This morning it was basically around the corner to the Colonial Road Runners Winter Fun Run in Raynham, Massachusetts. The 4 mile run is held Sunday mornings at 9AM and is on a moderately challenging rolling course. The temperature at race time today was an unseasonable 50 degrees, however the wind was absolutely whipping and was quite tough to contend with.

As I made my way toward the first mile I noticed, “Wow, there is no one in front of me.” Finally a runner came up alongside me and took the lead and served as my pace car until he ran out of sight. But even as I kept on running along I noticed, “Wow, there is no one right behind me” and kept chugging along. It is a different feeling serving as your own pace and at a few times the mind games of slowing, stopping or sprinting were almost unavoidable.

As I made my way up a large hill leading back down to the final mile the wind was blowing directly in my face and getting up the hill seemed almost impossible. My body felt as though I weighed 900 pounds and my legs felt as though no matter how much I pumped they would not move. The wind was some of the strongest I can recall running in and it knocked the wind out of your breath and was a force to be reckoned with.

I finished the CRR Winter Fun Run with a time of 30:52 good for 7:43/miles. I ended up finishing in 2nd place overall in the race and in my book, 2nd place is 2nd place!