Today was the 35th running of Minnesota’s Annual Rite of Spring, the Get in Gear 10K (and 5K, 2K and half marathon). I’ve done the last eleven races and I’m starting to see a trend when it comes to the weather. Today was cold, windy, wet and even had a few ice pellets thrown in for good measure.

Before the race, I had the chance to meet a few local Twitter runners in person (@autopilotlegs and @lifeisfunner), which was very nice. Every year there are about 8,000 people at Minnehaha Park for this event, but I never seem to find any of the people I know are there running.

I couldn’t find my watch this week, so I was running without knowing pace. My 10K PR is 44:47 and the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that’s going to be it for me. Last year I stayed sub-50, but wasn’t even close at 48:23. The race organizers (who are awesome, by the way) had people yelling splits at every mile marker, which helped. I think I was roughly 7:25, 15-something, 22:30, 30:00 and 37:25.

During the race, the rain never picked up too much and I didn’t have any problems clothing wise (very glad I wore winter tights and a shell, though). I was a little sore the first two miles, but the pace (and runner spacing) was good throughout. It was a little disappointing not getting a 45-something, but overall I’m happy with the 46:03 (7:25 pace – official MTEC results page).

Up next: the TC 1 Mile on May 17, followed by the Fargo Marathon two days later…