Chisago Lakes 5k - January 31, 2009

It was a beautiful day in late January.  Sunny and 30 degrees!  Definitely better weather than my prior race!  This was also my 3rd race of the month.  It was also my first winter 5k and took place in Center City, MN.  The course had a few hills that were challenging because of packed snow that made the uphill climb a little slippery at times, although most of the course was clear of snow.  From what I saw of the course before the race I assumed the pavement was clear and wore my race shoes.  Much to my surprise when I hit the snow packed hill midway through the race I really struggled to climb it as my shoes don't have a great deal of traction for ice and snow.  I finished in 21:09 - 1:12 slower than by July 5k but not bad considering the winter climate and conditions.  I finished 6th overall among 111 finishers and 1st of 9 in my age group.  First race in which I won my age group.  Emily, Andrew and Gail came along to cheer me on.

http://www.vacationsports.com/chisagolakesresults09.txt

Securian Half Marathon (10.25k) - January 24, 2009

My second winter race of the year.  This was intended to be a half marathon but due to bitter cold temps and high winds the race was shorted to a distance of 10.25k.  Not sure why the additional .25 distance but at any event they shortened the race for the protection of their volunteers who had to stand out in the cold.

Race temperature was minus 12 degrees with a minus 25 degree wind chill.  The first half of the race was into the wind and literally took your breath away!  Because of the non-standard distance I have no comparison to other races, but for what it's worth my time was 45:41 good for 104th place overall among 734 finishers and 7th place out of 50 in my age group.  It was so cold my eyelashes froze shut and I could hardly see the last few miles.

http://www.andersonraces.com/Results/wcrs09.htm

Frigid 5 10k - January 11, 2009

This race marks my new venture into winter racing.  I figure I would be training outside in this madness they call winter in Minnesota anyway, so I might as well race in it also.  This is my first race in 3 months since I ran Chicago.  The race took place on the state fairgrounds in Falcon Heights.  The weather was not too bad -14 degrees and cloudy with minimal wind.

I had no real time goal for this race other than to run competitively.  I was having tightness in my calf muscles all week and about halfway through this one I felt them start to cramp up.  It made the run a bit less enjoyable and probably hurt my time a bit, but nothing overly serious.  The course was 4 laps around the fairgrounds but in the winter the grounds look almost unrecognizable.  My first mile was my slowest.  After that I improved my pace which probably led to the cramping as I wasn't used to running this tempo for a while.  The course had plenty of salt dumped on it so it wasn't too slippery.  Actually had some puddles we had to avoid.  I finished with a time of 45:14 (7:17/mile) good for 6th overall among 58 runners and 2nd of 6 in my age group.  My time was about 2.5 minutes slower than the 10k I ran last June.

http://www.tslevents.com/TSL/Event/Results.aspx?EID=90