Looking to make it- just barely
I set a new PR, that's personal record, today. I figured I needed one more before I close out el 26. Today I ran the slowest timed 5k of my life. The silver lining, other than not repeating yesterday and the very fact that I was able to run at all based on recent injury history, was that it was still a race. I was still chasing a guy in red shorts that I could never catch and I was still being chased by a guy in blue shorts that I desperately wanted to beat. So despite the side stitch, and despite the hilly course, and despite the humidity, and despite the slower pace, I was still in a battle for who knew what place.

My desire to not be passed tends to be greater than my desire to pass. The poor guy behind me must have sensed my demise at least 3 times in the last mile and every time as his footsteps got closer and his breathing started to creep up on me, I managed to dig down and put some distance between us. To his credit, up to the end I wasn't able to really put him away, and I suppose to my credit, he never did get me. Then again, I never got red shorts either.

So if you're scoring at home, I ran a 19:31. We'll be looking for that to drop during this next year.

Next race: A Midsummer night's mile- That'll be the first mile race since oh, '01? Should be interesting. I'll keep you posted.