Middle of the road

Finally a decent run. First run getting up at 3:30 am to get out the door by 4:30 am. Pretty hard to get to excited running 5 miles in 45 minutes. The stiffness in my ankle has just about gone away. Breathing wasn't an issue, maybe the pollen is about done. This spring has been terrible for the allergies, probably because I'm not running very much.

Perhaps next week I'll try to run with the guys once or twice. The main road out of my subdivision is being worked on in both directions. Talk about a cluster fuck. The city is putting in a traffic light in one direction. That's good, its been needed for awhile. The boneheaded thing is resurfacing the entire road in the other direction at the same time they are making every corner wheel chair accessible. That's all well and good, but why make a corner accessible if there isn't a sidewalk leading to that corner? Even dumber is resurfacing the road which is due to be widened in the coming year.

Creepy headline of the day

Baby girl sacrificed on bonfire after sect leader says tot is the Antichrist, Chile cops say

 "Everyone in this sect was a professional," Ampuero said. "We have someone who was a veterinarian and who worked as a flight attendant, we have a filmmaker, a draftsman. Everyone has a university degree. "

Weather for this weekends Country Music Marathon continue to improve. Temperatures will cooperate, the rain may not even be a factor. Spring marathons are such a crap shoot. My target marathon last weekend had good weather but the course had to be rerouted because of flooding. I've run a marathon on a flooded course where they didn't bother changing the course. It was an adventure by a shody/less than ethical race director in Texas. We have them here in Tennessee as well.

 "Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." Edward Stanley (1826-1893)

Unsung heros

Runners hug your loved ones. Runners weren't the target of the terrorist that bombed the finish of the Boston Marathon. It was the running community at large, the support cast, the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, grandparents, first responders and volunteers. It was the innocent ones. Everyone who knows a runner or supports one in their quest to get to Boston or any local race knows they are the one's waiting at the finish line.

Reality is a kick in the gut. That was my overwhelming feeling almost all day on Monday after I'd heard about the bombs. I worried about the runners I knew who were running, I worried about the spectators. I failed to think about how the loved ones, supporters, and other runners felt about the bombing. They must have been feeling what I had ten fold.

Some of the posts and remarks I've seen really make me wonder. Most non-runners get the Boston marathon. They're the one's who called, texted or posted on social media wondering about the runners and spectators. Some people still just don't get it. A bomb is the opposite of a marathon.

Traded some emails with my running buddies from Atlanta on Monday morning about the good old days when we were all chasing our Boston dreams. My Boston marathon has been run. But every Monday on Patriots day I'm usually stalking runners I know running the current years marathon. This was the 117th year of the Boston marathon.

Still like to wear my Boston marathon jacket to at least one race a year. Seeing someone in a Boston jacket was always one of those carrots that prodded me to get my qualifying time. I think it's only fitting that I return the favor along the sideline of the local marathon.

Dad at the Rocket City Marathon