A.M. Today is the 19th anniversary of my baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was baptized 19 years ago in a lake in Moscow. Incidentally, I had circled that lake frequently on my runs a few years prior.In the absence of religion of any kind, running gave e a thread of life support at that time to stay away from harmful substances that harm the body and cloud the mind and the spirit, and to avoid falling into depression in view of the grim political, social, economical, and spiritual climate of the Soviet Union in its final stages of existence. When the opportunity came, I learned the truth about God and His plan of Salvation, and accepted it. This helped me put my running into the proper context, and have a deeper reason to pursue this talent. So perhaps it is symbolic that I was baptized in that lake. I was blessed with an interesting opportunity to celebrate it. A couple from Argentina that was baptized a year ago approached me at church and introduced me to the wife's brother whose name is Esteban. Esteban lives in Spain, but was here in Provo for a visit. He is a runner, so they were excited to have him meet another one. Our family is known in the neighborhood as "the family that runs", "the guy that is always running", "the guy that runs with his kids", or "el señor que corre con sus niños, y la señora tambien". So I ran with Esteban this morning. Benjamin joined us for 4 miles. We caught up to Sarah and ran with her for about 0.8. I had a chance to speak some Spanish. It was nice to have a partner for most of the run. We averaged around 8:00 for 10 miles in spite of Esteban's being out of shape.
I found out Esteban was on his way to Las Vegas next, and gave him Jeff's number and e-mail. Jenny and Julia ran 1.5. Joseph ran 1 mile. Jacob did 0.25. I ended up with a total of 11.4. I picked it up in the last mile and did 5:35.9.
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