I came. I ran. I conquered (sort of)

Sunny, 50 and a light breeze. Perfect!

Went and ran my 10k, sore calf and all. The goal was to do it under 8 minute miles. My normal habit is to start way in the back and pass people. A great motivator. It's easy in the beginning but eventually you catch up with people running your speed. My miles:

• 8:22, hampered by having to weave through too many people
• 7:39, oops. Too fast, too soon
• 8:04, much more reasonable
• 7:47, like a horse that can start smelling the barn
• 7:41, downhill, following a cute girl
• 7:28 pace for the last 1.21 miles

My chip time was 48:40 (give or take a second). That's about 7:50 miles, so I am happy. Your chip time is different than the clock time. The clock time starts when the gun goes off, but with a few thousand runners, it takes you a good while to get to the starting line. The chip (attached to your shoe) measures starting line to finish line for each runner.

I'll be walking with a limp for a few days from two very tight calves. One was injured before the race. I think I favored it today, therefore screwing up the other one a bit. Ice and advil are my friends.

Now all I have to do is keep the same pace up for another 20 miles and I have a Boston qualifier!

I haven't run in a big race for a few years. It was exciting to be around the crowd of people. Such a mix. The collection of 2% body fat strings that seem to glide the course. The people carrying enough extra weight that it is amazing that they finish. Good for them. The collections of social runners (women mostly) who chat and giggle the entire run. It hurts to know that some of them finish ahead of you, talking the whole way.

All in all, a lot of fun.

UPDATE: Now that the results are posted, I can see I finished 290th. Lots of room for improvement, but I was in the top 25%. I noticed that I would not have won the Males, age 70-99 category. The one entrant beat me by about a minute. I hope I can run 7:45 miles when I'm 71. Go Neville Wood!!!