First "race" of the year

I ran part of the Moose Run today. I'd heard of this race before, but this was my first time participating, thanks to the new Dartmouth running group, Heart & Sole. The full run is 25k, but what I didn't know is that they encourage a three person relay. It's a great race. Small, and it is free! Donations are appreciated.

There were about 30 of us running with the group. We all met at the moose for a group photo at 9:00 and met our teammates. I was running with one teammate, Elaine, who was running the last two legs of the race. By 10:00, we were out running.

You couldn't ask for a better day weather wise for a race in March. It was sunny, about -4 with a bit of a wind. But the wind wasn't too bad considering the race was along the water for a while. Actually, a lot of my leg of the race was sheltered from the wind.

My goal for this race was to run it at my goal pace for my upcoming 17k race - 5:55 minutes per kilometer. I started out a bit fast, but it felt manageable. Here are my splits:

5:39
5:33
5:40
5:34
5:35
5:58
5:59
6:08
5:30

Not too shabby. I think I did pay a little for going out too fast, but it was never unmanageable. I didn't take any walk breaks, and the hills in those three slower kilometers likely accounted for the slower time. I could feel the hills taking their toll in the last few kilometers. That 6:08 was pretty well all uphill. The last one was a nice downhill.

I wasn't sure exactly when my leg of the race would end. I knew Elaine would be waiting for me at the intersection of Cow Bay Road and Bissett. But, I didn't know the road, and thought it was at about 8.3k. Turns out it was 8.93, so I ran the last 0.07 to get an even number on my GPS.

Good run. I won a draw prize (I picked a wrench set). I saw an old friend, met new ones, and ended with a team party hosted by our fantastic Heart & Sole organizers. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday!