It's been over two weeks, but I've had too much freelance work and Martha's not in school yet -- on Aug. 1, I did my second 10k, the Berlin City Nacht.

I did my first 10k two years ago with Sabine and, to be fair, those were an important two years both experience- and miles-wise. I was more prepared this time and, at 54:32, pared about 5:30 off my previous run. Still, I missed my goal of a clean 54 minutes.

A couple weeks ago I got a heart rate monitor (more on this some other time) and from watching it during runs I figured if I kept my heart rate around 170 I'd be able to come in at 54 minutes or under.

But there were problems.

I didn't know that the City Nacht is Germany's biggest 10k. I got as near to the finish line as I could 20 minutes before the race started and, once the race started, it took me four minutes to even cross the starting line. Then I had to weed through everyone that was slower than me (the announcer said 7,000 were at the start). This wasn't easy.

Also, although I could see my heart rate fine, I couldn't see the other information on my watch. I usually wear my glasses when I run but I don't like to and figured I could do without the distraction during the race. And, since I'm near-sighted and near-sighted people need more light, the darkness during the race didn't help. Early on I thought I was doing great (when I couldn't have been because of having to battle the slow and unwashed running masses) and didn't push when maybe I should have. Still, though, the graph of my heart rate progresses steadily through the race to finish at 188, which is perfect.

I enjoyed the run (and got the T-Shirt, which in Germany is Funktionskleidung or functional clothing = Adidas running shirt). I came in at 423 of 626 in my age class and 2,727 of 5,559 runners overall (the results stop at 1:30 so I'm sure there were more than that).

Notes to self: Get to starts earlier. Wear glasses (or contacts, though they just seem too expensive and only sort of work).

Here's what I did to my knees in July: