There were rumors all week that it was going to snow this weekend. It was hard to believe that since on Tuesday I went running with shorts and a t-shirt on and it was 68 degrees.
Well, this is Minnesota and the weather here is anything but consistent. It turns out the rumors were true and when I woke up this morning there was already a few inches of the white stuff on the ground. In addition it was a bit on the windy side.
That would not stop me from running. I had a birthday to celebrate! My friend, Carin’s, birthday was on Friday and running the Diva Dash was how she wanted to celebrate. I was going to be there no matter the weather.
This was the first year for the Diva Dash, an all female event, and it was put on by Final Stretch, the same organization that ran the Mankato Half Marathon. $5 from every registration went to MOCA (MN Ovarian Cancer Alliance). I always appreciate a charity angle in an event.
The event was held in Centerville, MN, which in regular conditions would take about 35-40 minutes to get to. Today, it took me a little over an hour. The plows had not been out much so the road conditions were not perfect.
I found a parking spot and decided to wait in the car until Carin arrived. They took a different route than I did and had some major issues finding the start. It looked like we would be starting well after the official start time.
Since the point was to have a fun run together, I was not upset. It’s not like I was going to win the thing. I watched the runners go by my car (I was parked on the route) and I must admit, they looked miserable. I was happy to be in my nice warm car.
Carin arrived and we decided to start from where I was parked instead of trucking to the start and just turning right around. Since we didn’t cross the finish line, we would not have an official time. Again, no big deal. I was going to at least time us and get our mileage on my Garmin, but I had forgotten to turn on the GPS and futzing with it in the cold and snow just wasn’t happening. So we ran the race unplugged.
We were by ourselves the entire time. There were two water stations with trooper volunteers handing out water, but other than that, just us and the snow.
On a few stretches the snow was pelting our faces so hard, we were wincing with pain. I have never run in conditions such as these and I don’t know that it will be on my list to do again. :)
My knee had been acting up this week so we took a few walk breaks at my request. I think I might need a rest from running.
We only saw one mile marker along the way for mile 4. I was so glad we only had a mile to go. Surprisingly, the finish line was still up and there were a few volunteers in addition to Carin’s hubby, daughter and sister there cheering.
We were officially last and proud of it! Since we never crossed the start line, we don’t have a finish time, but I’m okay with that. This race was about running with a great friend to celebrate her birthday.
And now we can totally brag about how idiotic awesome we were that we braved those crazy elements!
Obviously I didn’t bring my camera along with me on the run part, but I do have a photo of us at the end that I think shows the glorious conditions we ran in.
Thanks for a great run Carin!
Have you ever ran (or biked) in crazy weather? Do tell!
One year ago: Betty’ Crocker’s words of wisdom on the food pyramid.
She said. She said. 
Thank you for waiting and helping me run my last “race” for awhile. Hopefully I will be race ready by this time next year and we can do it again, and this time, start at the start and finish with a time. You’re an awesome friend and as much as I can inspire you, you do that for me and so much more! Love ya!