Violin Running: Reindeer Romp 5k

Downtown Reindeer Romp 5k.
They used the same course as our downtown Turkey Trot a month ago. A bunch of runners were giving feedback after the Turkey Trot that the course was too short (GarminGirl said 3.04). So they extended the course a bit to try to make it closer so it was 3.06 this time. My finish time was 1.5 seconds slower than the Turkey Trot. I finished in 20:29.1. First place for women! Free Newtons!!!!!!! Wahoo!

About an hour before the race, it started raining and sleeting. It was cold (maybe 38 degrees) with a light breeze. My feet were soaked from a 1 mile warm-up. I was worried about a couple spring chicken girlies in their 20s jumping around at the start in their cute outfits with WAY too much energy. All these 50-mile weeks of marathon training have caught up to me and I'm just tired (and I haven't been in my 20s for almost 5 years now so there's definitely no jumping around at the start). The top 3 women and men get free shoes from our local shoe store (Brown's Shoe Fit) so I really wanted to be top 3. The gun went off and the 2 girls bolted from the line (probably 5:30 pace). I stuck to my plan on no faster than 6:30 as I should be around 6:40-6:45s on average. After a half mile, I was gaining on one of the girls. By 7/10ths I passed her. We turned the corner and headed up a big hill (over 100 feet of gain in less than a half mile). About 100 yards into the hill, I passed girl #1. I was in the lead. I kept on chugging through to the end of the race, passing a few men on another incline towards the end, let myself roll down the hills and finished 11th overall.