I'm retired from racing. Really.

Feeling good this morning but only had an hour for a run, so went to the soccer field and did fast-ish loops around the .8 mile, hilly loop. Laps were 5:00, 5:06, 5:04, 5:04, 4:58, 4:48 (6:00 to 6:20 avg pace). Felt relaxed and good, definitely could have done a lot more. Total run was 1:02:20. 9.5 miles.

AM- 10 with Dan and Seth.

Lunch- 10 in the rain with the guys.

AM- BW. 3 mile warmup, then did 2 MP miles 6:12 pace or so, then 1 mile at 10 % grade at 10:00 pace. Repeated 2 more times, increasing flat pace each time and incline 1 percent. Added one last sub6 mile at the end, then cool down. So ended up with 7 miles in under 43 min and 30 min climbing. Not too bad, but tired after.

Lunch very slow 7 with the guys on a cold, windy day. 42 miles in 2 days.

AM- 10. 

Lunch- 8 more. 

My mileage so far this week is 60 miles. All of last week I ran 39.5. Now, what's the 10% rule again?

Lunch- 8.5 ez on a cold, windy day.

Today is Marci and my 10th anniversary. We made reservations at a very nice local restaurant... but then ended up having to take our 1 year old with us due to some babysitter confusion. A quiet, romantic dinner for 2 ended up a noisy, squawking, not at all romantic dinner for 3. I'm sure we'll have some memories from this one. A lot different than our 5th anniversary, when we spent 2 relaxing hours at Melting Pot.

AM- 7

Lunch- 5.5. It was upper 30's and breezy, but the rain stopped just as we started so it actually was kind of pleasant.

AM- Ran Palmetto trail/Hogback mountain with Aaron, Lynn, and Joe. Aaron was real tired and we kept waiting for him, and he sent us ahead at mile 5. Joe turned around at 9. Great weather for a run, with some light snow on the trail in spots. Saw a big group of turkeys. Perfect time of year to run this- no thorns or stinging nettle yet. I ran easy to stay with the others until mile 13. Felt good, strong. Wish I had felt this way during Mt Mitchell. 4100 ft climbing, just under 20 miles, in 3:25 running time. I need to come do hill repeats on the initial climb, which ascends 1400 ft in 1.8 miles.

First 100 mile training week since August. Hope I can string 2 more together the next 2 weeks. Daylight savings will make Monday morning's run fun.

AM- 12

Lunch- 10.5 with the guys. Quick pace the last half. Great weather- around 60 deg, sunny. High is upper 70's tomorrow.

AM- BW on the GE track. Nice day for running- 50 deg with a slight breeze, not humid. Warmed up 4 miles with Hot Dan and Seth, then did the workout solo. Workout was 4x2mile (actually 2.05 miles, being 3 times around the GE track) with 2 min rest. Wasn't feeling perky before so knew I would ease into it. First one was 12:34 (6:07 pace), then 11:52, 11:46, 11:35 (5:39 pace). I'm not in top speed shape by any means, but always good to do some faster stuff. 3 mile cooldown on the trails. 

I rarely listen to music on a run but did today to ward off track boredom. I found it appropriate that Johnny Cash's "Hurt" came on mid-way through the last repeat. "I focus on the pain... the only thing that's real."

Every shoe I own makes the right shoe with the forefoot narrower than the left shoe. Either that, or my right forefoot is wider than left. I'm going with the former.

AM- had a lunch dentist appointment to fix a chipped tooth, so my 2-easy runs became 1 morning run. My calves were very sore when I woke up- too many Fastwitch miles. My legs were still very tired. My body was tired due to 3 very short nights. The only people running were Dan, Jim, and Todd, and Dan had said they would go fast. Nothing quite like running sub-7 miles on tired legs in the dark and rain. Yeah, it was a painful run. 12 miles in 1:24.

Lunch- 7. Tired, didn't even try to join some of the others for a workout.

PM- Supposed to run in the mtns but everyone bailed and I wasn't feeling great, so I just ran on the trails behind my work. Did one 6 mile loop, then was headed out again. At the 7 mile mark, I stumbled onto 4 turkeys. 3 ran away, but the male puffed up and strutted. I backed off, but he charged me. I hurdled a fence and ran down the trail, with the turkey in hot pursuit. For 3 full minutes- seriously. He chased me for half a mile. I snagged a 4 foot branch along the way, and had to take a few swings to keep him off me. Finally, he stopped his pursuit.

At that point, I decided to circle way around through the trees and thick, thorny undergrowth back to my trail. After about 4 minutes of carefully picking my way... "gobble gobble!" Thomas the Ticked-off Turkey, the Spawn of Satan himself, was just meters away and in full pursuit. I had no choice but to run full speed the other way, using my arms to shield my face from the thorns as best I could. I somehow stumbled into a herd of deer who scattered, but the turkey followed for another 200 yards. He finally left me alone. I found a .75 mile section of trail to run back and forth on the rest of the run, with my heartrate finally slowing after several miles.

Post-run, I can count at least two dozen scratches on my legs and my shirt is snagged and torn in at least 10 places. 

In related news, turkeys have now moved above mosquitoes and canadian geese on my "least-favorite animals" list. I've had a few run ins with this turkey, but this was by far the worst. I hate turkeys. Just wait till Thanksgiving.

Finished with 12 miles. And yes, I'm counting some of it as speedwork.

AM- 7. Not near as exciting as last night's run. No animal incidents.

Lunch- 7 with Barry and Aaron. Ran the turkey trails from last night but no sign of the culprit. I was hoping to see him again, with company this time. Had a few other people recount their own turkey tales.

AM- Quick easy run at Croft State Park, site of the upcoming Blind Pig 100. 17 miles in 2:45 or so and 1500 ft climb or so. Arches/PF are both bugging me a bit and I was predictably tired supposing this is my highest mileage training week since 2012. Listened to a few running podcasts and the last of Oct General Conference. 

AM- 14 steady and easy.

Lunch- 8 with the guys on a rainy, windy, 35 deg day. Although the rain stopped shortly after we started, so it wasn't too bad. Either way, I was dressed warmly enough.

AM- Poor weather outside, so did a treadmill BW (with several running buddies also choosing to run alongside). 4 mile warmup where my legs felt tired and made me doubt my plan. But once I cranked the pace, I felt fine. 10 mile tempo in 60:57, starting at 6:11 pace, increasing to 6:00 at mile 9, then more increases in the last mile till 11 mph at the end. 2 mile cooldown. 16 miles total in 1:44 or so. Hungry now.

Lunch- 6 ez. Lunch run topics today included Goonies, Back to the Future, pirates, Barney, and teletubbies.

Lunch 8 with the guys

PM- PM run with Aaron and Lynn. 11 miles, 2:48 or so. Fairly empty trails. 1300 ft climb.

AM- very tired 12 miles. Slow.

Lunch- 8 with Scott and Jim. Legs felt better after a few miles. Great weather out, upper 50's, but I wore a warm fleece shirt to try and get some heat tolerance in case any upcoming races are hot.

Lunch 7.5 ez with Webster and Aaron. Then a bit of biking.

AM- Ran one of the Corporate Shield races in Gvl today, the Milliken Earth Run. It's a 5k run all on the beautiful arboretum of the Milliken campus. It's rolling hills on a mowed-weeds course, very lumpy and bumpy with some roots- pretty much a high school XC course. In other words, I love it. I won it two years ago but knew there would be some competition in the field of 600, plus my legs were tired from the end of a 100 mile week. My family came, which was great, and we enjoyed the nice, 50 deg and sunny weather.

Warmed up, then started the race side by side with Jim. In fact, we led right from the gun- no high schoolers darted off the front or anything. Jim and I ran step for step the first mile in 5:11, then he pulled ahead and had about 2 second on me a few minutes later. There was one set of footsteps behind us, but eveyone else was way back. We hit a gradual downhill and I caught and passed Jim. I thought he might come with me but I gapped him and kept extending my lead. Mile 2 was 5:29, then the last 1.1 was 6:06. Final time was 16:47, slower than my 16:30 win a few years ago. Jim finished 17:09, Ashley 10 sec was behind him, then there was a gap before a slew of GE guys came in. Jim hadn't felt good all race, but a group of us cooled down. Seeing my win excited my girls, who then insisted on running a little ways with me, too. Fun race. 

Third 100 mile week in a row is over, now it's time for a very easy taper to Leatherwoods 50 mile next week. Should be competitive, with Brian Rusiecki and Shaun Pope battling for the prize money. Then it's recover and a little more training for Massanutten 100.

Unfortunately, 3 of my kids are sick and Marci's starting to get sick, too. This only happens to us the week before a race. Which means, I'll start feeling bad the next couple of days. I hate it when months of training goes down the tube thanks to a poorly-timed virus.

Lunch- 45 min easy. We'll call it 5.5 miles. I have a lot more free time while tapering.

Lunch- chilly out today. 6 with the guys. Feeling excited for the race. Weather is supposed to be rainy and cold on a course known for being muddy and slippery. Jason lost his shoe 3 times in the mud last year and said traction was an issue. And it's horse trails, so they get all chunked up. Sweet.

Lunch- it snowed yesterday. It was 44 deg out with a cold wind blowing. I saw white things everywhere and figured it was small flower petals or something. Then they started hitting my windshield and melting. Wow- snow in SC at the end of March. 5 minutes later, it was gone.

4 miles today, with 4 strides. I barely feel like my run has started and it's already over. Short.

AM- 2.5 miles.

Pm 2 ez. Driving to race now. Predicting rain and thunder all day.

Quick report- ran, without a doubt, the muddiest, sloppiest race of my life today. Fun, painful, challenging. Finished a distant second to Brian Rusiecki in 8.5 hrs. Rain, rain, mud, water, and more mud. My left knee is absolutely jacked up, too, probably from all the slipping and sliding. Great course with lots of climbing, good aid, perfect markers. 77 starters, 43 finishers.

Lunch- knee is improving but still noticeably sore, so there is no way I was going for a run, even though it was a gorgeous, 75 deg day outside. Did some elliptical and a bunch of foam rolling (quads are sore, not much else). 

Enjoyed following the Barkley on twitter, cheering for Jared to his finish. Congrats to him. As @runwicked said, “Jared Campbell is going to do well when the zombie apocalypse happens.”

Q: I'm debating what races to do later this year. Registration for Grindstone and JFK 50 open tomorrow. I've also considered TNF San Fran again, or Hellgate. Opinions?

Picture from Saturday: