Our ring leader Lia is still not able to run but the rest of us showed up. This was probably my first run with Rachel although we could not remember if we had run once before on a Saturday about 13 years back with a bigger group.

Val pushed us all to complete the 4th mile. And for the picture today, she “straightened” up 🙂 I almost caught our home grown meteorologist Bill staring at the sky!

On a related note, we picked up discussing snakes right where we had left off last time and proceeded to the no less entertaining topic of cockroaches!!

And you wonder how we inspire ourselves to get up early in the morning and run!!

Got up in the morning and went out with the group (Val and Bill) for a run. Rachel bailed out on us and went for a swim. Given the humidity this morning, we kind of did the same. And put in a 5K run in too!

From the picture, Val seems to have taken Sheryl Sandberg’s book a little too literally !!

Did a 8K run and pushed for higher speeds. Peaked at 9:30 min/mile for a mile. But averaged a little over 10 min/mile today. The trick was to let somebody running past me get a little ahead and then speed up to keep a constant distance. After about half a mile, I would have to relent and slow down. That one time when I picked three high school kids passing by me – that was a mistake. Heart beat shot past 180 !!

In a somewhat related news… I am still alive!!

In a flashback to the yesteryears, ran with a couple of my old running buddies this morning. We missed Lia who actually put the run together today but she is recovering from a surgery. Running with the old buddies might be exactly what I need to get my discipline in running back. Thank you Valerie and Bill for a great run – although in a very hot and humid weather.