York White Rose Run results

As forecasted, the weather for this race was chilly. (Although it was not windy.)  As I was driving to York my car's thermometer read 39 degrees Fahrenheit. This race is a very easy commute so I had no anxiety accumulation due to bad directions or a general inability to find the course.

The registration area for this race is at the Sovereign Bank stadium.  There is plenty of parking next to the stadium.  This event is very well organized.

I picked up my race packet about a half hour before the scheduled 8:30 am  race time.  Last year I felt they had one of the most fashionable technical  t-shirts among all the races I entered.  I wore last year's York White Rose Run t-shirt to this race.  Again they did not disappoint with a very fashionable blue tech shirt.  They had extras for sale for $6 each - a bargain.  I drew the bib number 113.  Numerological significance - nada.

As I warmed up my hands felt very cold -  fortunately I had  Brooks running gloves in my inventory.  I also wore a running beanie and arm sleeves. My tolerance for cold weather has increased markedly since I began running. The 42 degree race time temperature felt fine - with the proper garb. (I wore too much clothing at last year's race.)

Since this was my third or fourth race which started outside the Sovereign Bank stadium in York I felt very comfortable at the starting line.  The woman who sang the national anthem before this race sang the best rendition of this song I have ever witnessed in person.  She had a great voice - to the extent I was pumped up to race after her performance.

Coming into this race off the heels of a couple of sub-par performances I had lowered my personal expectations for this race.  I set my Garmin watch's virtual partner for a thirty-eight minute race.  The virtual partner function yields instantaneous pace feedback throughout the race. I was able to lead my virtual partner for about 3.5 miles of the five mile race.  I fell behind in the last mile and a half.

I knew there was a formidable hill about 1.75 miles into the race.  What I did not remember was there is a steady incline of about an eight of a mile to get to this hill.  I navigated this hill much better than last year - but I still have room for improvement.  At the top of the monster hill is a person playing bagpipes to commemorate your successful climb of the hill.

I finished the race in thirty eight minutes and twenty-six seconds (38:26) - a full two minutes faster than last year's time on the same course.  I was very pleased with my performance - although I finished 94th out of 269 racers (top 35%). I knew there were a boat-load of runners ahead of myself.

I maintained my focus on racing my virtual partner.  Were it not for my virtual partner I may have let myself become dejected with regard to how far back in the pack I was running.  I successfully ran the race I wanted to run.