Midnight Madness Race

What a better way to bring in a new year than running a race?  At 7pm I was seriously doubting my sanity on signing up for the race that started at 10:30pm.  Not to mention we are having a cold spell in Phoenix.  Yes, cold for the rest of the world is truly cold and here, when it's in the 30's is still shorts weather for many of you. Us Arizonites, where our blood is thinner from the hot weather, are whining, complaining wimps.

To warm up for the race I jogged two miles, which indeed did warm me up enough to take off my gloves for the race itself.  The race, while advertised to be chip timed, was really gun timed because there was only a finish line map catching the finishing time. I wonder if the Velcro ankle chips are only, always finishing line timed?  The last two races I ran had the Velcro ankle bracelets and were timed the same.  Do you know?  What is your experience with the timing chips?

Sundae loves being in the blog

Long Sleeve T-Shirt, Bib and my 2010 1st Place Age Group Medal

Ever notice how 3 miles seems like a really long way when you're trying to run fast?  Or if there are a lot of turns in the course? I ran the first mile in 7 flat and felt good.  The next mile was 7:07 and the last was 7:12 but the course was a little short of the 3 miles so it would have been closer to 7:20 for the last mile.  Pretty good considering I was going for 7:15's.  My overall time was 21:10. I wish they would make the race a true 5K to make it measurable against other 5K's.

Since I won my age group, I wanted to wait to get my medal. After all, it's all about the bling. It actually said 2010 and not just a generic achilles foot medal.    It was really cold by this time, and the sweat from the race made it even colder.  The award ceremony was dragged out by doing raffle tickets, celebrating the new year with ice cold Martinelli's and then finally announving my age group.  Hurray!  Off to home, climb into bed and try for the next few hours to get warm.

Happy New Year!