Scarborough Frozen 5K and updated race schedule

Well, race one of the year is in the books!  Yesterday I ran the Scarborough Track Club's "Frozen 5k".  It was the first race I've tried to run competitively in quite some time.  Here are a few lessons learned that I've come up with:

1. Warm up more! I did very little warm up before the race and as a result did not feel like I was in the groove at all.
2. Get more sleep the night before.
3. Don't pick a course that starts uphill and continues that way for a half mile and also ends going uphill for a half mile.  Uphill plus trying to run fast equals not feeling well!
4. Eat earlier than two hours before the race.

Here I am on my way to the finish line:

Ok now that we have that out of the way I will say that I have a real good feeling about doing the race.  I started the year off with a very solid week of running capped off by the first race.  Makes me feel good about being on track with my goal for the year.  I also didn't run too badly either; I essentially ended up running about an 8:40 pace for the entire race which given conditions and my current conditioning, is not terrible.  I came in 53rd out of 84 participants, so I'm reasonably ok with that.  I have a whole year of racing ahead of me, so this is just one small step along the path.

I've also firmed up my racing schedule for the next few months.  I will be doing:

Mid-Winter Classic 10 miler on February 6th right here in Cape Elizabeth
The Irish Road Rover 5K on March 6th in Portland
The Federal Jack's 5 miler on April 3rd (my birthday) in Kennebunkport
The Patriot's Day 5 miler on April 17th in Portland
Still trying to firm up plans for May
The Pond Cove Challenge 5k on June 5th in Cape Elizabeth
The Portland Sea Dogs Father's Day 5K on June 19th in Portland

My tentative plans for the second half of the year:

The LL Bean 10K on July 4th in Freeport
The Beach to Beacon 10K on August 6th on Cape Elizabeth
The Run for the Fallen on August 21st beginning in Ogunquit: This is a 40 mile run; I will not be doing the whole thing.
The Portland Trails to Ale 10k in September
The Maine Marathon in October
The Maine Track Club Turkey Trot 5k in November
The Portland Brewers Holiday Dash in December

It looks like a lot, but I'm hoping to complete more than 12 races.  It's a wonderful opportunity to live so near so many road races.  Can't wait to test myself in the ten mile run next month.