Deadbeat Running Club

Q. When is a personal best not a Mariel Hemingway lesbian film?

A. How about when I run the Nike Run London 5k today in 26:07? Yay me. Fastest I've ever run that distance. Who says I'm getting old?

My goal was to do it in 27 minutes. According to the magic calculator, that keeps me on track to run a 4:30 marathon. I'm never good at self-pacing, but I whipped up an all B-52s playlist on the iPod, and roamed and danced-this-mess around the 2-lap course in Regent Park. It was a good, if not a little tiring, run.

Set a goal, do a little better than you expected. A nice way to start the day.

I'm not getting all cocky upping my marathon goal to 4:15, but it looks like, with some reasonable training, I'll be set for Edinburgh. Again, yay me.

Heading into my last two days of work. I keep telling myself I'm ready to embrace the unknown (isn't that why dark rooms were invented?), but the deep dark truth is I'm a little petrified.

That said, it's best foot forward and, as the coaches say, "fake it till you make it."