Jingle Bell 5K

When I woke this morning, I was pretty pumped for this 5K. This was to be my first event since my last triathlon in August.

Many of you were/are running in 40-60 degree weather this weekend and were puzzled with what to wear for the race. I know that many of your races were starting with cooler temps and then increasing as much as 20 degrees, and some of you were worried about running in rain, which all situations can be quite challenging when figuring out what to wear. So is running in sub-freezing temps.

Last year, it was 4 degrees but with 12 mph winds. It was brutal. Any wind at sub-freezing temps is horrible. This year, the temperature was 5 degrees at the starting line and I didn't really notice any winds. It was a huge difference. Even though the temperature here wasn't expected to change during our short distance, it was hard to decide what to wear.

What did I wear? I had on full-leg running tights, my knee length running tights, long-sleeved wick-away shirt, long-sleeved cotton shirt, my adidas running jacket, headband, a pair of finger gloves with my North Face finger gloves over them, red fleece scarf, knee length holiday socks with my winter running ankle socks over them, and my grinch boxer shorts. Very similar to what I wore last year minus a fleece jacket.

I was running this one with my friend Jill, and another girl she knew joined us at the start. Our plan, since we both have been struggling with knee issues, was to run 4-5 minutes and then walk. But, neither one of us worn watches, so we just went with the "let's see how we feel" plan.

We started out really slow (slower than I usually run on the treadmill) and ended up running the entire race with only two short walk breaks after the 2nd mile marker. most importantly, it was pain free and I finished strong! I had a really good stride going into the finish shute and thought about what it would be like to have that kind of pace for 3.1 miles. It felt really, really, really good.

It wasn't too long after we got back indoors that I started to get the chills. I was pretty sweaty. Try going home and icing your knees after a run in the cold. I was not looking forward to it, but knew I had to do it!

The Results?
Rank: 400 out of 498
Bib: 376
Name: Stacy Smith
28
F
Fargo, ND
Time: 38:39
Pace: 12:27

Like I said, it was slow, but a great run. I shaved 37 seconds off from this race last year. And, I just realized that this will be my last race as a 28 year old. *sniff, sniff*

Next year if I do this race, I would like to get more creative with my outfit. I saw so many wonderful ideas today and I wish I would have taken a bunch of photos, but I have a hard time with the idea of taking photos of strangers! There were two guys dressed as presents with big boxes around them, there was a guy dressed as the grinch and another person dressed as a dog, there was a girl that made her own gingerbread man outfit, and so many more... it was so cool!

Have you ever done a race and dressed up for it? What race did you do, and what did you wear?