Note: You were supposed to read the post below this first.<br/><br/>Since the race I had planned on doing this weekend said it was a “Fun Run” and no times were being taken, I passed on that. Instead, I incorporated a race in Baltimore, <a href=”http://www.charmcityrun.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=712″ target=”_blank”>The Baltimore Jingle Bell 5k Run for Arthritis</a>, in to my wild weekend plans. <br/><br/>Nothing much to share; I did my usual pre-race thing of dry cereal, half a power bar, lots of water, and a gel. Lined up near the front of the starting line, noted all the idiots around me that didn’t belong there, and we were off.<br/><br/>The weather was cold, it was drizzling, but it was stil better condition than <a href=”http://www.iammike.org/index.php?subaction=showfull&amp;id=1196572792&amp;archive=&amp;start_from=&amp;ucat=2″ target=”_blank”>last weekend</a>. The course was entirely on roads as we started near the harbor, over to <a href=”http://www.fellspoint.us/” target=”_blank”>Fell’s Point</a>, up a nevereneding, two-tiered hill, and then downhill back to a finish line inside <a href=”http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/recnparks/special_facilities.php#Clarence” target=”_blank”>Clarence “Du” Burns Arena</a>.<br/><br/>The course was well marked, my splits were pretty close to perfect, I finished in 7th or 8th place overall, wasn’t in the top 2 of my age group, but I did attain my goal! I have the people who went out too fast and gave me something to shoot for to thank for my time… I couldn’t have done it without them.<br/><br/>Mile #1: 6:21<br/>Mile #2: 6:31<br/>Mile #3.1: 7:04 (6:25 pace)<br/><span style=”font-weight: bold;”>Total: 19:56</span><br/><br/>I’m not sure what’s next. I’ll surely continue to race 5Ks, but I don’t know if I’ll train specifically for them. I love the distance, but I almost feel that it is too short. I want to run a marathon next year and I want to go under 19 minutes (I cut off two minutes this year, what’s one?), but I’m not sure what I’ll train for this winter. Perhaps I’ll just keep the mileage up (20-30/wk) and do a lot of strength training in the gym. Yeah, that’s it, it’s a plan.<br/><br/><span style=”font-weight: bold;”>Update</span>: <a href=”http://www.charmcityrun.com/eventResults.cfm?eventid=712″ target=”_blank”>Results</a> are up. 19:56, 12th overall (ick!), 5th in age group, 2nd from VA.