My first race and our dog gets hit by a car!

Well, the best news first: Our dog will probably be ok. Squeak, the smaller of our two dogs (they are Chihuahua/Dachshund mix), was hit by a car Sunday while I was running my race. She has two fractures in her pelvis and had some internal injuries as well. They operated on her yesterday and it seems that she's going to be fine. Hopefully she'll be wiser or at least faster after this...

Anyway, I also had my first race in over 20 years and I'm thrilled at how well I did. I was expecting a time of somewhere between 54 minutes and an hour for this 10k (6.2 mile) race. I finished in a time of 51:29! I was shocked. That's an average of 8:18 per mile, a much faster pace than I thought I could sustain. Also, this was not a flat course - the last mile or so was uphill and I felt it. Anyway, I'm thrilled I did so well...

Next Sunday, I'm running a 15k (9.3 mile) race in Oakland sponsored by the LMJS (Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders). 3 laps around Lake Merritt. This will be my longest run thus far and I'm hoping to average 8:40-8:50 for each mile of the race. I'll run a little before and after to make it an 10-11 mile day...

I have some fun but tough races ahead in May:
Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon - May 6th
Mount Tam. Boar Ridge 18k - May 12th
Tilden Tough 10 miler - May 20th

And tougher races ahead in June:
Lake Chabot Trail challenge (Half Marathon on tough fire roads) - June 3rd
and the Double Dipsea (13.7 miles - up and over Mt. Tam twice on tough trials) - June 23rd

Hopefully with some of these tough races under my belt, the S.F. Marathon in July will feel like a stroll in the park...;-)