Winning Back What I Lost

6AM: After years of cyber conversations and a brief "hey" at Pocatello as I ran by him at the starting line of last year's Half Marathon, I finally got to meet and run w/ the Mr. Jeff Shadley. We met at Tuscany Park where his brother lives and Jeff was kind enough to let me set the pace. We had a great conversation about a host of topics. More accurately, I pretty much just spat out short 3-word sentences in between gasps for air. I warmed up for a mile+ over to the Park from my house. From there we ran around the neighborhood on my usual MVHS loop. I even took him through the canal to confront the killer geese that haunt my dreams. I cowered behind him as we approached and sure enough, nothing happened. I think its part of their plan to slowly drive me insane. I guarantee that if I go back there tomorrow I will be attacked and most likely forced to commit a goose homicide.

Anyway, it was a really fun run. I learned a lot just watching and listening to Jeff. The pace probably felt super slow to him but I was going about 45 secs per mile faster (7:30-7:40/mi) than my usual easy pace. Not a tempo, but definitely not easy. That's OK. I need to stop being so lazy and start stretching out the legs and running strong.