As a warmup for the marathon, and to keep me going between my two longest training runs (last weekend and next weekend), I ran the Brian J. Honan 5K in Allston today. It was the first year for the race, celebrating the life and causes of the late Councilor Honan. It was a nice event, and I found it touching to see so many people wearing supporter shirts from Honan’s various campaigns, some from as recent as two years ago, months before he passed away.

Someone ought to do a study on pre-race music; there are some favorites that are always trotted out, but this morning was particularly painful for a few reasons: firstly, because I was there early, I heard a lot of stuff, and secondly, because Honan was a fan of some pretty unique and interesting music, bands like Stiff Little Fingers, the Clash, and the Psychedelic Furs. There’s an entire essay on his charitable fund’s website about his music obsession, which made it seem all the more sad that we got what seemed like an entire Jimmy Buffet album, plus that awful Lee Greenwood song and a bunch of other cliched Rock and Roll. A live version of “I Will Follow” was about as close to what Honan’s taste seemed to be as we got.

Anyway, the race was fun. I went out pretty hard and managed to keep up the pace for the most part. I felt good, and came in 30th place overall, out of 500+, with a new personal best of 22:00 flat. I’d like to improve on that next month at the Somerville Homeless Coalition 5K, but this course was a lot flatter than that one is. Anyway, I felt strong, and with less than a month to the marathon, I’m ready for the home stretch.