Flouting any possible notions of good sense, I ran a race on Friday and then another one today.

My (somewhat weak) justification for this was that Friday's race was 1.) Free and 2.) Only two miles long.

Nevermind that I only just graduated to three mile runs in my training.  Or that doing this jumped my mileage significantly.  Or that I'm coming off of a knee injury and anyway running at race pace two days in a row is never a good idea.

Fortunately, my whole life could serve as testament to the fact that you can do completely idiotic things that turn out just fine.  My knee isn't hurting.  My legs are only a little tired.  Life is good.

Friday's race was a "Jingle Bell Jog" on campus.  It was the first one they had ever done, and somewhat amateurish in its execution.  Nevertheless, the weather was fabulous and they drew a decent crowd.  I ran it fast enough that I'm not entirely convinced that they measured it right - 2 miles in 17:30.  

The worst part of the race?  My academic advisor beat the crap out of me.  She started somewhere behind me, and she still smoked me by thirty seconds at least.  Keep in mind that she's 60.  I'm 37.  I already get enough grief from the woman.  I mean, I already know she's smarter than me.  She has just under a billion publications on her CV.  Does she have to beat me in a race, too?  It seems unfair, somehow.  Maybe I should switch my ambitions.  Instead of trying to be a serious academic, I'll just set my sights on beating my grad students in local races.

Fortunately, she has the sense not to do two races in a row.  At least, she wasn't at the Reindeer Run. I was able to chug along in that race without reflecting on my various inadequacies.

I didn't come anywhere near to Shaving my 5K.  This was supposed to be my "smooth" time, taken down from my "stubble" time earlier in the year.  I ran 28:14 at the beginning of the year, and did this race in 29:27.  However, the Reindeer Run was a nice little race.  There were a few hills, but they didn't do that evil trick of finishing uphill.  They used a kind of "chip" timing I've never seen, where they waved a little paddle over your race # in the chute.  That meant you only get the gun time, not the actual running time you get with a regular chip and two pads.  For small races, I don't really mind that.

I did manage to beat the twelve year-old who kept running full out, then dropping to a walk, then passing me again at a full sprint, only to drop into a walk again.  He must have done that six or seven times before he finally dropped back behind me for the last time.  I'm glad I beat him.  I hate losing to small children.
 
Hey, you take the victories you can get.

On Sunday I ran a little 5K, the Run for the Wildlife, which benefits the Piedmont Wildlife Center.  I was briefly annoyed when I saw that, although we all had chip timers on our shoes, there was no mat at the start line.  Having read Vanilla's rant about this, I was prepared to feel indignant.  

After today's race, I concluded that I disagree with him, at least for small races.  There were sixty people at the race on Sunday.  The difference between my chip time and my gun time would have been maybe three seconds.  I know we're all working hard, and I certainly would have been happier with a PR that was three seconds faster.  

However, there are other amenities that come with chip timing.  They are less labor intensive, and our results were posted immediately.  That didn't happen at the last race I ran without chips.  Automation means less volunteer time for the organization to find and manage.

For only sixty people, there just doesn't seem to be any justification for the extra expense, although I don't the price differential.  I would rather see more money go to the organization I'm supporting.  I can mentally deduct those three seconds (or not).  

I do think that it becomes less justifiable as races get larger.  In addition, it would probably be helpful if race brochures announced that although chips would be used, participants would receive gun times and not chip times.  

I admit that I may have been swayed by the fact that I WON MY AGE GROUP.  You should have seen my happy dance.  Clearly, following Laura's advice on how to win your age group paid off for me.  There were only six people in the 36-45 age group.  That's right.  I beat five whole people to win this honor.  I'm quite happy about it, though, since I got a PR at 27:38.  I'm slow, but I'm working on it.

If you want, you can take three seconds off of that time.  I've decided not to worry about it.