Winter Road Race!

Ran the West End Tavern Chili Bowl 5K race in downtown Cleveland this morning and had a very solid race in some pretty brutal conditions. I ran 17:44 (5:42 per mile pace) for 4th overall and 1st Master (ages 40 and over) in a field of over 800 runners. It was about 15F and windy at race time. Even though I was dressed in my winter racing gear (compression tights, top, hat and gloves) I was still cold as hell as I finished my last pre-race strides. The course wasn't the easiest either. In the past the Chili Bowl run was held on a flat, fast course in Westlake. This year it was moved downtown. In addition to the always rough downtown Cleveland wind, the new course had two decent climbs -- going over the Superior Bridge into Ohio City and then coming back over the Bridge into Cleveland. Anyway, enough bitching since everyone else who ran suffered just as much as I did! I ran a very solid even paced race, hitting 11:30 at 2 miles and then running the last mile in the mid-5:30s before the final .12 differential that makes it 5K. Overall, a nice rustbuster and a good start for 2008. Can't wait till it gets warmer! I feel like I'm in as good of shape -- if not better -- as I was when I did 17:22 in the fall but that race was on a pancake flat course in perfect 50 degree weather.

Oh yeah, they do give you a nice bowl of Chili after the race too!