I ran 7 miles with a "buddy" group last night down by the ocean. "Buddy runs" are small, loosely organized Team in Training groups who run together during the middle of the week. Mine are every Tuesday night. On Thursday nights we have "coach's workouts", which are more organized affairs with a coach leading us through an interval workout at the Kezar Stadium track. On Saturday mornings we have long runs at various sites around the city with a much larger turnout than the mid-week sessions. Last night about thirty of us ran from the Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach, south along the coast down to Sloat, a mile up Sloat to Middlefield, and then back to Ocean Beach. The run went OK for me. I ran it pretty fast, but I don't think I stretched enough because I got shin splints which are still bothering me this morning. I'm enjoying runs more and seem to be running faster since buying a "Rio" MP3 digital music player. It's a great device: much smaller than a traditional walkman and with no moving parts so it never skips. The music keeps me pumped up and energized. I've never listened to music while working out before -- now I can see why people do it.

We made our travel plans for Uncle Jud's funeral, which is on Friday. After helping to care for Jane's mom last year for the last four months of her life, I know what Uncle Jud and his immediate family must have gone through. There are probably worse ways to die than of cancer, but not many.