Race Recap: Black Cat/Friday the 13th 5K

P and I ran the Black Cat/Friday the 13th/Friggatriskaidekaphobia 5K at Second Sole last week.  It was a chilly night (although, all things considered, was warmer than it had been over the few previous days); the wind chill was about 10 degrees.  The race start time was 7:06PM, so it was dark when we took off.  I was geared up in what has become my winter running "uniform" (see posts here and here for details) and this time I tried something a little different...I put charcoal boot warmers in my running shoes in an effort to keep my toes from going numb from the cold.  My plan was to take them out right before the start of the race, simply because I didn't think it would be comfortable for me to run with the little packets right underneath the ball of my foot.  They did a great job keeping my toes warm...almost hot at a few points.  However, as they ushered us out of the running store and into the cold night air to get to the start line, I pulled out the little packets and threw them in the trash can and then....my feet went numb and were freezing not 2 minutes later.  RATS!!!!

This race was super fun...in my opinion we have some of the BEST races locally.  The cost was only a penny, and to "celebrate" Friday the 13th they did all sorts of superstitious things...salted the course, threw "lucky pennies" all over the course, and to finish you had to run under a ladder.  How creative is that?  Just love this running community that we have here in our hometown.

It wasn't my best race this year....I stupidly FLEW out of the gate at the start, running far faster than I normally do, all because my toes were so cold and I was trying to get the blood back into them.  My first mile was 8:34, which is pretty fast for me....I usually try to stick around 9:00.  The cold night air kept making me cough, and I got tired really early because I had started out so fast..  I also didn't eat my normal pre-race peanut butter bagel because we were going out to dinner after the run.  So things were just "off". I ended up finishing in 28:54.

Big smile while finishing! (Photo credit: Second Sole)

I'm happy we ran that night, because the next day it snowed almost 8 inches!  There's lots of snow in the forecast for the upcoming days, so I have been running on the treadmill.  I freaking HATE running on the treadmill, too...but at least it's indoors, and it's right there in my basement.  I've been clicking on the TV down there and running through 1 half-hour episode of any decent TV show I can find.  I start to feel like I'm going to go insane about 25 min in, so 30 min is definitely my max on the "hamster wheel"!

Here's my newest "nails of the moment" color....OPI Gelcolor in "My Favorite Ornament".  This is part of a holiday line that OPI very recently came out with, so it's rather new and I wasn't sure how I was going to like it.  I am normally NOT a full-non-glitter polish kinda girl, but I've got to admit...I LOVE this one!!!!  Very sparkly, champange/silver colored glitter.  It feels very "holiday-ish" to me.  And from far away, it's quite subtle...you can't see the glitz until you are right up close.  I've gotten a TON of compliments on this color since I had a manicure last week...even my manicurist was saying how much she loved it and was thinking about rocking it on her own nails for the holidays!

With flash

Close-up, with flash

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