A.M. 10.35 in 1:19:54. Met Jeff on the trail. Ran the last 1.96 in 11:45. The speed was affected by three slippery tunnels where I had to go slower than 8:00, a rough road stretch, 5 turns, a snow-drift jump, headwind and wet road. I figure the effort was worth around 5:40-5:45 pace. About 0.37 away from the house I passed a car that was backing out of the driveway. It did not catch me for another 200 meters. It felt good to hold off a car, even if it was for only 200 meters. P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:36, last quarter in 89. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:20. 0.5 with Joseph in 3:51, splits of 2:01 and 1:50. That is his new record for the distance. I asked him afterwards if it was hard. He said no. I never thought of Joseph as having a running talent when he was younger due to his shuffling stride. But running every day is fixing the problem. Jenny also shuffled a lot when she was 3 and 4, but by about the age of 6 she developed a smooth form. Ted once took her for a run and commented that she looked like a miniature elite runner. That makes me wonder if the Kenyan "talent" comes mostly from running naturally and a lot at a young age. I believe the genes are only a rough outline of what you are going to be. That is a human and not a dog. The color of your skin, the shape of your face, etc. That type of stuff you cannot change. But when it comes to athletic performance deep down we have all kinds of genes that could give us all kinds of talent. The question is which ones will get expressed and how much, and this is controlled to a great extent by what our mother does when she is pregnant and what we do at a young age. Ran 0.25 with Jacob in 2:51. It was very windy, and I was concerned about how well he'd handle it, but he toughed it out.
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