New Year's Day 5k

Ran a New Year's Day 5k this morning. Ran in some rough conditions to eke out a win in 18:52. Pleasantly surprised by the result.

Salida got hit hard by the winter storm yesterday. We had a good six inches of snow, and it was (is) damned cold. It was 6 degrees as of race time, and the streets were (are) covered with snow and ice.

Did a two mile warmup and felt like garbage. Started the race and still felt like garbage. At the first turn I was in 4th place. At about a half mile, I passed two of the guys, and then it was me and another guy on the monarch spur trail out of town. He was very friendly and introduced himself as Sam.

About a mile in I said, "I wish I wore my screw shoes," to which he responded, "I wish I hadn't drank so much last night."

Fair enough. I don't drink anymore, so that's certainly an advantage for New Year's Day 5ks.

The course is a mild uphill for the first mile and a half, followed by a short but steep uphill, and then a turnaround to run the same course on the way back. Uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.

Sam and I were shoulder to shoulder at the turnaround. Then both of us were cautious to avoid falling on the treacherous ice on the initial steep downhill. On the path back into town, without really thinking about it, I pushed the pace and Sam didn't come with. Didn't even start the watch, so I have no clue how fast I was going.

Since I got caught from behind on a downhill the last time I ran a race in Salida, I was never confident, or at least until the last straightaway, when I snuck a peak and saw I had a sustainable lead.

The win scored me a pair of Hokas, so that's nice.

Turns out Sam was an All American and 8:30 3000 guy at Western State a few years back. Super hungover this morning and he hadn't been running much lately, but still, I'll take it.

Next race is probably the Red Hot 33k in February. Think I'll just do a 90% effort there, since it's hard these days to get much mileage in up here, and I don't feel super motivated to blast 20-plus miles on slickrock. Also signed up for the Bolder Boulder and the Pikes Ascent.

It'll be interesting to do some bigger races this year after a couple of years of low-key affairs.

Happy New Year, all!