Great Tune-up Run, and Jury Duty.

I had a great run yesterday after work. It wasn’t fast, but I felt really good throughout. Well, not quite. I had knee and hamstring and quad issues. But that’s also probably just a case of the taper crazies. Right before a race, anxiety and anticipation combine to make many runners, including me, fabulate phantom injuries. I’ll be fine.

The run was really spectacular. Even though it was 88 degrees out. Even though I haven’t been training as hard as I feel like I should. I’ve gotten enough work in. I’m not in perfect shape, but I’m in “finish an Olympic triathlon” shape, and that’s all I need. I did 10 km, which is the distance I’ll have to run Sunday. I did the second 5 km faster than the first, and my fastest mile was mile 6.

That tells me I can pace well, and I can maintain. My fitness is decent for the distances I’m going. I’m a little nervous about the hills on the bike course. But the run course is dead flat and shaded. It’s not supposed to be too humid. It’s not supposed to be too hot. I think I’ll likely have ideal conditions. I’m excited.

The other thing that happened this week is that I had Jury Duty. I was not selected. I was impaneled for a murder trial (which was not a death penalty case), but when the time came to speak to the judge, she didn’t like what I had to say about my opinions of police biases. But the real bullet I dodged was the fact that jury selection that day was also for a major political corruption trial which would have dragged on for weeks.

The great thing to come out of that though, was that I made a new friend! Another jury member is an assistant professor at UHR, in health policy and economics. He’s also a runner, and a triathlete, and has an eerily similar background to me from a political and religious perspective. We hit it off immediately and are having dinner this Saturday.

I also learned about a local olive oil and vinegar shop. So so far, this week has been a major win.