Coldest Run Ever! And Great Portrait!

Tomorrow I am supposed to run my last long run before my half-marathon next weekend. But instead, I ran it today, on the coldest day of the winter here in Minnesota. The cold doesn’t scare me (if you haven’t read my previous post about running in cold weather, make sure to check it out). It was titties cold when I was getting ready to head out in the late morning:

This run was going to be along the half-marathon course. So, earlier in the day, I drove the route and noted landmarks every half-mile. I transferred those mile-markers to a small piece of paper, and I taped it to my sleeve so I could reference it during my run:

I know people have done this before, but I felt like a genius!

I was hoping for another good run, but there were 2 things I was concerned about:

1. It was the coldest air temperature that I’ve even run in. A few days ago, the wind chill was worse, but 6 below is the coldest air temp during a run for me EVER. Would I be OK? Would my weak knee be pissed off in that cold?

2. It was along Shepard Road, which is nonstop, small, rolling hills. Would I be OK with that? Would the hills REALLY slow me down? Would my half-marathon time next weekend be horrendous because of those hills?

I wore the same outfit as in my previous post, but this time I didn’t start out wearing the TurtleFur ski mask. I carried it with me in case I needed it. I ran bare-faced. I ran the course backward: I started a few miles from home at the end of Cleveland Ave, which is the turn-around point for the half, and I ran towards downtown St. Paul (and then back).

Well, the wind started to freeze my face a little, but I was holding up OK. The wind cut more at the top of those rolling hills, but soon enough, I was heading down into a lower spot with much less wind. I hit the 6-mile marker where I turned around in 42:54.

My eyes were starting to freeze open. My nostril hair had been frozen solid since mile 2. My ears were getting a little chilled through my hat. My chin was getting frosty. But it was all do-able. I plugged on.

Miles 10 and 11 were tough. There were some uphill areas, and I was running more into the wind (remember, those who are running the half, this would be mile 5 and 6). But I ran the second 6 miles and got back to my car in 42:49. Total time for the 12-miler was 1:25:43. I was happy. There was another minor victory in the run too: I ran the whole 12 miles without stopping once. No stoplights, no potty breaks, no walking, no nothing. With each run, I usually keep track of “running time” and “actual time.” Usually, with my runs along Summit Ave, my actual time is 1 or 2 minutes slower than my running time because of stoplights. Today, they both go down as the same time. Running time: 1:25:43. Actual time: 1:25:43. Sweet, sweet victory.

• Longest training run ever.
• Coldest outdoor run ever.
• Longest run without walking or stopping ever.
• Highest running mileage week since high-school: 30.5 miles
• And my bad knee is HOLDING UP!

When I got back to my car, I immediately reached in and grabbed my camera. I snapped a photo of myself. I turned the camera around to see the photo. “What the hell...?” While running, I had no idea that I was so frozen:

My hat, my ears, my eyebrows, my eyelashes, my nose hair, and all of my scruff were COVERED in ice. Oddly, I was proud of it. Well, maybe it’s not all that odd to wear it proudly.

I got in the car and started to drive home. I suddenly got a taste of blood in my mouth, and I realized that I had a cold-weather bloody nose. I grabbed an unused Chipotle napkin from my armrest and crammed it up there. Then my hand grazed my business. My man business. “Uh oh...” I thought. Yep, it was a little frozen. So, with one hand on my junk trying to heat it up, one hand on my camera to take a picture, and one knee on the wheel to keep myself on the road, I snapped this photo:

I think this should be my new profile picture...

Little winky (as Mom calls it) was OK. It wasn’t as bad as earlier this winter when he nearly fell off. Closer to home, my nose stopped bleeding.

I’m ready for next weekend. Let’s go.