First Race of the Year - Good Thing it Was Free

I didn't do this race last year, but I did do the "paid" race two weeks later…same distance, same course…a lot less people…

Last year my time was 56:18. I did not expect to beat that time today. It's not that I think I'm slower than last year, or less fit, but I was being honest with myself about my current state of mind and how I was feeling and knew it wasn't in the cards for me today.

My time today (according to my Garmin…since this race is free, there is no "official" timing) was 1:01:37… a little more than five minutes slower. The funny thing is, I wasn't upset about this. I have alway been afraid of the day that I didn't beat a previous year's time, but I was ok with it.

Perhaps I didn't race as hard as I normally do. Maybe it was my lack of energy. I have no idea.

I do know that I was feeling my recent 90 minute spin classes on the bike…even the small hills were painful and brought me out of the saddle.

F'n James snapped this pic of my finish

Funny thing about the picture above. It was freezing this morning…36 degrees when we left the house…low 40's when the race started. As HS pointed out…it was no where near as cold as CIM. However, to me, after a certain point…cold is cold. I was bundled up with a long sleeve Nike sweater and gloves to start the race.

After the bike, I was feeling pretty toasty and decided to take the sweater off…easier said than done. I don't know how much time I spend in transition trying to get the sweater off while leaving my tank top in place, but it didn't work and eventually I pulled everything off. To my dismay, the tank top was twisted and turned inside out. I was this close to saying "screw it" and running in my bra. I slowed down and got the tank back over my head…at that point it could have been backwards or inside out…I didn't really care.

After all is said and done, I'm glad I did this race… and I think I'm looking forward to my next race…whatever that might be ;-)