Rob Sharkey and I went out and ran on the Magnolia Springs Trail Friday afternoon. I noticed that the more I talk...the slower I run. I have also noticed that the more I talk...the faster Rob runs. Hmmmmmmmm.

After Rob ran off and left me Friday, I started thinking about our early races together. We have been running together since Rob was in middle school. Back in the early 80's, we tried everything we could to record our times down to the second. It wasn't nearly as easy then. Rarely did the race director post the results, if he did it was written in pencil on a notebook pad. Nobody had clocks at the finish line. You had to listen to someone calling out times as you crossed the line. We often wondered how close those guys were to our exact time.

Twenty years later...I'm not nearly as concerned with the accuracy of my times. But with big screen clocks and computer chips I am painfully aware of my exact time, not 27:15, but 27:15.3645. Now that is more accuracy than I need. But like it or not...my race times are now available for the entire world to see. Every club has a web site and my times are posted almost immediately. (I would have loved this in my glory days...well...you can't prove that I never had any glory days!!!) Jim Hite will ask, "Ray, how did you do in the I Cannot Tell A Lie 5K?" I'll say something like, "I think it was 26 and change." Jim replies, "I checked their web site last night and I thought it said your time was 29:54, that's three minutes and 54 seconds of change." Rats!!!!

But that's my point. I can't even fudge .001 of a second off my race time, forget about four minutes. I guess in the long run, we're all better off with this wealth of information. By the way, I've just signed up for the 1st Annual The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth One Mile Fun Run. I know I can beat 10 minutes this time...but don't ask me...just check their web site.