Liftoff

AM: 20 miles, 7:23 avg pace. I felt deeply tired and rather sore for most of this run. If not for the excellent company, I would have run 2 miles at 9:23 avg.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

After really dragging yesterday, I felt surprisingly good on both runs today. My main workout for the week will be a long run integrating 4/3/2/1 miles starting at MP on Friday.

My track group is running 800s tomorrow. I was initally going to pass on that workout, but assuming I feel good again tomorrow I think I can handle that + Friday.

AM: 4 miles with strides, then a dentist appt. I just need someone to punch me in the gut for the morning to be complete.

PM: 10 miles at track. Workout: 3 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 2 SETS WITH 400 REST BETWEEN SETS.

Splits:

1. 2:31.6
2. 2:30.8
3. 2:29.2
4. 2:28.9
5. 2:30.0
6. 2:28.3

Good-sized group tonight. Two less reps than normal, saving up for Friday. Moderate cloud cover, temp low 80s which helped. Dew point around 80 did not.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch.

A couple days ago, my younger daughter asked me who I love most. I remember asking my mother the same question. She told me "I love you all equally," and that was not a satisfying answer.

I tried to explain that I love her and her sister in different ways, but this also fell short. It sounds like apples and oranges, and you have a preference. I like oranges, but they're messy. You can always chomp an apple.

I wanted to say it's more like colors, but with kids, that's the same thing. It's different for adults though. If someone asks me now, I'll say "green," as a shortcut- a carryover from childhood. I like blue, yellow, orange and red just as much.

After years of living closely with someone, it's kind of like attaching memories to many tones of a color. Elise is gentle, competitive, sensitive, focused. Anna is daring, individualistic, fun-loving, witty.

It's difficult to put into words how you love someone.

AM: 8 miles. Overslept, I love that. Incredible summer views outside- massive rain clouds mixed with blue sky, wide rainbow.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 20 miles. Day of 4-3-2-1.

Woke up to a steady downpour. I'm tied up this weekend, so there wasn't really an option to reschedule. Also, Mike and Christina were planning to jump in for some (Christina) or all (Mike) of the workout, so I headed downtown.

In St. Pete, a lot of rain tends to flood the streets pretty quickly, and this happened today. I parked at my old house and checked in with the gang - Christina opted to start at the Y indoors. I found out hours later that Mike was caught in a flooded street and needed a tow. Now that's dedication to a workout...

I warmed up for 6.5 miles, by which time the rain had let up and I was ready to get this thing moving. Plan (props & thanks to JasonD for the suggestion and pacing advice) was to start at target MP and drop 10 seconds per section.

The workout itself went well, even if the day around it was a wet mess. Splits were:

4 miles: 23:35 (5:53, 5:55, 5:54, 5:53)
3 miles: 17:12 (5:46, 5:44, 5:42)
2 miles: 11:03 (5:33, 5:30)
1 mile: 5:18

I did .5 mile easy jog between sets. I think this is an excellent workout 8-10 weeks out from a marathon since you get to experience several pace ranges, mostly faster than MP, and all in the context of a long run.
 

AM: 4 miles. My wife is out of town this weekend, so in exchange for the promise of cinnamon crunch bagels and hot chocolate, my girls got in the stroller for a few miles.

Rain continued through midday. I felt depression settling in, so I decided to get serious about arranging furniture in our new house. Yes, we've been here for a month and a half.

I made some progress until I settled on moving a massive china cabinent we inherited from the previous owners. I decided it should go on the other side of the kitchen eating area, a 90 degree turn and about 30 feet. I was able to push it, until I smashed into a ceiling beam.

To get under the beam, I unfastened the hutch, then pushed it into onto a field of couch cushions. Moved both sections, then guided by the ancient instincts which created Stonehenge and the Moai, I raised the hutch on chairs one side at a time. I enlisted Elise to hand me books to incrementally get each side higher, until I could finally raise the damn thing onto the cabinet.

This process took about two hours.

Some people misunderstand me, believing that I run because I find deep meaning in the relative accomplishments or exercise. I choose running because home improvement is boring.