Rain was drizzling on me this morning as I made my sacrifice to marginal fitness — 100% humidity, though the pollution was low, breezy, 16°. About fifty steps in, I realised that this was going to be a perfunctory run, not a victory over anything: muscle tightness in my back and upper right leg, hotness (thank you, autocorrect) shortness of breath, and nothing even vaguely resembling a kick. I suppose that completing the mile is the victory, even though it took me 11:10, a full minute lower than my plateau.