Saturday, 1/10/2015 - Freezeroo #3 and Winter Warrior Half

Saturday, 1/10/2014: 5 runs of 1.2, Freezeroo #3 (5.04), 1.1, 0.88 and Winter Warrior Half (13.38) for 21.6 miles

An epic double race day ... yeah, baby! I was up early at 6:40AM to surf the web and do the dishes. Then it was time to get ready. It was sunny, 9F and the wind chill was below zero so I dressed warmly and quietly. I knew my darling wife, Christine, wouldn't be interested in joining me so I left her curled up warm in bed.

This was my 4th time running Freezeroo #3. I have ran it in 2010 and 2011 as Freezeroo #1, then in 2014 as Freezeroo #3. I wore my usual CW-X tights and GRTC shorts on the bottom and my heavy Sugoi long sleeve tech, short sleeve tech and 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover on top. I brought my full balaclava, beanie and heavy gloves. I wore my New Balance 860 running shoes and brought my Salamon Speedcross 3 trail shoes just in case. The venue was the Pineways Park in Spencerport. I found the roads were a mixture between bare pavement and hard snow pack so I changed into my trail shoes for better traction. A couple of fellow runners chuckled at my shoe choice but I was comfortable with it.

The weather conditions were 9F, 78% RH, 11 mph SW wind, wind chill of -6F and sunny. I wore my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the wind. I got out for a nice and easy 1.2 mile warmup run at 8:24 pace, link here. I didn't really warm up but I did get my blood pumping a bit to my legs.

Milling around before the start - courtesy of Tim Matthews

The start was delayed for about 4 minutes due to a long line at the one bathroom in the heated lodge. Understandable but a bit chilly to be standing and waiting to start. I said "Hi" to Chris O'Brien, Bill Beyerbach, Prem Kumar and Andy Ciaio.

Getting up to speed - courtesy of Tim Matthews

And ... we were off! I warmed up quickly with a first mile of 7:00 pace. The footing was a bit interesting on hard snow pack in the first two miles but was OK. The footing improved on the open road. I had to stop twice around mile 2 to catch my breath. I remembered that I had a longer race in the afternoon and backed off a wee bit. Heather Danielson passed me around mile 4. She laughed when I told her that I knew it was her by how she cleared her throat behind me. She is coming off an injury quite nicely and training for the Boston Marathon in April. Now I can start trying to stick with her at races. She is a master of pacing. And ... done in 36:43, 7:21 pace. I quickly went inside the lodge for a couple cups of water. I didn't partake of the soup or bagels.

Almost to the finish - courtesy of Tim Matthews

A picture by Alex Tong

The girls from Red Bulls were giving out free Red Bull - courtesy of Tim Matthews

I did OK. I was 43rd out of 154, link here. I was 3rd out of 12 in my M55-59 age group, link here. My splits were: 7:00, 7:24, 7:33, 7:28, 7:03 and 6:52 over the last 0.04 mile (which is 211 feet in case you are wondering). I went out of a short cooldown run with Heather. I cut it short to just 1.1 miles at 9:05 pace, link here, since I did have another race to run later.

Soon I was home with my feet up with just one mug of coffee while I uploaded my data to my usual running sites: Garmin, Dailymile, Runningahead and Strava. My darling wife, Christine, made a filling lunch of leftover turkey pot pie. I relaxed for a while but had my eyes on the clock ... tick, tock.

Soon ... I was getting ready for my next race, the Winter Warrior Half Marathon. I found that my heavy gloves, balaclava and beanie were still damp so I found an old pair of skiing mittens that were probably 30 years old and a backup beanie. I put on my other clothes from the morning ... they were dry and already "warmed" up so to speak. My darling wife, Christine, stayed home again. She said that she thought that she would be a distraction ... though I could have used her tender loving care (and a warm set of clothes to change into) later after the race.

I drove down to Monroe Community College (MCC) and parked next to the Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex around 3:15PM in plenty of time for the 4PM start. I found out later that this was the wrong lot ... oops! I got my bib and WW Half hat (which I didn't wear until after the race). I saw Steve Levitsky and Wendy Abbot and headed out with them for a 0.88 mile warmup run at 9:21 pace, link here. The weather conditions were: 18F, 53% RH, 16 mph SW wind, wind chill of 3F and sunny. Relatively balmy compared to just 6 hours ago ... lol! I carried no water and just two vanilla HammerGel packets that I kept warm close to my belly in an Amphipod pouch.

A random shot of runners milling around before the start of the Winter Warrior Half

I lined up with a lot of other runners and soon we were all boxed in pretty tight ... at least it was blocking a bit of the wind! The course was basically 5 loops clockwise around the MCC campus. We ducked into a couple of parking lots to add distance. The relay change point and timing strip (TS) was in the 2nd parking lot "duck" almost to the start/finish area at the iceplex. The USATF map is here.

And ... we were off! The start was a bit congested but I got up to speed relatively quickly.

A 1000 or so runners just after the start of the Winter Warrior Half

I found Chris O'Brien and ran with him for a mile. He said that he wanted to run 8:00 pace but that his Garmin's battery was dead. I told him that our first mile was 8:06 pace. He picked up the pace a bit or did I slow down? I let him go. There was still a long ways to go.

The relay point and timing strip

I made it to the TS on loop 1 (about 2.45 miles) at 19:22 at 8:08 pace. I noticed the lights, warming tent for relay runners and two porta-potties as I ran by. I was running well and didn't take any water. It was cold but not unbearable. It did get worse when we ran into the wind just past the start/finish area as we ran up a wee small hill. The TS on loop 2(about 5.09 miles) passed in 20:59 again at 8:08 pace. I took water now every time at the water stop just after the TS from the same guy. I had caught up to slower runners and picked my way around them for the rest of the way. The TS on loop 3(about 7.72 miles) passed in 21:16 at 8:15 pace. It was 5PM and the sun had just set.

Sunset around 5PM ... about two loops to go

Just two more loops to go. I did notice that a lot of cars were trying to enter or exit the MCC parking lots and were being held up. The TS on loop 4 (about 10.35 miles) passed in 22:05 at 8:33 pace. It was dusk and getting dark. I had no headlamp. I was getting hungry so I took a HammerGel just before the water stop. I was slowing but only one loop to go!

Chris O'Brien (l) and Jeff Rose (r) enjoying the moment?

I found a woman with a long coat and brown hair that was running my pace. I didn't say a word to her but ran with her throughout this loop. She mostly ran to the inside and I ran to the outside when we passed runners.I don't know if I could have talked anyway. I think my mouth was frozen. On, on ... it was dark ... onward with no headlamp and street lights for illumination. Passing runners with headlamps helped. The fifth loop (about 13.02 miles) passed in 23:16 at 9:02 pace. I took water for the last time and willed myself forward. It was totally dark. I had no idea how to cross to the left to get to the finish. There was a bit of confusion but someone said "Go this way" so I did. I saw bright lights, heard a crowd and saw the finish. I saw the clock tick past 1:50:00 ... shoot. I got from the TS at loop 5 to the finish in 3:12 at 8:00 pace.

The finish line!

I was done! Someone put the WW snowflake medal around my neck. I clicked off my Garmin at 13.38 miles, 1:50:12. My mittens didn't turn it off so well. They are big and bulky but nice and warm!

I made my way inside the iceplex. I received the first piece of the Four Season Challenge from Luen. I found out where the Bill Grey's food was and was soon handed a hamburger, chips and a well earned beer. I tried to call Christine but my iPhone died. There were TVs and I saw that the Ravens - Patriots game was 14-21 at halftime. I met up with Steve Levitsky. He had ran a 1:41:04 for 29th overall and 7th in his tough M45-49 age group. We talking for a while. Then I noticed that my fingertips were all white due to Raynaud's phenomenon. It happens all the time to me and doesn't bother me too much. But ... I needed to warm up. I made my way, OK I ran, out to the Equinox. I was shivering uncontrollably for about 5 to 10 minutes as I waited for the car to warm up and for my iPhone to charge a bit. I pulled off my 1/4 zip long sleeve pullover and put on my Sehgahunda hoodie. I also put on my well earned Winter Warrior Half hat. I got a bit of charge so I called Christine and told her of my situation. Soon I was warm enough so I made it home, got my gear out of the car without incident, up the stairs, she handed me a mug of hot chocolate and I put my feet up. I felt OK ... 21.6 miles for the day later.

I remember seeing some signs around the course: "Smile, Your paid money to do this", "Baby, It's #$%^&*@ cold outside!" and "Run hard when it's harder to run".

A lot of people were certifiable crazy!

"Yay, you!"

I heard that there was a sign with the frozen Jack Nicholson from "The Shining" but I didn't see it. I sometimes "zone out" and just run.

I found that the Patriots had won their game at home against the Ravens, 35-31, link here. Then I watched the next game. The Seahawks at home beat the Panthers, 31-17, link here. I wasn't really hungry until later. My supper consisted of chocolate cake ... yummy!

I looked at Winter Warrior Half results, link here. I did OK with a 1:50:07, 91st out of 841. I was 5th out of 35 in my M55-59 age group, link here. All in all, not bad.

The WW Half swag: The race snowflake medal on the left and the first 4 Season Challenge medal on the right.

Here are a few news video clips. You can see me at 0:40 seconds on this TWC News clip, link here. I am pretty sure that I am in this clip too, link here.

  Interesting YouTube video ... I assume that I was in the Top 100 that was passed by the winner, Kenny Goodfellow, at the beginning of the 3rd loop

A YouTube video from behind the finish. I assume that I am in this video somewhere.
The link for above video is here in case you want to open it in a browser. Yellow Jacket Racing has a YouTube channel, link here.

I looked at the many Facebook posts about the Winter Warrior Half. Everyone thanked the volunteers (as did I) and recounted the tales of their journey on this night. I did find a thread about the traffic hassle at MCC. MCC and Monroe County gave the approval to Yellow Jacket Racing (YJR) for the WW Half months ago. YJR had asked for a night with no activities planned ... well no one checked the MCC activity calendar or just added to it later. It seems that there was a hockey practice, basketball practice, lacrosse practice and a swim meet going on at the same time as the WW Half. This is why many of the volunteers holding up traffic were bitched out by some of the drivers trying to exit or enter the MCC parking lots. I read that Ellen and Barb had a run-in with a MCC Campus Security officer and that the route to the finish line was changed during the race from the 1st to the 2nd entrance of the iceplex. I finished by heading in the first entrance. She said that this added 0.2 mile to the race (some runners did report 13.5 miles). Drama during the race ... wow! I would have loved to hear Ellen go toe to toe and yell "I am the race director!"

All in all, an epic day!