Hot Chocolate 5K -- Sat. Dec. 5

Thought this was a 9 a.m. start (forgot to grab the brochure before leaving the office Friday night), so up early, shower and tea to wake up a bit, then off on a chilly morning with various gear combos to drive to NoHo; stop to grab coffee on the way, to stay warm. Arrive in NoHo just after 8, find a good parking spot and pay for 2 hours. Head to find registration; get my number and chip, then jog back to car and change to warm up. Head out for a mile, mainly on the newly extended rail trail; stretch achilles, etc., then run another mile, heading back to car. Get chip sorted, and then it's time for the start: jog down in just t-short and shorts (w. hat and gloves), helping another runner find registration (a bit late, I thought. . .), then to the start. . . but there's hardly anyone else ready. So I ask, and discover: start is at 10.!!

Jog back to car, quickly putting more clothes on to stay warm, but realise I'll have to move the car (it's a 2-hour meter). And I'll want another loo visit if there's an hour to kill; so, to Dunkin's for a recharge of my coffee, etc. Then park in a closer spot, and head out to do an extra warmup--meander around town for more than a mile, then back to car again. Finally, off to the start again, finding *lots* of people there this time. Do final stretches and find a line-up spot, then at 9:58, announcer says "About 15 minutes to go. . ." Arrggh!

Line for portaloos is too long, but no other option: bah. Realise also I've forgotten my gloves (ouf!), but try to stay warm, and say hello to Joe F and one or two others. See Sanjay A and line up behind him -- he's aiming for 19 something, so I'll see if I can stick with him for a bit.

Start is uphill, then mainly flat. New course is rolling, with little slight slopes periodically; suits me fine, and I'm feeling fine, not very hard pressed. First mile I'm aiming for 6:30, and digivice says I'm spot on (though course marks mile a bit earlier, says I'm doing 6:10). Start picking off a few people in mile two, but close to the end of the mile, lose track of Sanjay; too bad. Push a little bit more on the last mile, and then at the final stretch a guy I've just passed comes bombing by, so I latch on and push toward the end, right through the line, with the clock saying 19:01. My digivice has 19:04, but I stopped it after I'd stopped running. The official results:

Time: 19:01 (new PB -- results here)
Distance: 3.1 miles
Pace: 6:09s

Comment: *very* happy with the time, even if the chip timing mats probably added a few seconds. Felt fine afterwards (though sore next day, naturally). Andy D (German) and then Todd C (ISOM) crossed the line a bit after, so greeted them both, then got my hot chocolate w/ lots of marshmallows--AWESOMEly delicious, and had my beaming face photographed. Definitely a bit more where that pace came from, so I'll see if I can get sub-19 in the next year or so. Snowstorms, maybe--but that course is harder, so maybe not.