New Year's Eve Resolution Run

Well, in an effort to close off the year right, I took part in the local Running Room "Resolution Run" 5km this evening. Grant picked me up at a quarter to 6 and off we went to await the beginning of the challenge. Grant is a great runner, and so he moved up to the front, with the hopes of running a sub 22 minute 5k (this is with only maintenance running in the last little while, no specific training for this race). I hung back and awaited the gun.

It took a while for the race to finally begin, and when it did it was clear I was starting too far back. There were a lot of slow people to pass, and so it took me a while to make it out of the pack and get into a good pace. It was pretty cold tonight, the weather showing -16 degrees Celsius (-25 with windchill) and so I was bundled up as warm as I could be with my current kit. I could have used some windbreaker style pants though, as I rounded the 2.5km marker I had to pause for a moment to see if I could warm my legs up - they kind of felt solid on the outside (weird).

I felt I was running a good race, and that I shouldn't be far off my goal time of 25 minutes. I found a couple who were keeping a decent pace and tucked in behind them and let their determination pull me a long on the return trip. As we approached 250m left or so, I lengthened my stride and passed them. Sadly, I crossed the line at 28:40 by the race clock. I'm not sure when I was able to pass the start line, but I can't imagine it was more than a couple of minutes. Oh well, it's always good to have a goal, even if you don't achieve it. I did achieve it in my indoor treadmill runs in the last couple of weeks (before most of the Christmas feasting I've taken part in), so I know it's possible. Maybe it was just the weather on this day.