Running in a Winter Wonderland

I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I wouldn't be around to do the Sunday long run with the Running Room. Instead, I opted to take part in a Running Room event on Saturday night...Sight Night, an after dark run that benefits vision impaired athletes. Not only is that a great cause, but it was 8K (just one km short of the run I'm supposed to do tomorrow) on a really nice route and I get a cool headlamp! You had me at hello, Sight Night! Crystal had to work (boo) but Christi decides to keep me company (probably so she can sleep in on a Sunday)

Princess Chris meets me at Eau Claire bearing gifts---Fancy grippies for our shoes and head gloves to keep our foreheads, ears, chins and necks warm on a -17C run. Paired with our jazzy new headlamps, we looked like pros! After a few speeches and a quick warm up, we were off! The grippies felt weird in the mall, but were awesome on the snow; nary a slip or skid along the snow covered paths. Running along Memorial with 500 people in headlamps and reflective gear was pretty amazing, and we actually saw a few blind runners being guided along the route, which was pretty neat too. We cheered for all the volunteers along the route---I'm guessing standing around in -17C for an hour is harder than running in -17C for an hour, but they were all cheerful as they pointed us along our way. Unless that clapping we heard was actually teeth chattering. We got quite a few compliments on our snazzy matching head gloves too, which princesses always love to hear.

Product not exactly as shown,
but still totally awesome

We cross the finish line in 52 minutes flat and stay at the finish line for a few minutes cheering runners in until we started freezing. Both our Ipods say we ran 9K, not 8, so we're actually right on track for the long run this week, hurray! We head inside to discover they're handing out hot chocolate WITH AS MANY MARSHMALLOWS AS WE WANT in them along with some of Calgary's best sandwiches, bananas, chips and the biggest oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I've ever seen (full disclosure: I had 2 once I confirmed they weren't raisins). We plop ourselves down on the floor with our bounty, hastily take off every sweaty outer layer (Christi almost has a wardrobe malfunction forgetting which layer was the last one) and devour what is probably the best meal I've had in weeks, picnic style. Neither of us wins a door prize, but the shower I have when I get home is prize enough for me.

I think I've become addicted to entering races. I love the energy of the runners, the volunteers and the people who just want to stand there and cheer. I love the swag, the whole experience start to finish, and the pride I feel at the finish line. And I've loved every new thing I've tried so far---running with other people, running without headphones, running at night, running in the snow and combining all of the above! Now I'm off to follow the Flames on a road trip through New York, New Jersey, Philly and Pittsburgh, so I'm hoping I can get some runs in this week in exotic new destinations...stay tuned!