Hypo One Half Race Report

There isn't even an athlete briefing.  It's just expected that everyone knows what they are doing and has dressed how they need to.  The weather forecast this year was for ice pellets.  With some wind, that would be bad.  Really, really, frostbite, ouch this hurts, what are we doing here, bad.  I think this is the most dangerous race that I enter.  In triathlon, I'm not going to drown, I might get scraped falling off my bike, but that wouldn't compare to freezing rain and ice pellets.  For this I packed my ski goggles that I use biking in this weather.  You can't have any skin exposed.  Sunglasses are to keep in warmth as much as to keep out the light.  It could be horribly cold, or wet, or strong winds with ice pellets.

Hypo One Half

Jen worked Saturday, so I picked her up at Pita Pit at 5.  I should have gotten there early to eat, but traffic was bad and I couldn't find parking, so I was late.  I grabbed a chicken sandwich at Tim's on the highway out of town.  We collected the race packets from Dayna in Sarnia.  She got them for us yesterday.

We stayed at the host hotel, the Holiday Inn near the bridge.  It was packed for a weekend pool tournament.  People carried bags everywhere with their cues.  We were to bed early, but every hour or so, drunken pool players would pass loudly down the hall.  About midnight, one came pounding on the door of the room next to us.  In the morning, Jen suggested we return the favour.  No.  Breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  Toast with jam and peanut butter.  Just like one of our driving trips where we go to Tim's for the same.  

We assembled at 8:30 in front of the hotel.  That's great.  No driving, just walk outside and ready to go.  I want to do that for one of the Toronto events.  

Lake Huron is frozen over

The weather was nice!  It was right around freezing, with no wind at all, not even for the stretch of the run along the lake shore.  As we came in to finish, it began to rain, and that's all of the precipitation we had.  I hadn't snowed for a few days, so the roads were clear of slush.  The water at the aid stations wasn't icing over.

The run begins towards the bridge, then heads east to the outskirts of town, and loops back along the lake.  We passed the church where my mom's funeral was held two weeks earlier.  That's why I raced here two years ago.  It gave me an adventure while on a trip to visit her.  It pleased her that her granddaughter (Jen, whom I race with) took care of herself with all the running.  You can't go home again, but you can go running there. 

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the brunch provided.  Chocolate milk, eggs, and bacon.  Lots of bacon.  Usually after a run I'm not very hungry.  I use Gu to keep my energy up, but today the sight of all the hot food brought on quite a craving.  The drive back was horrendous.  Freezing rain kept icing up the windshield wipers;  and ice pellets;  but not for the race.