Race Results.

I ran what will be my last race of 2007 this morning. It was pretty nasty out. About 40F, foggy, misty and drizzling on and off. Really great conditions.

Now I recognize those conditions are not arctic by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not exactly tropical either. I ended up in layered shirts with a jacket, long pants and hat and gloves and was pretty comfortable. However, as you may expect there were numerous people out in t-shirts and shorts and even two women out in jog-bras. Is this supposed to be a sign of toughness? I think it may be a sign of something else.

I've still yet to be as impressed with race organization as I was in London (If you ever find yourself in the UK, the "Great Run" series is just that. They have one in most major cities and the organization is superb. Although the Great North Run has an unfortunate reputation as a killer. Literally.) It seemed to me about half the mile markers missing, and there were definitely not enough pre-race porta-johns. At least this time I was ready for the mile (instead of kilometer) markers, although it still bothers me.

It was a fun race, lots of Santas, reindeer, a snowman and evidently the mayor of Washington, DC. At packet pickup they handed out bells to tie to your shoes so there was a nice jingly sound throughout most of the race. My parents came down to watch which always makes it more fun, especially since I'm leaving the country this week.

I was also very happy with my time. I hit the first mile marker at 8:30 (by my watch). There was a lot of traffic at the start and while the course wasn't excessively narrow, there were 2900 people trying to run down Ohio Ave so there was congestion. (The race organizers also didn't have signs to help runners get to the starting line in roughly the order they thought they'd finish.) I kept trying to keep pushing the pace (as some may remember, I did some extra 'tempo' work this week, but kept the miles down overall). At the 5k point (which was marked, but the 4 mile point wasn't....) my watch showed about 24:30. I had some trouble on the second half. The course was out and back, with the start and finish co-located. And I swear they moved the finish back after the start. I kept thinking it was "just around the corner" and it wasn't. My legs were burning pretty bad, but I crossed the line beating my previous personal best by over 2 minutes! Then we walked back in the rain to the car, so I'm sure I'll be nice and sick for my trip this week.