The K12

I'm totally dating myself but I love the movie, Better Off Dead. To really date myself, I saw it in the movie theater in high school. That's old. It shows up on cable every now and then and it's just as funny now, to me anyway. There's a scene in it where Lane goes to get a ski repaired and the proshop guy is in a wheelchair with one arm in traction and his head all bandaged up. Lane asks him what happened and he says "The K12. After the Olympics, everything just seems so damned easy." (The K12 being some crazy hard trail that becomes Lane's goal to beat in the movie in order to win back his girl)

Today was my first run in a week, only my second since the marathon. I am still coughing and not feeling great but if you don't use it, you lose it. I thought I felt better than I actually did when I got started. But, cocky as I can be, I told myself "Pff. You just ran the NY-freaking-marathon. What's a 5-miler?!" After the Olympics, everything just seems so damned easy.



I wasn't expecting that! I went a new route and the hills...oh, the hills! I started out bravely enough but by end the exertion became ridiculously hard. Nothing else to do in those situations but laugh it off because it sure knocked me down a few pegs.

Truthfully, 5 miles was probably too much considering how sick I still am but I was scared to do less. Whatevs. It's over. I'll know what to expect on Thursday when I repeat the route. Hill work is forced speedwork, that's the mantra. And that's my goal for the rest of 2010 -- to work on speed.

It's all good though. How can it not be when you hit the streets wearing this: