2 miles @ ~ 6:51 min/mi

One pair of road shoes, three pairs of trail shoes, and three pairs of walking shoes go into the charity donation bin at tonight's race—yes, apparently I do have a propensity to accumulate running footwear—as son Robin and I arrive at Walt Whitman High School track. It's relatively cool and low-humidity, so my usual excuse for poor performance is weakened. The two mile keystone event here took me 16:02 two years ago (cf. 2007-08-03 - Two Minute Man) but given speed improvements and weight loss I should do better. Friend Kate Abbott has predicted 13:51 but I'm just hoping for sub-14. Robin and I take photos and chat with comrades. Peggy Dickison warms up with me as the first, fast heat begins. Then it's our turn. My sandbagging coach Wayne Carson is there with us. Both he and Peggy are coming back from injury and related training gaps.

As in other recent PR-setting races, the chocolate chip pancakes I ate at The Deli for lunch do their magic: laps flow by steadily, 1:46 + 1:41 + 1:41 + 1:41 + 1:43 + 1:43 + 1:46 + 1:41 by my watch, for a total of ~13:42 pending an official posting. I conscientiously stay in lane 1 on the curves and pass folks only on the straightaways. CM Manlandro and Ken Swab cheer as they await their heat. After the halfway point I feel I'm slowing and move out to lane 2 on the backstretch so a faster runner can get by inside. He pants as he passes, "Is this track etiquette?" and I puff back, "Go for it—I'm dying here!" His pace turns out to be near-perfect for me as I trail him until the final straightaway, when he kicks ahead and another runner sprints by me.

I sit out the mile, which Robin runs in good style, and then join "Team F" (you can guess why I picked that letter for our name!) for the 4x400 meter relay. Christina Caravoulias, Don Libes, and Robin Zimmermann do the first three laps, and though I try to maintain position when it's my turn two speedsters zip by and I finish DFL but happy.

^z - 2009-08-08