5:45 PM - Dark, Temperature of 48 at the start. Was Open House at the Elementary School tonight. Tons of cars everywhere and another runner showed up about halfway through my run. He ran with a headlamp, so I knew it was not the "Ghost Trucker" runner that usually runs with me. I turned the run into a game of cat and mouse and tried to catch him and then keep from getting recaught. I was running out in lane 6, he in lane 1. Good fun.
This week is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's amazing to hear the stories of East and West Germans that went through this and to see where they are some 20 years later. Had some Mellencamp stuck in my head during the run tonight:
"When the walls come tumblin' down,
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down."
Over the last several weeks I have been reading a really great book, recommended to me by my former eighth grade social studies teacher. Long Way Gone is written by Ishmael Beah who is a survivor of the civil war in Sierra Leone in the mid-1990s. Thrust into war at the age of only thirteen, he witnesses his entire family wiped out, all his friends and brothers killed, and becomes a soldier for the RUF forces for two years during which time he becomes addicted to drugs, stripped of all sense of morality, and a cold-blooded killer. It's truly an amazing story and I just finished it today. An autobiography, it's written by Ishmael (who is still a young man of only 28 or 29 today) and ends with him being picked up by a UNICEF representative and chosen to represent the nation of Sierra Leone at the first children's United Nations conference in NYC. He has since come to the states where he lives today. A truly powerful and moving book. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a quick read, and especially recommend for anyone with a teenage son.
Splits on the run today were pretty good. My hammys and quads are still terribly sore, but didn't hurt as much once I got running as they did yesterday. Yesterday was incredibly tough on me. Splis were:
-
Mile 1: 9:12
-
Mile 2: 8:59
-
Mile 3: 8:44
-
Mile 4: 8:32
-
Mile 5: 8:08
-
Mile 6: 7:58
-
.3: 2:24 (7:58)
Total Time: 54:00 Total Distance: 6.30 miles Average Pace: 8:34 | 
