Brrrrrrrr!! Paddy Kelly Race Recap

Valentine's day brought more than just chocolate and roses to Southeastern Massachussetts this weekend... It brought the coldest day of winter 2016!  After waking up for a coffee run, my car took its sweet time turning over (saying "wtf" in car-growl-speak) as the temperature read NEGATIVE seven degrees.  Yikes.  But it was my running club's race day, the Paddy Kelly 5-Miler in Brockton, MA, so time to suck it up!

By race-time, it had warmed up to a whopping ZERO degrees, with a negative 20 degree wind chill.  Although it was brisk, I was well-equipped (or so I thought) with two pairs of gloves, hand-warmers, a neck-warmer, headband, hat, long-sleeved shirt, fleece shirt, windbreaker and a puffy vest.  Yikes!  Oh and can't forget my snazzy Valentine's day socks!

Love my ProCompression socks!

 The course had been shortened from 4.5 to 5 miles to get everyone off the roads as quickly as possible.  Of course, after the first mile, I realized that I was significantly over-dressed, and spent much of the next several miles trying to shed layers and unzip vests and jackets.  Oops, lesson learned!  

But I had a blast running with one of my work friends, and we averaged about a 9-minute mile... not bad for not being able to feel our legs!  Although it did feel like my nose was running faster than I was at some points!  We finished hand-in-hand - just proud to have toughed it out on such a brutally cold day.

Finish line photo - freezing!

The race finished just steps away from a local pub, serving free chili, chop suey and beers to the runners.  Warming up with some hot food and booze felt AMAZING - even if it was shortly before noon.  Who cares!  

Proud to say that I survived my coldest race ever... and had a blast doing it!  Happy Valentine's Day :-)


What was your coldest race?  Any tips or tricks?