~16.3 mi @ ~10.9 min/mi

"Twenty Six!" - "Point Two!" - "Go Navy!" - "Beat Army!" US Naval Academy runners form a circle, extend fists, shout call-and-response. Jeanne Larrison sings the "Star-Spangled Banner". And we're off! K2 and Roadkill set out too fast, as usual, and find plenty of miles on which to atone. En route to the race the car radio pumps out a perfect classic rock sound track: "Inside Out" (Eve 6), "Go Your Own Way" (Fleetwood Mac), "Pink Houses" (John Mellencamp), "Dreams" (Cranberries). Pumpkins paint a hillside orange.

"I smell cows!" The 26.2 km "Metric Marathon" course meanders along rural roads, mansions overlooking rolling vistas, fields of corn stalks and soybean pods drying in the sun. Our Lady of Sorrows Church stands beside a cemetery with a dramatic angel tombstone. A stallion snorts and gallops around his pasture. We discuss systems thinking, first-person absolutist language, travel plans, family, and food. Volunteers from the Annapolis Striders greet runners and offer aid. Blisters throb, knees and hips twinge, calves cramp. It's a beautiful day for a country ramble with a friend!

(trackfile) - ^z - 2019-10-19