A farewell to slacking

Saturday I took it upon myself to go for an easy 5 mile run. I made it through at a 10:30 marathon pace. I figured that was as good as I wanted it after taking five days off. I thought to myself that I needed to remember the pace for Chicago needs to be Runner Susan slow - just like in New York, the site of my only totally positive marathon experience. I give her all the credit.

Today I had it in my mind that I should go practice my best marathon race plan which is go out slower than you feel and pursue a negative split. That formula, no matter what the final time, always makes me feel better about my run than "finishing" before it's really over.

So I went out with Ed and Chris and lectured them on the same principal. Ed was all for it. Chris was just glad to go slow with his sore knees. He bought new shoes which I believe will allow him to heal. Old shoes are a recipe for pain in the knee and elsewhere.

We covered 10.6 miles at a 10:15 pace and I felt like I could go another mile or three if I was so disposed. I might have except there was an art festival downtown that intrigued me. Sunday morning excitement is pretty rare so when I saw all the people setting up their booths for the "Doggie Art Festival" I knew there would be some sights.

I went home quickly to clean up then came back to see the show (all of two blocks) and the gazillion dogs that came with their owners. I took an outside table at the Cuban restaurant and had a Cuban omelet and read the paper. Dogs licked at my legs while eating. Isn't that adorable?

I noticed no terriers at the doggie art festival. Apparently they could not get the SWAT team on stand-by this morning; hence I was not bringing my terrorists downtown.

Odds and ends. I crossed another mileage threshold this morning: 6,000 miles running since I started counting in 1999...I stopped running for a week and lost three pounds...I took my chances with the dentist this past week: a new crown may have gone in just soon enough to avoid the root canal. I am still a virgin in that respect, but it was/is close...the newly acquired 2004 Audi is back at Carmax for the pre-30-day warranty expiration punch list repairs. Worst of it is the leak in the soft top around the rear window. They "fixed it" but better give me extended coverage on that. I plan to put the top up and down a lot as soon as I get it back.