Blog Master G

On Sunday I ran the Winter Wimp for the third year in a row. This is the race that began my long distance road racing career in January 2008 when I ran it with Alex and Cati in a sweatshirt and cargo pants, before I knew what I was doing. I call it my anniversary race. It’s a good measure of my continually improving fitness — and a good excuse to race in Upstate NY in the middle of ass-cold winter.

The first year I ran it in 38:33. Last year I ran it in 30:15 (the improvement in fitness between when you first start running and your next year is always the most significant since the faster you get, the more exponential each minute and second become). So this year my goal was both to beat last year’s time and to break 30 minutes.

I achieved both, clocking in at 29:46, which was good enough for 3rd in my division and 19th overall (if you go by 5-year age increments, like most races, I would’ve been 2nd in division).

It was a sunny yet super cold day (about 12 degrees) and I felt strong going into the race. I was careful not to come out too fast, and quickly fell into a solid pace (although the 6:29 in Mile 1 turned out to be my fastest full mile of the day). I started at the front of the line so as to avoid getting caught in any congestion (as was the case when I ran the Saratoga First Night 5k on New Year’s Eve 2009), and let a bunch of people pass me in the opening uphill stretch, knowing that most would probably fade and that I’d be able to turn it on later in the race.

Sure enough, after the second mile mark, lots of runners started slowing and I kept on going, passing a number of people (6:42 Mile 2) . There’s a small hill leading up to the final turn toward the first 2.2-mile lap (where runners have the option of “wimping out” for the shorter version of the race). In the first lap, I passed a few people going up that hill.

As I passed the start / wimp out / finish line, I slowed a bit to grab some water, and a couple guys passed me. I ended up re-passing them by the end, though (despite my slowest-of-the-day 6:56 in Mile 3). In the backstretch, I was still feeling strong, so I picked up the pace, and gave it all I had for a solid finish (6:37 in Mile 4 and 6:16 pace for the final 0.4 mile). I wasn’t wearing my iPod, so I sang “Eye of the Tiger” to myself for some motivation. Yeah, that’s right.

Congrats to all of the other runners!

Big props to Jen for braving the cold and giving up so much of the day to journey to Hagaman and back with me.

Note to organizers: The post-race festivities took way too long. Please consider finding another venue for the high school cross-country awards, or doing them after the awards ceremony that’s actually part of the race for which everyone was there.

Mile splits (view Garmin data):