This new year is the second one for me that I start out with a run and a swim in the morning.  There is nothing particularly special about either of these events except it has a kinda symbolism for starting out the year right.

New Year's Day was a little more challenging this year.  It started out with a weather advisory from the National Weather Service for Spokane, WA area:

HEAVY RAINFALL COUPLED WITH MELTING SNOW WILL RESULT IN FLOODING OF SOME CITY STREETS AS WELL AS SMALL STREAMS AND LOW LYING RURAL AREAS. SNOWFALL THIS MORNING WILL CHANGE TO RAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TO BE HEAVY WITH AROUND 1 INCH OF RAIN EXPECTED BY FRIDAY MORNING. CITY STORM DRAINS COVERED WITH SNOW AND ICE COULD QUICKLY RESULT IN STREET FLOODING.

Well... at least everywhere that I went, it wasn't rain but snow!  As has been the case for most days over the past two+ weeks, I start out by shoveling the drive way (I secretly still enjoy starting the day this way).  However, the result was that I was a little late picking up John Martinek.  Fortunately, he had paged me earlier suggesting that we cancel so he wasn't quite ready anyway.  Glad I didn't get that page or the day wouldn't nearly have been as fun since I probably wouldn't have left the house.  Along with John's wife, Kelly, we drove down to Coeur d'Alene for the Hangover Handicap.

Hangover Handicap

The Hangover Handicap run is put on by TESH, Inc, a non-profit rehabilitation organization helping those who are disabled and/or disadvantaged to reach their highest level of independence.  The course runs along lake Coeur d'Alene, ID, an exact match for a portion of the Coeur d'Alene Ironman run section. 

There was certainly nothing special about my time.  In fact, we arrived a few minutes late so we didn't even start until only the walkers could be seen in the distance.  I knew a a few folks from Itron in the race (Doug Dominey and Fran Johnson) so once I was able to catch them, I doubled back a few times to say, "Hi" and run with John some.  In total, I stats were as follows:

Distance (including doubling back): 5.24 miles
Time: 42:32
Pace: 8:07 min/mile

Nothing to write home about but we ran on snow the whole way, it was snowing heavily, and I can say I even enjoyed myself (not the usual poking yourself in the eye type of experience. :)  After grabbing an apple cider from a local restaurant, we headed down to the lake for a swim.

2009 Coeur d'Alene Polar Bear Swim

It seemed we were going to be just in time for the plunge but on the way there a truck (4X4) go stuck in front of us - I was driving a Honda Odyssey.  We of course stopped and once they got going we were stuck too.  Traffic started to line up quickly behind us.  Eventually, we got the line to reverse and we rolled back for a running start.  We got to the top of the hill and started sliding down the other site, narrowly missing a parked car on the way down.  I slowly rushed to the plunge area to join the other 1,000 or so "crazies."  Unfortunately, the bell went off just as we were entering the area.  Bummer.... I pushed through the watchers, raced down the beach, stripped, and dived in after everyone was already out.  (Heck, I had come all that way, I wasn't going to miss it now.)

Once I got out, John and Kelly came over to see if I was still alive.  John's doing the Ironman this year so he had no choice but to pressure him to go for a swim. He reluctantly agreed, and to ensure I wasn't asking him to do something I wouldn't do - I joined him for a my second swim of the day.  (I think that credits me for having done the polar bear swim 3 times in two years.)

CDAPress had a great description of the event in the newspaper the next day.  I say great because it does a good job of having absolutely no explanation of why people do this type of thing but that they do it anyway. :)

I highly recommend this experience.  Really, it sounds stupid (in fact, it is stupid) - however, having done it now, I can say it is actually pleasurable - really!  The coming up for a breath isn't great - you feel almost short of breath.  However, once you stand in the snow and soak up the experience - there is just something inside you that makes you want to yell... YEAHHH!!! 

(P.S.  Don't do it twice on the same day like I did, that isn't so great.)  

Friday, January 02, 2009 5:30:16 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [1]  Personal | My Sports