Resolution Run 2005

Last run of the year, and a great finish! I haven't run for almost two weeks due to a cold, and wasn't sure it was a great idea to be running yet. I have this lingering cough, and scratchy throat, but I'd signed up and was determined to be out there.

We had a great group too: Byron, Mike, Chris, Peter-Mark and Carla. In the cheering section was Caroline and Veronica, and Katie, Becky and Logan. We even had a little bonding between Leafs fans Logan and Peter-Mark. And one of the coolest things of the night was that is was Chris' first race.

Byron, Mike, Chris and I started fairly close to the front of the pack. We lost Carla and Peter-Mark, and I think they were farther back. We had a great start, not too much traffic, and we set a heck of a pace, which I didn't capture for the first one and a quarter kilometres, as I managed to not start the timer on the GPS. But the four of us were on pace at 12.3 kph for the first half.

After that, Mike pulled ahead, and Byron joined him a half a kilometre later. Meanwhile, Chris and I kept the pace and enjoyed the run. Around six and a half kilometres, Mike's knee started to slow him down, and we caught up. I left Chris with them and kept pace with Byron, though I was never able to close within less than about 50 metres.

He crossed the finish at about 40:45, and I got there not quite 15 seconds later. Chris and Mike were about two minutes behind us. Then it was catch breath, have a bit of a coughing fit, and wait for Carla and Peter-Mark, who crossed about 54:00.

A fantastic run, great weather, great friends, and a wonderful cheering section. Too cool!

Today's run:
Distance: 8.00 km. Time: 41:00 (unofficial). Average speed: 11.7 kph (calculated).

The captured stats:
Distance: 6.76 km. Time: 32:57. Average speed: 12.3 kph. Byron and I held this speed all the way, and that's the fastest I've been over an entire run. Ever.

Weather: Clear and -8C. That's a seven degree drop from when I left home for the starting line. But a beautiful evening none-the-less.

And here's some year-end stats: I ran a total of 1692.84 km, and I took 170.25 hours to do it. That's just over seven days. That gives me an average speed of 9.94 kph, or a pace of 6.03 minutes per kilometre.

It's been a good year.