Saturday, December 14th - JingleBell 5K

12mi*/1:15. Jingle Bell 5K, Concord, NH - 16:41 (5:22) 2nd place. This is my 4th year in a row of doing this race. I do this race every year, because I like that it raises money to fight against arthritis. Arthritis sucks, and that's all I have to say about that. I proudly wear my bells while running to ring out against arthritis. I originally did this race back in 2010 because I was in awesome shape and looking for a 5K pr. I had run the old course back in 2002 and it was pancake flat and fast. (I was out of shape that year and ran 16:30 or so). Well, they changed the course in 2010 which included a decent hill in the 2nd mile, making it not the pr course I was hoping for that year. I ended up running 15:44 for the win. In 2011, I went out hard with a very fit Fyffe. I faded badly and ran 15:59. Fyffe set the course record in 15:24. Last year, 2012, I won in a hard cold rain where it was 33 degrees. I ran 16:01 which I was pleased with considering the miserable conditions. Fast forward to 2013, I know I'm not in great shape but I'm feeling pretty good in workouts. Najem showed up which is great. I knew I'd be shooting for 2nd once I saw him. We did a nice long warm-up which included the course. The dirt road in the first mile was completely snow and ice covered. It was going to make for a slow day. It was also a bit chilly at 5 degrees. Brrr. I'm not one to complain about the cold though, I will take 5 degrees to 95 and humid any day. At the gun, Naj took the lead with Colin Lee and I sitting on his shoulder. When we turned onto the snow covered dirt road, we got some separation from Colin and it wasn't long until Naj started to power away from me. I was kind of surprised to see how fast he could run on the slippery stuff. I knew he'd be fast on the roads and especially the downhill but I thought I might have an advantage on him on the snow. Wrong! He pulled away, I kept the gap somewhat close on the climb on the road in the 2nd mile, but he really started smoking on the downhill. Colin wasn't far behind me as I could hear his footstrikes in the last mile. I dug down and was able to hold him off. Hitting the line in 16:41 was mildly shocking. I know the snow covered road slowed us down, but I'm not sure by how much. The cold temps probably slowed us down as well, but still, I was disappointed with that slow time. This makes the upcoming indoor season look quite daunting. I'll be back next year to test where I'm at and raise money to fight arthritis.