jimsjournal
| March Hare Hop -- 03/07/04 |
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Ran the March Hare Hop today -- a three mile race in Mystic, CT -- organized and sponsored by Kelley's Pace runner's store. Jill and I first ran this race together in 1997 (light snow falling during that race... and then two weeks later I ran a 5k in Sydney in temperatures in the high eighties) and then again in '98 and again in '99. We missed a year in there somewhere and then did it again and the past two or three years I've gone over and run it by myself (with Nancy coming along to keep me company). Jill was going to run it with me this year but she just couldn't get up and out of bed -- she hadn't gone to sleep until seven a.m. -- I stopped on the way and picked up Nancy's sister Janet (who planned to look around the shops in Olde Mistick Village)and her husband Tom. (Tom and I sometimes run in races together, although this was the first time he ran in this race.) The official starter for the race was John J. Kelley -- the 1957 winner of the Boston Marathon. Based on the weather forecast, I had expected cloudy skies but we had blue skies . and bright sunshine with temperatures in the mid 40's (7°C) -- quite a change from last year. I ran in shorts (although I wore a long sleeve shirt) and was quite comfortable once I got moving. One runner was barefoot. Now that I just do not understand! Tom and I ran together through the first mile -- the is an out-and-back course -- the second mile goes up hill to the halfway turn-around point -- that hill began to get to me and I told Tom to keep going because I had to slow down. Altogether I was faster than last year -- of course last year I was running with pain from what I thought was plantar fascitis but which turned out to be a fractured heel. I think this year's winning time was 16:21. Not only was I slower than that, the winner's mother was faster than I was (she passed me on that hill where I fell behind Tom's pace). Did seem strange though, to run this race without Roger Camire there cheering us on... but I'm sure almost all the runners thought of him during their run. I feel really good. It was a good run, a good start to the spring running season (and spring itself is still a couple of weeks away)... This week's Sunday Brunch: I Don't Wanna Grow Up 1. Do you watch cartoons? Not Saturday morning cartoons, if that's what you mean. I do love The Family Guy (brilliant!) and The Simpsons (consistenly some of the best writing on tv) -- and I also appreciate Futurama and sometimes South Park. (The trouble is, since I don't park myself in front of the tv on a regular basis, I don't see any of them very often. 2. Ever buy a box of cereal (for yourself) just for the prize inside? No... but I have for my children. 3. Do you ever go to the playground to play on the swings, slide or teeter totter? Yes... well, not lately, but I have done it as an adult without a child along for an excuse. 4. Do you occassionally pout, throw tantrums or cry to get what you want? No. I rarely ever did that even when I was a kid. 5. How long has it been since you've done childlike (for example: ride a bike, play marbles, jump rope, build a sand castle)? I bike regularly (well, I did last year and I will begin again now that winter is almost past). I wasn't big on marbles or jump rope when I was a kid. It's been four or five years since I built a sand castle -- I used to build them all the time -- Jill and I were very big on building sand castles -- and my grandson will be one years old this July, a bit young for sand castles, but just wait another year or two and we'll be constructing some huge sand castles together! Well, despite what I said above about not sitting in front of the television very often -- tonight is the exception to that -- after a fifteen month (!) wait -- The Sopranos returns to HBO tonight. Yeah, you know where Nancy and Jeremy and I will be tonight between nine and ten! (Jill just left to go role-playing gaming somewhere in Massachusetts, so she won't be back until late.) |
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