My outlook on the economy brightened some from the good sales on "Black Friday" in the US. Typically this is a huge day for retail. Sales were up 3% over last year. Much of the talk is that this is bad. It is not. Any growth is great.
I view the economy as a "condition". Something to be worked around. There are always opportunities regardless of external "conditions". Tough conditions can bring out the best in people and companies.
Speaking of conditions. I ran an 8 K (5 miles) trail race yesterday. The conditions were about the freezing mark. Most of the snow was tramped into slippery almost ice. There were sections of loose snow also. The route consisted of 4 loops. The better runners all had spikes. I am not going to get spikes for one trail race per year but I might try Yak Trax next year.
My plan was simple. 1/2 K slow to get a feel for it then speed up at every 500M mark. Of course that was foiled by the time I got to the first marker. There were too many people. And then I hit some hills. The downhills, I was worried about slipping and the uphills were hills (I knew I should have trained more). My time was 43:05 or about 5:23 per K. I can easily run 8 K in under 40 on a treadmill and on a good day in under 37:30. But the conditions...
Overall, it was a great day for a race. Despite what I consider to be a slow time, I am sore today.
>The better runners all had spikes. I am not
ReplyDelete>going to get spikes for one trail race per
>year but I might try Yak Trax next year.
Jim, any long-distance/TX spike you can find on sale for cheap (under $50) will be good for 5k race. Just buy few sets of "spike's spikes". Generaly, 5mm are for track, 9mm and 13 mm for field. For ice condition, 9mm will probably be good. My favorite store is www.eastbay.com. If you are shopping off-season you can find very good spikes for $25-$50.