Logan’s Run is a race that’s close to my heart.  It was the first race I ever participated in.  The first year for this race, there were maybe 50 people, and that’s being generous.  Four years later, this race has expanded into almost 300 participants (not including walkers), and this year there were so many that they actually ran out of numbers.  It was great to see such a large turnout this year, especially for such a great cause.

Saturday I woke up to my alarm, looked out the window and thought “Great!  What an awesome day for a race!”  I checked the weather, and it was even sort-of-warm!  Perfect!  I got myself dressed and drove to the race start, and it was when I got out of the car I first noticed that it might be slightly windy out.  Hmmmm.  I got my race packet, pinned on my number, and walked my t-shirt and goodies back to my car, and boy, did that wind feel like it was picking up.  I put on the windbreaker I had stashed in my car, and decided to  warm-up with a half mile or so jog across the bridge that marked the start and finish of the race.  It was at that point where I realized this race was not going to be so awesome.  It was so windy that the bridge was moving, and was not in the same place when you put your foot back down after taking a step.  This almost made for a woozy, drunk feeling, like you couldn’t take a proper step.

Good times.  I tried not to worry about it too much, as everyone gathered for the start.  No D-tags in a race like this – and not even a megaphone.  All of a sudden the pack just started to move, which signaled the start.  We started across the bridge (note to the course selectors – a bridge is not the best place to start a race – everyone was tripping over each other trying to get position in a limited width).  After the bridge, we ran down to the river walk area, which was where things really got interesting.  I swear people were running at a 45 degree angle, in an attempt to stay upright, and not completely end up in the river.  The wind was so brutal.  There were times when it felt like I was running on a treadmill – my feet were moving but it seemed like I was going nowhere.  I thought it would get better at the turnaround, but it really didn’t.  The winds were whipping across the river, and were basically perpendicular to the running path, so we had to deal with it the entire race.  Thank God this was only a 5k, that’s all I have to say.

I finished in 30:05, which is not great for me, but considering the conditions, I’m quite pleased.  After I got home, I saw on the news that the winds were blowing in excess of 50 miles an hour.  That has to be like hurricane or tornado force, right? .  I bailed on the awards ceremony, which I usually stick around for (even though none of those awards are for me) because it was just so miserable.  They did have coffee and donuts at the finish, so that cheered me up a bit.

I know a lot of people like spring, and while I do enjoy daylight savings time and the slightly warmer weather, Central Pennsylvania is so manic.  Contrast Saturday’s crappy winds (and I don’t even think I mentioned it was also cold), with my long run yesterday which was completed in shorts and a t-shirt.  Today it’s disgusting out again, and tomorrow, it’s only supposed to be 38 degrees!  Pick one, weather man!