Winter Chill 2026

Finger Lakes Runners Club's Winter Chill series is a great – yet crazy – way to make it through cold weekends in January.

This is my fifth consecutive year running the Finger Lakes Runners Club’s Winter Chill series. It’s a low-key 5K series that starts and finishes behind the ice rink at Cass Park. Each week we all wear a different color (why not?) and have a great time on the out-and-back course that hugs Ithaca’s inlet. It’s fun to see the progression of this winter’s weather each week of January (and into February, as I’ll explain below).

Race 1 - January 3

I warmed up with 3 miles on our treadmill before heading into Ithaca to pick up our bib and await the 10a start of the first race. It was fun seeing all of my friends in the club beforehand! The footing was just fine on the waterfront trail, with recent snow clinging to grass but not the blacktop. Amy and I both volunteered to take photos before, during, and after the event, so I ran back along the course and took photos as part of my 2-mile cooldown. This is my selfie about halfway along the inlet.

5 km in 20:33 // 4 of 91 overall, 1 of 9 age group, 6:37 pace // strava

Race 2 - January 10

Well, the snow was all gone for this week, so I warmed up along the waterfront trails north of Cass. It was still on the cool side, but I shed my outer layers and chose to run in short sleeves. Alex challenged me to 6:30-35 for the first 2 miles and 6:20 for the last. I knew that plan was out the door when we started; we were all running pretty fast and the conditions were ideal. My splits turned out to be 6:19/6:26/6:10. I had to be careful to not get caught up with Kenny and Anne, who were crushing the distance in the series, but this turned out to be a course personal best for me! Like last week, I spent the cooldown taking photos and returning to the trails I warmed up on.

5 km in 19:44 // 6 of 97 overall, 2 of 13 age group, 6:21 pace // strava

Race 3 - January 18

Wow, look at that sunshine! I warmed up with an out-and-back on Black Diamond, while listening to a highly inspirational Daily podcast with Kilian Jornet. It’s hard to feel bad about the effort of running a 5K when you’ve just listened to a first-person account of Kilian’s States of Elevation project. I felt surprisingly fresh after the Hartshorne mile just 24 hours prior, and my splits were really even at 6:27, 6:26, and 6:24. I cooled down again with photo-taking duties, and enjoyed a selfie with Heather and Diana as they returned with the turnaround cone.

5 km in 20:05 // 4 of 78 overall, 1 of 7 age group, 6:28 pace // strava

Race 4 - February 1

Now that’s a winter chill. The last race started and ended at the Hangar Theatre, giving us a warm place to mingle afterwards with donuts, assorted treats, and random drawings for those who ran all four events. The final race was postponed a week due to dangerous windchills and snow the week prior, pushing us into February. It was still pretty cold – a balmy 9 ℉ – with a real feel of -3 ℉. I ran a 3-mile warmup on the treadmill again. Conditions were slippery, and the middle half mile or so we found ourselves slipping and sliding through 6 inches of unplowed snow, but I was really happy with my time. I was even happier to run a cooldown with Scotie and get some fun photos of myself being a goofball on the course.

5 km in 21:27 // 4 of 57 overall, 1 of 8 age group, 6:54 pace // strava

Final Thoughts

I was thrilled to finish 2nd overall in the series with an average pace of 20:27, and feeling really good about my fitness this winter. Amy also won a gift card to Finger Lakes Running Company! The post-series recap is fun, and includes all four group pictures from each event.