Boston -93 -- Sat. Jan. 16

A bit late starting for Spfld, and missed the exit the first time, so happy to see on arrival that the outhouse was open; jogged down to clubhouse and signed up, then headed right out on a very mild even, sunny day for a mile+ warm up. Started the 10k route, did 3/4 mile and stretched, then back to clubhouse: LARGE crowd, not surprising. Turned out it was a record (150+), with all the usual suspects and more. Not much GPS signal, alas, and once the race started it disappeared a couple of times, so the laps are suspect. Before we started the organiser called on one woman who'd been there at the very first Snowstorm, 30 years ago--pretty neat. Then we were off: steady up the hill, following Billy R and Scott R, but Scott took off really quickly so we were behind. Seemed like a brisk pace, and indeed the first mile was sub-6, if GPS was right. Made me a bit cautious, given numbleg, but I risked it, and it felt steady, not all out. Coming round the carpark and out toward Sumner we'd passed most of the folks we were going to pass; at that point Billy made a move and passed Scott at the end of the straight. He and a white-sleeved guy were soon about 10 seconds ahead of me, Scott maybe 5. It stayed like that all through the streets; my ankle-strap small muscles were sore and tight, maybe from running in the other shoes all week, and from yesterday's run (which definitely was taking the edge off my pace), and I couldn't make any headway. I figured I'd try on the downhill, and I made a bit of ground on Scott (Billy and whitesleeve were trading lead regularly) but then at the bottom I went to take off my hat and really attack, but managed to knock the hat to the ground. Ugh. Stopped, went back, grabbed it and rejoined the race. The last 1/4 mile was just a grit teeth and bear down, but positions stayed unchanged. Here's the data:

Time: 19:32 (GPS 19:31)
Distance: 3.1 miles (GPS 3.39)
Pace: 6:18 (5:45)

Comment: I wonder what the real pace was? Faster than the official, but probably not 5:45s. Still, encouraging. After a chat with several folks (Scott, Billy, SteveO --who was in shorts!) I went out for the 4 mile cooldown* I'd planned; felt pretty stiff and slow on that, but made my weekly mileage goal, just above 50. Step by step.
* pre and post run stats: 1.22 miles, 8:08 mins; 4.01 miles, 30:41 = 7:40s.