What a beautiful morning for getting on the front page of the mileage board. Should people aspire to get on the the front page of the mileage board? Heck ya! Whatever motivates you. I did my 5.6 mile WalMart bypass loop. I heard a cock crow right before the sun broke the horizon. I got to the '2 miles to go' point and realized I needed to stop at the bank and make a deposit, if you know what I mean. With 1 mile to go I was hoping I wasn't going to overdraw my account, if you catch my drift. As I reached my driveway I was hoping nobody was watching me because I was doing the tight-legged walk to the front door.
After balancing my check book, if you smell what I'm cooking, I went back out the door for my second lap. At the end of my street I darted out in front of my wife who was coming back from dropping my boy off at the bus stop. Now I was regretting not taking the time to put some more body glide under my arms where my sleeveless body armor shirt was rubbing me raw. Other than that thought, I was feeling really good this morning.
What comes around goes around. At about mile 9.3 I heard a soft gentle female voice say, "On your left." It kind of startled me. Mostly because I was surprised to hear a soft gentle female voice uttering those words. How could someone of the female species with such a pleasant sounding voice be passing me? I turned around and saw that she was on a bicycle. I tried to act cool like nothing happened, but I'm sure she saw the shiver go down my spine.
At mile 10.2 as I was approaching the elementary school my 6 year old goes to I came upon a mother, a daugher, a son, and a dog. As the mother and dog were hugging the left side of the sidewalk, I made sure to yell to them loud enough and early enough to warn them. "On your right!" The mother turned around and saw me. The son didn't have a clue. She desperately tried to get the stubborn kid to move out of my way. He reminded me of my kids when we tell them to do something, and they have to know why first. I was thinking, "This is one of those situations where you yell at your kid to get out of the street before they get hit by the car, and they don't listen. Ma'am, would you like me to smack him upside the head?" Ultimately I had to run off the sidewalk and around him. But instead of saying what I thought, I mustered up my nicest voice and said, "Good morning."
At mile 10.6 after I'd passed the elementary school a young boy was riding by on his bike. I usually don't say anything to the kids, because you can't in this day and age. But he surprised me with a hello. So I said good morning to the next kid that came by on his bike and got nothing.
I ran by my house just as my wife was backing out to take the other kids to school. I motioned to her that I would be doing one more mile. That would put me over 12 miles for the run, and should at least allow me to be on the first page of the mileage board for a little while, even if it doesn't last the day. My 12th mile was my one and only mile over a 9 minute pace. What was that all about? Oh well. I still felt really good. Must have been the chili dogs and ice cream I had last night. Time - 1:46:30 (avg. pace 8:41)
Splits - 8:33, 8:32, 8:37, 8:42, 8:41, 8:45, 8:36, 8:45, 8:49, 8:37, 8:38, 9:01, 2:15 (8:42 pace)
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