That was the coldest weather I've ever run in

Don't worry. Even though it's taken me two days, I did not turn into a chunk of ice during Saturday's group training run.

Almost. But not quite.

I really debated even going on Saturday morning. The weather man was telling me it was going to maybe be in the positive single digits with a nasty wind chill near -20. Ouch. But when the alarm went off at 6:40 a.m., I glanced at the Weather Channel's Local on the 8s and found out it was 2 degrees outside with a wind chill of -18. I still managed to get myself out of bed.

There is no photographic evidence of how I dressed (blame it on the early morning hour and the fact that my camera battery was dead). But I ended up wearing layers. Lots of layers. There were three long-sleeve wicking/tech shirts and my black running pants layered over a pair of Cuddl Duds that I had gotten for Christmas. Think long johns, but not so bulky. They were kind of like tights and actually kept me pretty warm considering the temps. On top there was my jacket, an ear band, my running gloves with a pair of mittens layered over them and the neck/face warmer. And my DryMax socks.

It was cold. And add to it a fresh one-inch layer of fresh snow. So at times it was a little challenging to run just because the icy spots were covered by snow. But don't worry. I didn't wipe out.

A fellow runner in the group - I think four runners showed up and we had four coaches on hand - loaned me a hat to use to keep my head warm. And I didn't realize the value of slathering Vaseline on your face.

We did about three miles before I started to get cold. And really it was only my legs from my knees to my hips that were cold. The rest of me was find, including my feet (love the DryMax socks!). I'm going to have to invest in a hat and look for some other kind of neck/face warmer. Since the one I had would not stay up on my face at all. Maybe that's why it was a close out deal.

Overall it was a good morning run. A little cold. But a good run. I'm really looking forward to the group. The coach knows what he's doing and during the run chatted with each of us a bit about our goals and our experiences. I told him about my 2:30 goal, how hills are this foreign concept to me (what, the city I live in is VERY flat), and how it never fails. Once I hit the 10 mile mark I struggle. A lot. But he sounded like he was already tossing ideas around his head about training plans while we were running.

Once we were done running the coach gave us some paperwork to fill out for next week and we were off. As I was driving home, I was thinking about it. And I'm really glad I signed up for the training group. I think I'll learn a lot and it'll be nice to be running with others. It was a small group Saturday, but they told us it should be a bigger group next weekend when it's a little warmer. And while I could have skipped out on the run, stayed in bed and stayed warm, I'm glad I faced the subzero wind chills for the run.

And it only took me three hours to finally warm back up.

Just in time to head over to the YMCA for the indoor triathlon.