~5 miles @ ~8.9 min/mi

With the sun in my eyes the object by Rock Creek Trail looks like a gnarly tree stump — but as I approach it turns successively into a totem pole, a statue of a burly man, and finally into a living worker in an orange hard-hat sitting there to catch his breath. Water floods across the bikepath, and a block farther downstream both Christmas afternoon mysteries are explained: a broken pipe under the street is being repaired.

"Nice shorts!" an elderly lady walking along complements me. I'm pushing the pace hard to stay sub-9 min/mi average after a slow start down Hollow Glen Place to find the proper path across the ravine to McKenney Hills Park. Unlike yesterday's trek in the opposite direction (2012-12-23 - Mormon Temple Hill Repeats) this time I use the solid new bridge upstream and climb the still-under-construction stairway to the new school building. Jack and Leslie, family acquaintances, roll down their car window and greet me as I run past their home on Menlo Av. The Garmin GPS records mile splits of 9:36 + 8:50 + 8:01 + 8:28 + 8:51 and 8:31 pace for the final 0.35 mile to get home. Runkeeper measures about 0.1 mile less distance. The right ITB at the hip still aches rather badly.

^z - 2013-01-07