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I've been talking about doing a "race in every state" thing for a while but haven't really done anything about it. So, since it’s a new year it’s a perfect thing to add to the to do list. That every state in 2011 but at least get a good start. On a recent trip to NM to visit friends, there happened to be a 10k that fell on Superbowl Sunday. And 3 birds get killed with one stone: I get a race in another state, log some training miles and burn off some calories before eating the crap food associated with watching the Super Bowl. Add in that the weather here in MA was a bone chilling 10 degrees with 3 or 4 feet of snow on the ground and NM was a balmy 45 degrees and it’s a super bonus!
I've been talking about doing a "race in every state" thing for a while but haven't really done anything about it. So, since it’s a new year it’s a perfect thing to add to the to do list. That every state in 2011 but at least get a good start. On a recent trip to NM to visit friends, there happened to be a 10k that fell on Superbowl Sunday. And 3 birds get killed with one stone: I get a race in another state, log some training miles and burn off some calories before eating the crap food associated with watching the Super Bowl. Add in that the weather here in MA was a bone chilling 10 degrees with 3 or 4 feet of snow on the ground and NM was a balmy 45 degrees and it’s a super bonus!
As always, I have to layout everything the night before. I know it's probably anal but if the Army taught me anything it's that unless it's laid out where you can see it, you're gonna forget something and I wouldn’t be able to sleep of this little setup wasn’t done (OCD much?). Because it's winter and it was "cold" in Albuquerque, the race started at 1100. The weather was supposed to be in the mid 40's (practically Spring for those of us in NE) but come race day the temp dipped to 20 with a whipping wind that made it feel like it was in the teens. I of course didn’t pack any real cold weather gear. I mean why would I the weather said nothing of this "chill" that moved in. But...I figured I'd warm up after the 1st mile and when the sun came out. I did however find a new use for the Everstride's anti-chafe stick during this experience. My face and lips were getting dried out just waiting for the race to start. I used it like it was a big tube of Chap Stick and it worked great! Soft face and supple lips...but I digress.
The course was pretty straight forward, after a winding start it was 2 laps of the course. Within the 1st mile, the wind died down, the sun popped out and it got warm. 40+ degree warm but warm nonetheless. As is my habit, I went out too fast. I know that I should run negatives but I just have not been able to get a handle on it. I had hoped to run steady 7min miles. Instead, I hit mile 1 at 6:46, mile 2 at 7:08 and then "settled in" at 7:29 and 7:23 for miles 3 and 4 respectively. Mile 5, as is my usual, trailed off to 7:49 and I spent the last mile plus trying to catch up hitting mile 6 at 7:35. All said and done, 15th overall with a time of 45:34 and placed 4th in my age group. Honestly I was a little bummed about that because the 1st and 2nd in my age group took 1st and 2nd overall. But hey, every race director does it their way and I wasn't very happy with my time anyway. Another race in the books, another lesson learned but at least I got in a race in another state and the scenery was beautiful.
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