time for this race but not my best either…. I can live with that. Tiffany and Harry had family in town so they were not able to join me for breakfast but that ended up working out because, as a table for one, I was seated right away.

Which was good because I was STARVING and really wanted hot coffee

The before and after of, what has become, my New Years Day Breakfast tradition. It was yummy… in case you couldn’t tell :-p