Saturday’s race was invigorating and exciting. I did this race two years ago and loved the route and festivities afterwards. It’s a small, hometown race that kicks off the Christmas festivities. Aft-er the race, there’s a tree lighting ceremony followed by the annual Christmas parade. It was so nice to see local people from the community. I, also, love the course. It runs past my in-law’s home and subdivision, as well as, it’s a very accurate course.

One of pet peeves with racing is the mileage itself. I don’t like ending up with short (or long) course. I feel cheated when it’s short; especially when I’m pursuing a personal record (PR). I dislike it when it’s long – more for the fact I can’t truly compare it to 5k’s and how I’m doing personally with my past times. Yes, I know I’m opening up a can of worms. Each course is different with terrain, weather, and yada yada…

I pre-registered and picked up my race packet the night before. I came home and set out all of my race items and clothes. It took me a bit to find my Santa costume. Since moving into our new house, I’m still figuring out places for certain things. Some stuff is still in an organized mess in bins downstairs. One day, I’ll get everything organized and in its place…that’s a story for another day. Anyway, I finished organizing all my layers/clothes, ate a pasta dinner and relaxed.

Race morning was very laid back. Because the race didn’t start until 10am, I was able to go into work for a bit and do a few things, get some coffee and relax. I got to the race site and met up with some friends. It was so nice to see Shad and Kristy. They are two amazing people who are incredibly kind, sweet, genuine, down to earth and fantastic people.

We started towards the front of the pack because of the chipped thing. It was chip timed but went off gun time, not individual chip time. The gun went off and I took off. The freezing cold hit me and my chest, lungs and body were not ready for it. I looked down at my watch and my pace was 7:40…holy crap…way too fast!

We ran through the subdivisions and ended up on one of the main roads. It was so much fun!! I enjoyed the race and pushing myself. My goal was 25-26 minutes, but after starting the way I did, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I crossed the finish line in 27:04 (darn 4 seconds). I’m happy with it but know I could have done better. I need to get my butt outside running in the cold so my body adjusts. I need to get into a better routine. I need to be more consistent, in general. There’s a lot of “I need”, but for right now I’ll be content and happy with the race and outcome.

I’m happy. I placed to place first in my age group (ages 19-35), and was 6th female overall. Small town races are where it’s at 😉