/usr/local.com

Today marked the official start to the race season for me. I’m not competitive in these things by any means but calling it a race season makes it seem like I know what I’m doing. Signup, run, don’t die. Pretty much in that order. In the end, its all about knocking out one of my goals for 2012.

There were a lot of things different about the Red Flannel Run in 2012 compared to last year. First and foremost, the temps. Last year we were in the mid-30s and I was warm as could be in my gear. This year, I wore pretty much the same thing except the temps were 7 degrees with a -6 windchill. It was cold out there. But with the gear I had on and the running, I warmed up pretty quickly. I just wish I would have had some sort of neck gator on. That would have made a pretty big difference for me. I kept having some breathing issues after the first 1.5 miles and I’m pretty sure it was due to things (mouth, lungs etc) freezing up a bit.

Second big difference, I ran a heck of a lot faster than in 2011. Too fast for the first mile but over all, I shaved off 4+ minutes from the previous year and beat my fastest time from 2011.

The official stats come in as this:
Time: 23:51
Age Group rank: 12
Overall: 70

Not bad for the first time out. I’m hoping for some stronger finishes later in the year when I can get some better training in. Running on the dreadmill is boring and I never want to go more than 2 miles. I’m hoping that once we get over the snow, ice and cold temps I can put some longer runs in and build up the endurance for a faster time.