One day it is 65. The next day there is snow and wind. Just another March in New England!

Last night we had some snow, ice and wind greet the area after some absolutely perfect running days earlier this week. There was only a relative dusting of snow but the roads became slick enough to need to salt overnight but by 10AM the roads were clear and in good shape. However, it was cold and it was windy as I hit the starting line of the Raynham Knights of Columbus Five Miler.

The race course is a friendly, familiar course as the five miler is on some of the same roads as the Monday Night runs the Colonial Road Runners host during the summer months but run in reverse.

A great climb takes place in the first mile of the course which immediately challenged the lungs to take in the cold air and remain strong heading up the hill. The rest of the run has a few rolling hills here and there but generally is a flat course on residential roads of Raynham. Volunteers patrolled the turns on the course and the race course was expertly marked and a water stop at the halfway point was appreciated despite the cold and windy weather. In the fourth mile the headwind became and extra challenge to push through but overall I felt strong running during today’s run.

I finished today’s five miler with a time of 41:55, good for 8:23/miles. I don’t know about you, but I am sick of being teased with a glimmer of nicer weather here and there and am absolutely ready for warm weather running to be back!