Saturday February 6 2021
For a runner seeking to race, the winter months provide sparse pickings at the best of times. During the current government reaction to Corona Virus, and the people’s reaction to that – it is even worse. However, I was able to find a race, in perhaps a more unlikely US state for the winter months – Iowa. The PBR Half Marathon. And what an event it was.
We left Charlotte Friday morning. The truck was having some bed cover work done, so we Lyfted to the airport with a fellow Joseph, a nice older gentleman, who used to be in the navy. We touched down in Des Moines around 1300, picked up our snowy bags and Hertz rental (a classic Nisan Rogue, which was about to be put through its paces), and headed out into the tundra.
Our view from the plane as we came in to land –
Iowa in the winter is a harsh place to be, and with a Canadian cold front sweeping down through the US, the weather forecast looked pretty fresh…
*Bear in mind that’s Fahrenheit, so for Saturday (race day), that’s -14 to -23 C…
We drove about an hour north west to Perry – it is here that the race was taking place. The PBR half. Nothing to do with the beer really, but the race is point-to-point and goes from Perry to Berkeley to Rippey.
Before checking in to the hotel, we drove the course, to get a feel for the terrain, any elevation, and to figure out if the snow was settled on the road or if there was gritting, whether it was icy, and what type of running shoes would be best.
I did a little test run around Berkeley – a tiny hamlet, with more old vehicles than places to live – and deemed the Vapor Flys would work!
We headed back to Hotel Pattee and got settled. We had a delicious steak/rib & cheese curd tea in the hotel restaurant, and actually got to switch rooms to one of our choosing, on the second floor, because our first room, on the third floor, was ‘one of the cold rooms’. Our new room was a big suite and all the rooms were individually themed. During our selection process, we had eschewed a peculiar clown / beach room for our own – one decorated in memory of Hollywood sports films. Tomorrow was about to feel a bit like one, so we watched Angels & Demons, and got an early night.
Saturday morning came, snow was falling, the wind was blowing, and the hotel festivities for the BRR ride had begun with music and fanfare. The BRR ride is a cycling event that happens the first Saturday in February every year. Riders from all over travel in the freezing temperatures from Perry to Rippey and back. It was the festivities of this event that three years ago, spurned the creation of the accompanying PBR Half Marathon, courtesy of a keen runner and fantastic local man, Zachary Norgren.
Our morning view from the hotel…
I breakfasted in the room on pistachios, fruit and cereal bars that I had brought with me, and began to get ready. I had come prepared – indeed, getting ready for this race had taken some planning!
What I wore – AE Flex Boxer, Gyakusou leggings, Balega Enduro 2 Crew 200, Next% Vapor Flys (soon to be changed to me Nike Wildhorse Trails), hamstring supports, shorts, Skins baselayer, Nike aerovent T, Nike Therma Sphere hooded long sleeve top, Gyakusou windbreaker, Nike Aeroloft jacket, Garmin watch, iPhone & armband, Neck Gator and neck warmer/mask, Sweden headband, Oakley sunglassses for the blowing snow, neoprene undergloves from my work colleague Bryan, plus my new purchase – the fantastic Nathan HyperNight Reflective Convertible Glove/Mitt Galaxies. All this to say, I wore all that, and was still absolutely frozen when I got to the start line, where by the way, I looked round to see lots of the runners set up in trail shoes with YakTrax over the top (like snow chains for car tires). I thought “Oh dear…” and quickly changed into my trail shoes. They served me fine until the last five miles, where, now ion a well gritted road, I was able to stop for 30 seconds and switch back to my road shoes – with a little help from Becca to tie the laces as my hands were still numb!
Start of the race –
The race started slowly and coldly (6 degrees, approx -14 C). I ran with Zachary for the first two miles or so. We saw a local truck driver donutting in the snowy street, let a couple of runners take the lead and chatted for a while. It was good to get a feel for the terrain, the weather, and just to get to know Zachary a bit more. Our RD peeled off at the first aid station and I pressed on, got some music going in my right headphone and took the lead around mile 4. The wind was shooting in from the right and the snow continued to come down heavily. “Snow on snow on snow on snow”, as Bert Jansch sings. I left my hood up, found that running with a face covering over my mouth was too difficult, and noticed that it was now so cold that anything elastic – hamstring sleeves, iPhone arm band, legging waistband – all stopped working. They just stayed in their stretched position, losing all elasticity.
About mile 6 I had a gel, removed my jacket and gave it to Becca through the car window – my one person race support team who was following/leading diligently in the Rogue – and pressed ahead to Berkeley for the loop I had practised the day before. On the run out of Berkeley, I experienced the only mile of the race where it was not head on wind and snow, and tried to get my pace up a little. The cold was really limiting blood flow to my muscles, so any push for speed was incredibly difficult, I just felt heavy, slow and cumbersome. This little push out of Berkeley even gave me a twinge in my hamstring, probably because the muscles just couldn’t warm up properly, so I didn’t stress it too much, and stayed on an even pace before turning right for the last 5 miles, down the long straight road for the finish in Rippey. This was the road that had been gritted, so around mile 9-10, I was able to stop, meet Becca to change into my lighter Vapor Flys as forementioned, and take in another gel – which Becca had had to carry so it didn’t freeze in my pocket.
During the race –
The last stretch was pretty painful – my mouth was frozen open – which was fine for breathing, but not great for spitting any saliva away, so my cheek froze solid with ice. The road was either OK to run on, due to the cross wind being so powerful that it blew all the snow away off the surface – or terrible to run on because the snow had not been blown away, due to the coverage from the violent wind provided by a barn or silo in the field. The mittens/gloves really were a lifesaver, maybe literally so.
I crossed the line at 1.41, a 7.40 mile pace, which, given the conditions, was not bad at all, and it was really fantastic to get the win.
Finishing race –
I collected my winning medal and Scotcharoo prize (baked by Zachary’s Mum), tried to warm up in the car whilst Becca worried that I had frostbite, and even managed a quick change of clothes into the extra T Shirt and down jacket I had packed; before giving my congratulations to the other runners, offering a lift to fellow finisher Brian, and getting on the road back to the hotel.
Official race pics – before, during and after –
Race data –
It was a hell of a race, a real battle, and it was lovely to have a warm shower in the Hotel Pattee room, before getting our stuff together and heading off to Des Moines, the snow still falling heavily.
We ate a huge lunch at Zombie Burger, then checked in at our hotel – The Renaissance Savery by Marriott – which was lovely.
I set some of my running items to dry off in the hotel room –
We then headed out to explore Water Works Park in Des Moines. We drove and walked around the beautiful snowy expanses of the river park, and after exploring the banks of the frozen river, even stumbled across a Dodge Challenger stuck on a snow bank. A group of us tried to push it out but the AWD wheels unfortunately just wouldn’t bite.
Below is our view from the hotel, of the Iowa State Capitol Building, and some photos from up close when we went to look around the impressive building itself, upon returning from our adventures in the park.
We grabbed some champagne and food to eat in the hotel and retired for the evening. The next morning I did a quick workout in the hotel gym, before we checked out and grabbed brunch at Waveland Cafe (a political campaign hot spot). We then headed to the airport and flew home to Charlotte.
We loved our stay in Perry and Des Moines, and I can’t think of a race I would rather have completed in representation of the great state of Iowa than the PBR Half Marathon. So there we are, 38 states, and one real engagement with the Midwest farmland winter – down.
Racing Americana 