~3 miles @ ~8.4 min/mi

Stigmata on my feet sting when the post-run shower water hits them. Today I go without socks, and after a mile already feel a bit of scraping inside the Nike Free slipper-shoes. Maybe the little footsies are too delicate this morning? Cut the run short and try to keep it fast.

Rewind: "Are you waiting here for your running buddies?" boss Pat Cook asks on his way into the building. I'm at the loading dock ~0632 and nobody from the 0630 running crew is around. So solo it is in the brisk late-summer dawn, temps in the upper-50s, delightful 50ºF dew point. Kids stand on corners awaiting their banana-yellow school bus. A pumped-up rabbit peers at me through a chain-link fence. Pet or trapped? No time to observe — I'm blasting along with splits 8:50 + 7:56 + 8:05 by Garmin GPS unit, and close-enough 8:49 + 8:01 + 8:09 according to iPhone RunKeeper app. Zig-zag to rejoin Pimmit Dr, add a fraction of a mile, and make the total distance exceed 3 by a thin film of sweat.

^z - 2012-09-25