overtaking haynes

ran to some trails and did 6 miles on the trails. 1.5 miles on dirt roads. my ipod decided to stop working which is lame. i've had two of them so far and the keypad always stops working. i feel comfortable with the ipod but am kind of not happy with their lack of durability. 1hr 59 min. 

5 miles am, actually wore gloves and a long sleeve shirt cause it was in the 30's.
i kind of had one of my old vision issues after about 20 min right when  another runner turned onto the road i was running on. of course i had to pass him. he looked reasonably athletic and rugged but the way he landed on his feet was not right. i'm glad i was able to pass him despite my vision problems. it was easy but not as easy as i wanted it to be.  

 5 mile pm, did a trail run with my brother across the street. the trails aren't as in good shape as they used to be when i was in h.s. due to the acreage being destroyed by huge fancy houses but it's really interesting terrain for a short run. it was getting dark and the trail that used to be a trail was blocked off by rocks and completely overgrown, almost impenetrable. we were near houses and could see the road 1/4 mile away but as we got close there sounded like a large dog was onto us and i decided to go back. we still short cutted and that entailed crossing a swampy area with a stream going through it. the stream was about 8 inches too wide for me to clear and i literally had my shoe eaten. it was removed from my foot and COMPLETELY submerged aside from a tiny speck of shoelace. it took 2 hands and about 10 sec of strong effort to remove it. good day. got out before dark and in time to pick up brother from soccer practice. hopefully 2 miles at marathon pace won't seem like such a burden tomorrow. not sure where i'm going to run them yet as the hills here are very annoying and draining. perhaps the track?
 

warmed up with 3.4 miles and then did 2 miles at marathon pace. 6:37 for the first mile and then 6:36 for the second. both miles had a slight net downhill so probably about right ~6:45-6:51 effort if it were flat. cooled down 1.8 miles. Just two more 5 mile days before the marathon. I wonder if it matters at all running a few miles the day before vs. taking the day completely off. psychologically i like the day off and just feel more confident that i am completely rested. not sure if this is logical or not though. the book suggests running 4 miles easy.

 i also found out that i got into the mt mitchell challenge in NC which i'm excited about. 40 miles up mt mitchell and back down in february. sounds like a blast! 

ran 8:15 pace and felt pretty good. will try to run 5 in the am tomorrow and then probably just walk around a little on sat. unfortunately the weather is not going to be as cool on sunday as it should be. about 10 degrees warmer than the avg temp. 

5 miles before work with 6x100 striders. no more running till the marathon on sunday. weather is starting to look slightly cooler.