Well she did finish just a few seconds ... ahead of you at the Step By Step 5k last November.

And therefore I left that race off my calendar this year. Heh. j/k.

Joe, that's a bloody nipple. It used to happen to me on my right, before started wearing the technical shirts (and even still does, in certain shirts). I felt tender for a while, too. While I haven't inspected your nipples (nor anybody else's for that matter), if they're anything like mine there could be a blood wound small enough to hide in the crevices. If you lick it, you'll taste a bloody iron.

Yet the rest did not bother you?

I was considering going to the CBRC meeting that I assume is still on for Monday evening. Perry, are you going? DR, are you up to it?

Yesterday evening Joe and and I attended the CBRC monthly meeting at Nicoletti's --- home of the Runnies. It was the first time for both of us, even though Joe's been a club member for several years (whereas I signed up merely several weeks ago). And Perry and Crystal were both there too, of course. I really just went observe --- and to enjoy the free pizza! It was intriguing to see how local races are put together and how they're afterwards reviewed from a fiscal standpoint. Oh, and it seems the police are worried about crime on the Three Notch Bike Path, as the meeting's special guest speaker was a county sheriff's department cop who gave a presentation on recognizing and reporting "suspicious activities" on the trail. He wanted us runners to become crime watchdogs --- but not vigilantes.

They don't even want us to carry anti-dog sticks!

An anti-dog stick is simply any stick one might use to smack or prod away a belligerent canine. People using the path generally keep their dogs well tethered, but the trail passes right along some residences --- and a junkyard --- featuring some maliciously mean mutts (usually enfenced, but you never know). The cop giving the presentation related an anecdote about how, back when he did some running, he had to mace a particular dog on three occasions before it learned not to come after him. That car wheel well theft situation greatly unnerves me, as I practically always hide my keys in that manner when I go somewhere to run or kayak. I hope no would-be thief/stalkers are reading this right now ...

We also got to discussing the safety of the individual runner during the police presentation. A bespectacled fellow sitting in front of me dropped the name Chandra Levy and then loudly admonished any woman who would go running by herself through an isolated area --- particularly women who wear headphones. I couldn't help but be reminded of an encounter I had last November ... (From a forum entry posted on 11/3/2008) About a mile after that, around the time I passed by the Cedar Cove Marina sign again, I spotted a runner about a quarter mile up ahead --- running in the same direction I was but at a significantly slower speed. Second by second the gap closed until, upon reaching the Valley Lee firehouse again, I was close enough to see that it was indeed the same woman who I'd viewed turning left out of Lighthouse Rd when I'd passed by that juncture on my "out" trip. Now, nothing could be more mortifying to me than getting overcome by another runner when on a training run --- unless that other runner is clearly doing a tempo or speed workout. "This is going to be awkward," I said to myself as I got within striking distance. Well, I was less than 10 feet behind when she --- wearing headphones and seemingly oblivious --- sensed something and decided to take a look back over her shoulder. She all but jumped off the ground as she (early 30s, I'm guessing) shrieked in alarm, so startled was she. But then she laughed it off. "Sorry," I said, "I hate it when people pass me, but I'm just trying to keep a good pace." Within moments, she was far to my rear.