Phil, do you honestly mean to say that at Crofton, before your hamstring when haywire, you weren't the least bit concerned about how your placement compared to Joe's?

In some races time is everything --- but at others placement ends up being the only way to draw any meaning from the race. At the LPR10 last year, the time goal to break 60:00 trumped all else. I obviously had no chance of winning the race, not with Wardian and Mercer in the mix, and keeping ahead of age group and grand prix rival Shane was my only competitive concern. In contrast, at Jingle Bell I knew long before the end of the race that my time was going to be crummy (harsh arctic headwinds slowed me down, plus the course measured on the heavy side). Thus the glory of an overall victory over many  hundres of people was the only aspect that made the race memorable. Then of course the race I had at Crofton represented the best of both time and placement for me, as I set a massive PR and vanquished all competitors.

Think of the Olympians. Now, sometimes time was a big deal, like when Usain set an Olympic record in the 100m or when the US women's 4 X 100 team set a world record. But it seemed like most races were way off world record times, or even slower than the PRs of the very runners in the race itself. The women's 1500m (Uceny's doom), for instance, had a very slow, tactical start. But even when times were superb, the athletes thought of that aspect as being merely a pleasant bonus --- because nothing can compare to the elation of medaling. I'm sure most Olympians would gladly take a paltry time and a medal over finishing fast but still out of contention. Granted the Chaptico Classic is far from being an Olympic event, but for a recreational runner of my caliber, it's about as prestigious as things get.

BTW, I've loaded my race result now.

BTW, I've loaded my race result now.

18:32 is a solid time.

Nice race this weekend!

Upon beholding the results, I initially gave a sigh of triumphant relief, as it appeared that my 17:05 course record stood safe against Trent's 17:18. But then I saw this map, which reveals that the Young Life 5k course was altered for Pet Day. It's basically the same difference, however. Langley Ln runs parallel to Alexander St, just as Calvert St runs parallel to the main island road. The start/finish line appears to have been on the same spot, so heading briefly up Alexander before veering right onto Calvert before turning left onto Langley then left onto the main road to head to the end of the island is essentially the same distance as following Alexander all the way out at the start before turning right onto the main and then U-turning at its junction with Langley before heading to the end of the island. Otherwise the courses appear to have been identical --- except the Pet Day course update actually looks more sensible, as it was annoying to have to make a momentum-mangling U-turn so early in the race at Young Life. Meanwhile Perry ran remarkably fast for having not tapered at all, not to mention having done almost 10 miles interspersed with light speed work on Friday evening.

Who brought the monstrous serpent??

David Strickland ran only 16sec faster than me, this morning.

Disclosure: I ran a flat, fast course on Solomons. He ran Bull Run Invitational.