Too Good To Be True

I ran a 5k today. It was so cold when I went to sign up for the race that I started shivering despite being in a long-sleeved T-shirt, two layers of running pants, a thick running jacket, a regular jacket over that, and all the accessories including gloves, hat, and a neck warmer. I am not a cold weather person, at all.

It wasn't necessary to wear every layer I warmed up with, so I dropped a few at the car before the start of the race.

Almost right off the bat, I had a major issue. My hip/upper hamstring popped or snapped, as if often does, but this time it was so bad that it threw me off balance. I ended up looking like an idiot and did the whole arms flailing move to prevent a fall, and, needless to say, my pace was a little off after that. Fortunately, it didn't hurt too badly and is only a little bit sore now. I'm sure I will have to watch it closely, though.

The race was a lot larger than I thought it would be, especially since it was split into two waves, the elites going 30 minutes before the rest of us joggers. Most everyone is friendly at these types of events, but today I encountered two or three guys who blatantly cut me off without even a nod of acknowledgment. Since I was already struggling with manoeuvring over some of the icy patches, so much so that I actually made things more difficult on myself and took a few steps here and there on the snow to the side of the path, the whole race felt very slow. With all the stagger steps and awkward ballet leaps I was doing on the course, I was super surprised and briefly allowed myself to be hopeful and excited when I saw the results below.

Since I messed up starting my watch and didn't actually press the button until several minutes into the race, I had no idea what my time was. After giving the events of the morning more thought, I started to suspect the course was short. It turns out it's not, and my result was updated a few hours later with my real time. Who knows how this kind of error happens, but my actual time was a lot slower. 

It's funny because I ran almost that exact time on a course last year and was really happy with it, but I felt like I had a lot of room for improvement this time. As a result, I'm not very pleased with my time or my effort. Then again, it really wasn't my day today, and yet I still managed to win my age group. That was a surprise. 

Maybe tomorrow my time will be updated to 25:00, and then I will be even more disappointed. 

I'm already dying for spring. It's going to be a long winter.