Cold Weather Running is here!

It may not be Winter yet, but it sure feels like it. I managed to run 23.86 miles last week which brought my total miles run for 2014 to 927.18 miles.

Garmin says the temperature Tuesday night was 28°, the wind was 16mph, so the “real feel” was 17°. Maybe I’m just getting old, but my fingers and toes really feel the bite of Jack Frost even at this moderately cold temperature.

Saturday I finished my week with the 25th Annual Burbank YMCA 5K Classic in Wakefield, MA. This was my 6th in a series of 50 5Ks.

Factoring in the wind chill the temp was 21°. This was a small race with 182 runners. The race was well-organized, but they did not have my name on the registered runners list. I registered on October 19th. This may have more to do with Active.com than the race organizers.

I came in 19th over all and 4th out of 19 men 50-59. My official time was 22:50 or a 7:21 pace. The course was a little long at 3.18 miles, but that’s okay. The previous two races have been short, so I guess it all balances out.

While checking my finish time I met Ian Smith from Glasgow. He’s an indoor track guy but likes to run a few 5Ks once in a while to change things up and take on a different type of challenge. He said he mostly runs 400M and 800M races. I’m usually not even warmed up by then, but he probably does 5:00 miles!

The winner was 11-year-old Samuel Capobianco at 19:11 or a 6:10 pace. Amazing for someone so young. The top 5 finishers were all first in their age group.

Emily Carano of Watertown was the first women to cross the mats at 20:46 or a 6:40 pace.

The oldest finisher was Phyllis Mays of Needham who finished in 51:57 and was far from last! Phyllis is still running at 83!

The oldest man to finish was Peter Cain of Wilmington who’s still getting it done at age 77. He finished at 35:58 for a pace of 11:34. Peter was also far from the last to finish.

Well done to everyone who came out for a run on a brisk morning to support The Burbank YMCA!

Here is the link to a post I wrote last February about winter running, clothing and avoiding frost bite! Check it out.

Run well my friends,

Andy