Gotta love Nebraska winters…no, wait, you don’t! Ugh. It was near 50 degrees on Sunday and Monday before the latest cold front rolled in early Tuesday morning, bringing snow, single-digit temps, and 45 mph wind gusts. At least the weekend was nice! Sunday was the first official Omaha Running Club race of the year, the Chiller Challenge 8k. This was my 3rd time at the Chiller, and it was definitely misnamed this year. Folks showed up in everything from hats and gloves to shorts and tank tops – the spring-like weather left everyone a little confused on how to dress. I left my coat in the car, but wore my mittens and hat…until I reached the first mile marker, where I tucked those babies in my waistband… All-in-all it was a good race; however I really felt my lack of training when I got a mean side cramp right before hitting mile 4. Ouch! I finished in the top 30 women, coming in at 44:35. Not great – not even in the top half – but considering my recent bout of laziness, not bad either. I’m really just happy I didn’t walk!
This was the 1st race for the 2008 Run the Magnet Challenge, which will be my 3rd challenge…and potentially last for a while. If I have my jaw surgery around Christmas/New Year’s time, I will probably be prohibited from running for a few months – I was told to abstain from contact sports (“No boxing, huh Doc?), but I’m guessing that running is also too high-impact for my recovery period…
