Sun 12/7 - AM 50 minutes incl. 5k road race

Return to the sterile pancake flat office park in Mansfield for what's becoming an annual tradition of sorts. Impossible to resist the lure of gift certificates incl. one just for entering. Stayed up too late for no good reason, and didn't sleep that well either. Made for a desultory warmup trying to clear the cobwebs. Yesterday's rain gave way to blustery cold overcast. With the out and back layout of the course, it was a tailwind for the first half and then we got blasted on the way back. Felt fairly crisp and smooth heading out but the turnaround into the teeth of the wind put a quick end to that. After being gapped in the first few minutes by the eventual winner there was a brief period where I thought I might be able to bridge back, but reality set in just before we turned around. With the wind on top of it the final mile or so was a holding pattern. Chasers did close a little bit but I had enough cushion. Still feeling ragged and on the edge of bursting towards the end. Time was more impressive than last year at least, which I was expecting but gratifying given I don't remember it being this windy last year. Cooldown just as slow and shambling as the warmup, right calf somewhat stiff. Followed up the morning's effort with a hike around Walden in the afternoon, all the way to Mt. Misery in fact, that lasted a good 3 hours. Much nicer conditions for that than the morning with sun and less wind.