Siete de Mayo

Happy Siete de Mayo! Yes, I realize it is two days past Cinco de Mayo but I had something to celebrate today.

I ran 4 miles! That's cuatro milas for you Espaniolers -- the farthest this little senorita has ever run.

I have been trying to run every day since about mid-April when I met Jim's cousin Sally, a marathon runner from Chicago. She mentioned running 1,200 miles last year. I was so impressed.

No, I am NOT planning on running a marathon, but I realized later that she basically had to run a 5K a day to accomplish that. Jim said "I bet you could run 900 miles in a year." So I said "OK, I'll start keeping track on the calendar."

I try to run some each day. When I have energy, I'll do 3 miles or 3.2 (for a 5K) and if I'm tired I'll just go 2 (or hit the snooze and roll over).

Over lunch hour today (after my Tab Energy Drink, of course), I decided to see how far I could go. I went as far as the 2-mile mark, turned around and figured I could always walk when I got to 3 miles if I needed to. I made it there and kept going.

I was getting pretty tired and contemplating walking when Satan happened by. That's what I'm calling him. He was a big ugly dog. I don't like big dogs and I don't like ugly dogs, either -- especially those I don't know.

To be safe, I decided to ignore him. Right. My strategy: I didn't go faster or slower -- just maintained my speed and kept looking straight ahead while my heart was palpitating in fear. I don't even remember the last half mile. I didn't dare stop and in the end, I guess that's a good thing. Thanks to Satan (or Diablo en Espaniol), I can say I ran 4 miles.

Maybe he could be my new jogging partner. Isn't there a song about "running with the devil"?