Noho Hot Chocolate 5K -- Sat. December 6

My first attempt at this one, after a week of no running and not enough sleep. But the start was not too early, so I arrived feeling quite good at about 9:20, just in time to register. Actually, then I had a hard time finding parking, so the walkers had already started when I found the registration tables (in a night club!). But got the packet, with chip, and jogged back to my car to change -- decided to keep on fleece collared top as well as hat and gloves, but went with shorts. Temp. was about 25-30 degrees maybe, and *very* dry, but not windy. Back to the start, with no time for a warm-up run beyond that; stretched a bit, then it was start time. Sri B. said hello, and then Ivan appeared. We all lined up at the 20-21 mins mark, aiming to break 20 (though I said I'd be happy to get sub-21). Start was a bit mushy, then I figured I had to get past the crowd, and surged up a bit. First mile was slightly uphill: aimed at fast but not terminal, and clocked a 6:09 (same as at the Holyoke 6 miler, so that's a good pace for me for now). Middle mile I caught up with Abby W. (one of my 目当て) and then passed her; felt like harder work, but I didn't want to relax. Then mile three she pushed up and started to pull ahead. I kept her in sight and tried not to lose too many more places -- counted six overall before the end, which was okay. It felt like I was slowing, but according to the GPS I was keeping 6:08-9 for all three miles. At the end I pushed to catch the person ahead, and closed about a 5 second gap to 1 second, but didn't quite make it. Still, it was a PB !!

Time: 19:15
Distance: 3.1 miles
Pace/Speed: 6:10/9.66 mph

Comment: placed 48th, out of over 1,300 runners, and *chip time* was even faster: 19:08 (9.7 mph) !! So, I'm definitely going to have to try for a sub-19:00 in the coming season or two.

After the run, and a delish mug of cocoa, I took a leisurely run from my car to the rail trail-- headed to the river, crossed the bridge and then came back, thus:

Time: 25:37
Distance: 3.04 miles
Pace/Speed: 8:26/ 7.12 mph