1 mile @ ~6.55 min/mi

One Taco Bell bean gordita for lunch + two stitches from yesterday's dermatology punch biopsy of mystery rashes + three warm-up laps = a near-PR of 6:33, best result since ~6:32 at the 2009-07-10 - Midsummer Night's Mile. Whee!

Caren Jew and Christina Caravoulias run well in the first heat, Caren setting a new PR by ~15 seconds at 8:44. Lines of thunderstorms have passed by and temps begin to drop along with the humidity. Peggy Dickison and Cynthia Wallace race strongly, with Ken Swab, Barry Smith, and Don Libes. Emaad Burki grasps his knees and gasps to recover after his finish.

Comrades cheer (or jeer?!) as I strive to maintain pace. Lap one is too fast, as usual. A girl slows on the curve and I hesitate before swinging out to lane two to get by. Competition fuels a home stretch kick that lets me pass a couple of runners. Paul Dexter zips — where did he come from? I can't quite catch Kathleen Brooks, who beats me across the line by half a step.

Splits approximately 1:33 + 1:38 + 1:41 + 1:41. Official result: 74th place of 125 overall, 68th of 97 men, 4th of 9 in the 55-59 year old male cohort, gun time 6:33.3 .

GPS trackfile - ^z - 2011-07-26