Jingle Bell 5k

Really good race today with some good company. I met up with some of the guys from Keene, Rod and Justin and we did a 4-mile warm-up together. We noticed that they changed the course (again), and included a pretty serious climb in the second mile. That, coupled with the headwind, made for some challenging conditions and a modification of the pre-race plans. All told it went well. I felt like I probably had a little too much left at the end, and I would be real interested to see what this could have been without all the hills. My watch read 17:22 when I crossed the finish line, but the official time was generous enough to give me 3 more seconds for a 17:25. Anyway, my splits were 5:27, 5;44, 5:35, 0:35. It was good enough for 8th place overall and 3rd in my age division. Hard fought efforts across the board today as everyone who I met up with seemingly ran well in less than ideal conditions.