I'm not saying it was cold, but I did warm up in the car: PACE President's Day 5k, Denver

I'm not saying it was cold or anything, but I did do part of my warm-up in the car.

Peeling off my long-sleeved clingy racing top which was now sopping wet; a change into dryer stuff. I was determined to wear shorts (well, long compression shorts under normal racing shorts to preserve my manhood)... so I smothered my legs (yes, just my legs!) with Tiger Balm muscle rub. This stuff has a powerful smell. And in the confined space of the car... man! Hmm. Deep breaths, feels good. To add to the incense brew I pulled out a bottle of Olbas oil and wiped some across my nostrils. More deep breaths. Wow! Who needs ephedrine? Then just for good effect, several squirts of extra strong Singer's Saving Grace throat spray.
By now I was getting a bit worried that if I didn't get out of the car, I would be found happily passed out from the combined fumes...is this stuff legal? Time to step out and do the business.

There'd been a mini-blizzard on the freeway as I drove to Denver for the PACE President's Day 5k, and I was convinced I would get to Washington Park and find the race cancelled... but no. The volunteers were trembling with cold as they handed out numbers, pins and timing chips; at that point I was grateful I was free to "warm" up. So, 5 layers on top and 4 layers on my legs, I took myself off to jog round the course. Here was a first: miniature traffic cones marked patches of ice for us to avoid.

The jog did not feel good. It was too cold to consider doing dynamic stretches and strides before I'd sorted out what I was going to wear. So phase 2 of my warm-up was in the car. The dynamic stretch routine was fulfilled by struggling out of the layers and changing clothes and shoes in the front seat.

No...Washington Park was not at its best. The benefit of the downhill start was completely negated by the howling Siberian wind. But up at the top end of the course it did feel almost "warm" and we had the benefit of a bit of a tailwind. Not a day for fast times, though, which was a bummer, as my Master Plan called for me to go a good minute faster than last month's Oatmeal 5k (20:05). I needed to know that my new training with Ric is working and that I am making progress and not stuck in adrenal burnout purgatory like I was all year last year.

Well, I felt good for the first mile, especially as I found myself matching pace with Tanya Poel, the well-known Boulder-based airline pilot and flight instructor; at my "peak" I was able to beat her, but I haven't got anywhere near her for months (she beat me by 1:25 at the Oatmeal). So being able to stay alongside her for a while gave me a boost.The other benefit of running with Tanya is that she has an unerring sense of the shortest line; she goes for the apex of the corners quite aggressively, so you find yourself being steered by her elbows without even having to think about it.

I had to let her go and went into a private hell around mile 2, where the course goes slightly uphill. Although I picked it up again, the wind and cold gave no chance of pulling out my normal grandstanding sprint last 400m... there was nothing there.

But the suffering was worthwhile. I finished in 19:41 (to Tanya's 19:15), 19th overall, 14th male, first in the 55-59 age group. More importantly, I was 24 seconds faster than last month while 99% of the top runners ALL went slower than they had in the Oatmeal. Even Peter Remien, who won at Wash Park in 16:19, was 11 seconds slower than a month ago; Tanya 35 seconds slower; and Robert Kessler, who at 51 is more my contemporary, was 40 seconds slower. And even better news... two years ago on this same course at the same time of year, I ran 19:57; a couple of months later I actually won a race -- the entire, overall race -- in Washington Park in 18:44 and went on to have a great year. So.. it feels like I may actually, truly be BACK.

Meanwhile, back at the Colorado Race Series, it appears that because the weather put off so many people from running, I was given license to pick up 100 points for a win in my age group and so now lead the series after 2 races (there are 16 in all). My pal Dwight Cornwell ran in his version of Antarctic gear and won his age group to similar effect; so we are wondering whether we should kit ourselves out with yellow leader's vests for the next event in the Colorado Runner series - the Sharin' of the Green 5k in Fort Collins on March 15.

* PACE (Prostate Cancer Education Council) President's Day 5k, Feb 17, Washington Park: results at Online RaceResults.com here.