So here we are, 7 A.M. Monday morning. For those readers among us who are USF students, welcome back from Spring Break! (Pause for a collective groan). For those that are in Hillsborough County Schools, welcome to spring break (Pause for cheers), and for those that filled out an NCAA bracket, here’s to hoping more than 8 teams are still alive!

So Saturday Morning was a very uncharacteristically early morning. Not that I have anything against waking up early, but when the alarm clock rang me awake at 5:30, I’m surprised it survived the resulting assult. I have always found a sense of irony in the way we purchase and use alarm clocks, something that completely ruins our day (Or, at least the concept of making it a shorter one), and we voluntarily purchase these! Oh well, I guess they do their job, as they did this morning.

So onto why I was up at 5:30 Saturday Morning.... For the second time in as many months, I ran a 5K. My goal was simply to beat my previous 5K time from last month, 58 minutes and change. The biggest difference in the two runs was that this one would be on grass, with a few hills, but luckily not too many. I have to admit, my knees were not happy with the fact that they were asked to do something of this magnitude again, but by the time I coerced them into cooperating, I was on my second lap, and determined to make up time. When I made the final turn, the 1 mile fun-run was just about to start, but that was of very little concern to me, as all I wanted to do was see the final time, and there it was: 56 minutes and 45 seconds. I hoped for my legs, knees, and circulatory system to just hold on for about 100 more yards, and I will have another dream realized: Beating myself, even if I beat very few other people. The final time was 57:14, around 90 seconds faster than Gasparilla. In the spirit of the Rennaisance Festival happening across the street from me, that gets a “huzzah!”

So, off to the daily grind again. Best of luck for a great week, and until we meet again,

-DS