Thursday Thunder

As I was getting my bike ready this afternoon, I heard a couple thunder cracks and looked at the dark, ominous sky. I was chatting with a guy about electric cars, and before he drove away he said, "Be careful!" I had by that time decided to not ride and said, "Well, I think I'm going to run today. I heard the thunder and do not need a lightning strike today." He laughed and drove away, and I put on my Zoots and hit the road.

This is pretty close to the route I took. I think I mapped an extra time around Granny White Park (the red lines at the bottom), because on my Garmin I have 8.5 miles back to the red square. Then I walked the final half-mile back to my car (green square). I averaged ~8:15, which was much faster than I was planning on. I wanted to run ~9 or 10 minutes per mile and felt like it during the first one. When my Garmin beeped, I expected to see 10:00; instead, it was 8:05. So I just rolled with it :-) I did have to stop twice for bathroom breaks, hence the slightly slower pace per mile.

Someday when I'm feeling really good and actually remember to take water with me, I'll run more through the Deerwood Arboretum and those neighborhoods (the red line on the far left).

I ran into SR at mile 5; he was riding in a kit I didn't recognize. Not that I would have known it was him even if he had been wearing a recognizable kit--I usually get into the running zone and don't save energy for figuring out who people are (and I don't even run with headphones, so I don't have that to blame it on). I always say hi, but it's never an "I recognize you, you are my friend, hi, how are you today?" hello, it's always a, "Hi!" and then 20 seconds later a thought: Hey, I think I know who that was. Wasn't it xyz? Oh, yeah! Guess I should have said, "Hey, xyz! What's up!". Oh, well, I don't think he'll hate me, even though he knew it was me and said ho to me by name.