Slow Down!

Out the door at 5:45 a.m., Kathryn asks, "Can we run nine-minute miles?" Before I could say, "Let's start out slow," she bolted. We probably ran closer to an 8:30 first mile, which our dog Pepper, who drafted off Kathryn, loved. I'm sure Born Free played loudly in his spotted head.

When Pepper stopped to conduct some business, my teammate didn't stop. Instead, she stretched her lead. Nice! So that's how it's going to be. I think I even heard giggles. I had to work to regroup with my sassy pacesetter.

At 1.5 miles, we hit our first hill. I know Kathryn doesn't like hills, so I decided to catch her and see if she could keep her pace. She started it, folks! She fell back some. I felt not a shred of guilt, blog followers. I'm within months of getting dusted by my daughter.

On the way to school, I asked, "So why do we have to run that hard so early?" She said, "Because jogging is boring. I like running."

So now I have a new speedwork partner.

Tonight, I spoke to another Team In Training group. More than 20 people showed up; about four have been impacted by blood cancer. One guy came up to tell me his wife is battling breast cancer, and one young woman asked if she should sign up for a full or half marathon (I suggested a half since she's never run more than three miles).