Ran my first race of 2010 today and my second holiday race in a row. The Polar Dash 10k took place in Minneapolis/St Paul just south of the Franklin Avenue bridge on the east side of the river. The course follows Mississippi River Blvd south 3.1 miles to Hartford Avenue and then retraces the same route back to the finish. The first and last 1.5 miles of the race is also part of the Twin Cities Marathon route but instead of turning east on Summit Avenue it continues south for another 1.5 miles to the Hartford Avenue turn around.
The big fear with winter racing in Minnesota is the weather. Today was a bright sunny day but cold with race temperature at 3 degrees above zero and an 8mph NW wind providing below zero wind chills. No fresh snow but due to the recent Christmas storm and cold temps there were still areas of patchy ice to avoid along the route and one very slippery left turn with a little over a mile to go. Despite the cold I still try to wear minimal clothing in my races (a couple thin technical shirts and windbreaker). About 15 minutes before the race I dumped my heavy coat and ran a slow warm-up mile before making my way to the starting line.
There were over 800 runners who ran the 10k today despite the chilly temps. I have no 'record setting' goals when I race outdoors in the winter as you never know what the footing will be like. I still wear a pair of my light weight racing shoes unless there is fresh snow to deal with. I ran the first mile in 6:49. Heading south caused more visibility issues than anything as the wind was to our backs. But with the sun in our face and the course wet from road salt, there was a severe glare problem throughout the first half of the race. I ran mile two in 6:46 and mile 3 in 6:39 before reaching the turn around and heading for home.
I could see again as we headed back north but now had a headwind to deal with. I ran mile 4 in 6:40 and mile 5 in 6:41. No major hills on the course but there were a few elevation changes. Mile 6 was a gradual downhill resulting in my fastest mile of the race (6:25) before sprinting the final 0.2 miles to the finish line. My time was 41:05 which was much better than I expected for this time of year. This was my 7th - 10k event and this race ranks as my 3rd fastest (33 seconds off my personal best). I finished 21st among 822 finishers and 4th among 35 in my age group. Some tough competition that included two of the top ranked runners in the state in my age group. Despite the cold I was soaking wet as I crossed the finish line and so I headed straight for the car before I became a human icicle.
My next race is another indoor event called the Meet of Miles at the U of M indoor Fieldhouse Monday evening (1/11). This indoor meet consists of just one event - the mile run. However there are many different heats based on expected finish time. This way everyone can run competitively with a group of similar ability. This is the first of 13 Grand Prix events sponsored by the Minnesota Distance Running Association. The 13 races all vary in distance from this 1 mile event all the way up to the full marathon.
http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=13161&relist_record_type=result&lower_bound=0&upper_bound=822&use_previous_sql=1&group_by=default#racetop
