North Alabama woke up to a blanket of snow today with temps right at 32. I got some good pictures and video to show my northern family and friends that yes we do get snow down South (just not very often, which is fine by me). The girls were lookong forward to playing in it after church, but the sun came out during church, and by 11:30 the meltdown had taken place. We did see a couple of snowmen still hanging on on the ride home.
The race was a rare Sunday afternoon event, so Kelly and I headed over to Huntsville after lunch for the 2pm start. A very stiff 15-20 mph wind was responsible for the snow to sun weather change and with the race course being a 5k out and back run twice we had the pain and pleasure of head wind and tail wind all throughout the course.I had no expectations going in, so I started out the first 1/2 mile at a pretty conservative 6:45 pace with a tail wind. when we made the turn into the wind I tried to tuck in behind a group of bigger runners but he pace was not working for me so I pushed on up ahead and planted myself in 8th place by mile 1 and stayed there the remainder. The 5th mile was the worst with it occuring during the most head wind, but I gained a lot back in the 6th mile with the tail wind and buildings blocking the head wind going into a slight uphill finish. I was somewhat surprised that I broke 40 given my fitness level, plus I garnered some HTC grand prix points. Splits: 6:07, 6:18, 6:06, 6:25, 6:54, 6:15, 1:25
Kelly ran well, 57+, not a PR but a fine effort. We enjoyed a lot of good socializing post race, and the food afterward was plentiful, I enjoyed the hot chocolate. Overall a well run event. | 