San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

Today I went to the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll half marathon.This was the inaugural edition. I went there to see Meb Keflezighi, the American champ. Unfortunately, by the time I reached there it was about 8-9 minutes past the hour. The winner, Duncan Kibet, had already finished in 1:00:22, which, according to the announcer, was the second fastest time on U.S. soil, after Haile Gebreselassie's. Later I checked the results and couldn't find Keflezighi on there. Wonder if he didn't show up or didn't finish?

The shot above is that of the women's winner - Silvia Skvortsova of Russia. The other shot is that of a guy in a mohawk. Check the time - 80 minutes. That's about a 6:07 pace. Pretty impressive. Wonder how many minutes he could shave off if he shaved off his mohawk. There was another guy a few minutes later, wearing what looked like capris.

Encounter with a hawk

This past weekend, we went to a nearby park to get in a leisurely run. After the run, we were cooling down by the lake, looking at the little ducks on the water, when out of the blue skies something descended swiftly. Not Superman, not an airplane, but a bird, and at a speed much faster than a 4 minute mile pace. We turned and looked - it was a hawk with a pigeon gripped tightly in its claws. I was lucky that I had my camera with me. Over the next half hour, I watched the hawk literally eviscerate its prey. Here are a few pictures from its Sunday brunch. In one of the pictures, you can see a sailboat on the lake in the background in the right.