What kind of freakin' idiots

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“What kind of freakin’ IDIOTS do this crap in January?”
That was my question to a fellow racer on the walk down to the starting line of the Saturday’s Chester County Racing Store’s Winter Series Charity 5K. But I didn’t say ‘freakin’. The temperature was in the mid-twenties and the wind chill (luckily, there wasn’t much) was somewhere in the teens. My answer to that question above is based on the silly tradition of the New Year’s Resolution, one of which for me was to do at least one race in every month this year. Another one was to write race reports in ‘05.

So freezing cold, a 45 minute drive from my warm bed, and nursing some persistent ligament and tendon troubles that threatened as late as Friday morning to keep me from the starting line, I ran with several hundred other knuckleheads. Still, there was a nice comraderie about the event. Lots of locals, lots of older runners, lots of smiles.

It was so cold that my nose was soon useless for breathing and I was forced to suck wind the whole time. Still, I was running at a nice pace and had no pain to speak of. First mile marker 8:18. Wow, that’s really quick for me. Like maybe best mile ever. Turn around at 13:25. My marker person (in her Disney Half-Marathon T-shirt from the previous weekend) started to pull away. I kept running hard, figuring if injury was going to keep me off of the street for a while I might as well. I looked up at the finish clock and saw that it was at 26 minutes. I spread out and really hustled but the tyranny of the clock burst my bubble and I finished at 27:04.

Not that I’m complaining much. It was a 5K PR for me, my first race average under nine (8:43), and one of my very fastest miles ever. Plus consistent pace the whole time.

Resting now until a visit with the Orthopedist next week. Hopefully he’ll help me get past these injuries quick enough so I can keep my resolution in tact at the Ambler Frostbite 5Miler next month.