Race Recap: 2012 Really Chilly Road Races

Well, the first race of the season is behind me now, and I can breathe a sigh of relief and find contentment in the results I posted this past weekend.In my race preview I laid out my goals, and in the very last sentence said I hoped I could squeak in under 17:00.  Well, I did!  I ran 16:57 for the distance, and finished 5th overall, behind 3 of my club mates!

The weather was amazing. Calm skies, a gorgeous sun and bone dry roads. Everything was lining up perfectly.

The horn sounded at 9:45 sharp and the runners were off. Right off the start I found myself with my fellow training partners, and not many else around me. By the half km mark I was joined by a few other ambitious fellows who would later on fall off the pace we had set early in the race. By the 1km split I was feeling great, and saw that my watch read 3:19 for that split. All was well, as I continued to forge on down Dundas St, into the residential area between Dundas and Florence.

The 2nd km was also a breeze, and the slight uphill, and tight turns in the residential area resulted in a 3:23 split, still well within reason. My 3rd km was yet again, a 3:19, but as I worked my 4th I could feel my legs starting to tie up a bit, and the head wind did not do anything to help my case. I trudged down Florence street towards the Agriplex, and I clocked my slowest km at 3:25. The final km of the course has a harsh turnaround, an up and down (the only REAL hill of the entire course) and we finish in the Agriplex to the roaring applause of the crowd.  I finished strongly, with a 3:21 for the 5th km, but it turns out my Garmin's km splits didn't match the course's, so there is an extra 6-7 seconds to my final time that I wasn't expecting. Ah well!

All in all, I'm very satisfied with this kind of result so early in the year. I'm full of confidence, and I'm clearly fit. It's time to keep putting in the work, and trust the work. It's that simple.

Here are my splits according to Garmin

Full results are here:

http://www.chiptimeresults.com/resultsreader.php?y=2012&r=rcreallychillyS.htm