A challenge

Two great runs this weekend, but neither were done by me. My erstwhile running buddy from Philly, Kevin Forde, won the Masters division at the Fifth Avenue Mile in NYC in an unthinkable time of 4:25. And of course, this morning in Berlin, Haile Gebrselassie finally broke the men's world record in the marathon in an even more unthinkable 2:04:26. I have never run with Geb.

Me? I had cake for breakfast this morning.

But I did also get in a couple of runs this weekend, both with Silas. Saturday morning we headed south into Oakland, then turned around, stopping at the Berkeley Bowl for tofu. 5.3 miles in 41:30. This evening, we headed to Marin Ave, and went a block further up than last time, to Oxford St. 6.8 miles in 57:30.

Today's run is the first (or second) day of my new challeng: run to the end of Marin Ave. This means advancing up the .75 mile upper section of the street, one block at a time, until we make it to the top. The rules are that I must make at least one attempt, with Silas, each week, and that I must advance at least one block, without walking, each week. Bonnie Lane doesn't count as a block for my purposes, since it doesn't cross Marin. The beginning of each run will be the same as today. So this is a 13 step process, and I have passed the first two steps. I'm not sure if I will actually be capable of making it to the top of this hill, which has something like a 16% grade and about 720 feet of climbing, but it will be good to have a project and a reason to get on the road every week, even if I will never run a 4:25 mile.