Red, White and Boom goes the dynamite!

It's been a while! The last month and a half since Fargo I've been pretty laid back. Probably enjoyed more of the beer aspect than shoe aspect of life, but eventually I had to race again, and what better day than the 4th of July. Ahhh, 4th of July. America's Independence Day. The day to celebrate America's freedom by drinking crappy beer, cooking meat over an open flame, blowing stuff up and for me, waking up before 5 am to run a half marathon. The Red, White and Boom Half takes place every year on the 4th, which is just that perfect time of year to run. You know, when it's 90 degrees and humid. Who doesn't like that? Actually, this year was pretty decent, unlike last year when they turned it into a 5 mile race, which was plenty.

Having not trained for this race specifically, and just tried to maintain some semblance of fitness, I had absolutely no goal going into it. Figured I'd just run, hope to feel good, and not die. Managed to pull two of the three, because honestly my legs did not feel good race time. I didn't die though...sorry to disappoint some. I won't do a mile by mile, because there wasn't much entertaining going through the industrial area of Northeast Minneapolis. I ran a 1:20:54, which is not a PR, nothing spectacular for me, but solid enough I was happy and enjoyed it.  The few highlights. Passing the guy running "barefoot" within a mile of the start. I don't mind you wear Vibrams, but if you are going to start, on the line, you better be able to back them up. After mile 6, there is an awful hill. My Garmin had it as a 120 foot gain over half a mile....oh I think I just heard some people in San Francisco laughing at me. Finally, the finish line is pretty solid. Grilled hot dogs. Popsicle. Ice cream sandwiches....what's that? They are vanilla frozen yogurt sandwiches? This race sucks.

With that done, my legs actually felt really good for the first time since the marathon this morning. Guess I just needed a race to get me going again. Oh, and you got some sweet glasses for the race too.

God Bless America. And all that jazz.