A race to do!

Yippee, Saturday June 12th all being well, I will be racing "Sound to Narrows." This was my first road race back in the day (1987.) I ran it for a couple of years, I think the last time I did so Ken Griffey Jr. was a rookie for the Seattle Mariners.

In some ways I look back on that time with some frustration. I still don't understand how I was not faster. Perhaps it was the lack of work in the off season. Why, oh why didn't I do more off season work in High School. Sigh. Still, running was a vital part of my life back then and it helped me to grow in many ways, so I am looking forward to going back. I don't remember what my times were. Did I break :50? Possibly. I know I dreamed of breaking into the top 200 finisher's but was never really close. The most frustrating year was my last run when as a student at the community college I ran with the High School group and some punk 8th grader kick my butt. I was pretty stunned. Stupid 8th grader with a beard! I didn't even have to shave once a week yet at that point!

Now I have begun running with Brianna. It is so much fun! She seems excited for 6th grade Cross Country next year and she has asked to run with me this summer to get ready. I bought her some proper running shoes this week (size 7!) She is already easily doing 1 mile with no breaks and we did 2.5 miles with walking breaks. A 5th grader! She may become like that 8th grader, kicking some old guy's butt.

My goal for this year's Sound to Narrows is to finish under an hour. Its a 12k with rolling hills and one good hill near the end of the race. I know I can finish near an hour. My long runs at the 7.5 mile mark are pretty consistently in at 1:03. I did 7.2 yesterday in 1:01. So I'm close.

I'm just excited to have a race to do! Yay racing!