Fun Run
In an effort to, I dunno, do something different, I've decided to run my first 5K race on the morning of my birthday, October 16th. This means that this Saturday, instead of sleeping in, which I so rarely get to do, I'll be hauling ass for 3.1 miles at 8:30 in the morning.

"Hauling ass" is a term relative to my pace, of course, which is embarrasingly slow. Justin will be there with me, hamming it up because he's a guy and no matter how out of shape he is compared to me, he'll always be stronger and faster. As much as I hate that, and as competitive as it makes me, I want us to be able to run together.

And I want to learn to think of a 5K run an nothing scary or oppressive. I've run 5K before, twice, around the imperial palace loop in Tokyo but I stopped several times, to catch my breath (air pollution!) and reset my malfunctioning iPod. This time I won't stop.

Here's the course, a loop through campus that Justin says looks like it was run by a crazed gerbil.

That this race is on my birthday seems somehow a good way to commit myself to running more in the coming year, and doing it with Justin a pledge to always keep trying new things together. That's a pretty good present to myself.