Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I am a man of constant sorrow.  If you've seen the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, then you know that that is a line from a song sung by the Soggy Bottom Boys.  When I got home from my run this morning I noticed that all my sweat had found its way and settled in at my bottom.  Speaking of the crack of dawn, I liked being out before the sun.  The full moon provided pretty good light.  The sun did finally come up, and it was fun looking at all the candy on the ground dropped by trick-or-treaters.  I saw three pieces.  I guess you had to be there.

Time - 1:28:01 (avg. pace 8:42)

Splits - 8:28, 8:35, 8:34, 8:46, 8:51, 8:47, 8:42, 8:46, 8:46, 8:46, 1:01 for 0.11 (8:49 pace)

Tales of the gruesome.  Yesterday it was still dark out when I started my run.  The bad thing about that is when a critter runs out in front of you, you have no idea what it is, and you scream like a girl.  When I say you I mean you.  I, of course, do not scream like a girl.  But I will admit that when two bunnies ran in front of me, I was startled and it elevated my heart rate.  So this morning as I was running I saw a headless bunny in the bushes.  Not sure why a coyote would only eat the head.  And then a couple of feet away there was another bunny smooshed all over the road.  Coincidence?  After a while of more running a mouse (or a huge rat) scurried out in front of me.  Again I was startled.  So when I got home my wife told me there was a mouse caught on one of our traps.  The bottom line is - don't scare me.  You will die.

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I just realized I've logged 1000 miles since becoming a Fast Running Blogger.

Regrets

This is what I regret.  I got my boy up for school before I left this morning.  After I did my first loop, I hollered at my house to see if he was still there.  Of course nobody heard me or saw me, but I knew it was getting time for him to leave for the bus.  I went around the block and looked down the golf course where I know he likes to cut through.  I saw some steam or smoke coming up from the grass a ways off.  Knowing my pyro son I immediately started thinking the worst.  But instead of checking it out, I kept going.  As I rounded the curve I saw my boy walking to the bus stop.  That's when I regretted not going to see what it was.  My wife's going to be mad when she reads this because she doesn't like my guilty until proven innocent approach with him.  I tried to catch him off his guard by asking him what he did on the golf course.  "I walked on it."  Then I went for the throat, "Did you light anything on fire???"  "NO."  I guess I'll never know if it was a fizzling firecracker or just a some warm water causing steam to rise in the cool air.

This is what I don't regret.  I told allie yesterday that if the Twix Bar that I've seen the last two days was still there this morning, I would eat it.  Dang it all if it wasn't still there.  Well, I'm a man of my word.  Blech.  It was all stale tasting.  It wasn't too bad once the stale cookie went down and the chocolate and chewy caramel remained.  It started to remind me of the Power Bars I ate on my long run last week.  Below is the actual wrapper it was in.

The bad thing was that I ate it at mile 3.5.  The drinking fountain isn't until mile 7.0.

On a healthier note, at the time I posted mile mileage this morning, I was #6 on the mileage board.  That's never happened this far into the week before.

Notice how only three of us don't have more than 1000 miles for the year.

Time - 1:30:20 (8:55 avg.)

Splits - 8:46, 8:37, 8:41, 8:53, 8:55, 8:57, 9:01, 9:05, 9:06, 9:10, 1:11 for 0.13 (8:55  pace)

Today I had to stay home with the sick baby while my wife took my sister in for minor surgery.  The internet wasn't working and it was just miserable.

Well, I'm still on target for doing 10 miles every day since Monday.  I had to split it up into two parts today.  I set my alarm for 4:30am, but that's not exactly when I got up.  I did my 5.6 mile Wal Mart Bypass loop.  Then I had to take my daughter to her 7am play practice.  I didn't have on any Performance Underwear today; just my tighty whiteys.  After 10 miles the tag really started to irritate.  That, and sitting in my own filth for about half an hour.  Before heading out again I ate a banana and drank some Gatorade.  I noticed I had a lot more energy.  More than yesterday that's for sure.

Time - 1:29:08 (avg pace 8:49)

Splits - 8:52, 8:44, 8:49, 8:59, 9:03, 9:01, 8:38, 8:35, 8:49, 8:45, 0:55 for 0.11 (7:59 pace)

Ah, the joys of upping your mileage...

Time - 1:28:40 (avg. pace 8:46)

Week's over.  I have never run more than 60 miles in a week.  In fact, I have never run more than 50 miles in a week.  IN FACT, I have only run more than 40 miles once.  I almost doubled my mileage for the whole month of December.  It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.  Last week I ran 17.4 miles.  I thought, "Well, that was tough, but I bet I could do 10 miles every day next week if I slow it down some."  So now that it's over, I'm definitely taking it easy next week.  I've heard too many bad things about upping your mileage too quickly.

I waited until the afternoon to get today's run in.  I've done the same route every day this week; that is my 5.6 mile Wal Mart bypass loop followed by my 4.5 mile Founders Park Ward loop.  After the bypass loop I stopped at home for a breather.  My knee was kind of aching so I questioned if I should go back out.  Listen to your body, Burt.  Don't hurt yourself being stupid.   But I'm so close to 60.  Is it worth it?  Yes.  I went back out and did the last loop.  Then I came in and noticed I was only 0.7 miles away from ChrisM.  Should I go back out?  Nah, I like Chris.  I don't want to hurt his feelings.  He's a tender little guy.  But my wife talked me into it.  So I went back out again and did me 1 mile loop around the block.  That last mile actually felt pretty good.

I'd like to thank Steve Piccolo for his advice on wearing underwear inside out.  I couldn't have done it without you buddy.

Time - 1:45:00 (avg. pace 9:24)

Splits - 9:01, 8:59, 9:07. 9:27, 9:20, 9:36, 9:39, 9:31, 9:40, 9:46, 9:16