Yesterday Don and I completed the Edmonton Hypothermic Half Marathon walk and boy did the race ever live up to it’s name. We have had the most amazing winter. Other than a couple of cold snaps, we have had very little snow and unbelievably mild temps…..that was until this weekend. We had a near record snow fall and the temps dropped to minus 17 celsius race morning. I had on so many layers of clothes that I felt like I did when I was a kid and my mother dressed me up in a big, bulky snowsuit before she would let me go out and play in the winter.
We have’t done any training in deep snow so we were not prepared for how much more effort it required to walk through deep powdered snow. By the 10K mark I was exhausted and wished I could quit. I’m still not sure how I managed to complete the full 21.1 kilometres. My training times had me finishing in under 3hrs and 30 minutes but I ended up taking 3hrs and 44 minutes. I trained with a group of people who have done many half, full and ultra’s and they all said that it was a very tough race so I guess I can take some solace in that.
I can now cross this one off my bucket list!
Life In The Dog House 