Well I decided at 8:00 this morning that I would head down and run the SLC Winter 10k. It's part of the USATF circuit now, and I wanted to run it. But, I wasn't going to run it if the weather was bad and the roads were slick. So, I waited until this morning to make the call. It didn't snow last night and wasn't this morning at 8:00, so I headed down.
The drive was under clear skies, but once I registered it starting snowing pretty heavily. I was hoping that it wouldn't stick to the roads. I ran into Albert and he and I warmed up 3 miles together. Heading east wasn't too bad, but turning around and heading west was into a nice headwind with snow blowing in your face. This is going to be fun I thought sarcastically.
At the starting line the snow was beginning to stick to the roads and I wasn't too happy with that. I decided that if it got slick, I wasn't going to chance a slip and fall. So, I was going to run easy if it got slick. Luckily, after the first tenth or so it was pretty clear.
The race started and I dashed out to the lead. Jake was alongside and from the sound of footsteps I figured another 4-5 guys were with us. I took the first mile somewhat easy to get a little warmed up. I had only done one half-hearted stride before the race, so an easier first mile was in order. I came through in 5:08.
At the mile I picked up the pace and I didn't hear footsteps coming with me. Second mile was 4:55. I kept it rolling for the third mile and started dreading the turnaround where the headwind would be in store for me. Mile three was 4:56.
At the turn, I almost started laughing at how much of a difference it was running into the wind. I looked over and saw Jake about to make the turn and figured I had 10-15 seconds maybe on him, though it was hard to say for sure.
The pace immediately got slower but the effort still felt right. Mile 4 was 5:15. I thought that might be a little too slow, so I picked up just a tad. I figured Jake would have to run 5:00 flat or faster into the wind to catch me, and if he did that then he definitely deserved to win. So, I settled on about a 5:10 pace. Mile 5 was 5:09.
Now I just had 1.21 miles to go. I was tempted to look back and see how much of a lead I had, but I avoided that temptation and just kept trying to roll along. Mile 6 was 5:08. At mile 6 I figured I better turn and look and make sure no one was coming up on me. With the strong headwind I wouldn't be able to hear if someone was coming and I didn't want to get caught off guard. So I looked and I didn't see anyone close. I was relieved no one was close, but I wish I hadn't of looked back, because once I saw my lead I allowed myself to coast in. I finished the last .21 at 5:22 pace.
Once I crossed the line the race organizers told me I had tied the course record. Dang! Why did I coast in? Oh well. It was a good race and I felt surprisingly good running into the wind. Jake finished second and Matt third - a one-two-three sweep for the blog!
Afterward I cooled down with everyone and during the cooldown I felt a weird pain shoot through my lower leg about 1.5 miles in. So I stopped and rubbed it out a bit and turned around while the others went a tad further.
I'm glad I got up and raced despite the bad conditions. It was fun. My 10k PR of 29:57 is starting to get scared and it should be if I can make it down to sea level for a flat or track 10k! | 
