Winter Carnival 1/2 Marathon

AM: Winter Carnival 1/2 Marathon (1:09:56), 4M wm/9M cd :: 26M

I woke up feeling pretty good, but not very motivated to go run hard in cold weather. But I felt relatively loose on the warmup so that helped get my juices flowing. The first mile was fast as usual, given the screaming downhill on Jackson. But of course it is an out and back course so we would be finishing up that very same hill. Only one other runner went out with me, a high schooler from Edina. Normally they would die off after a half-mile, but this one is pretty good and I knew he would be up there for awhile and it was good to have someone to run with. We were clicking off5:18-5:30 miles on the way out depending on the wind. Some spots it was bearable and other spots it was stand still strong. I had good stretches and bad stretches for the first half, but as we neared the turn-around I was really finding my groove. Of course turn-arounds are the worst for maintaining rhythm. It took me a little bit to get it back into it, but by 9 miles I was getting antsy. It was here that I surged without realizing it. The other runner fell back and as I came through 10 miles (5:05 split) I decided to just keep going. The last three miles were very encouraging. I was in control running 5:15-5:20 (again depending on the wind). I even thought I would be able to maintain some speed climbing the hill at the end, but as soon as I took that fateful right and felt the blast of wind directly in my face I was content with just getting to line. I ran about 20 seconds faster than last year, but it felt a whole lot easier. In order to make up for the missed run on Thursday by running home from the race. Unfortunately it turned out that the temps during the race were the highs for the day and it was quickly getting colder and more windy. The cooldown (accurate on so many levels) was tougher than the race. I wanted to run 11M, but I got home in 9 and didn't see the point in subjecting myself to the elements any longer.

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Winter Carnival 1/2 Marathon results
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