W5D6

Me, Brian, his wife Jen and their friend Jennifer after the Surf City 5K.

I had the chance this morning to run with my good friend and old running partner Brian. Brian and I signed up together for the marathon training program back in 2003. We've started my first 4 marathons together but never finished one together. Brian went off to Boston to dental school at Tufts but now is back in SoCal practicing dentistry. We've been trying to get together for a run for months and this finally worked out. The Surf City 5K was my first race ever so I like to run it when I can. In all the miles that we trained together in 2003 and 2004, he and I've have never run a 5K together. He hasn't been putting in nearly the training I have so I let him set the pace. For me today was supposed to be an easy day. The race was just a good excuse to run with Brian. The 5K time was 29:05. I put in 1.5 warmup before hand for 4.6 miles for the day.

On my way home from the beach I got off the freeway right at Bonelli Park so I took the opportunity to go for a 5 mile walk (1BPM). Since I had the camera I took a couple pictures of the picnic area and the lake from the trail.

Along the trail it is not uncommom for me to run into mourning doves. They are ususally in pairs and fly off upon my approach with a flutter of wings and their characteristic cooing. I happened along a single dove on my walk pecking away at the dirt on the trail. As I approached, it scooted on further down the trail and continued about its pecking. All of a sudden a small hawk swooped out of the brush, grabbed the dove in its talons and took off. Kind of a crazy sight to see.

I headed home and then spent the afternoon hanging around the pool and we're about to sit down to tri-tip, potato salad, roasted corn, watermelon and a couple of cold ones.

The American flag hanging outside our front door

Happy July 4th to all. Enjoy the day and be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy.