30th Birfday - Race - Lowell, MA - 3.1

Day 10,957 - Getting old sucks. Things begin to break and they take longer to heal.

My first race as a 30 year old was tonight at Good Times. Technically, I am still running in the 29 year old age group due to the Good Times super computer's inability to change your age group in mid-stride.

Some old, familiar faces came out tonight (I'm convinced it's for my birthday) like Ricky Brown, Bob Strout, Tim Burke, and Matt Story.

I gave it my best shot tonight at a new PR, and managed to hang with Cody and Titus for 1.5 miles with a 5:36 first mile. Titus did everything to keep me in the lead pack, but I couldn't go with Cody when he turned up the heat (like it wasn't hot enough). I tried surging at a couple of points during the first 1.5, but nothing phased him. I just told Titus to take the win after we went through the downhill section on the VFW.

Like what always happens when I start out too fast, I ended up dying even faster. Got passed by a pack of three including EJ and Tim Burke around Mile 2, where I went through in 6:01. I wasn't really going that slow, they were just going  that fast!

Finished Mile 3 in 6:07.

Congrats to EJ on breaking 18 for the first time at Good Times! Your prize? I'll kick your ass next week.

Jim Rhoades put it best when he said I fell back like a rock during the race. You're too kind to me, Jim.

Been running about the same pace and effort for the past 3 weeks (18:01; 18:18; 18:17). Not sure when I'll be able to snap out of this funk, but I hope to set a new Good Times PR at least one more time before the summer is out.

My left foot is officially fractured after kicking Fil's ass for the past 193 days. Starting to favor my right side when I run, which will lead to other injuries if I I'm not careful. Need to take it easy for a couple of weeks before I start on JFK 50 training.

Looking forward to running something longer (Yankee Home Coming 10 Miler) in a couple of weeks.