So, my official time for the Dr. Seuss Race for Literacy was 36:11 (I saw 36:10 when I crossed the finish line). Works out to a 7:17 pace for the 8K course. After being unsatisfied with my performance at Carlsbad, I was happy with my performance. Not so much my time, which was decent, but with how I felt on the course, held a steady pace, and actually managed to run a negative split, which I don't think I've done in a race before. I just wanted to beat an 8-minute pace, which I did easily from the get-go. First mile in 8 minutes, which is very good considering this is a very popular event and the start was rather slow (they put up huge pace signs so the faster runners will be ahead of the walkers, and there's a huge banner in the back announcing where the walkers should be, and still there are idiots in front of me walking...one woman was walking backwards, no doubt looking for her friends who knew how to read...I mean, its the race for literacy, what sort of example are you setting? but I digress...). I was probably about a 7:40 pace most of the way, and once I got off the 163 into downtown and knew I was near the end, I kicked it up a notch, running the last mile at about 6:00 pace. There were bands playing along the route in downtown, which helped. The bluegrass group, in particular, gave me some nice motivation. Wish I knew their name. Anyway, if I had any disappointment, its that I felt good enough at the end that I know I could've shaved at least a minute off that time, easily. But I'm happy with how it went, and now I'm ready to prepare for a strong showing at my next 5K, at the end of the month. And I'm happy that I helped the Council on Literacy. I picked up info while there on volunteering, I've been thinking about doing that for some time; perhaps this Summer I'll make some time. Dyslexia runs in the family (it practically gaollps), so it would be a nice gesture in return for my fortune in being relatively unscathed by it.

I watched the first two episodes of The Singing Detective on Saturday. I'll comment more on it once I've watched the whole thing, but I must say I was blown away. Not what I was expecting, I thought the writer in the hospital was more a sub-plot to the film-noir murder mystery, but in fact the film, or at least the first part, is much more a psychological profile of the writer, struggling with a debilitating and humiliating skin disease, with the mystery story and Tin Pan Alley songs being utilized bizzarly but effectively. A scene in the first episode, when Marlowe opens up to his doctors in a profoundly moving act of honesty and vulnerability, to be met with a rendition of "Dem Bones," is powerfully stunning. I don't know when I'll be able to make enough time to see it all (let alone listen to the audio commentary and watch the accompanying documentary), but I'll post more comments once I have. Suffice it to say, I highly recommend it.