My wife Andrea ran in the Carlsbad 5000 today. I was very proud of her (I chose the less painful role of spectator). After my wife ran, we stayed to watch the elite racers. Apparently the Carlsbad 5000 attracts some of the best runners in the world because it is on a flat course. There have been many world records run on this course and today we had the fortune to watch another world record fall in the women’s race. Kenya’s Isabella Ochichi won in 14 minutes, 53 seconds. She had a about a 50 meter lead on her nearest competitor and she looked great on the last .2 miles of the race. As I watched these world class athletes run by I was struck by the differences between them and a pseudo-athlete like myself. Here are few of these differences:

1) I will never have such muscular definition in my lifetime.
2) When finishing a race longer than 100 meters, these athletes look as fresh as a daisy while I look like I’ve been stranded in the desert for a week.
3) When diarrhea starts leaking out of my shorts during a race, I stop running. Apparently elite racers feel finishing the race is more important than letting thousands of people see excrement leaking down your legs.