Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sub-16 at the Chilly Chili 5k


It was a good day for the Mackenzie household, as Natalie and I both took home the gold at the Chilly Chili 5k this morning. I ran 15:57, almost a full minute faster than last year's 16:52.

Race conditions were considerably better than last year, with the temperature around 37 degrees and the wind blowing at a tolerable level. (Last year, temperatures were reportedly negative, and who can forget my famous quote: "Today was probably a mittens day"?)

I successfully dipped below the 16-minute barrier for the first time in...well...as long as I can remember for a legitimate 5k. Natalie, who was initially uncertain about whether she even wanted to run, somehow turned her sandbagging attitude into a win margin of over a minute. We'll be using our Fleet Feet gift cards on some new shoes in the next few weeks.

As far as a race recap is concerned, there's not much to report splits-wise, because I purposely went sans-watch. The first mile felt a bit quick, as Kevin Collins pushed the pace from the front, about twenty feet ahead of the chase pack. I caught Kevin at about 1.25 miles after cresting the main hill in the race. From that point, I was in the lead, but the constant pattering of footsteps behind me had me running scared for the rest of the run.

A public shout-out to the organizers and sponsors of this great event. My only complaint was that there was only one vegetarian chili at the post-race cook-off. (It rightfully won the People's Choice Award.)

See pics of the race here.

1 comment:

  1. In other victory-related news, the beard stays by a vote of 15-5.

    ReplyDelete