1/6/2018 - Winter Warrior Half

Saturday, 1/6/2018: 22216 steps during the day; 2 runs of 0.71 and 13.22 miles, 3F, 78% RH, 11 mph WNW wind, wind chill -13F, overcast with light snow after loop 2.

Today's race was my fourth Winter Warrior Half (2015 at Monroe Community College in 1:50:07, 2016 at Rochester Tech Park (RTP) in 1:47:44, 2017 at RTP in 1:46:06). It's an epic race ... so it deserves its own blog post.

I was up around 8 AM. There was no need to get up early ... the race wasn't until 4 PM. I had a mug of coffee and a muffin with one side of peanut butter and one side of strawberry jelly.

I read Facebook posts about people testing out their cold weather gear and it made sense. It seemed like a bother but I thought it would give me more confidence if I knew that all this gear actually did its job ... keep me kind of warm. So ... I got found all the "really cold" running gear, dressed and got outside. I added my new ski goggles and Innogear headlamp (even though it was daylight). Then I set out to take the Netflix DVD to the mailbox on Greenleaf Road around 10:30 AM. I found that my goggles fogged up but I could still see about 10 feet in front in me. I went 0.71 miles at 8:44 pace, link here. It was cold: 1F, 77% RH, 15 mph WNW wind, wind chill -18F, overcast. My running gear seemed to be spot on: blue Salamon SpeedCross 3 trail shoes (with close to 800 miles on them), CW-X tights with shorts, long sleeve tech, Craft long sleeve tech, yellow/black Brooks 1/4 zip pullover, balaclava, 2015 Winter Warrior hat, goggles, headlamp and ski mittens. It all felt OK so I decided that I would not afford myself the option of doing only 1, 2 or 3 loops but would attempt all four no matter the conditions.

Flat "Doug" ... all my gear except I wore the new green Winter Warrior hat (Ellen said we could)

Test run selfie

I whiled around the time just lounging around. Christine got a cowbell, went outside and started yelling "Go, runners", etc. I didn't know what she was doing. She was quite cold when she came back inside. She explained she was doing her cheer for me from home. She had trouble uploading it to Facebook so she uploaded it to her laptop and emailed it to me to upload.

Christine cheering for Winter Warrior Half ... from the front of our townhouse 13.6 miles away from RTP
I started to get ready around 2 PM. I put on all my running clothes except the head gear. I put a Foot Warmer in my trail shoes (they didn't feel any warmer AT ALL). I put warm water in my Nathan SpeedDraw water bottle and also brought my Hammer Gel flask. I took the 2018 Cruze down to the Rochester Tech Park (RTP). The traffic was light and I arrived around 2:45 PM. So ... I got a close parking spot right by the porta-potties within 100 yards of the warming tents.

Boots setting out traffic cones ... photo courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

Ellen Boutillier arriving ... photo courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

It was 3F when I arrived at the RTP and it didn't get any warmer!

I pinned my bib onto my shorts and put a Hand Warmer in each ski mitten (they worked a little). I spent most of the time before the 4 PM start right inside the car just chilling. I got out twice to "hit the head" but that's about it. I just people watched.

I got out at 3:45 PM, locked the car with the side door locking button (note that fact), adjusted all my gear (turned on my Nathan Tracer360 vest, pulled up my GRTC neck gaiter, made sure that my goggles were tight, put on my ski mittens) and headed over to the start/finish line. I didn't take my water bottle or Hammer Gel ... too much bother. Man ... was it cold!!! I met up with Prem Kumar. We talked a bit as we jumped around to keep warm. There were a minimum amount of announcements ... and we were off!

The start ... courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

I got up to some semblance of a race pace. The road was covered with about an inch of snow so my trail shoes handled it OK with just a bit of slipping and sliding. The course was 4 loops so any wind would be felt (and enjoyed ... NOT) 4 times. The wind was felt in the face just as soon as we turned left onto Les Harrison Drive E and ran up the incline to Les Harrison Drive W. The traction varied so I had to move around a bit to find the best spot to run. There was a little bit of ice too so I had to be careful. It didn't help that my goggle fogged up a bit. The 200 yard section on Manitou Road was the clearest section of the course. Then we turned out of the wind onto Creative Dr. I always seemed to speed up when I was going downwind. There was a volunteer woman by Harris B101 (I found out that she was Meghan Smith) who must have danced the whole time to keep warm as she gave us encouragement. Then there was the jog left onto Innovation Way to add a bit of distance before turning around and heading back over to a left onto Initiative Drive. Then another left onto Lazar Drive and another left into the start/finish line.

Lazar Dive about 1/4 mile from the end of Loop 1 ... photo courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

So I stayed left the first 3 times and right the last time ... photo courtesy of Barb Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

Boom ... loop 1 done. I either yelled out (sometimes no words ... my voice got a bit frozen)  or waved every time I went by a volunteer. Only 3 more loops ... as it got darker. I started to lap slower runners about halfway into loop 2. I stopped to have some sips of icy water after loop 2. I felt a bit sick to my stomach so I didn't stop after that. I just put my legs and body into a "get it done" pace. I turned on my headlamp as it got darker. It started to snow. I was amazed that some runners wore no reflective gear or a headlamp! I had to keep my head up to make sure that I didn't run into other runners. I started to get passed by the faster runners on loop 3. I felt a bit hungry during loop 4 but I just sucked it up and kept on running at whatever pace I could muster ... forward.

Ellen gave me (and almost everyone else according to her) a high five each time when I went through the start/finish line. Soon it was my time to head into the right lane as I approached the start/finish line .... and done in 1:55:17 (according to my Garmin)! I accepted the finishers medal and the 4 Season Challenge medal with pride (and a bit of exhaustion). I stopped my eCrumb, took a selfie and walked toward the 2018 Cruze.

The start/finish line ... photo courtesy of "Boots" Boutillier of Fleet Feet Rochester

This video of the finish line is almost like being there ... minus the cold and wind chill of course!

End of Loop1 at 9:08, Loop 2 at 37:30, Loop 3 at 1:07:12, Finished at 1:36:36. (The video did not catch the start and was started later).

Number of finishers was 269, number of male finishers was 130

A bundled up post race selfie

Then everything went to shit (for a bit). I reached into my Nathan Zipster for my car key ... and didn't find it! I was a bit wet from sweat so I was cold and shivering out there in the elements. I made my way back to the start/finish line and then into a heated lobby. I told a Yellow Jacket Racing staff member that I had lost my keys. He sent out a text for everyone to be on the lookout for them. I called Christine so she could come down to get me. I warmed up for a while next to a heating grate (ahh!) and then realized that I needed to eat something. I made my way to the warming tents where the food was staged and had 2 bowls of mac'n'cheese along with 4 cookies. It's kind of tough to eat mac'n'cheese when your hands are shaking from the cold ... a fork really helped! I stopped by the award table and found that I had won my M 60-64 age group. I got a plaque and a jar of Once Again peanut butter. More peanut butter ... mmm! I now have 4 jars with different levels left in each.

The roads were treacherous so it took Christine a while to get down to the RTP with the 2014 Cruze and then a bit for her and I to find each other once she got down there. She unlocked the 2018 Cruze ... and there were my car key safe and sound in the ignition! We were both a bit cranky toward each other ... mostly from the cold. She hadn't expected to go outside and I was just really cold. But we were also relieved that the keys were found! I put on my coat and cranked up the heater fan in any car that I happened to be sitting in. Christine made me drive the 2014 Cruze home since she hadn't driven the 2018 Cruze yet.

Soon ... we were both home. I got home about 10 minutes before Christine did. She got stuck behind some slow pokes. Christine heated up some leftovers (chicken thighs and lamb roast) and also made up a pizza for supper. I complained a bit but realized I was hungry and went in for seconds a couple of hours later. I was also thirsty and had 2 mugs of milk. My right foot hurt and I complained about that too ... Christine made me take off my sock so she could make sure that it wasn't frostbite. I think I picked up two more black toenails from them hitting the toe box as I slipped and slid during the race. The socks I had on Saturday night certainly did hurt my toes!

The results were posted in a couple of hours. Yellow Jacket Racing outdid themselves trying to get all the results together. I finished in 1:55:15, 33rd out of 267 solo finishers, link here. There were a lot of runners in the overall results that didn't start, dropped after 1 loop, dropped after 2 loops and dropped after 3 loops. I was first out of 15 in my solo M 60-64 age group, link here. Loop times were: Loop 1: 27:46, 8:29 pace; Loop 2: 28:22, 8:40 pace; Loop3: 29:42, 9:05 pace and Loop 4: 29:27, 9:00 pace. My splits were: 8:35, 8:12, 8:17, 8:44, 8:23, 8:29, 9:30, 8:47, 8:42, 9:01, 9:02, 8:39, 9:06 and 8:28 over the last 0.22 mile. The Relive link to Winter Warrior Half is here.

There was a 1 loop race with 251 finishers, link here; a 2 loop or quarter marathon race with 44 finishers, link here; and a 3 loop race with 1 finisher, loop here. There was also a relay race with 7 male (link here), 12 female (link here) and 11 coed (link here) teams.

The Winter Warrior Half bling (4 Season Challenge, Finisher's Medal, hat and bib)

The Winter Warrior Half Age Group Winner bling (plaque and Once Again peanut butter)

I started to read all the Facebook posts. There were lots of stories of epic adventures! I would like to touch on two. One, Bill Murphy, a 69 year rock star walker. I passed Bill twice during the race. I said, "Hi, Bill!" as I went by. He replied in his customary "Go! Go! Go!". Bill was on an epic adventure in 2017. He had 1340 race miles, did 26 full marathons, 48 half marathons and did races with Mainly Marathons in 48(!!) states! Second, is a little girl that I passed on loop 3. I didn't really notice her but I remember a little girl all bundled up wearing fairy wings with lights on them. Well .. she was 10 years old and ran her second half marathon. Her mother posted on Facebook that she was nervous about letting her run but that she wanted to do it, would wear what clothes her mother wanted, would run with someone and would stop to be checked every lap. Awesome!

I would like to thank Fleet Feet, Yellow Jacket Racing, their staff, all the volunteers along with the ambulance crews and police who helped keep us safe!

Fleet Feet was selling this design until Tuesday, 1/9/2018, for $13/$18/$25 (ss shirt, ls shirt and hoodie)

There were new crews there also: RochesterFirst.com link here, WROC link here, 13Wham link here, Spectrum News link here (you can see me run by at 0:17 to 0:19 seconds).

All in all ... an epic day for an epic race!