Hawaiian Shirt 5K PLUS-- Sat. Feb. 19

Not feeling too bright, but away just after 8 to Spfld as usual, with Hawaiian shirt from OGU. Light snow showers, MASSIVE and chilly wind, temp. otherwise just above freezing. Park at the higher spot, and then change in the brick building and jog down to sign in. Also pay GSH membership, $15, and do form for that, then go out to warm up. Manage just over a mile, then it's time to start. Go down to one long-sleeved tech shirt under the Hawaiian shirt, plus shorts (& hat & gloves) -- so I'll have to run to keep warm! Good crowd, nearly a hundred. Head off a bit of a way back in the pack, but follow Scott R and push through to follow the leader pack. Pass him on top straight of first loop, aiming for my target 6:30 pace, but by mile one we're already below that: 6:10. Next one is quicker still, 6:05, but as we're going through the houses there a guy passes me -- I try to stick with him but he's not giving up any. Heading down the hill back into the park I can hear the next one behind me, even as we complete mile three at 5:48. It's the lead female runner, and she doesn't let up. As we enter the final bit of trail to the finish she comes past, we both say "Good run", and then I figure I'll give it one more go: blast past and keep going right to the line, getting two seconds on her in the last hundred yards. Final stretch pace = 5:50 or so. Overall data:

Time: 19:18 (GPS = 19:17)
Distance: 3.1 (GPS = 3.21)
Pace: 6:14s

Came in 4th, and first in class (though chap ahead of me was 50). Then I had weekly miles to do, so I went off on the first part of the 10K route, doing 4.5 miles; picked up gear from Skatehouse, then dumped it in car and went off for another loop through town and back round park a bit, still on same clock. At one point a cute girl (young woman-low 20s?) grinned and said as I passed, "You're defying humanity right now!" I think she meant my shorts, but hey, it wasn't very cold, except directly in the wind. By the end I was feeling a bit sore, though I kept the pace slow. The overall total for the day (INCLUDING the above 5K) was:

Time: 1:37:57
Distance: 13.05 miles
Pace: 7:30s

Comment: Made my target weekly mileage (50), with almost a mile to spare -- nice! Also, good time, nice race, I'd say -- I ended up retching a couple of times after the finish with the muscled sprint, but I wasn't trying 100% up till then. Main goal was high turnover via small steps, and keep pushing -- I'm satisfied with that much. Real speed will need proper speed training, but that's for the summer.