I was sizing up my competition before the race. There were a couple of high school cross country girls running and I knew they were fast. I figured if I let them pace me I would pass them at the end. We lined up on time and off we went. The 2 girls took off like rabbits. I stayed behind them thinking to myself I hope they slow down. We had run about .3 of a mile and had gotten out of the parking lot onto the road and they finally slowed down. I ran another .1 of a mile and they had really slowed down to the point I figured I my as well take off. By the time we had gotten to the turn around I had opened up about a 1/4 mile lead. At the turn around we headed back into a very cold head wind. I kept the same lead through the rest of the race and when I was close and saw I could be under 20 min, I opened it up.

I felt I had run my race. The girls kept me from going out to fast at the start which left me some gas in the tank at the end. Set a PR by about :20 so I'm on the right training track.

Got my sweats back on because it was freezing. Drank all the water I could find. I talked to the 2 high school girls that finished behid me. They said they had gone out to fast and faded fast but they both set PR's.


I had been sick all week with a sinus condition. I ran this same course in April, 07 in 20:50 so I took 1 min off my time.


Not many people showed up for this fund raiser and there was no fanfare but it was good to run for time to check my progress. I ended up coughing the rest of the day and all day Sunday from the cold wind in my lungs.