The pre-race rain, cooler temperature, and overcast skies may have kept some of the young speedsters away from the annual Northridge Neighborhood 5K this year. It has been a tradition for about 26 years now. I have participated in all but one (I think) of the past 21 of them. I have finished 2nd a number of times, usually to some speedy young man or young woman. I finished 2nd again this year, but this time to Jeff McClellan, who is younger than me, but not a young man. Breeana (a speedy young woman) would have beaten Jeff and me, but she is recovering from a concussion and couldn't race all out. She was in the lead after 2.5 miles then she (and her friend) walked for a while, allowing Jeff and I to pass them before they began running again. I've been training at about 9:00 pace, and was hoping to run the 5K around 8:30 pace. I ended up averaging 7:54/mi. I feel great about that. The first downhill mile was at 7:11/mi and the last uphill mile at 8:26/mi. | 