New Braunfels, TX set a record for the coldest temperature in history on January 9. It was 14 degrees the morning of the Bandera 25K Trail Run! What the heck was I thinking? Had I not already paid for the darn race I would have stayed in my warm cozy bed with my warm cozy hubby and baby girl.
Alas, Shayne and his friend Patricia were waiting to meet me so we could drive together. When we arrived to the trail head, Shayne's car read 12 degrees! Ouch! I've trekked in that cold of weather and it is not fun! You would think that because I survived the cold temperatures of Alaska for 3 months that I could handle the cold temperatures of Texas for a few hours. Well, NO WAY! I just know that I don't like the cold at all and would prefer not to have to tolerate it.
Once again we were treating this 15.5 mile run as a long training day to get our feet used to the pounding. Our goal was to carry some weight in our packs while hiking the uphills and running the downs and flats.
I was so cold before the start that I broke one of the cardinal rules of racing. "If you are a comfortable temperature at the start, then you will be too hot when you are racing." I would say that I was as comfortable as I could be at the start because I was wearing my puffy jacket and big thick gloves I used in Alaska but I didn't care. I DID NOT want to take them off so I decided I would start with all the clothing and carry it with me when I warmed up. After all, this was a training run and we were supposed to carry extra weight anyway. Well, not a half hour later I was already removing my puffy. The temperature stayed in the 30s-40s for a while but I ended up carrying my puffy and my gloves the rest of the way. My feet were frozen for the first hour and I ended up tripping because I couldn't feel them but after a while they thawed and I felt better.
The three of us did a good job of sticking to our run/walk plan and we finished the 15.5 miles in about 4.5 hours. There were some good little climbs with lots of technical rocks throughout the entire trail. Our feet and legs really got a good workout and it ended up being a beautiful day when the sun came out.
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