New Year in Running

Ended up 2011 with a final race: the Fort Collins Resolution Run 5k.
I didn't have any sort of costume, other than my favourite alpaca hat, but enjoyed seeing some of the other FCTR's out in formal wear.

J and Nora were decked out in tutus:



The course is a couple of loops around CSU, with an extra final spur around The Oval. Similar to the Jingle Bell Run, I was excited to run on familiar roads on campus. But this time: at night!
And it supports KRFC, our great local NPR affiliate.

I pushed hard and painfully, and didn't get mile splits, but enjoyed pacing fast people in front of me, and was very happy with 6th in a PR of 17:01.
I had actually pushed to beep the timing mat (they had chips at the race!) at 16:59 on the digital clock. I then hacked up my asthmatic lungs for about 10 minutes, which weren't happy with the effort in the cold temperatures. As I sort of suspected, the GPS guys showed ~3.05M, so possibly a bit short, though a google maps view shows a legit 5k.
Either way, that pace is another big improvement that made me happy and a good way to end 2011.

J also hit a PR, when I caught up with them and told them to push to make it under half an hour, and they did it!

After this, we headed to a fun party at the Slushoconnor household:



We found out the downtown fireworks were cancelled due to the wind (earlier in the day), so we enjoyed hanging out until the stroke of midnight, as determined by an arbitrary microwave clock. Looking forward to a great year of running achievements and tall tales from this group of friends!

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If nothing else, 2012 is now notable to me for being the first time I've ever purchased a Horsetooth Mountain Park vehicle pass. Now with the initial investment, I'm sure I'll be inspired to go up there often and get my money's worth!

Today was a nice morning, with the wind finally having died down. That didn't prevent ice:


So it was pretty slow going in both directions on the upper part of the trail. I got less miles in, but more vertical, hitting up a HT summit and then a subsequent Towers summit, all of it pretty slowly.
But the theme of my WS100 prep is vertical and trail, so it was nice to be out.

Happy 2012!