Is That A Bear?

First of all, I want to wish the Two Gomers (www.twogomers.com) good luck as they run their first full marathon today!  In addition to being two of my very best friends, they are the reason I started running last year. They're about an hour in right now...and have probably stopped to pee at least once already.  Love you dudes!

This morning, in their honor, I went out and ran 5k.  It was an unbelievable morning, too.  Sun shining, slight breeze, mid-50s...perfect running weather.  It was, in essence, my first significant run en route to the half, so I'm really happy with that.  Finished in just over 34 minutes.

Here's the weird thing about today's run: I was afraid a bear was going to get me.  See, last week a black bear was spotted in our neighborhood.  http://www.channel3000.com/news/23799636/detail.html  St. Andrews church is right behind our condo.  So, this morning I walked over to the library to loosen up my muscles and stretch before my run, and I realized just how many shrubs and tall grasses are around.  And there's a retaining pond adjacent to our condo association.  That thing could be anywhere.  Then that was all I could think about for much of the run.

This is not quite what I was imagining.

Nothing like being paranoid that you're going to be attacked by a bear while on a morning jog.  Thankfully, everything went fine and I was not attacked.

Maybe next time.