Last night was the annual Ididarun 8 mile cross country race in Linden, MI. It's put on by the cross country teams of Linden Schools, a small school district about an hour away. This is the fourth year I've run this. The first year there was a few inches of snow and it was cold. The last two years it was unseasonably warm for January and the course was muddy. This year the snow was deep but it had warmed up yesterday and Friday so a lot of snow melted but the temperature dropped in the late afternoon so there was some freezing of the melted snow! The parts of the course that are on the cross country course had deep snow and to add to the fun, in some spots, there was water under the snow! Your feet sink right in with each step. Before the race, the director said, "your feet WILL get wet!" Oh, he was right! My feet got soaked. The run is 4 two mile loops. Each time around the off road sections wiped me out more and more. It just took so much to stay upright and to get through the snow and snow/water. There were some slippery spots on the paved parts, too. On the last loop, the wind came up and it got colder. My lips and cheeks were numb. I kept thinking that I should have just went to the group long run in the morning, ran my 8 miles and called it a day! I also used this race for my last long run before Key West last year. I was never so glad to be finished as I was last night!
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| Cold, wiped out, and soaked feet |
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I had looked up my time from last year and it took me 15 minutes longer this year. I was surprised that it was just 15, I thought it would have been more. I won my age group!! (Actually, I was 2nd but the winner was the Masters winner.) I changed into dry clothes and socks right after finishing but I did not have dry shoes with me. They always have soups after this race. I had clam chowder soup and it was really good but it didn't sit well which made for a really long drive home! I walked around in my socks until it was time to leave and then I had to put my feet back into my cold, wet shoes. I had also forgotten my coat so I had to walk out to the car without a coat and in wet shoes! I was very happy for my heated seat cushion!
I actually learned after the race that a lot of people decided to do the relay option which is two people each running two loops. (People who had originally signed up for the whole 8 miles.) I guess there weren't that many left running the whole 8 miles.
So, with that, I've completed all of my long runs for Key West! Just a few short runs this week and I'm off to Key West!
Runner Nerd
ready for Key West
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