Seeking a better country...

9:30 pm  I got dressed to go for this streak preserving run.  We were waiting for my son to conclude a treasure hunt for his birthday presents.  9:30 became 10:30 before he was done, and it stopped making sense to go just for the sake of going, when a 5k was starting 8 hours later.  I took of my clothes and went to bed, thus ending my longest (meager) consecutive running days streak at 20.  The moral of the story is:  run in the morning.

It's actually a bit of a relief to nip it in the bud.   

7 am   5 of the kids signed up for the WX Mario Kart 5k.  When it was time to leave, only one came.  I lost Anna to a lack of finisher medals, Ash to pukes, Jens&Nena to laziness.  Grace toed the line, but couldn't finish.  Oops.

I didn't wear a watch, but ran hard.  I came in at 19:34.  I couldn't make a move on the guy in front of me, even though I saw him walking briefly.  On the bright side, nobody passed me.  I love how races string out.  I was trying not to suffer ill-effects of the flu, and felt glad to hold things together.  Grace got feeling bad about halfway through, and cut back to the park.  I didn't know this, and back-tracked the course for over a mile looking for her.  When I got to a family pushing a guy in a wheelchair, I concluded she was no longer attempting the race.  I finally found her wandering around the park at 7:50, so a half hour of fruitless searching.  I wish I could have found her in time to help her to the finish.   

No part of a 5k ever feels good, except later in the day when the pukey feeling has subsided.  Today I feel a bit more profoundly appreciative of having the capacity to run.  On Sunday I visited a fellow in the hospital.  He has spent the last quarter century paralyzed from the neck down, and when I left his room, I was just awestruck and uplifted having met him.  We visited for over an hour, and he never once complained.   We don't know how lucky we are.

7 am   Typical 10k, but with a bit of rain tossed in for variety.  Ash rejoined for the first time since Friday.  She's had the pukes, but is on the mend.  Still, her energy level is a bit low, so these miles were slower than usual.

7 am  Falling behind on blogging...

7 am  

6:30 am  BST out and back for 10, followed by 3 more with Jens.  He is going to join up for Top of Zion relay and needs to get into fighting shape.  I couldn't keep up; he was a bit fresher for miles 1-3 than I was for miles 11-13.  Plus I had Jack in the stroller.