So Al and I completed phase one of the Brother-Sister 10K Extravaganza we planned while out for a run this past December. We did the Sun Run 10K here in Vancouver yesterday (with 54,315 other people), with Al clocking in at 62:02 and me at 75:28. I'm a bit disappointed as I wanted to beat my time of 76:40 (or so) from last year by at least 6 minutes...but I had some technical difficulties. At about kilometre 4 I started to get noticeable blisters, despite the fact that I've been running 3-4 times a week on these shoes for about 6 weeks. Then, at about the 6.5 K mark, the blisters burst. So now my feet are in agony. I had three choices: 1. Quit. 2. Limp to the finish line in my shoes and forget about beating my time. 3. Take off my shoes and run like hell.

So, one shoe was sacrificed at a water station on West 6th, I slipped my other shoe, which had my time chip zap-strapped to it, onto my hand, and I ran the rest of the race in my pink socks, and managed to clock in around 75 minutes. I think but for the blister issue and then the dilemma of abandoning my shoe in the road, I would have made my goal of finishing in under 70 minutes. So overall, I'm...satisfied, if not happy, with my result. Al's just happy he didn't have to take a puke break, which happened on last year's 10K.

The people manning the New Balance booth in BC Place post-event heard my story and awarded me a brand new pair of socks. So, hey, I got something out of my Rocky Balboa moment. All I can say today is thank god for Band-Aid Blister Care...