Beautiful hot day in the Willamette Valley - should easily top out at 95. The beginning of the run was cool and nice but the one mile of steep uphill to start always makes it feel hotter than normal. Hit the top at 7:43; mile two had me at 14:11 so I made up most of my "lost" time by then. Mile 3-4 was pretty slow and tiring (mentally just didn't have it together) but the rest seemed pretty much like a normal 10K. While it was definitely warmer than last year, I was close to my PR - which is kind of sad since my PR is a year old now and I've been training a lot since then. I must get motivated enough to start putting in harder training workouts and get back on track w/ my miles. Right now I feel like I can go out and do what needs to be done to perform better. We will see in the morning if that is an illusion. I've had nearly two weeks off now and need to decide if I'm going to run or not.

Right after the race Erik came and said hello - his calf is now only 20% bigger than his left one - maybe he will be out on the run in a few days. Then we drove like mad back home to our 4th of July Parade where we ran through the route as a "float" (several old men, dressed in short shorts and running tops) to advertise the race we are sponsoring in two weeks - "Run for the Kids". We've raised over $10,000 to put in a running trail for the kids and older folks in our little town. People actually took our picture as we doddled through the parade - I'm sure they'll take them home and show them as examples of why to avoid the Creswell 4th of July Parade next year.