Runner here!

Sunday morning was an absolutely gorgeous morning to run. Kristen had gotten her 9-miler out of the way Saturday while I was golfing and BBQing with the guys, so I was on my own to self-motivate; luckily it wasn't hard after looking out the window. But instead of running right out the door blurry eyed and hungry, I decided to take my time and have a little breakfast. We chatted while I sipped on my espresso shot and spread tiny layers of peanut butter over crispy thin corn wafers (like imitation rice cakes... as though there were some reason to imitate them). I tried to touch my toes a few times and headed out, clicking on my Nike+ band and clicking play on the iPod... I was running before I had even left the steps.

After weeks of spending the first mile working out the pains in my shins, I was finally cruising along right off the bat. It helped that I was getting pumped listening to music and tried to time my stride the the rhythm of the music; normally Kristen and I chat but the music was an interesting change. Before I knew it I had cranked off four miles at an 8 minute pace and felt like the remaining five were going to be cake. As I passed by the house I happened to spot a cute lil lady snapping paparazzi photos with a pink camera. Some of the great shots she got are below... she is lucky she was able to get any shots as I blazed past.

Grinning from ear to ear, seeing Kristen gave me a great boost as I continued to blast out the miles. I passed the usual homeless folks near the beach, some firemen putting up a huge POW-MIA banner with a ladder truck, a few runners, and a couple of tourists by the JFK library. As I finally started doubling back toward the house in the final two mile stretch, I felt my pace really starting to drag but the sense of accomplishment was already swelling. I compulsively began glancing at my watch every twenty seconds, and as the meter reached 9.00 I immediately clicked it off to review my time. Averaging an 8:20 pace I decided that I was officially a runner.

ML