Running with Santa in the Snow

I did the Run with Santa 5K with the boys this morning.  The weather had promised to be interesting with a threat of an ice storm or snow and temperatures below 30.  Those temperatures don't bother me, but the kids have never really raced when it was that cold before.

We got there early and hung in our car until about 30 minutes before race time.  The boys had on tights, shorts, an Underarmor base layer, a cotton long sleeve, gloves, hat, and an Old Navy fleece.  The original plan had been for them to take the fleece off to race, but once we were outside the snow started.  I realized that they would probably be too cold without the fleece so we repinned bibs.

Then we headed over to the start line.  We were all pretty excited about racing in the snow.  This would be the first experience for the boys racing in the snow so it was going to be a learning experience for them. 

Zach was going to run on his own and then wait for Nic and I at the finish line.  When the race started, Nic and I took off at a pretty good pace. 

It didn't feel that fast for me, and Nic wasn't saying anything.  I was trying to warm up so I wasn't checking in with him as much as I normally do.  We finished the first mile at 10:07, and I realized that it had been fast for him.  He wasn't used to how the really cold air felt in his lungs so we slowed down.  We took a walk break at about 1.5 miles and ended up with mile 2 around 12:30.  He was just not feeling this race at all.  His poor hands were freezing, and he was near tears.  He kept telling me that he didn't think he could finish the race.  I just kept telling him that he was doing a great job and that we could take walk breaks when he needed them.  I told him how I have bad race days too, and that it was really hard to run in the cold. Then he slipped and hit his ankle on the curb so that was hurting too. Since this was his third time running this particular course, he knew when we were about 0.5 miles out and started to feel a little better since he knew the end was near.  He finished pretty well at 37:38.  His time was actually a full minute better than his time at the race last year, but he had run in the 33's on the same course in July so he knew it wasn't his best race. 

Zach finishing up.

Zach was waiting for us and had done a great job running a 30:28 which was faster than his time at the race a year ago, but slightly slower than his July time on the course.  He said that he had just taken the course easy because it was slippery in some parts.

Loved my new Reebok Cold Weather Compression tights

Gotta stop the Garmin!

Overall, we had a fun time running in the snow and in the festive weather.  We stopped for hot chocolate on the way home.  I'm very proud of the kids this year as this race was the 6th race in the PR Trophy Series for them including their first 4 mile race and first 8K.

Cool ornament that everyone got!