The map below shows the course layout. The race was an "out and back" on Shepard Road, the same road the Minnesota Half Marathon took place on in early August - my hottest race of the year. Although both races took place in the same location, the resemblances ended right there.
The picture below give another perspective on how wonderful the race conditions were. I really feel for the volunteer police and other volunteers who stand out in the cold for several hours assisting with some aspect of the race. At least these folks look dressed for the conditions.
My objective in this race was simple and sweet. Get in and get out. With the cold conditions, I wasn't about to shed layers and run in a thin shirt. I knew if I just finished the race with a reasonable time, I would retain my place in the series standings. The parking ramp was a 10 minute walk to the starting line, so I kept warm in my car until 20 minutes before the race began and then made my way to the start. The other key factor was the race didn't provide a bag drop for the runners. Meaning you had to run in what you wore to the race unless you had someone with you to hang onto your gear until the race was over. I wore tights, running pants over the tights, two thin running shirts, a running jacket, gloves, hat and a thin face wrap. After standing in the cold for 10 minutes with no warm-up, off we went!
The picture below is the only one I could find of me (face-mask, red zipper jacket) just after the gun went off. I'm a bit "bulky" with all the clothing. I should mention that the face-mask worked great before the race, but a minute or two after this picture was taken, I had to pull it down below my chin, as it was forcing the steam from my breath directly up into my eyes and they quickly began to freeze shut.
Without any warm up, my plan was to start out easy and increase my pace with every mile. The strategy worked, in that I did run each mile slightly faster than the prior, but my first mile (7:05) was faster than I expected, despite no warm-up. Maybe I ran faster hoping to get the chill out of my bones. My final mile (6:40) was just 25 seconds faster than my first mile. I really felt myself laboring over the final two miles with all the extra gear I was wearing. But I finished the race and immediately headed back to my car to avoid hypothermia issues, as my base layer was soaked with sweat.
I finished with a time of 43:16, a 6:58 overall pace. My time was about 3 minutes slower than a normal 10k for me in good conditions. Nothing to write home about, as this was my 3rd slowest among the 15 10k's I've run. But the conditions had an obvious affect on all the runners, as I still finished 48th overall among 1,658 finishers and 3rd among 84 in my age group. I still ended up winning my age group in the overall race series and actually finished 2nd among all men across all age groups in the series. Of course it's a big advantage running all of the races. Most runners miss a race or two which really hurts their cumulative point standings. But it is what it is.
Race Results:
http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-9039?lc=en
Final Race Series Standings:
http://www.minnesotarunningseries.com/standings
This race brings my 2014 race season to a conclusion. A year I was very pleased with because I stayed injury free throughout the year, ran every race I targeted on my calendar and ran my first national class time at the half marathon distance. Now it's time to ease up a bit with my mileage in December, before I start to aggressively train again for the 2015 season in January. I will also be making a race plan for next year. I have a plan in mind, but need to lay it out on paper to see what makes sense and tweak it as necessary. So long to 2014!
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