~30.5 miles @ ~14.3 min/mi

At mile 21 a big Black Racer slithers across the road at Manassas Battlefield Park. Jennifer Hotchkiss and I run by it.

"Wait a minute!" I say. "Let me go back and get a selfie!"

As I lie down on the asphalt and line up for the shot the snake pauses, sticks its tongue out at me, and then crawls onward. Jennifer snaps the perfect meta-photo, with the pic I'm framing visible on my phone's screen. Wow!

We're on the last lap of this year's "Ran It with Janet" 50k. Son Merle drives me here at dawn and circulates among the aid stations, helping and taking photos, applauding runners and assisting volunteers. It's a lovely day, partly cloudy, somewhat warm and humid.

Before we begin comrades Ken Swab, Gayatri Datta, and Jennifer Wieland pose for a colorful shoe pic with me. Race Director Janet Choi gives the pre-event briefing. Entry fee is only $5; everything else goes to Cornerstones, ".. a nonprofit organization that promotes self-sufficiency by providing support and advocacy for those in need of food, shelter, affordable housing, quality childcare, and other human services." Janet's race raises $4500 this year. Nice!

The race consists of three loops around the Manassas National Battlefield Park. The first goes by briskly in 2:15, for an average pace of ~13 min/mi. Likewise lap #2, which takes 2:14 according to the official log. I catch up with Jennifer Hotchkiss and we walk/run together for the final circuit. Much great trail talk ensues, about racing and families and philosophy and life. We finish together at a total elapsed time of 7:16:30, tied for 25th place. Yay!

(trackfile) - ^z - 2017-06-27