Burns Park Loop/Levy Trail 5K

I led the charge this morning, as Bill Brass, Ron & Elaine Gimblett, Bob McKinney, and Yvette Thompson followed for a lap of the Burns Park Loop in 1:34:02. That might have been the last time I will be allowed to lead. Our splits were 28:18,  33:11 (1:01:28), and 34:23 (1:07:34).

This wasn't a time trial. It was hard, but if my life or a roll on a rug with Ellen Page had been on the line, I'm confidant I could've gone at least a minute faster. I ran the first Levy Trail 5K this evening in 29:01, with splits of 58 (for the first 188 yards, or one tenth of a mile plus twelve yards), 9:34, 9:41, and 8:48. I'm pleased.

I PLAN TO STAB...
...the next motherfucker who says, "...the American people." I don't know who first justified using those three words in place of one as perfectly synonymous as the nearly forgotten "Americans." Obviously I don't know, though I imagine it was a speech writer. Perhaps he or she thought it sounded more authoritative, or simply rung better. I also of course don't know who first said it, but presidents since at least Franklin Roosevelt have said "the American People" and in so doing have sounded as though they were speaking to subjects rather than peers, and I know that many of us now say it, or write it, and that it's time to stop. It almost makes me miss the contemptible Nixon, who at least had the grace to say, "My fellow Americans..." Imagine that. Imagine our last few presidents, or the next, saying, "Here are the things my fellow Americans and I need..."