Shrinkage! Week of 1-5 to 1-11

Break out the layers and running tights!  It's finally gonna get cold up in here.  I worked today in Wolcott (and where in the Hell is that???), and it started out chilly and got damn near unreasonable when you added in the wind chill.  That said, we drove by Hubbard Park again, with its awesome trails right off the highway, and the Castle Craig glaring down at me from the hilltop.  I really, really want to check that place out...

Resolution 5k beach/trail race will end this week.  I'd like to throw down a better time than last year...previous results below:

2014 - 24:48
2013 - 24:47

Monday, 1-5 - 0 Miles.  Work day!

Tuesday, 1-6 - 4 Miles (Road) - Chilly Westerly.  Short run while out running errands.  20 degrees, light flurries and zero wind.  Didn't feel that bad once I got started!  Went after three segments as well, and got two of them.  Good effort, and I was starting to think Strava was dissing me by not giving me any virtual bling, so I e-mailed them asking why?  They were pretty quick about reprocessing the run, and got right back to me.  Awesome.  Now the only question is how many hours do those CRs stand...I'd wager not many!

Wednesday, 1-7 - 0 Miles.  1 hour karate, and back to weights/stretching.

Thursday, 1-8 - 3 Miles (Road) - Short, cold spin in Westerly.  Cold but not ridiculous, got a couple of decent hills in and made the loop inside Wilcox Park a couple of times, and ran hard on the segments.

Friday, 1-9 - 0 Miles.  Work day.  Fun drive to Wolcott up lots of hills in a snowstorm, in a two-wheel drive truck.  Almost didn't get there, but the roads were clear when we left!

Saturday, 1-10 - 2.7 Miles (Road) - Short Watch Hill run. - Just a quick, short cruise around the deserted streets of Watch Hill.  Nice to not have traffic, but really, really quiet.  Cold and breezy...good shakeout ahead of the race tomorrow...

Fresh growler!  Yum!!!

Sunday, 1-11 - Resolution 5k - 5+ Miles (Beach/Trail) - Awesome day.  Not sure of the overall results, but I destroyed my best time on this course by 2:30, and ended with a 22:16.  Picked up Colburn at his place early and drove down to Narragansett, and were greeted by a fairly brisk breeze and 20 degree air.  The Sun was threatening to come out, and did briefly (not long enough though!).  I pulled into the lot next to TNT honcho Bob Jackman, who had creatively made up shirts for his team and handed them out:

Turtles...I'll have to get our creative team working on an appropriate response

Ended up running my warmup with George and John from TNT, and noted the icy areas on the trails and the overall conditions of the course.  When it was time to line up, I got ready and wished everyone luck as race director Mike Galoob was dishing out instructions.  The highlight of the first mile, aside from getting to see the race leaders after the initial out/back mile?  Around 3/4 mile in, this kid pulls up next to me and says "Hey!"  I look over to see Michael, one of my daughter's classmates and one of my soccer kids when I coached rec league.  He's been running XC at the middle school and getting faster, and it was awesome to see him competing on a cold January morning, when most kids probably weren't even awake!  I thought for a minute that he was just slowing down to say hello before he dropped the hammer, but I managed to pull away.  Whew.  Darn kids!

Mile two was uneventful, except that I had WTAC teammate Shira in my sights, and I was determined to keep her there.  I did but was never able to catch her.  Mile three?  I hadn't looked at my watch the entire race, but I felt like I was going to smash my course record.  At 2.8 miles I finally looked and knew I had it, and by quite a bit.  Crossed the line unofficially in 22:16, results to be posted later.  From 24:47 to 22:16?  Awesome way to start the year, and I'm hoping to crush my 5k PR in a few weeks at the Super 5k!

Chatted (or chattered, depending on how cold you were) after the race with friends and "frenemies" alike, and found out that there were more than a few PRs today!  And, due to the icy trails, a few casualties, including this one from WTAC teammate Matthew during the race:

Trail running: eventually, there will be blood...

In true rockstar fashion though, he went out for a cooldown run after rinsing this off.  Seriously.

What a fun day though!  Mike and his family put on a super fun race, the kind that people always talk about, and it's fun to have the club rivalries here, although today's team event was won by the Rhode Island Rhode Runners, so things just got a bit more interesting...