Hypothermic Half-Marathon

The Running Room Hypothermic Half-Marathon was on Saturday 04 March. The Ottawa event takes place a lot later than many other locations, which can potentially mean mild conditions, but not this year.

The sky was clear and the temperature was down to -20c, with wind chill making it feel more like -30c. 
 
It was freezing. Even with a short wait at the start line the cold sliced through layers of clothing.

On the first stretch the headwind cut like razors. My toes went numb and I was forced to keep my face covered, which caused my sunglasses to mist (and then freeze) so I ran without them.  After 2km the ice on my eyelashes and eyebrows was making it hard to see, but thankfully after the turn-around point the conditions were completely different.

The course is a closed road behind the Marshes golf course in Kanata.  It's a straight-ish 2.5km 'out & back' so each loop is 5km.  The second half of the loop felt great.  Facing the sun, runners were peeling off gloves and scarves and feeling much better, but you knew what was waiting for you when it was time to turn again.

Freeze. Thaw. Repeat. After four laps the course had a final 500m out & back, then a 100m run to the finish.  Some runners missed the last segment and ran straight for the line after 4 loops (many saying after that they only had 19 or 20km on their watch at the end).

My goal was 3:20 marathon pace (4 mins 44 secs per km), and I finished on target at 1 hour 40.

The pace felt good but with the conditions it's hard to tell how comfortable it would be for a longer run.

At the end of March I'll have a chance to test myself for 30km at the Around the Bay race in Hamilton.  Hopefully it will be much milder by then!

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