Running Shorts

...well, technically it began this past Saturday, with the Hudepohl 14k . This year I placed 3rd with a time of 43:08. Except that I didn't actually run a 43:08. The next day I received an email from the race director saying, basically, that the cones were marked wrong at one place and the top four runners actually (and accidentally) ran about a third of a mile short. Basically, add on another minute-to-minute-and-a-half to my time. Except maybe not exactly. A 14-kilometer race translates to 8.6 miles; however, according to the race's course map , the actually distance of this race is closer to 8.9 miles. That's about a third of a mile long. What lesson should we take from this? Finishing time is essentially irrelevant. I ran somewhere between a 43 and 45 minutes for the full 14k. On the fast end, I ran 4:57 pace, which is right on target for the half-marathon Olympic Trial qualifier (just add on another 7k). On the slower end, I ran 5:10 pace, which is a time that te