Sun 4/30 - 55 minutes incl. 5k road race

The back half of what would have been an ill-advised double under ideal conditions, never mind dragging a jacked up calf around. Originally I was led to believe this race was going to come off the previous weekend, and so signed up for the half marathon yesterday. Then I come to find out it's today instead of last Sunday. With a comp entry and years of positive experience with the race I wasn't going to pass it up regardless. After dragging my leg through an hour and a half of abuse yesterday I was extremely doubtful I'd be able to run at anything faster than a jog today. Calf very tender, but while warming up I realized I could favor it differently than yesterday by running more on my heel. Not a long-term strategy but it got me through the day. To my surprise, the two people ahead of me and the one behind last year didn't return. The goal originally was to cop top old fart but this turn of events made me realize I had a crack at the top three. Clear after 800m that I would need to beat four teenagers to cop third. Took until a bit after halfway to reel in the last of them, from there I figured I would pull away with relative ease on the uphill stretch to start the final mile. This was not the case as my ability to run uphill was still compromised. What followed was an increasingly desperate run to the line as the most talented of the teenage crew tried to line me up at the end. Forced to kick it in much harder than I ever would have liked, hoping that the leg would stay together and not seize up on me in the final quarter mile. Wound up holding him off by a second and winning an extra $35 for it. Worth it I'm sure. Interestingly enough the pace was quite even throughout even with the undulations of the course. Cooldown was a slow crawl of course. Much cooler than yesterday with a steady breeze.