Race Report: HRCA St. Patrick's Day 5K

Well, the short story is that I was a minute slower than my PR. But the long story is that it was only because of weather and cautious running on the ice, rather than decreased running ability. I felt good the whole way, never reached the puke threshold, and had plenty of gas left at the end of the race* to sprint the finish.

Yep, the temp on the dash of my car say 16 degrees, and that is a snowflake
to let me know that duh, snow is possible at 16 degrees. Thanks Volkswagen.

It snowed Friday about 10 inches. It was 16 degrees when I arrived at the race at 8:15. The sun did come out in time for the start, but it was still only 20 degrees, icy, and cold. They had plowed the paved course, but there was a lot of icy patches the whole way. I did mile 1 pretty reasonably (8:34) considering the conditions, but never could pick it up as fast I would on dry ground. A couple of speedier runners had fallen and ended up bleeding or with jacked up limbs, and quite frankly a PR wasn't really worth it to me on this race. Yeah, I'm fair-weather tough like that.

The icy start...

...and the icy finish. That's HRRC runner Super Fast All-American Kyle.

It was super-fun to run with all the Highlands Ranch Running Club (HRRC) members that were there, and unfortunately the Flying Frenchman is on the DL and couldn't run...but the upside benefit of that is that we had our own personal running club photographer there. Score! So, without further delay, here are my momentous race photos.

Trying not to fall on the ice, coming into the last quarter mile at the finish.
*Please note Red Guy behind me.

Uh oh, I do NOT like Red Guy passing me...

Better not slow downn now Red Guy, I am coming for you...

Oh, so sorry Red Guy, but your immasculation is of no concern of mine!

Red Guy, you just got chicked! By ONE second!
Yes, I count the small victories.

RACE STATS
Net Time: 27:30, 8:53 pace
10 in my age division
16 female
64 overall finisher out of 238
But most importantly, one second faster than Red Guy who thought he could dude me at the end; not so, buddy!

And oh yeah, RIP Gay Leprechaun; never thought I'd miss you but now that you are gone, I do.

This year's St. Patrick's Day 5k race shirt, which is sublimely blah.
I feel a bit of loss where the Fugly used to be....
(Sorry, I am too lazy to open it in photoshop and rotate it.
It's easier to require you to turn your head to the left instead.)

It's Racing Season!

Ah...daylight savings, St. Patty's Day, spring...and a return to racing season for me. I really thought I would have done some of the early races this year, but it just didn't happen with the marathon training and busy life. BUT this weekend, I will officially return to racing with the HRCA St. Patrick's Day 5K. Yep, that one, with the Gay Leprechaun t-shirt.

After my last year of running longer distances and consistently running the biggest hills in Highlands Ranch, this race is going to look a lot different for me than it did last year. My memories of this race were a bit hazy, but I remember thinking that the hill toward the end was pretty nasty. Well, tonight I met up with a few other running buddies to run the race course, so that we'd all be familiar with it Saturday. (After being 65 for the last few days, it is predicted to snow 5-10 inches tonight/tomorrow, so there is no telling what that course will be like Saturday morning.) I've had a head cold for the past couple days, but popped some Dayquil this afternoon and was ready to run at 6:30. We had one novice runner with us, and all just took it easy and had a nice chatty, social run. I've gotta say, my perspective has completely changed in the last year; that hill was nothing. Like, seriously nothing. It is probably one of the easier race courses in the HRCA races. Weather permitting, I might have a speedy race Saturday...and the fugly Gay Leprechaun t-shirt to show for it.