What a nice way to spend New Year's Day before settling in to watch some college football bowl games. Heading into the race I knew it wasn't a day for a personal record or outstanding time, rather it would just be fun and a hopefully injury-free day.
It was about 25 degrees, windy and very icy on the course. I ran with my old ice spikes for the first time in a race, which definitely helped, but since they are heavy on my shoes, it felt like I was running with ankle weights on, probably adding two lbs. to my feet.
Doesn't sound like a lot, but it sure was noticeable. My legs felt very heavy the entire time.
With that said, under these conditions I'm pretty happy with my time, which was 36:29 or 7:18/mile pace. I finished 38th overall out of 300 people and 5th in my 35-39 age group.
If the weather was warmer and the course free of ice, I'm guessing that I could have easily run in the 34-minute time range, perhaps even faster.
But at least I was out there today after considering not running the event on the drive there, with the snow, wind and ice blowing all over the road.
One thing I've learned, it's time to invest in some new technology for my shoes if I want to run outside. I talked with Heather Cass of Erie, Pa., who works for the newspaper there and is a friend.
She showed me what she wore on her shoes, they're called Yak Traks. I've heard about them, but never really got a chance to see someone wear them. One thing for sure, they are MUCH LIGHTER than what I wore.
So today I can consider the race as a great training run and I'm looking forward to the spring and summer racing season.
Runners World Quote of the Day:
"I know I can run a marathon, ironically something I couldn't do in my younger years. This aging thing isn't so bad after all."
Jim Miller
Happy running!
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