This morning was the fifth race in my running "career" - my third 5k overall, and what I hoped was to be my fastest 5k yet. (I'm still amazed that not only am I running, I'm running actual races.)

My goal was to beat my first 5k's time - which was 30:23 - not bad for my first ever race, plus that added difficulty of having to dodge multiple dogs and leashes.

Based on my 10k pace in September, I was estimated that this race should take me about 27:30, and I even had the iPod "programmed" in such a way that when a certain song came on, I knew I was close and needed to push myself towards the finish line.

What I didn't count on was the number of people. This race, by far, had the most runners. Phil told me afterwards that some people were estimating close to 10,000 racers (in three waves) were present. I don't know if there were quite that many, but there were quite a lot.

The first wave was for the faster runners (like Phil) - anyone faster than an 8 minute mile. Wave Two (my wave) was for people with a pace between 8:01 and and 9:40. The third and final wave was for everyone else (runners and walkers.)

I know the point is to have fun and to not get discouraged, but I was a little disappointed in the number of people in my wave that were walking and were in the way of those of us who wanted to run. This little 5k race took me over 32 minutes to complete, which frustrated me just a tad. When I was able to run (which wasn't nearly as often as I would have liked,) I felt good, all my back issues from earlier in the week weren't there. If you know that you're going to walk, at least have the courtesy to not walk in the middle, or walk with the walkers wave, and not be in a runners wave.

I did participate in the holiday spirit - in addition to my Santa Hat that I posted earlier, I added two bells to each of my shoes, and listened to Trans-Siberian Orchestra's versions of Christmas music. Let me say, that damn Santa hat was way to freaking hot! I'm thinking of keeping the bells on my shoes.

Speaking of heat - the weather cooperated perfectly! Yesterday when I was diving, it was pouring down rain, and today's forecast was identical to Saturday's, so I was a bit worried. But it was clear and it was actually a little warm this morning (and by warm I mean 45 at the most.)

The course started in front of Westlake Center, and ran down sixth, to the express lanes tunnel (HOT) and down the express lanes heading north, before turning around and come back in front of Pacific Place and Nordstroms (Pike or is it Pine? I can never remember.) The parts on the freeway were very warm, and the exit ramp from the express lanes had quite a good sized hill, and me not being used to running on hills really felt some straining heading up that ramp. But I never stopped and maintained my pace. Man it felt so good dropping back into town.

After the race, I met up with Phil (we actually ran into each other in Westlake before the race) (Phil works for the same credit union I do, and was my running partner for the Pineapple race a few weeks ago.) We walked down to Bamboo Garden for lunch. I was amazed that Phil was willing try something new - and vegan - but that's probably because I surround myself with people who have no interest in trying new foods. Bamboo definitely hit the spot.

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A little while ago I was thinking that there was no way I could do the 12k next Sunday. But now I'm thinking that I really want to do it. It's only a mile further than my longest run, and I know that there will be less people at this one, so I would be able to get a good personal time this time around. Hmmm . . . wonder if I can convince the wife I need to do this . . .

Forgot to post these from yesterday. Some more pictures I snagged from the wife.

	Phil on the left - me on the right. This was taken before our race while we were waiting for our starting time to be announced.
	An angled shot of the official race poster.

This morning I ran the 2006 Winter Pineapple Classic in Magnuson Park in Seattle. The race was to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The race was a 5k (3.1 miles) with an obstacle course. Since this was the first year the race has been held, no one had any idea as to what the obstacles might be, or even what the route was.

There were a total of six obstacles - crawling through some tires, running around some cones, running over some tires, climbing over two walls, climbing up and over a giant rope net, and finally, crawling under some ropes in the mud.

Oh, and I can't forget that each team was required to carry a pineapple for the entire race.

The only obstacle that I was concerned about was the one with the two walls. I don't have very much upper body strength, but surprisingly enough, I was able to get over both walls on the first attempt. (The second wall, which was higher, did pose more of a challenge, but I pulled through.)

My running partner was Phil, whom I've "known" for a couple of years now, but haven't ever met in person. Odd I know. We both work at the same place, and he used to work at one of my favorite ESCs (along with two of my favorite employees.) Since I work in a phone environment, I have the opportunity to talk to a lot of different people, and Phil was one that I talked to quite a bit. Last year he left to move to Japan for a year, and upon his return, he never mentioned that he was back, until I came across his name on some documents and e-mailed him. During some of our conversations, I mentioned that an old co-worker of his and mine got me into running, and later on mentioned today's race, which he was more than happy to join me on.

We both had quite a bit of fun with today's race. While it was way too cold, it wasn't raining at least, and we both completed all the obstacles with no issues at all. Plus our pineapple made it through with no breakage.

While we were out running, April, Ms. Jean and Callie (Phil's wife) stayed together and chatted, and seemed to have gotten along together quite well. All three were waiting for us at the finish line which was a surprise. Even more so when I later found out that they were about to give up waiting for us and head back to the warmth of the hanger where the luau was being held. (The fifth obstacle - the rope climb - had a huge backlog of people. We probably waited longer at that one leg, than it did for us to run the entire course.)

Afterwards, instead of eating pork (not a good fit for me,) all of us (including Kristy and Debbie, Kristy's friend,) drove out to U-Village for some warm food (and cold beer) at The Ram. (And even found time to visit a certain Starbucks to check out Angel's pictures.)

	Here we come after finishing the last obstacle.
	Getting our leis and our wrists stamped (for the luau that was held afterwards.) (Wow, I'm getting bald!)
	Honestly, I have zero idea what we were doing when this picture was taken. (Maybe in the process of raising our arms in triumph?) (April said that we were describing the rope climb.)
	Phil and his wife Callie (well, the back of Callie.)

I only managed to take two pictures at the race today. The wife got some, which I'll snag shortly.

What I should have done is taken my camera with me and shot each obstacle, but I wasn't sure what we were going to be dealing with - I'll explain a little later about the race and obstacles.

According to Weather.com, at my team's start time, it's going to be 46, but it's going to feel like 41, with a 40% chance of showers. Good thing I "practiced" running in cold last week, and running in the rain this week.

Sitting here with my shorts, my old shoes (fully expecting to muddy them up today) and my long sleeved shirt. Today is going to be my first run without my trusty iPod - figure that I should at least talk to my teammate, right?

As soon as the wife gets out of the shower and dressed, we'll be heading up to Seattle to meet with Kristy and then caravan over to Magnuson Park. Hopefully Jean will be able to connect at some time.

I know a few people think I'm crazy for running today at lunch, but I don't care. The outside temperature was about 60° and the rain felt good. I didn't do my normal route at work (mainly because one end of the trail I run on was flooded over, and because my rain jacket doesn't breathe very well - I was too warm) I still had a blast and felt great.

I didn't run the last two days of the week last week because I wasn't feeling good, so today's run was that much better. Good time, decent distance (3.5 miles) and just lots of fun. I even took my headphones out of my ears and ran the last 8 minutes just listening to the rain and my breathing. Oddly enough, I even noticed myself smiling and laughing for no apparent reason. Maybe because I was the only person out there (besides the one bicyclist I passed) and realized how ridiculous I must look running during a downpour.

I'm a runner - it's what I do.

Saturday is my next race - it's a team 5k with obstacles. Going to be very interesting to find out what sort of obstacles they're throwing our way. And since this is the first year, there's no one who has ran it before who can provide any hints. I'm one half of my two person team - Team Deadites - Phil is the other half. I know Phil from work, but we've never met. Quite odd, but that's okay. The strangest part for me at least is that Phil is a sub-three hour marathon runner, and I am a slow (by comparison) nine-minute miler. Maybe I'll pick my pace up even more since I'll be running with someone who is so much faster than I.