new 10k record!

Despite the fact that I got home and in bed at 1:30am, and that it was plenty cold when I woke up a short 5 hours later, I had a good run.
Finished the 10k in 53 minutes, beating my previous record of 58 minutes. My running strategy: pace myself against the cutest women immediately in front of me. Luckily, it was easy this time.
We ran two loops around the palace, and just as I was finishing my first loop the winner crossed the finish line: 25 minutes.
He ran 10 kilometers.
In 25 minutes.
That's nearly 20 kph (about 12mph for you metritards). For TEN KILOMETERS.
I don't think I could sprint 100 meters at that speed, let alone maintain it for 10 klicks.

In the afternoon I took the kids to Appi, the local community kids place; basically a giant room with lots of toys, a changing area, etc. Today that had lots of balloons, so I tried Patrick's shadow-box-the-balloon challenge.
The good news I was in a room full of kids, so although I looked like a completely uncoordinated idiot, after a few minutes all the kids were doing it too, and we had balloons flying all over the room.
The hardest part is the waiting. Balloons are SLOW, and waiting for them to float down, to be in range, when all I want to do is flail about, is actually quite difficult. I found the entire exercise illuminating; reminding me just how uncoordinated I am.
Then again I DID run 10 kilos this morning, so gimme a little credit.

I also discovered that I can do deep wide-angle forward bends in my shower, just. If I jam my nekkid ass against the door and stretch out, my right foot reaches the tub and my left foot just barely makes it to the wall. Then I can lean down and let the hot shower pummel my neck and back from above. Stretching whilst wet and warm is most excellent.