Every Race is an Adventure!

I was on my own this morning, so I decided to run a few "fast miles" this morning. The weather phone said the temperature was 41 degrees, but it felt much colder to me. There was a cold breeze and a light snow falling.

I warmed up by running the mile or so up to the former WordPerfect buildings. The "fast mile" is from that corner down 1600 N. to 400 E. and then south to 1200 North. It has a little uphill section near the beginning, and is flat at the end, but overall it is mostly downhill. It is about a half mile jog back up the hill through the former WordPerfect buildings to get back to the start.

I ran two "fast miles" on this course. On the third, instead of turning on 400 E. I continued on 1600 N. all the way down to Main on my way back home. My times for these three "fast miles" were 6:36, 6:34, and 6:38. I haven't run this fast for a while, and it felt pretty good. However, my goal of a sub-20 minute 5K (6:27/mi pace) will require me to run just a little faster.

I played basketball again with Andrew and the bball guys this morning. I should probably have stayed in bed. My left knee was acting up (bad knee from football injury in my youth), I was sent flying on my back when I set a pick that wasn't noticed by an aggressive defender, and I rolled my right ankle when I stepped on someone's foot in a crowd. I didn't play all that well either, but that's pretty normal. Fortunately, nothing was too serious and I feel pretty good now.

Recovery day to let my old aching joints heal a little. I wasn't planning it that way, but it was too icy and cold (in the teens) for me this morning so I stayed in bed, and then I worked through lunch and didn't make it to the fitness center. After work my daughter has a dance performance at the Festival of Trees, and then I have band practice, so I won't be running tonight either.

For the curious, band practice is for a band that is being put together for my church congregation's Christmas party in a few weeks. Most of us in this band were in band in high school or college and haven't played for a decade or two. I will be playing my old (1914) silver tenor saxophone, which I've now polished most of the tarnish off. Our first practice is tonight...should be interesting.

Morning basketball with Andrew and the guys.

Tom Lee emailed during the week to see if I was interested in running the Nutcracker 5K at UVSC. Since Larry and Wayne would be running the Death Valley Marathon, I decided to run the 5K.

The registration materials state that each runner is required to wear a tutu (in honor of the Nutcracker Ballet), but it is not (thankfully) enforced, although most of the runners did wear them, even many of the men. I did not wear one.

I was prepared for a very cold run, but with sunshine and the temperature in the high 20's it wasn't really too cold. I was glad I decided to not wear my fleece vest.

I ran the first mile with Tom in 6:23. He then began to fall back slightly. I tried to hold the same pace and managed to run the second mile in 6:23, too. Both of these miles had some pretty good downhill portions in them. The third mile had some gradual uphill. The 3rd mile marker must have been misplaced (too short), because I ran the third "mile" in 6:21, yet the last "0.1" took me 1:06. I'm pretty sure I didn't slow from a 6:21 pace to an 11:00 pace during my kick. I think it is more likely I averaged 6:46/mi (6:21 + 1:06) over the last 1.1 miles with the gradual uphill.

I finished in 20:13, a new PR (previous was 20:29), and finished 1st in the 45-49 division and 10th place overall. I received a blue ribbon and a small wooden nutcracker. I was very pleased with my performance.

Tom finished in 20:59. It wasn't a PR for him but he did meet his goal of breaking 21 minutes and he won the 40-44 division and also received a nutcracker.

Scott Blake (another WBR teammate) also ran. His goal was sub-24 but he finished in around 22:30, another new PR for him. He also won a nice pair of running shorts from Runner's Corner in the raffle.

We all left winners. It was a great morning.