Mission Accomplished - 18:08

Well, my Kevin Gatons Memorial Day Run was a success. I followed my game plan to a "T" and it paid off. I went out with some people who I knew would be around that 5:30 first mile split and I came through in 5:35. So far, so good, I thought.

Next, came the bigger challenge because there was a big hill around mile 1.5 to get up to mile 2. So, I pushed up that and came through mile 2 at 11:31 (5:56 split for mile 2). From there, I just had to convince myself to continue to push through the last mile. I was able to and ended up crossing the line at 18:08, so I split around a 5:55 for the last mile also. I wanted to finish under 18:30 and I did. I knew that if I didn't fall apart from going out in 5:35 I would be in good shape for faster, but I just didn't know how my body would react. Just for documentation sake, my fastest high school 5K was 18:00 and my fastest road race is 18:07. So, I think I'm in pretty good shape (that and I think I could have pushed myself a little harder in high school).

It was fun having Beth and Roxy the dog and my cousin and uncle and several guys from the high school team there. It was a nice time. Then, we were over at my parent's house for Memorial Day lunch (and afternoon nap). Now we're home and I need to get some grading done and Beth still has a bike ride to do.

In other news, the Pirates have managed to be scrappy again and win two extra inning games thanks to total team efforts. They are now two games under 0.500 and five games out of 1st place. I still think the smart thing to do is to trade Bay and/or Nady and Grabow and/or Marte to get some prospects to stockpile the AAA and AA teams. But, we'll see. It's off to Cincinnati next and they're coming off of an 18 inning game where they had to use a few of their starters in relief. Hopefully they'll be weary against the Buccos. Also, Jack Wilson's going to be back in the lineup. That will help shore up the infield defense and help the offense (other than Luis Rivas' TWO home runs over the weekend).

Now that track's over, I'm not going to know what to do when the final bell rings at 3:03 tomorrow. Actually, I have a lot of planning for the final few weeks of school to finish up and then go from there. Finally, Route 28 has both lanes open, so my commute home will be more like 40-45 minutes instead of 60-75 minutes!!!