Ran the Smithfield Turkey Trot this morning. I woke up a couple of times between 5 and 7 this morning only to hear lots of wind and rain pounding the windows. Didn't sound like a good day for a race. When it was time for the race to start, the rain was a very light drizzle with temps in the low 40s and the south wind was still there but not to bad. They had a record turnout even with the bad weather. This is a pretty tough course and climbs about 150 feet in the first mile most of it being in the first .6 miles. At the beginning of mile 2 it quickly drops and you lose most of that elevation in the next .3. Then it climbs another 70 feet over the next 1/2 mile before dropping the rest of mile 2 and .65 of mile 3. There is a short flat stretch [one of the few] then it climbs about another 30 ft to the finish. I really felt relaxed [much more than you should in a 5k] over the first 2 miles and really didn't feel like making it uncomfortable. By the time we started the 3rd mile [which is mostly downhill] the wind had really picked up and of course now we were running right into it. The weather ended up actually not to bad [other than the annoying headwind at the end] but shortly after I finished it got a lot worse. Along with the wind [which continued to get worse] It started raining hard again. I felt sorry for the 10k runners [especially the slow ones]. But mostly felt bad for the volunteers at the finish line. All of their roped of finish area markers blew over and they had to take turns holding up the timing clock to keep it from blowing over too. They had to stay out there timing runners and tearing off the tabs until everyone was finished while the runners all got to go into the warm rec center.
I ended up finishing in 19:49 which was 2 seconds slower than when I last ran the race 2 years ago. I'm not in very good race shape right now but wasn't for that race either. This is the exact time I ran 3 weeks ago on an easier but long course. These last two 5ks are actually the slowest I have run since 2006 but I don't feel too bad because earlier this year I was running some of my best and I really wasn't pushing it. I did win my age group. I have won my age group in all but 1 of my races this year and that was TOU Marathon where I took 2nd. Of course it helps that I move up to the 50 + age group for 2/3s of the year. It's a little easier being at the bottom of the AG rather than the top. After taking it very easy for the past 2 months since TOU. I feel like most of my little nagging injuries are doing good. I guess it's time to build back a some base now over the winter and get ready for Boston.
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