Holiday Hustle

I ran a 5K race this afternoon ... the Holiday Hustle, in the little town of Dexter 10 miles or so west of us, which I ran also in 2008, 2009, and 2010. According to what I emailed my son and daughter yesterday ("When I ran the Holiday Hustle in 2008, my time was 29:31; in 2009 I did it in 31:38; and last year 33:01. Extrapolating from that dismal pattern, I'd expect to be 34-something this year! That Turkey Trot 5K I did on Thanksgiving was 32:55. Factoring all that in, I'd very much like to break 31 minutes. I'd be satisfied with breaking 32 ... and I'd darn well better break 33, or I'll consider it a failure.") today was a 'failure,' as I finished in 34:27. But really, a portion of me knows that just for me to get out there and do it at all was an achievement, and since I am not and have never claimed to be athletic, I can't hold myself to an overly rigorous standard. Plus, today's time was largely attributable to the problematic QL muscle (quadratus laborum) in my back which has caused me difficulty the last two years. It gave me a pretty pronounced starboard list (lean to the right) throughout the second half of the race, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep from falling. Michelle said it was quite noticeable as I came in to the finish (but then grinned and added, "Sadly, I've seen you worse.") I think that absent that problem, I could very well have met my time goals. But next year, at age 55, I'll have an additional year of strength and maturity to employ!
The online results later showed that I finished #762 out of 1076 participants ... but, even more dismally, in my age group (men 50-54) I was 28th of 31. The winner in my age group had a time of 20:03; and the overall winner sparkled in 16:05.