You had to know that after my GMEN won the Bowl, it would only be a matter of time before I came to stalk them through the streets of New York, right?

Sadly, last night my boys Mario and Victor were dancing on stage at the Grammys, so I had to settle for a night in admiring them from afar with this girl.

She even cooked me dinner to welcome me into town, or, to celebrate her one year anniversary of meeting her boyfriend…I choose to believe the former.

After sharing numerous horror stories with each other about what terrors we are in the kitchen, I was pretty skeptical about what would happen when Ali decided to take “scratch” and “make it into things.” While Ali was doing things that didn’t calm my fears, like, reading instructions off the internet and questioning what part of the scallop she was supposed to be knifing, I sat and drank wine with her boyfriend to help cope with what was going down in the kitchen.

But, turns out I was pleasantly surprised with the delicious outcome of the meal she prepared. Well done, Ali on the Stove, well done.

Before I headed North to the Big Apple for all of the dinner fun, I spent my morning rendezvousing at the races.

I went back and forth for hours about whether or not I would DNS the Love the Run You’re With 5k. I ran it, PRd and had a blast at last year’s race, but between Saturday’s whoopsies of a long run and my desire to arrive on Ali’s doorstep ASAP, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to push my weekend running mileage nor make the effort to get across the river to Virginia, run and get back.

Plus, this greeted me when I opened my door yesterday morning.

Snow. Gross. Winter 2012 was not supposed to include anything other than 50-70 degree temperatures and zero inches of frozen precipitation.

Not that weather ever really chases me away from a good run or race, but a 5k recovery run in 20 degree weather with high winds did not sound like the most enjoyable nor the toastiest way to kick off my Sunday.

But, if you’ve known me for more than a hot second, then you know I am not one to refuse the opportunity to get my adrenaline fix. Even when I’m not actually going all out at a race, I get all giddy at the sight of the start line banner, the sea of bibs, and the rows of porta potties swarming with racers. Yes, even porta potties get my heart racing.

So, at 8am on Sunday morning, I found myself picking up my bib for the Love the Run You’re With 5k.

I registered for this race pretty much the day after I got my boot off. I knew by February I could handle the 5k distance, so I signed up, didn’t care whether or not anyone else would be joining me for the race, and penned it into my race calendar. Fast forward two months and I was heading to this race solo. Luckily, I knew a few girls from the internet would also be spending their Sunday morning getting their race on, and I happened to bump into one of them in the bathroom.

The scene played out a little like this:

Walk out of stall, see girl wearing lululemon jacket at sink, admire jacked on girl, start washing hands, catch girl’s eye in the mirror, instant looks of recognition wash across both of our faces, followed closely by simultaneous “Emily?” “Megan?” and boom. Instant race friends. Add “bathroom” to the list of top places I meet people, right after “the internet” and “locker rooms all over DC.”

After our slightly creepy introduction in the bathroom, I joined Megan and Jess to stay huddled in the warmth until race start.

During this time, Megan and I decided that the cold and wind would be far more bearable if we ran together and went out for fun, not speed.

So at exactly 8:57, we sucked it up and headed out to the race start.

Yes, the weather was “feels like 11” with wind chill and I was wearing a skirt.

But it’s okay because I paired it with leg warmers, which, true to their name kept my legs totally warm. My butt, however, could have used a warmer of its own, some people would probably call this “pants” but clearly I’m not a fan of this option.

Yes, those are another pair of new shoes. Yes, we’ll talk about them later.

Three unbearable minutes of waiting around at the terrifyingly chilly start line, and the gun finally went off.

Source.

True to our very well thought out race plan, we stuck to a little over 8 minute miles and focused on just having fun with the race.

At least, as much as you can have fun when one person can’t wiggle their toes and the other can’t feel their fingers.

Source.

We tried to distract ourselves from the cold by talking races, boys, and DC running gossip. It kind of worked. Especially when we hit the halfway point and got to run the back of the out and back with the fierce wind behind us.

After Saturday’s 15.5 miles, I was quite pleased with how fresh my legs were and how not-injured my foot felt. It may or may not have been the freezing temperatures numbing them to a point of false security, but I choose to believe it was just a fantastic 5 kilometer recovery run.

25:40 finish time.

And more importantly, survived the coldest 5k EVER.

I can’t believe I ever questioned going.

In the future I will remember, that, much like never regretting a workout, I never regret a race.