Bret

AM - 5 miles on the trail with Dan and the dogs.   Way overgrown and wet.  Not very enjoyable for me at least.  The dogs and Dan seemed to like it.  

AM - 10 miles with the guys on the Greenway early.  I had expected to go longer but they both turned around at 5 and I decided to do the same - favoring the social aspect over the training. Cooler and less humid today.   Good run and conversation.  

AM - 3 miles easy with Finn in the neighborhood before church.  

AM - 9.25 miles with Dan and Finn up to Nix and down Birmingham to Wood then across to Thompson through East Bluff.   Cool enough but still sticky- good distance for a Labor Day morning.   

AM - 5 miles with Dan and Finn on the Milton trail -  felt fatigued and achy today.  Not a great run. 

AM - a little over 5 miles this morning with Dan and Finn at Milton HS.   Their cross country team arrived to do some training on the track during the time we were doing our run around the perimeter of the parking lots.  Dan was excited that one of their coaches was driving an old Toyota pick up - that reminded him of one that he had back in the 1990's that had been handed down to him from his grandfather.   In fact, he stopped to ask the coach what year the truck was and it turned out to be the same year as the one Dan had owned years ago in Connecticut.  He was so jazzed by the whole thing.  Funny.  Decent run after such a dud yesterday.  Helps that this was mostly flat and good surfaces.   

AM - 5 miles with Finn through North Valley and back - a bit faster than yesterday, but much hillier today and so the effort was slightly more significant.   Warm and humid again this morning - my weather app shows some relief by this time next week.  

AM - 5 miles in the neighborhood with Finn as Dan is traveling on business.  I was not particularly motivated to run this morning and in fact had convinced myself to go out by saying that I was only going to run 3 miles - but after the first mile, I got warmed up and more motivated to get a few more miles in.  Temperature was cool enough for a shirt today.  

AM - 11 miles with the guys and Finn from my house today.  Ran Nix to Tullamore and then out Taylor road Batesville back through Triple Crown and up Freemanville.  Even though it was early on a Saturday, there was too much traffic for their liking particularly on Freemanville, but I really enjoyed the run and the hills with some much more comfortable temps and lower humidity than we have had over the last several months.  

AM - 3 shake-out miles with Finn before church. 

AM - a 1 mile streak-preserving run at 3 am local time in Texas before an early return flight to ATL.   I was traveling for a business conference expecting to be returning on Tuesday afternoon, but just before midnight my eldest daughter and her husband let us know that she was going into labor and so at my wife's urging, I rescheduled a very early flight at 5:30 am to get back to ATL and I was not sure if my schedule or lack of sleep would impair my chances for a run later in the day.  As it turns out, she gave birth rather quickly - even before my flight, to our second grandchild.  Archie Alexander was born on 9/11.  Their childrens' names are inspired by the US national parks, and this one is for Arches.   Very excited to meet him later today.  

AM - 5.25 miles with Dan and Finn from Dan's house up to the horsefarm trail roads.  Rained overnight and it was quite humid this morning.  Decent pace after a slow uphill first mile.  

AM - 5.5 miles total today.  Ran with Dan in the neighborhood for about 4 1/2 miles and then because he had an early meeting. I headed back home and did another mile on the treadmill.   Rainy overnight and drizzled this morning and so the roads were wet today and it was very humid.

AM - just under 5.25 miles with Dan and Finn at Milton HS.  Always a faster paced run here due to the flat course relative to nearly all of our other routes.   Milton has their annual cross country invitational meet here on Saturday and Dan's son who is a junior is running again this year for Cambridge HS.  He's not quite at the level to be on the varsity squad and as an upper classman he cannot run on JV - so he will be in the "open" division.   I went last year to watch and it was a lot of fun seeing all of the races.  Multiple loops in and out of the woods with woodchipped trails, grass, mud, clay and bridges - tough course to run a fast time but very good opportunities for spectating. 

AM - 5 miles on the trail with Dan and the dogs.   The off-trail area was way too overgrown with tall grasses and weeds and after about a mile or so of trudging along we decided to do a few loops around the pond on the finished part of the trail.  Light rain as we finished. 

AM - 8.25 miles with the guys and Finn from Redd Rd - early on the horse farm roads.  Dan's son was supposed to race this morning at the Milton cross country meet, but he's got some bad bunions that need surgery and he decided not to run.   As a result I decided not to go watch the meet as it was raining.   Decent effort this morning - perhaps a little more perceived effort than I had expected.  Richie is confirmed for Berlin next weekend and I will be joining him.  

AM - easy 3 miles with Finn before church.  Tried to get a little more sleep than I have been getting. 

AM - 4.75 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood.  Felt a little sluggish and unmotivated to get out the door this morning - but felt reasonably good during the run. 

AM - 5 miles with Dan and Finn on the Milton trail.  We changed it up a bit and instead of going up Freemanville at the beginning, we ran down the Dr. Atkinson road both at the beginning and the end.  The route eliminated the first early hill, but also was slightly shorter in distance but safer than going out on Freemanville in the dark with no sidewalks.  Weather is just about perfect - mid 50's slightly humid but pretty much ideal running conditions.  Made for faster paces after we were warmed up.  

AM - a little over 5 miles with Dan and Finn at Milton HS.   Good weather and flat terrain plus 6 laps around the middle school track made for a faster than normal pace.   The HS cross country teams were training this morning - finishing a run off campus and terminating at the HS track.   My high school teams never trained in the mornings as I recall.  Almost all training was in the evenings over the summer during the summer break, and then in the afternoons after classes.  

AM - 3 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood before heading to the airport later today for a business trip to Amsterdam.  

AM - 2 miles with Richie in Amsterdam near the airport following a business meeting.  Got the miles in to maintain the streak at 1300 days. 

AM - 2 miles with Richie in Berlin before going to the expo to pick up our race numbers for the marathon tomorrow.  

Berlin Marathon  - I ran with Richie who is coming back from knee surgery and a broken foot; he had keep things slower than usual as a result.  We ran 9:30 pace through the half and started to run faster to try to break 4 hours.  At mile 23 he was cooked and told me to go for it - so I did.  Ran 3:59.   Last 3 miles were sub 8 min pace.

AM - very early flight back to Amsterdam and then onward to Atlanta - so to maintain the running streak - I went out for a 1 mile run in the vicenity of the hotel at 3:15 am.   Achilles was quite stiff and sore from yesterday but it got better as it warmed up.  Long day of traveling ahead.  

AM - 4 miles with Dan and Finn on the Milton trail - got to tell my stories of the Berlin marathon and surprised myself at how I really did not feel all that sore or normal-post marathon funk.   To be fair, I ran the first half of the race at my long run training pace - and then the next 10 at my average daily run pace and only dropping below 8 min pace for the last 3 miles - so it was the equivalent of a long run with a fast finish.   Also, I spent the following day off my feet on planes and airport lounges.   Hidden benefit of the international marathon is the recovery day afterwards of being off your feet for a long time.  

AM - 4.25 miles with Dan and Finn in the neighborhood after an early morning rain.  Did not feel as well as I did yesterday - perhaps some DOMS going on; though it was fairly humid/sticky out too.  Richie has secured yet another entry for me in NYC in 38 days - so I need to perhaps "recover" for a week or so, and then maintain some fitness for the month of October.  

AM - 5 miles with Dan and Finn at Milton HS.   A little cooler this morning and because it is a flat course, the pace was much faster than the last couple of days.  

AM - 4.30 miles with Dan and the dogs from his house.  He brought Rosie which meant slower pace and frequent unexpected stops - which was fine by me for an easy Friday morning run.   Really nice weather in the upper 50's with a full moon brightly lighting the horse farm pastures and dirt roads with a nice layer of fog rising from them. 

AM - a little less than 5.25 miles this morning solo with Finn as Dan was traveling and Greg had a conflict this morning too.  Easy going - felt a little lingering fatigue but overall good recovery this week.