"Sometimes you eat the bear...."

"...and sometimes, well, he eats you."

Were there any truer words spoken than these by The Stranger? I think not. In the Heart Mini-Marathon the bear is Torrence Parkway. You are, well, you, the runner. A lot of people get eaten by the bear. New comers are surprised to find the bear between mile 5 and 6. Actually, the bear finds them...and eats them. If you run the 15k be warned. Torrence the bear awaits, and he is hungry.

I take great pains to not get eaten by Torrence. That means eating a weekly dose of bears for approximately 6 weeks leading up to the race. Bears are tough, chewy, salty and tiresome to eat, but it's all worth it race day. What am I talking about? I think I've beaten the metaphor into the ground.

The 33rd running of the Heart Mini-Marathon has come and gone once again. I went into this year's race with not much in the way of expectations. I wanted to run well, but didn't expect to set any personal records. This was a test race leading up to the Flying Pig Half Marathon in a few weeks. I wanted to try to maintain around a 7 minute/mile pace with something left in the tank at the end. It all went very well. I finished up at 1:06:04, which is a 7:07 pace. Perfect. It's a hilly course just like the pig at a faster pace than my last half marathon.

What's more perfect was the delicious Mokka french toast which was devoured after the race. Fast times are nice, but brunch with friends is what it's all about.