How about now. I ran 17.45 km in 2:03:51 for a 7:06 average pace. Which was kind of painful, but not enough to stop me. Which makes me think I might very well have a sub 2.5 hour half marathon in me. Or I might not.
I met a whole whack of people today at the bird sanctuary where I did 3 – 3 km loops for the trail portion of my run. They are always surprised to see me, especially when I sneak up behind them on the boardwalk running at them like a maniac. Picture having the hell startled out of you by a charging leopard. Even without the heavy wind in their ears, they can’t hear you coming up behind them until you are just ten feet away. I’ve never had anyone jump off the boardwalk into the (now dry) swamp yet, but many of them mill about uncertainly and get all confused. It’s pretty funny actually and I sort of get a perverse kick out of it.
I did three loops so I met some of these people several times and each time they seemed very surprised. I met one woman who was shepherding a half dozen children on the boardwalk and as I ran past them a little boy shouted, “that man is running!” or something to that effect, and the woman replied “Yes, he is!”.
That kind of surprised me and I remember snapping out of my own running induced meditation to think, “Hey, I guess I really am running, aren’t I?” I got a kick out of that. Mostly they understand that I am not a ravenous leopard charging at them out of the grassy shadows. They probably wouldn’t make a tasty snack anyway. When they see my Running Room belt and water bottle and other assorted running gear, they generally breath a sigh of relief and relax.
Still, I can’t help but think they would be easy prey, ha ha.