Blake Russell

My drifting mind was thinking about the women's marathon last week and I couldn't think of the third female, American marathoner on the Olympic team. Tried every mnemonic trick I could think of and finally just let it rest. Within ten minutes the name bubbled up. Blake Russell.

I don't have a crush on her, nor do I know much about her, nor did she fare very well in the Olympics. I just liked the zen of how her name bubbled up to my memory after its unfortunate submergence.

My thoughts are getting heavier all the time, to where it is more often that I have difficulty skimming the ones I need off of the top.

I liked today because I felt the obligation to run and acted on it. I slept in a bit and went to the Clark Park farmers market and morning coffee with Reba. It was only after that, when the sun was reaching its zenith, that I laced up my shoes. The temptation not to run was great, but not going out was never in question. It was not so hot as it seemed, I ran a slightly short Strawberry Mansion Bridge loop and picked it up a little on MLK so that three miles came in in 20:56. Otherwise it felt good to be out there, good to be working out instead of jogging.

10.5 miles in 84:50. That's about as far as I wanted to go today, am racing tomorrow at the Shore. God help me.