The time is roughly ninty seconds slower then last year though it’s something of a pleasant surprise. I was expecting more in the 46 or 47 minute range. I find it interesting that my place in the field and in the division was basically the same. I suppose the winter treated — or mistreated — everyone roughly the same. The unfortunate part of this particular race was that my minute per mile times were slipping toward the end. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was somewhat disappointing.

One of the interesting differences for this year was that I was actually warmed up — at least to some degree — when I entered the chute. Warming up was really an effort to keep physically warm rather then for race preparation, but it was beneficial to get a bit of jittery nerves taken care of before the start. You might think that after having run any number of these things that I would be used to it by now, but — truth be told — I have never quite gotten over the feeling (and/or fear) of potential failure while waiting for the event to start. Actually, some of my best efforts were directly related to taping into that fear so I don’t really want it to disappear. Every event is an adventure.

While in the chute, I was standing near a worried mother and a young man of perhaps 10. It was interesting to listen to her advice to him and the things that he was thinking about. I was highly tempted to give him a suggestion or two regarding my own strategy, but the benefit would have been highly subjective. A road race for your typical weekend warrior is always going to be a very personal thing.

Overall — especially considering the weather — I’m pleased with the effort. Get in Gear is always a well run event, and I would recomend it to anyone interested in taking up running in a given year.

Triathlon racing season will be here before you know it, so now’s the time to make your plans for 2008. The Pigman® Sprint , Pigman® Long Course and the races in the Heart of America Triathlon series have been providing outstanding races for more than 15 years.

By acting now, you can save money by entering early at most races. Plus, you can ensure that you have your spot reserved in the area’s premier triathlon events.

It’s a great race, give it a go!

There’s still time to register! Come join us for the Securian Frozen 5K and Half Marathon, a Saint Paul Winter Carnival, scheduled for January 26, 2008.

Online registration will close January 23, 2008 for this event. So move fast and register today at: Active.com

You might as well go register. You know you’re going to anyway, so why wait.

For the upcoming year, I have entered my first Olympic distance triathlon. Swimming a respectable 1500m will be a daunting task. Known events for the coming year include:

• Frozen half marathon, Jan 26th — followed by the annual “Drink out of your mug” par-tay at the FRC super secrete hideout.
• Human Race 8K - Mar 19th
• Get-In-Gear 10K - Apr 26th
• Pigman Sprint Tri - Jun 1st
• Lifetime Olympic Tri - Jul 12th
• TNT or Blackdog time trial series?
• Bike club TT challenge (40K)?

The goal will be to work on getting faster at some cost to the longer runs. I’m going to try to actually train for triathlons this year, and — perhaps — I’ll get a new bike.

You might notice that the “possibly related links” box has disappeared. The new tagging feature is something similar without the extra step associated with the related posts plugin. All you have to do is type your meta tags in the textbox just below the regular post editor. Type any tags you want in the textbox with individual entries separated by commas. If an entry doesn’t exist, it is created. If it previously existed, then the posts with that tag are related by clicking on the tag link.

I have gone back and tagged a bunch of the previous posts, but if some post of yours doesn’t have tags defined please feel free to do so. I have attempted to use some typical tagging elements for the existing posts. For instance, “Race Reports” or event names such as “Twin Cities Marathon” are good tag names. It’s just a loose grouping mechanism. It’s totally flexible, so go crazy and have fun!