Hot Chocolate Hustle 5K

I ran my first race of the year Saturday and it went well.

About an 1.5 hours before the start of the race, I warmed up. I ended up running four miles. I was pretty happy with how I felt. About ten minutes before the start of the race, I took off my running pants. I was planning to take off my jacket, but decided against it. The wind was making me a little chilly. The temperature for the race was in the low 30s. After the race started, I looked down at my legs, they were bright red. I was very happy I decided to wear my jacket.

The first and second mile went well. I passed a few people here and there and I was consistent with my splits. My goal during those first two miles was to keep up with the small group of runners ahead of me. I tried keeping up with them as best as I could. As we continued running, a couple of runners from the group were slowing down. I know that was my chance to get them.

I caught up with a girl and ended up passing her. Probably less then .25 miles later, I was catching a teen boy. I stayed behind him for a minute or two. With less then .25 miles to go in the race, I finally pulled up beside him and passed him. I ended up finishing about four seconds ahead of him. I was very pleased to have passed two people in the final mile.

My time according to my watch was 26:00:48. Not my fastest 5k, but not my slowest. I finished third in my age group (30-34), but I didn't receive a medal. Only medals were given out to the first two finishers in the age group.

I was thrilled that the race this year had clear and dry streets. For the race last year, we ran on snow and ice. I was afraid I was going to wipe out when going around a corner. No worries this year. Now that I have the first race of the year done, I hope I will be able to keep improving every race and have a great season.