Extraordinarily cold.
I swim in it during the summer, but with a wetsuit, because I am a cold-weather wimp. And it’s cold then.
Every year, there’s a 5k in one of the parks by the lake, and if I remember to sign up, I do it. This year, I was picking up a Christmas present in one of the running stores, and I saw the flier and signed up - but there was a difference, this year, they were offering two routes. One was the normal 5k, and the other was a 5k where at the end, the participants dipped into the lake.
I chose the second.
On the way to the race this morning, I had serious second thoughts - it’s been bizarrely cold, it snowed Tuesday night (it’s not supposed to do that), the temperature was 29-degrees, according to the digital readout thingy I passed. I wasn’t really dressed for it (though I did have warm, dry clothes); I was one of maybe 10 people there in shorts. I no longer have tights, I haven’t run outdoors in cold in over a year. (After 1/2 mile, it didn’t matter)
But I ran anyway - at a not-that-slow-for-me pace. And then after the third mile marker, the course split, and the wimps went inside to the finish line, and I went to a table, put down my walkman, took off my jacket, gloves, shoes, and socks, and then waded waist deep into the water. After a few nervous comments to the guy making sure we completely submerged (otherwise we were DQ’d) and the photographer, I sat on the bottom, which was nice, sandy, and incredibly cold. Then I got out, got my stuff, and ran across the finish line barefoot.
I might actually buy this race photo.
