Most of the time, a second one way or another doesn't mean all that much. Yet, we have all just breezed through a subway door, making that appointment by a hair. Setting a personal best in the middle of a minute is a personal best none-the-less, but it doesn't have the gravitas as one on the turn of the stopwatch.
Last evening, at Thursday Night at the Races, I broke the 2:40 barrier for 800 meters: 2:39+. If my numbers are correct, it is a PB by 2 seconds. We are talking about a half second per 200 meter lap. Yet each time I gave it my all, I could never get through that door.
Running track is difficult. Short events have zero wiggle room. Go out too fast and you can't recover. Go out too conservatively and you don't have time to make up. People are running laps 10 seconds faster than me, yet a half second quicker is the best card I can finesse: I'll gladly take it.
