Winter Wonderland Race

Today was the Winter Wonderland Race in Milford. This is one of the races that the Milford Road Runners sponsors and I decided to help out and volunteer. Those who were volunteering and not racing met up around 7am to "race"/run the course before the 9:30am start time.

The pre-race run is supposed to be a fun group run - but since I wasn't able to run yesterday I did want to push the pace a bit. I found myself in the front most of the time - but not knowing the course I wasn't able to just go. First mile was run with Jeff and was a great pace to relax and run (8:47) . Around a mile and half in I noticed my shoe was untied and had to stop to re-tie. I caught back up to Jeff and we hung together for the next 2+ miles (8:47, 8:15). Jeff said he was going to drop back and I tagged along with a couple other runners. The last mile plus just flew by - my other shoe came untied with about a half mile left. We were moving along at such a great pace I decided to leave it as the shoe itself was still pretty snug. Last to miles were - 7:48 and 7:13. I felt great when I finished, and looking back I may have been able to go about 20-30 seconds faster per mile if I had been racing. So all in all a great run.

Total Mileage: 5 miles
Total Time: 40:22
Average Pace: 8:04
Splits: 8:47 / 8:16 / 8:15 / 7:48 / 7:13
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/23107184

I was assigned to assist at the finish line which entailed making sure the runners stayed in order as they finished, pulling tags off of bibs and collecting the tags. It was great to see the finishers come across as I never have been at the finish line of a race to see the 5 minute per mile finishers come in. Working at the race was really fun (even though it was pretty cold) - seeing all different types of runners finish was great - especially the 84 year old gentleman who finished. Great inspiration. If you haven't volunteered at a race before I'd recommend it.