Bret

AM - 5 miles solo on the Nix route with a short jaunt into the new development.  Not quite as cold but still below freezing.  Tried to keep things easy today. 

AM - 3 miles very easy. 

Had a pretty good race today in the 2nd annual Polar Opposite Peachtree - in which they ran the reverse direction of the Peachtree Road Race that is on July 4.  Last year the weather I am told was quite cold and worthy of the race name - today it was in the upper 40s to low 50's cloudy with a misting rain at times.   I met up with Ben who I run with on Saturdays sometimes in Milton - and two of his friends from Dunwoody where he resides.  Two of those guys are in the 40's and a good bit faster than me - but I was just pleased to be placed in the same starting corral as them.   There were about 7250 participants which is a far cry from the 50000 runners in July's version.   

I found the course more challenging in this direction at least this morning having never run the route this way.   There's a gradual uphill in the first mile, a good sloping / rolling downhill in mile 2, with a much steeper downhill in mile 3, but a very long and arduous uphill from 3 miles almost all the way to about 5.5 miles where it finally flattened out and maybe gave a slight down slope in the final half mile.  

I ran pretty well without really too much of a plan, other than to run to feel and to try to compete a little.  My first mile was my slowest at 7:31 but then the ensuing two downhills had splits of 6:45 and 6:55; and then 7:07 uphill, 7:23, 7:07 and 6:38 for the last .2 miles.  Heartrate was just below tempo at 158 avg but never exeeded 166.   

I connected with Ben and Danny afterward, and they both ran well, at 39:14 and 41:15 respectively.  Ben took 4th in his age group and Danny took 2nd.   I was nevertheless very pleased that at 16 years older than Danny I was just less than 4 or so minutes slower than them.   I will take that any day.  

I ended up running about a minute twenty seconds faster than my Peachtree effort in July.  Granted it was much warmer than today - but I am not sure how much of a difference that made.  

Good way to start out the year.

AM - a little over 3 miles very easy - recovery effort on the trail following yesterday's 10k.  A little sore but not too bad - but kinda tired.  

AM - 5 miles through the neighborhood and around part of the golf course - very slow again at recovery effort.  Really did not want to exert too much today - and though nothing hurts per se - there's more muscle soreness today than yesterday and energy levels were low.  Still a nice morning in the mid 30's and foggy.  

AM - 4.25 miles with Dan and his dog Rosie on the trails from his house.   Slower paced and shorter in length because of Rosie, but it was good nonetheless and to catch up with him after he was out of the country at a wedding over a long weekend in Costa Rica. 

AM - a little over 5 miles in on the WC Golf course with Dan and Darryl on a very foggy and unseasonably warm morning.   Slower because of the hills and the surface - but gradually getting back to normal training pace.  

AM - 5 miles at Milton HS with Dan - avg pace was just under 8 mins which actually surprised me a little bit since it did not feel that quick, but also I had run fairly slowly the last few days and was pleased that my body seems to have rebounded well.

AM - 5.0 miles partly on the trail that appears to be nearly complete - and partly in the East Bluff neighborhood.  Quite warm - nearly shirtless weather today.  Much slower pace.

AM - 7.5 miles with Dan in a steady rain - but it was quite warm in the low 60's.  Got fairly water-logged stepping in nearly unavoidable puddles. Met up with Ben for the last couple of miles - he was doing 20 today - the rest of the group decided not to run in the rain. 

AM - a little over 6 miles with Darryl this morning.  Much colder in the 30's and windy.  Slipped in the new development on a muddy section of road from all of the rain yesterday and went down, skinning one of my knees - but no real harm done. 

AM - 5 miles on the trail with Dan - quite cold in the mid 20's, icy in some areas.  Travel week - later today to London and back and then to Boston.  

PM - 5 miles on a treadmill in a gym in London across from my hotel.   It was raining when I arrived and I knew I wanted to run outdoors tomorrow but my shoes would dry overnight if I ran in the rain - so I did a treadmill run that was probably much too fast for the jet-lag, but got it done.  

AM - slower 5 miles in central London - from the City westward past St. Paul's and over the Millenial footbridge then up the Thames path to the Westminster bridge before looping back.  Probably ran too hard yesterday. 

AM - Quick trip back from the UK, ran with Dan and Rosie on the trail this morning.  Temps in the mid 20's with windchills in the single digits.  Not too bad to run on the trail today.   Heading out this evening for a long weekend with Sam and Riley in Boston. 

AM - in a town on the outskirts of Boston - called Stow, where my daughter and son in law reside.   We are spending the long weekend here - as she is midway through her first pregnancy and Tracy wanted to get some maternity clothing and furniture for the nursery for them.  Weather was quite cold and windy.  Temps were in the mid teens and the winds in places easily were in the low single digits.   I ventured out with a plan of a route that was suggested, but its all winding country roads and I probably missed a turn and ended up running a fair bit more than originally planned.  Fortunately, I ran with my phone and the gps got me back to their place after a nearly 8.5 mile run.  Great scenery and for the most part, good run. 

AM - just under 4 miles from Riley's house with her dog Molly in a light snow.  Roads were slightly slippery but I figured we'd be fine once we got to the trail at Delaney Pond.  Took a hard backward fall on some snow covered ice and hit my head.  Felt like a hard tackle in football.  Gonna be sore for a few days.   

AM - 6 miles on Riley's treadmill in the basement before church.  Good amount of snow and ice on the ground and I did not feel like slipping again after yesterday.   

AM - 5.5 miles mid-morning from Riley's house. Good snow overnight probably 6-8 inches.   Wore her crampons in case of any slick spots or ice but the roads were fairly clear.  Lots of folks put snow blowing their driveways or shoveling.    Sun was out and it was causing the snow on branches and power lines to drop sporadically during the run.  Started slowly as my back is still sore but ran reasonably close to normal training pace after about 3 miles.   

Day off from running - travel day back to ATL

AM - just under 5 miles on the trail with Dan and Rosie.  Good to catch up after being out of town for 5 days.  

AM - 5 miles on the treadmill - as it was 39 dagrees with heavy rain and sleet outside when I awoke.   Dan had some medical injections in his knee yesterday and needed to take a light day on the bike anyway.  

AM - 4 miles on the trail very slowly with Dan and Rosie.  Dan had an injection in his knee for degenerative arthritis on Wednesday and the doctor told him to go easy for a few days.  It was cool, foggy/drizzly out - the prelude to a winter storm coming in the next 36 hours - which possibly will find us just on the fringe of the really severe weather hopefully.  Meanwhile everyone is prepping as if a hurricane is on the way.  

AM - 9 miles with the guys.   Ben joined us after the first 3 and because he was doing 23 we turned back well before he was going to turn.  He's so fit and fast - I am sure he appreciated the company for a few miles but was probably just as happy to speed up to his normal 7:30-7:45 long run training pace after we turned back.  

AM - 7 miles on the treadmill due to an ice storm outside.  It doesn't look too terrible but having slipped last week - I decided to keep it safe indoors today.  

AM - 5 miles on the treadmill due to the conditions outside - icy with freezing rain and very cold temperatures overnight.  Did not want to slip and fall again. 

AM - started out on the treadmill for about a half mile, but when Dan final responded to my text and wanted to run outside, I bundled up and ran with him and Rosie on the trail.  Temps were cold for here - 11 degrees with a feels-like of 0.   Had good cold weather gear and handwarmers that made the run tolerable.   Wore the crampons for the trail, but probably did not need them - though the boardwalk/bridges over the ponds were quite icy.  

AM - 4.5 miles from Dan's house with his dog Rosie on a very cold morning.   He's heading up to his mother's place in Connecticut today as she's having some health issues.  

AM - 5.25 miles solo this morning through East Bluff - a bit on the slow side but it is quite cold still and it takes a while for me to warm up, and though I felt fine, I just did not seem to have the energy to push too much today.  

AM - about 5.25 miles solo in the neighborhood this morning.    Cold in the low 20's and we are forecast to get some snow early tomorrow morning.   My runs in this colder weather lately take a good 1 to 2 miles before I reach my normal training pace.  Old equipment needs a little more time on cold mornings, I am told. 

AM - 10 miles on the treadmill today.  Snow and cold winds in the forecast this morning and most of the guys either out of town or doing other things - so I stayed inside.  Sometimes just an easy solo run on the 'mill is good.  Watched the second half of the Mel Brook's 99 year old man documentary of his life and work.  Did not realize that Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein came out in the same year 1974.