So with that in mind, myself and my friend Neal drove up to Indianapolis yesterday to run in the first annual Indy Winter XC 5k. We had both been looking to jump into a race, and with a severe shortage of races in Louisville during the winter (though there are a few good ones), we started looking a few weeks back and found this race in Indianapolis. It looked like fun, but we were both a bit wary of the fact that it was a cross country race in the winter. We knew there was no way the course could be in any kind of decent shape, especially with how harsh this winter has been. We definitely should have been warned when we saw the event description: "We are offering Indy runners a fast, painful, gritty 5k during what is sure to be some of the worst weather possible!"
But either way, we decided to enter, as much for the cool hoodie that came with it than any strong desire to run this particular race. As the date got closer, both the Indianapolis and the Louisville forecast got worse and worse. I had been coming off a series of snow days, and the forecast for Saturday morning when we were planning on leaving was for heavy snow in the AM, with the worst falling between 5AM and 8AM. With a planned departure of 6AM, we knew we were in for an exciting drive up.
I woke up at 5AM (after only managing about 3 hours of sleep), looked out the window and immediately regretted the day I was about to have. The snow was basically falling sideways. I got out the door as quickly as I could, and as I crossed the bridge into Indiana, I had to fight a layer of snow on the highway, which resulted in my first of many fishtails on the way. I had to pick up Neal at a Wal-Mart parking lot just across the river, and when I got there the parking lot was covered and the plows were getting ready to clear it off. He parked his car in what he hoped was a spot (when we returned it turns out he was actually within the lines of a parking spot) and we left. The drive up was an adventure, to say the least. Along with the snow on the highway, I had to fight high winds, that would literally push my truck sideways into patches of snow. I lost count of the number of times I thought I was losing control of the truck. There was one scary moment where I started to slide sideways. I just took my foot away from both the gas and brake and prayed I wouldn't hit anything. Fortunately, after a short fishtail I regained control and resumed our slow trip North. I stayed as much in the tire tracks created by cars in front of me as possible, and averaged about 50mph on the way up.
When we finally made it to Indianapolis I had hoped the roads would have begun to be treated, as the snow had finally stopped, but we were ahead of the plows and we had about 10 miles of city roads and narrow backroads that hadn't yet been touched. We got off the highway at 8:20, about 40 minutes before race time so we knew we were cutting it VERY close, but kept our hopes up. After a treacherous 25 minutes we finally pulled into Southeastway Park and immediately began changing into our "racing gear," which today was basically the warmest clothes we could comfortably wear while running. For me it was running pants and two shirts, gloves and a hat. I hoped the wind wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting.
We stepped into the indoor meeting area where registration and packet pickup were located and caught the second half of the pre-race meeting that described the course. I picked up my number and hurriedly put it on...and Neal still had to register, which they fortunately allowed. I ran into my friend Nick and his wife, who live in Indianapolis and had told me they were running as well. As the crowd started to walk out into the cold and towards the starting line, I jogged to the car with my new hoodie, quickly tightened my shoes (no spikes or flats were necessary on this course) and jogged to the starting line, giving me a total of about 90 seconds of warmup.I had held out hope that the course had been shoveled or touched, but I was disappointed to see a layer of snow up to 6 inches deep on most of the course. So we were going to be trailblazers here, putting fresh footprints on a new layer of deep snow. While I knew going in a fast time was out of the question, this final revelation told me that my time was going to be humorously slow compared to what I can normally run.
When the siren went off to signal the start, I basically started moving forward as comfortably as I could. I had no idea how to run in these conditions, so I just decided to run as comfortably as possible. I was glad I ignored Nick's pre-race comment of, "If you don't win this thing, you entire trip was a waste," because I think if I had started out with the leaders I would have had a miserable (more miserable) second half of the race. Within 60 seconds of starting my legs felt like I had just run 1/2 mile uphill. Digging into the snow every step and slipping and sliding around made getting into any kind of rhythm impossible, so it just became a matter of trying to move forward in any way possible. I settled into as comfortable a pace as I could manage and slipped into about 15th place 2 minutes into the race.
Fortunately, as in just about any race, there was a huge group of people who went out way too fast for their own good, and I spend the next 1/2 mile passing the majority of the people in front of me. I ended up in what I thought was about 4th place, with the two leaders almost out of sight already. At what I guessed was the 1 mile mark (though there were no official markings) I had settled into a group with two other guys, and we were in 3rd-5th places. This was about 8 minutes into the race.
Around 9 minutes I started to feel really lightheaded, and had to slow down my effort. I figured this would cost me a few places, but it turns out the two guys I was running with did the same, so we stayed in a pack, and my head started to clear as I caught my breath and settled in. We stayed like this for almost the rest of the race.
The course consisted of several loops, and while most of it was covered in 6 inches of snow, there were places where there was just a thin layer and you could actually try to pick up the pace a bit. It was in these spots I tried to move ahead of my small pack, but it was pretty much a wasted effort as they had the same idea. At around 16 minutes we went around a turn and there was an official calling out, "Just head around the turn and towards the finish!" This really threw me off because I knew our pace was considerably slower than 7:00 per mile, meaning we should have been running at least 22 minutes for this thing...probably slower. It turns out he meant this was our last loop. We still had almost a mile of running left, but the loop itself would end with the final straightaway into the finish.
So as the final loop dragged on and on, we continued to stay together until we finally came around a turn that went between a group of trees, and there about 200 meters ahead was the finish line. We all started to pick up the pace, with one guy (who just looked the part of the trail runner) really taking off and gapping us. I looked at the other guy next to me and said, "Come on, lets go," and started to sprint and ended up putting a gap of my own on him. I crossed the finish line in 4th place with a time of 23:24, which is considerably slower than the pace I hit on my long runs, but it felt like one of the harder efforts I've ever put into a race.
I waited at the finish patiently for Neal, who was about 40 seconds back in 7th place, and together we waited for Nick to finish a few minutes later. After watching finishers straggle in for about 15 minutes, I started to get cold so Neal and I headed back to the truck, changed into some warm clothes, and instead of doing a cooldown, decided to head inside and wait for awards, which were scheduled to start at 10:00.
After a few minutes of waiting, we decided a cooldown was worthless anyway, so I started to grab food that was set out. Around 10:30 they started awards, and I have to admit they had good prizes to give out. The top overall finishers, as well as top finishers in the Masters and Grand Masters divisions got blankets. The age group winners got travel mugs. Despite my 4th place finish, I was given the 3rd Place overall prize, as the guy who got 3rd and pulled away from me at the end was in the Masters Division. This confused me at first, because they did overall awards first and when I was given the 3rd place prize, I made sure to let the organizer know I finished 4th. But they clarified, and the true 3rd placer got his Masters Division Champion blanket for his trouble.
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