Sun 1/24 - PM 40 minutes incl. track mile

Disappointing performance that I had a feeling might be coming. Feeling tired from the moment I woke up, a feeling which stubbornly persisted of course throughout the morning and into the early afternoon when time came to get ready to race. Ingested as much caffeine as I thought prudent before and during the warmup, which was plenty thorough, to little avail. After perusing last year's results I thought the old fart mile would actually be a competitive race, unlike some prior editions. Instead it reverted to form, with the fastest folks deferring to the open race and leaving me to lead from the gun, unwillingly. Ran the first two laps on adrenaline and maybe the aforementioned caffeine, knowing full well I was straining too hard to hit 35 second laps. Tried to get into a more sustainable rhythm without cratering too badly, instead the pace dropped off the shelf after hitting the half in about 2:23 or so. Next quarter was in the 77 range, soon after that the 50+ guy who was using me as his personal pacer finally went by. I was hoping to latch onto him for the last 350m but he passed with sufficient speed and authority that I knew it was just a holding action. Picked it up somewhat at the bell simply due to smelling the barn door, as well as trying not to get caught by anyone else. Meanwhile I was lapping people left and right, something that didn't happen last year as they had two sections of masters. Cooldown went by the boards as it was already late for lunch and only getting later.