Snowstorm 5K -- Sat. January 12

Very mild morning, and in fact the route at Forest Park was clear -- good chance for records, they said. 137 people, a v. good turn-out (though Ivan couldn't make it, unfortunately). Arrived just in time to sign in and get out to warm up before the rush, but I was _very_ stiff and tired. That run on Thursday took it out of me. Still, did just a shade over two miles, with even a tiny bit of trail (but in road shoes, and they really were no good at gripping). Found Steve O to track, and at the off we took the hill pretty fast, then settled into the straight, with me edging ahead. Lost him behind for a while, but as mile one was coming up he approached (and I made a sort of chatty comment, first of several in the race -- hope he didn't mind) -- I figured I'd try resisting and I didn't cede the lead; then for most of mile two he pushed, periodically attacking and I kept thinking he'd go ahead, but I kept pulling back. Then on the side streets as we're late in mile three I faded and figured he'd pass, but just then a couple of faster guys came up and pushed though kind of aggressively (albeit smiling); all three of them got a bit ahead, but then I figured I'd have one last push and I passed all three and led as we turned left into the downhill to the park proper. It was a matter of time, though, and one by one all three passed, SO chasing the faster of the other two. I kept plugging away, but my legnumb was pretty bad as we hit the bottom of the hill (at five miles including the warm-up, so right on schedule). The other guy also passed SO and I was getting closer, but it had been a hard third mile and I had no sprint. Just plugged on to the end, to come in 14th, after being 11th most of the race. Them's the breaks, and I *know* I need more speed training.

The 5K:

Time: 19:48 (third best own time, best snowstorm 5K)
Distance: 3.24 miles
Speed: 9.8 mph

The other two runs (pre-race two, and warm down mile right after):

times: 16:59 & 9:22
distances: 2.02 & 0.99 miles
speeds: 7.1 mph & 6.3 mph

Comments: Satisfying. Managed to get a good few miles overall, and I'm happy enough with the place and the race. Big if is the numbness -- without it maybe I'd have gotten those three seconds and beaten SO for the first time. But there's always next week. . .