~7 miles @ ~8.7 min/mi

Yesterday afternoon while crunching into a dried wasabi pea a tooth breaks — it was already cracked and overdue for fracture — so this morning it's take-time-off-work to visit the dentist. Nothing he can do immediately, so schedule a crown installation in a month when he returns from vacation. This afternoon is the signing ceremony for our latest mortgage refinancing op. Not enough time between to go to the office. What else to do but run? The X-rays that check out my molar raise atoms to an unusually high energy level, and pace is brisk like wind and temperature this morning. After half a block the inner gyro locks and directs me along Forest Glen to Georgia and then north to Plyers Mill. Instead of branching homeward prematurely, as on 2012-10-09 - Lost in the Neighborhood Woods, today it's sweet to glide down the long hill and only turn south at St Paul, where an "archway of springtime pink dogwood flowers and cherry blossoms" suddenly springs to mind from when I last ran this road in 2003. Zig across railroad tracks at Kensington Station and zag by the Post Office. Coast down Kensington Parkway to Rock Creek Trail. Push to maintain speed as breath comes faster. Slow only slightly climbing from stream valley to home ridge. Garmin GPS splits are 9:25 + 8:36 + 8:20 + 8:45 + 8:14 + 8:25 + 8:49 (the Ireland Dr hill) plus a final faster fragment for the last block to read 7.10, with Runkeeper in close concordance at 7.15. Pulse a minute after finishing is ~140. Right hip-end ITB aches before and is achier afterward. Perhaps shorter, faster runs are appropriate for the near future?

^z - 2012-12-22