Book Across the Bay

My wife and I have completed the "Book" every year since 2008.  This is the sixth straight year in which I have done this race.  As always, the Book Across the Bay is a mostly flat course.  This year there was a pressure ridge at the 6-7 kilometer point in the race so there was a slight elevation change which was a nice break from normal.

 

Angela and I posed before one of the coldest Book Across the Bay I have every done.  We were smiling, but the sun would soon go down and it would soon get much colder.  Angela and I spent an hour sitting in Burker King sipping on hot chocolate so we didn't have to stand around outside.

 

As the sun goes down the temps plummet.  You don't see it here, but when it came time to do the actual run I usually strip down to a bare minimum of clothing. On this year, I wore race shorts and a pair of thin tights, a baselayer, and a thin outer orange shell.  I also wore a hat and gloves, but all other clothing I was wearing earlier in the day got put in a bag to be dropped off at the finish of the race.

 A cool sight that has not been seen in previous years was this ice dragon spewing fire.  At least one creature had a source of heat tonight.

 

I finished the race in 6th place out of 707 snowshoers in a time of 53:40.4.  Upon completing the course I thought I would revert back and run the course backwards until I saw my wife.  I didn't know it at the time, but my wife was having some problems with exposure to the cold and had stopped to warm up which meant I had a long wait.  I ran back 2 kilometers and finally waited at the 8 km marker since I thought I shouldn't run much more than that as I was thinking she would be around soon.  As I waited, I froze and got colder and colder.  Finally, I saw Angela and she was not looking good.  With temperatures below zero before even considering windchill, this was one cold night.  I was about the coldest I have ever been.  As Angela and I trekked toward the finish, we stopped at the 9 kilometer marker by a fire to warm up.  It is amazing when you are frozen how even a fire doesn't help you warm up much.  When we left the 9 kilometer marker, Angela wanted to walk a good portion of the rest of the way as she was also dangerously cold.  That walk toward the finish was bitterly cold and my forehead was unbelievably cold.  I couldn't even look forward and had to tilt my head toward the ground to keep it from being exposed to the cold wind.  My wife and I both agreed that this was one of the toughest Book Across the Bays ever as far as weather is concerned.  I don't know how she made it to the finish all right as she stripped down to a minimum of clothing as well. Perhaps next year we'll be watching the weather much more closely prior to doing this event.  Still, the postrace chili always hits the spot and warmed us up well.