Pain in the lower back...

Sunday morning I was sitting there, contemplating my run for the morning. How far? Take Jake with me?

Saturday, my wife and I timed a race in Chelan, WA. Combination marathon, half-marathon, and 10K. And it was slated to be a very warm day, and the night before when we arrived was still in the upper 80's at sundown. It was expected to get into the mid-90's by the peak of the day. And most of the course was completely exposed. No envy of the racers in my part...

Between the three distances, there were some 200+ finishers, and no heat emergencies. Finish times were slow -- 3:15 for the marathon (second place was a woman only 4 minutes later), 1:27 for the half (posted by a woman -- first time I've seen that first hand), and 44:15 for the 10K (a guy pushing a stroller).

Yes, the heat definitely affected those times, but I guess I'm just not used to small races and their accompanying soft winning times... You'd think I would be by now. Especially after seeing winning 5K times around the 20 minute mark.

Anyway, as we were setting up for the race, I tweaked something in my lower back. Still hurting. So I was contemplating the run, and the day of house painting after... We'll see how it goes, I think.

I suited up and decided to run solo. Within a few steps I knew it wasn't going to be good. Legs felt weak, and the back was hurting with every step. I cut it short at about 1.5 miles.

The day of painting went "okay". The worst was having to lean into the ladder.

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The subject has come up multiple times this past week -- do you remember where you were when "it" happened? Ten years ago today, the first terrorist act against Americans on American soil.

Yes, I remember where I was, and what I felt. Clearly, as if it were yesterday. I can't even look at the images without feeling the same anger vreeping back in. I spent two days almost wishing some one would say we deserved it (as I had read online in several places) -- I wanted to vent 3000 lives of frustration on them.