Not Faster Than Pete

My streak of being faster than Pete is over. It was short, but very sweet. Yesterday we both did the same 8-mile run up the avenues, separately (thank you kids). I was the lucky one to get up at 6 am and do it first when it was nice and cool. :) It was actually so cool that I got to wear my hideously ugly, long-sleeved St. George Marathon shirt. Wahoo! It even rained a little which was nice, and I thought, fitting for the shirt. The answer to why I haven't thrown that ugly shirt away is the same answer to "Why in the heck do we put ourselves through the pain of doing a marathon??" 

I was really worried that I would have another attack of knee pain today. I actually haven't dared run outside since Spudman. I've been doing all my runs on the track at the gym. I attribute this fear of running around my neighborhood to the fact that the last 2 or 3 times I've done it, I've ended up walking home because my knee was hurting so bad, and to the fact that when I went on a lime-aid run to A&W (this is what watching TV does to us, dang commercials tricking us into thinking something at a fast food restaurant will actually be good!) the other night after dark, a security guard brought me my stuff. Is it just me or does that seem a little scary? Running at the gym has just seemed so nice and safe lately.

Anyway, this morning I took my run to the Avenues which isn't nearly as scary as my neighborhood, though the hills were a little more so. I'm happy to report that I didn't get mugged, or raped, or even shot at, AND my knees felt relatively good the whole time! YEAH!

(Ok, I shouldn't talk that way, we really don't live in that dangerous of an area, and I've never even had a problem with the above mentioned situations. I just have a lively imagination and like to act like I have such a dangerous, exciting life. I did dream about getting shot the other night though...)

I made it to my 4-mile turn around point in 44 minutes, but that was mostly uphill so I was hopeful that I'd be able to beat that on the way home. It was really fun running down the hills like usual, and it did cut some time off! I got home in 1:25 which wasn't as fast as I would have liked, but you've got to take stop lights and walking to take my gel into account.

Pete left as soon as I got home, and luckily it was still pretty cool, what a beautiful day it was yesterday! He got home and announced that he did it in 1:24. One minute faster than me! Now the race is on and I'm afraid we might get a little competitive when it comes to Bear Lake triathlon in 3 weeks. We're both doing the olympic distance (I was a little tempted by the half. I think I'll make that my big race next year), and I'm so excited to race with him again! I'm also really excited to see Bear Lake. I've never been there, but it is supposed to be beautiful. It's the day before my birthday so maybe I can get a camera before we go so I can share some pictures.

Oh and the answer to the question at the beginning is "Because who doesn't love free clothes?"