winter running series, complete

Today was the Valentine Heart Throb 5k Race, the last of the Winter Running Series races.  It was a great race for me, and a pretty decent one for Sam as well.  The temperature was about 29 degrees, but the 12 mph winds made for a little cooler feeling and a slightly more difficult first mile.  Here's our results.

Sam (22:05)
26/222 overall, 23/71 men, 2/16 age group
Sam improved his time over last race, but wasn't as fast as his December race.  Despite this, he placed again.  That's three ribbons for Sam in three races.

Laura (24:14)
49/222 overall, 12/121 women, 5/48 age group
I improved my time again by another minute and a half, but once again did not place in my age group.  I really think that women ages 30 to 39 are the most competitive.

At the end of the series, times from each of the three races are added together and the top total finishers are awarded prizes as well.  Neither Sam nor I placed in the top three, but we did both place in the top ten.

Sam (total 1:06:25)
10/82 overall, 10th male finisher

Laura (total 1:18:17)
28/82 overall, 6th female finisher

I started this series with two goals.  The first was reasonable - to improve my time each race.  The second was a little unreasonable - to beat Sam.  I absolutely accomplished my first goal, and with greater success than I had hoped.  I went from running 9:07 min/mile in the first race to 7:47 min/mile in the last race.  I can only say I accomplished the second goal if I stretch and say I finished higher overall in the women's series than Sam did in the men's series.

I am very encouraged by my progress in these races and am going to start looking for another in March and April so that I can continue the improvement trend.  I won't be bold enough yet to put an exact goal time out there, but will just continue to work toward finishing each race faster than the last.