Polar Bear Plunge!

Thanks for reading while I'm away at Disney & the Bahamas!

Enjoy this post from Nicole @ Running While Mommy

Hello 2012

Well what can I say.  So far this year has kicked off with a great start!  After my not so great run on New Year's eve, I got everything I needed done and was ready in plenty of time for my company.  We had four wonderful families come over to help us bring in the New Year.  This has been a tradition for us since my son was born and each year it gets better and better.  Adults and kids had so much fun and my two little ones made it to midnight!  I think my son thought it would be more exciting when midnight came.  He seemed a little disappointed and went up to bed.  My daughter on the other hand would of kept going if we let her.  We had to drag her to bed at 12:15.  I went to bed shortly after that because I had made a definite decision to do the Polar Bear plunge.

I was out of the house at 9:30 to register by 10.  I wanted to be there early enough to guarantee that I would get a commemorative beach towel.  I was the second one there.  It was a beautiful morning.  The sun was shining and the temp was 50!  OK, this may not be so bad.  I drove home to have breakfast and get the family.  As we approached the beach there were cars everywhere. After finding parking and getting onto the beach I couldn't believe how many people were there.  I don't know if it was the nice weather that brought the crowd or if that is how many people do this every year.  Whatever it was the excitement was awesome.  There were even kids doing this, kids my sons age which is 6.  I couldn't believe it but I was loving it.  

I was very lucky to be doing this with my girlfriend Jen.  As the clock said 2 minutes to go, we got in line.  It was here that I had a second thought.  I can't swim.  I am afraid of drowning and I really don't like being cold.  What am I doing here?!  At that point, people started the count down.  They were loud and jumping and happy to be there.  That is it, I am doing it!  Then we ran to the ocean.  

When my feet first touched the water, I thought it wasn't so bad, but as the water got higher my legs started to freeze.  People were already starting to make their way out of the water and at that point I realized I lost site of Jen.  I went a little further in and started to find that it was really hard to breath.  This I didn't expect and I started to panic.  I was still only in up to my waist and I started to turn around and get out.  I made one last look for Jen and I saw her coming up out of the water.  She dove in!  I don't know where the courage came from or why, but I ran further into the ocean and got down covering my whole body but I just could not put my face in.  This I know for some means I am not a true Polar Bear, but for me to even have put one foot in is a huge accomplishment.  

I got up and hurried out of the ocean as fast as I could.  It was even harder to breath and my legs were getting worse.  I found my family and friends and got dried off as fast as I could.  We made our way to where they were giving out hot chocolate and that made me and the kids happy.  The only shoes I had were flip flops and on the way to the car my feet hurt.   I was so happy to feel the heat on them as we drove home.  As you can imagine, I took a very long, hot shower and when I came downstairs, DH had champagne open and waiting for me to celebrate my accomplishment.  Thanks babe!  One of the crazy things is my knee does not hurt.  I can see why people do ice baths to help with some pain and soreness.  Going to have to keep that in mind.

Now, on to my first run of the year.  For starters, this was the first time I ran in a temperature of 30 degrees.  It was very sunny, but cold.  As I headed up the hill I was thinking that this is crazy, who runs in this weather?  After about 10 minutes, I realized I was dressed to warm and I actually laughed out loud for being so silly.  This was a beautiful day and I felt good and my run was awesome.  I ran 3.44 miles in 43:06.  I also signed up for my first race of the year.  It is the Jamestown Bridge Race, Easter weekend and it is a 10k.  This race has hills that don't thrill me, but I have heard that it is a really nice and fun race.  Wish me luck.

Lastly, I would like to thank Stephanie of Running to Health for letting me be one of her guest bloggers while she is on vacation.  This is still pretty new to me, running and blogging, and when I started I didn't plan on putting my self out there like this.  I have found so much support and inspiration in other blogs that I follow and now I hope that I can motivate and get you out there too. 

Well I hope you all had a wonderful start to the New Year!

Run strong, think big!

Nicole 

Running While Mommy

Please make sure to check out her great blog HERE, and I'll be back soon!