My legs felt like they were going to fall apart a couple days ago, so I was thankful to wake up to no aches or pains this morning. This race was in Gallup Park, a little more than 2 miles from campus, so I decided to run there as a warm-up. When I left the dorm, it was 31° out - pleasant, compared to some of the weather we've been getting lately.

Got to the race, received my number and chilled out for a little while before changing my shoes. I just bought the new Nike Air Zoom Milers, and they are awesome. They're the lightweight trainers that complement the track spike version of the Miler. I broke them in a bit last night, and this was my first official run in them. So far, so good... they felt great, and this was a heck of a way to start out in them.

The megaphone siren went off to start us, and we took off from the line. Through the first half-mile or so, I could hear a bunch of people behind me, but nobody stepped up to challenge for the front spot. There were no mile splits - and I naturally forgot my watch - so I had no concept of pace, other than by how much it hurt. Since it was hurting, I figured I was going fast, especially when I dropped everyone, including the guy shadowing me. By halfway down the bike path, I had things fairly well wrapped up, and it became a race against the clock.

I felt fairly strong through most of the race, and the third mile was not as much of a struggle as it was last week. I still probably slowed a bit, though - that's probably the only part of the race I'm unhappy about. Finish time was 16:29, pretty fast for this early in the season, but I'm pretty sure with more work I can bring that time down. Next race: the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K in downtown Ann Arbor in about a month.