I’m Not Dead

I swear. I’m just at an incredibly busy time in the semester. Every single one of my professors has scheduled their greatest projects for this past week or next. On top of that, I’m teaching a full unit to some 10th graders, who have so much potential that I’d hate to waste.

Anyways, don’t give up on my little blog. As soon as I have a moment to breathe, I’ll be in touch with you lovely people. Watch your RSS feeds for more reflection on that crazy pastime we all love.

Paul Short

It seems that I was worrying needlessly. My groin does still hurt, but Paul Short’s results proved that it’s not going to affect my times. In fact, I don’t think I felt it at all during the actual event. But then I don’t think I would have felt a car hitting me.

You see, I started the race with a 5:20 mile. For this turtle, that’s pretty damn fast. It’s actually the fastest split I’ve ever run in an 8k by a full 14 seconds (!). I knew, though, that I would have to do everything I could to hold that speed through the entire 5 miles.

At the 3 mile mark, my legs were already wobbling under me. My knees buckled at the top of a hill and forced me to stumble very briefly. It was certainly a bad sign for the remaining two miles. And yet, I just couldn’t ease off of this amazing pace I had going.

By the time I reached the final straightaway (and it’s a long, looong straightaway at Lehigh) it was all I could do to keep hurling each leg in front of me. I was barely aware of anything—anything but the glorious pain that accompanies a personal record.

I ended up running a 28:14 8k. I was hoping to go sub-29, which would mean an 11-second PR. I never even dreamed of chopping 56 seconds off of my time.