Doc and Hollywood (a takeoff on an old movie title...aw forget it)

Tried out eight miles on my new Hollywood loop, named for Hollywood Road, which wraps around National Memorial Park in east Vienna, at 6:04 pace. I wore my Gutbuster shirt, which was long sleeved, and was probably too much for the 42 degrees and high humidity. I always tend to overestimate how cold it is when I am getting dressed to run. The loop is a nice out and back on rolling hills and the mostly quiet Hollywood Road. Little traffic.

I quickly grew attached to the Gutbuster shirt. Dan Holland's father Harry, a CMU art professor started the race in 1977 and his mom took over the management after Harry's death. Harry also designed the logo, and someday I will add a picture of it. Brandon G told me he was up for running both the YMCA Turkey Trot and the Gutbuster (they started an hour apart) so I got the last shirt- an extra large. It's roomy, but light enough that the extra material doesn't weight much. It's white, so it's good for running at night, and the distinguished design is more pleasant than the garish Spring Thaw shirts, though the back features a logo for which I don't care much. I also like the shirt because the race has been a family project for Dan, his mom, wife and children for years.

In other Hounds news, Matt Meurer is scheduled for knee and leg surgery in the morning, and if that guy hasn't had enough running maladies, well I'm not sure what he did to deserve them. He's one of the strongest emotionally and determined runners I have met. The way he has focused himself on excellence despite his history of injury is at once admirable and downright counterintuitive. He felt a crunch in his knee at the end of the Steelers 5k this August and hasn't felt right since. I can't wait until he's able to train consistently again, even though I won't be around for it. His wife, Hilary, began running this fall, and in an odd twist of irony, he became the one cheering for her as she ran a 5k and a half-marathon relay leg.