Holy crap it was cold today! 5 below zero with the windchill...

Given that I have not been doing a ton of running, my basic goal for today was to go under 7 minute miles, and ideally to beat last year's time (1:09:38). Figured I would go with my usual strategy of going out fairly fast, buying a little time, then holding on. Started out feeling alright until we turned left directly into the 20 mph wind. I found myself starting to get a little negative at this point ("this sucks, I hate this, I'm freezing"), and had to fight to turn the attitude around. Hit the first mile in 6:36, a little slower than last year but not bad. Kept picking up a little time each mile, and hit the halfway point at 34:01. The plan from there was to keep steady around 7's, which worked fairly well, thanks mainly to one guy who seemed very even with me that I paced off of for several miles. I think my slowest mile was around 7:10, so I was definitely pleased that I wasn't losing a lot of ground in the second half, especially with the longer hills on miles 7-9. Started pushing a bit harder on the 10th mile, planning to really kick it in once we turned onto the downhill finishing stretch (thinking I could maybe beat 1:09), but as soon as we made the last turn the wind hit me in the face like a truck and took away some of the desire to push as hard. I did pass some people in the last few hundred yards, so that was good anyway.

Uh, that should say "warm-up description".
Saw MikeJ for a minute, watched some other people I know finish, then high-tailed it inside for water, pizza, and a banana (and heat).


Again, considering my recent run volume and the conditions today, I have to be pretty happy with how things turned out today.