Notes
20:00.2. Well, shit. I'd be lying to myself to pretend that it doesn't sting a bit to come this close to the sub-20. Obviously, if I KNEW I was going to be this close, I would have found the extra time. But to be honest, I wasn't planning to get this close.
I had scripted an aggressive 20:12 race (6:24; 6:32; 6:40; 0:36) which would have been nice 11 second PR from my long-standing 2007 old mark (which I've come to think might have been on a short course). Just a bit slow for mile 1, and then I managed to beat plan for both miles 2 and 3, and for the kicker. By the time I realized it was going to be close to 20:00, there was just not enough course to do more than I did.
Forest for the Trees: (a) I finally knocked down my oldest PR, and did so in crushing fashion for a 5K (23 seconds). (b) McMillan equivalent marathon time: 3:14, and (c) I won hardware: 2nd place in AG, in a big Chicago race.
Forest for the Forest: I'm still on track for my major 2010 goal: a PR at every major distance from the half-marathon down. The 5K was the one I was most worried about. I've now PR'd in the half-marathon, 10 mile, 10K, and 5K. I still need the 15K and the 8K, but these are two of my softest PRs. I've got a real shot at this.