The forecast:  12 degrees, feels like 4.  We got a bunch of snow on Thursday so I was worried the course wouldn't be clear but on Friday the RD sent out an email saying the roads were salted and would be clear and dry for the race. Whew.

Thanks to all the advice on what to wear, I decided to go with compression shorts under tights on bottom and a long sleeve tech tee, short sleeved tech tee and windbreaker on top and a beanie. No gloves because my hands get hot.  This ended up being just about perfect. I was never too cold or too hot.

Pre-race:  Got up at 4:15 am because the race was over 2 hours away.  Had a greek yogurt and a granola bar and a cup of coffee.  Had some trouble finding a place to park when we arrived so we were running a little late.  Jogged to packet pickup and back to the car to pin our bibs on and then jogged back to the start area. They were already doing the national anthem so I didn't have time for more warmup and only got in about .8 miles (I was planning to do 1.5-2 miles wu).

Goal:  The point of this race was to check if I had gotten faster so sub-1:13 or a 7:50 pace was my goal.

The splits:

Mile 1      7:43      Ok, 7:45 pace and it doesn't feel terrible. Roads are pretty decent.

Mile 2      7:54      Entered into a park. Roads are slippery and packed snow/ice. WTF, what happened to "clear and dry"? Slowed down a little due to the footing.

Mile 3      7:29      Ahh, back on clear roads and slightly downhill. Much better. The girl running alongside me comments on my beautiful eyelash-sicles. I can see the ice on them

Mile 4      7:43      Nice and flat, clear roads. Working and breathing hard but it feels sustainable.

Mile 5      7:38

Mile 6      7:57      Ok now we're looping through a park again. Slippery roads for this mile. I slipped and almost fell but caught myself. Ugh.

Mile 7      7:45      Back on clear roads. Just trying to hang on.

Mile 8      8:05      3/4 of this mile was uphill. My legs were so tired and I tried but I just couldn't move them any faster.

Mile 9      7:43      Back on flat ground. Just keep moving, it's almost over. Someone behind me says we're on pace for 1:12 something. Woooo, that made me feel better.

Final .22    7:12      Hey, I thought it was supposed to be .32!

Official finish time:  1:11:22 (Chip timed).  7:40 pace, 4/46 AG.   My Garmin average pace was 7:45 though.  A little disappointed about the short course but happy with my performance because this is faster than the McMillian equivalents of any of my PRs and faster than the 8k I ran last September.   I'm excited about what this says for the rest of my marathon training

The swag - chocolate bar and cupid shaped cheese. Way better than a medal!

Thanks for reading!

Great race, onemile!  As Cbus said, if the course was certified, I'd trust the measurements.  Also, edible swag is always a plus!

Great job, onemile!  Were you surprised that you beat your goal? If yes, I assume it's Hanson's magic working on you already.  Keep it up.

Awesome!

Great job OneMile! You're going to have a great marathon in your future!

Nice job onemile even with course being short. I'd be pumped for rest of marathon training too.