Hunkered down in Harlem

My running remains very lacklustre at the moment, despite doing two 12-mile (20K) runs in the past week with Sung and Sarah as part of Sung's training for the Napa Valley marathon next month. I ran the Gridiron 4-mile race on Sunday with Heather at 8:30-minute mile pace for an eighth place in my age group. Neither of us was "racing" it. I'd met up with Maria beforehand, and caught up with Joanne, Natalie and Steven (back from Ecuador) afterwards. Visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had dinner with Lisa on Friday. A fun dinner on Saturday with Fran, Rene and Fred at the apartment on Central Park West. On Sunday afternoon, Sung and I went to Carnegie Hall for a performance of "Carmina Burana", which I really enjoyed. I also saw it performed in 1994, at the Sydney Opera House. Sung's dog Jasmine died on Saturday, which was sudden and very sad. Yesterday, Monday, I had a massage with Marie and we ate at an Asian fusion place afterwards. She is going to South Africa to compete in the Comrades marathon mid-year. I've got my work cut out for me doing a whole bunch of half marathons this year, the next one in less than a fortnight in Texas. Good fun to run into my friend John on the crosstown bus on Sunday. Work is still very busy, so 4 a.m. starts are becoming a bit of a habit even if I'm not running...