Tar Heel 10 Miler

This weekend was the Tar Heel 10 Miler in Chapel Hill.  My brother drove down from DC to run the race making it the third race we've run together since last October (first was Marine Corps Marathon  in October and  second was Krispy Kreme Challenge in February).  Hopefully we'll be able to run some more races soon in the future.

I did a couple of things differently this race and they all worked out.  I think they will become part of my racing plan.

• Stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and munchkins as pre-race fuel
• Wore Vibram Five Fingers during the run (vs. normal running shoes)
• Didn't look at my watch during the race
• Gave a high five to Meb Keflezighi before crossing the start line

Below are some pictures from the race.  The full set of pictures can be found here.

Five Fingers - 1 for each mile

Start of the race

Action shot while running. 

Franlkin Street

Laurel Hill Challenge

Right turn to the finish. A welcome sight.

Finished!

Blue Ridge Relay teammates

Baseball Begins

The boys have played soccer for several years and other than a season of trying out basketball for Andrew that has been about it for sports.  Late last year Alex decided he wanted to play baseball so we encouraged him to join a team.  He agreed and we signed him up for a league in our town.  Tonight was his team's first game and they did really well.  I think the other team scored a few more runs but overall both teams were competitive.

Alex was able to bat in 3 of the 5 innings that he played.  He hit the ball into play in his first 2 at bats (1 for a hit) and struck out in his 3rd at bat.  He probably would have had a hit in his first at bat had he started running after he hit the ball.  It was his first at bat ever.  After hitting the ball he stood there watching it until he heard the coaches yelling at him to run.  He barely missed making it to first before the ball got there.

I liked how his coach did the defensive assignments.  Each time his team went out into the field to play defense the coach moved the players to different positions.  As a result, Alex was able to play left field, short stop and right field (twice).  I heard one of his coaches tell him next week that he'll get to play catcher which he is excited about.  In all I think Alex had about 8 balls hit his way and only 1 or 2 made it past him (pretty good average for his age group).

Alex had a lot of fun and did really well.  I was proud of his play and happy to see him enjoy the game.