Mind the Gap

Sunday, the NFL played its first regular season game outside of North America; the Giants and Dolphins squared off in in Wembley Stadium, London, England. Michael Strahan, the defensive super-star of the Giants, is not only well known for his sacking prowess, he's also known for the huge gap between his front teeth.


At the start of the Fox broadcast, a closeup of a grinning Strahan appeared, with the announcer saying, "The Dolphins need to mind the gap while in London." Oh my goodness! That was the funniest thing I had heard all day!

That was no longer the case though at the wrap up party for Sunday's Houston Half Marathon. It's customary for distance events to offer runners Vaseline to lubricate those touchy spots that get angry as the distance mounts. Equally customary is to offer up the lubricant on a tongue depressor. What a lady did at today's race is not so customary; she put the Vaseline into her mouth! In her defense, the first time I saw Vaseline on a stick, I thought, "What a strange way to had out racing gel." I did not, however, eat it!

The race itself went very well. The weather was just about perfect, and I was able to stick with the HoustonFIT Yellow group's new "Yellow Blob" for the whole race, finishing with a negative split in a total time of 2:07 (9:42 min/mile). I think we were all feeling pretty squirrelly at the end, because the last two miles were 9:21 and 9:12, easily the fastest of the day. My trusty heart rate monitor tells me that my average HR was 168, with a max of 181. I'll take my medal to work to taunt Boston Rob for not running, then it's up on the tie rack; lucky medal number 13!

As for my other exciting news, I seem to be infected with the house buying itch again. It remains to be seen whether this is a 48 hour bug, or a more serious infection, but based on my actions so far, it may be serious. I've had this illness so often that you'd think I'd be immune, but here we go again ....