Nightcrawler

I ran my first race of 2005. The Nightcrawler 5 miler. I got another shirt for you, Jonathan, it's got a bit of drool on it. Hope that's okay.
I ran it because our friend Anne H. was running it. She's doing a race a month. That's how often she runs. Once a month. I thought okay, I'll run it with her to keep her company. I'll just take it easy. But then I thought - I didn't want to be out on the course all evening. The mosquitos are out. But in the end she actually did pretty good. I only had a few gatorade drinks, a banana, half a bagel, and changed a diaper by the time she came in.
So I decided I would do the best my legs could take me. Overall I was pretty happy for hardly running this year. I managed to keep my time under 40 minutes. So that was good! I even finished with a good kick.
I had a strategy that I would try to finish around 40 mins. That's 8 mins per mile.
If I haven't been running that's not bad. It's about 5min per km. I felt a little tense before the race, but that went away after the first mile. And I got more comfortable as the miles went by. I did the first mile in 8-1/2 mins - I felt a little boxed in, I don't like people in my space (and shhh, especially the stinky ones). I wanted to break out and get away from the crowd but I resisted the urge since I wasn't sure how much I'd have in
the tank. I did the second mile in about 8 mins. People were beginning to stretch out now at the halfway point, and I completed the third mile in under 8 mins, the fourth in almost the same time. I was stretching out my stride and picking up the pace a little bit at a time. I was still just below Sunnyside pool trying to keep my pace from going too fast.
The last mile I ran in about 7-1/4 mins - with a half-mile to go I tried stretching out my stride a bit more and then some fobby asian couple wearing head phones got on to the course not realizing that a race was going on (they walk like they drive, ie. they don't look). But I manouvered around them and sprinted to the finish.
I heard Tresa's voice and saw her holding Kieran, I did a quick smile and a wave to my only fans and headed for the finish.

Wiped out. See that tuft of hair on top of his head. It's always like that. Doesn't seem to wanna go down. And he's grown so much that the blankets aren't big enough to wrap his feet too, so that's why they're sticking out. As long as he's happy that's all that matters.
It was a little warm on the run, but sweating is good for you. Tells you you're working hard. But I enjoyed the run, it was nice to run a race again.
I'm glad the evening was nice and comfortable, especially for Kieran. It was cooling down though, being by the lake. And the mosquitos were beginning to smell the food. All those sweaty bodies. Yummy.