I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 7.5

PM- 8.5 more.

I read an article about ultrarunner Charlie Engle, who apparently somehow attracted the wrath of the IRS and is now in Federal prison for taking out some liar loans a few years ago.  Rather amazing the government spends time prosecuting him, but ignores the billionaires running the banks who destroyed the economy.  Sad.  I've become somewhat of a libertarian over time (such as reading lewrockwell.com daily), so can rant and rave with the best of them about my complete anti-government beliefs.  It is what it is.

AM- Every year, I have a long run where I realize I am now in racing shape, or close to it.  A few years ago, it was in June when I did a double Jardine Juniper.  This year, it was today's run.  I intended to go to the mountains but a 1 am bedtime (thanks to home improvement projects on the new house) and a long to-do list the next day made me reconsider.  So, I ran a very hilly route in a number of neighborhoods near my house (my first run ever from this house).  Started off at 7:00-7:15 pace for a while, then found a sewer rightaway that wasn't totally overgrown, so had 6 miles of 7:30-8:00 pace.  Suddenly, at mile 13, something clicked and I found myself running 6:40 pace, then 6:20, then 6:00.  And this was over very hilly terrain (well, for a road).  I knew my training had finally paid off when I threw down a 5:40 (that's my 5k race pace from last week, y'all!).  Last mile was a 5:55 with a headwind and big hill, and I felt great even at the end of my highest mileage week this year.

Total 19 miles in 2:12:30 (6:58 pace) with 1200 ft climbing/descent.  And like Marci said, this is definitely the best shape I have ever been in this early in the year.

PM- Had a lunch meeting, so ran by myself mid-afternoon.  80 deg and breezy- pretty nice.  10.5 miles.  And my new Pearl Izumi gear just arrived- I was tired of cold, rainy runs (relatively rare in Utah), so I bought some warm, gore-tex gloves (that would have been great in Logan, actually) and a very nice rain shell.  Bring it on!  Of course, now that I bought them, it will be warm and dry forever...

AM- 11

PM- 12.5 miles with Barry at Paris Mtn.  Great weather, again.  I was tired and pace felt pretty slow, but it was actually one of our faster PM runs.  12.5 miles with 2100 ft climb in 1:55. 

AM- 6 quick miles, then a full 13+ hrs at work.  No lunch or evening run.  Looks like I won't get my 90 miles this week- oh well.

Lunch- 8.5 with a big group

PM- 7 more by myself.  Felt good- I always seem to feel better during afternoon/evening runs, even though I am more likely to have to make a pit stop. 

Lunch- 6 with Todd on the trails behind GE.  Then bike 3.  Nice to be on dirt.  Trail run tomorrow... then one week till my first big race of the year.

New blog post: 

Have I mentioned that I have the best wife in the world, seeing as she lets me go running every Saturday till noon?  Of course, that was a condition of buying the house she loved, but she is still awesome.

 As part of my new goal to set the speed record on the Foothills Trail, I wanted to run it in sections first.  I also wanted to get in a good run today without tiring myself for next week, and run enough downhill to get my quads a bit sore.  I drove to the start of the FHT in Table Rock state park, and ran the first 8 miles of the trail.  It was very enjoyable- very technical at spots, hilly, but generally very runnable.  Being SC, of course, there were a ton of water crossings.  There were some amazing lookouts from Pinnacle Mtn, and I turned around just past Hickorynut Mtn.  Almost stepped on a snake at mile 1, and had to work my way around him since he wouldn't get off the trail.  Enjoyed the solitude- didn't see a single person until 2 miles left in my run (of course, then I saw 50+).  Twisted my left ankle twice in a mile- didn't quite cuss, but it sure hurt.  It was still able to bear weight, though, and got me home ok.  A bit warm- 65 at the start at 7 am, 75 at the finish, and very humid.  Enjoyable run, and I feel good for my big 50k next week, my first key race of the year.  SweetH20 50k, here I come!  CR is 4:20, so we'll see what happens.

Finished with 16 miles in 2:50 (10:37 avg) and a rather surprising 4600 ft climbing/4600 descent.  Most vertical in quite a while, and on a fairly short run.  Marci and I are going to see Zac Brown Band tonight at Clemson- sweet!

Beautiful view from the rocks on top of Pinnacle Mtn- and very humid, too

Got up to 3400 ft, 3rd highest mtn in SC (yeah, yeah, don't laugh you Westerners).  Actually looks very similar to Logan Peak profile, just lower and shorter.

Very green and mountainous. 

AM- 8

Lunch- 9.5 more with the guys over hilly route.  85 deg and humid- summer is coming. 

AM- 4+3xt

Lunch- 7 more.  Very windy outside, but cooler temps. 

Lunch- 6 in the woods behind GE with the guys.  Full on taper time, now, though my 16+ hr workday tomorrow will tire me out some.

AM- 5 ez.  TPTP.

AM- 4 ez with 4 strides.

Drove to Atlanta with the family after work.  I'm ready for the race and feel great (other than my tweaked ankle).  It's go time.

Short report- Very happy with a win at the awesome, muddy, flooded SweetH20 50k.  2nd fastest time ever in race history, only 3 minutes off CR.  Felt great.  32.5 miles with 5500 ft of hard climb/5500 descent in 4:23.  Great day.

Now I am spending 2 more days with the family vacationing in Atlanta.  So the write-up might be a bit.  

[UPDATE] Full report now posted at the home of the ugliest running shorts in the world. 

Day off.  Soreness was maybe a 2 out of 10 yesterday (which was a good thing since I walked around Atlanta ALL day, most of it carrying a kid).   I was surprised to see that my last day not running was Jan 1- I never would have guessed I had a 15 week streak going.  Running has been more consistent, I guess.

Lunch- 5 ez with Jim and Jason, then 3 bike.  Felt pretty good, except I was more winded than usual and my quads were twinging on a few steep downhills.  But definitely better condition than expected.

Lunch- 10 with some of the guys, including the last 2 fast with Jim (6:30 pace).  Legs feel 95% recovered.  Ankle is still pretty bad, and I imagine my endurance is shot for at least another week.

AM- 6 run, 2.5 xt.

Lunch- 8 in the rain with Todd.  Then 3 xt.

PM- Got a late start due to sleeping in, plus a neighborhood bike parade and easter egg hunt.  Drove to Croft State Park, my second time there.  As expected, felt like absolute crap the first 4 miles and almost quit.  Felt better by 1 hr mark.  Uneventful but enjoyable run- didn't see a single person on the mountain bike trails, though I did venture into a campground and rodeo area where there were a ton of people.  Found the Southside bike trails once again to be splendid, and the state park trails to be crappity-crappy-crap as they are completely overrun with horses that result in chopped up, sloppy, muddy, poopy trails.  Also saw one large (6+ ft) snake that I'm pretty sure is a black Eastern Rat snake- I played with it for a few minutes.  75 deg and very humid.  Wish I had my camera to capture some of the gorgeous, green-carpeted, shaded areas of the run- beautiful.  Didn't feel great, overall, but a nice run.  14 miles total in 2:09 with ~1000 ft elevation (garmin connect says 750 corrected, 2300 uncorrected, SportTracks says 2100, garmin training center says 4000- I really wish they would agree somewhat- these rolling, east coast trails seem to drive the watch nuts).  Now my easy week is over, back to high mileage next week.  4 more weeks of hard training before my taper for OD.

It appears my week will not be starting as I anticipated.  Woke up last night suffering from the effects of a bad Easter egg or something-- food poisoning, with all its attendant joys.  Rest today as I try to keep my stomach from imploding.  Hopefully I'll feel well enough tomorrow to return to work and running.

Food sickness day number 2.  Effects are slowly wearing off and I have been able to eat and drink a bit, unlike yesterday at this time.  No running, though.

I've got some new race plans I'm excited about.  I posted it on my Greenshortsrunning blog.  Quite a variety- a World Record 5k attempt, Ultra championship, and solo trail record run.

Lunch- 8 run with Jason, 3 bike.  1:22 total time.  Sluggish, as expected.  But feeling much better- thanks for your well wishes, everyone. 

AM- 8.  Felt like crap.

PM- 12.  Felt quite a bit better. 

AM- Big Workout, my first in a while.  The usual- 3 mile warmup, 10 mile tinman tempo (6:09 avg), 2 mile cooldown.  Tempo seemed long, but felt good.  99 min total for 15 miles on the nose.

Lunch- 8 more with Jim and Jason.  Felt achy and tired, not surprising given only a 4 hr break. 

AM- 50 mile drive to my next stretch of the FHT.  Parked at Laurel Valley and ran 6 miles backwards on the course, towards Table Rock, until I reached the point where I had stopped when coming from the other direction.  Lots of climbing and technical trail- climbed from 1650 to 3530 (Sassafras Mtn, the highest mountain in South Carolina) in 4 miles.  Then went back to the car, refilled, then ran towards the Laurel Valley part of the trail.  During the FHT traverse, this is an isolated 35 mile, very technical portion with tons of stairs (over 1500, I hear) (it's also where they filmed Deliverance, so that's telling in terms of ambiance).  Other than the stairs at the start, though, the first 3 miles that I ran were much more runnable than the Sassafras portion. 

Good run- felt tired and sore at the start, but warmed up by 1 hour, then felt good and had fun.  Very green and beautiful, 75 deg at the finish.  Tons and tons of spider webs, though- annoying.  17.5 miles total in 3:20 (11:23 avg- like I said, very technical) with 5000 ft climbing.  Really enjoy my drive home from runs these days- 70 min with my windows down in perfect temperatures, singing along to the radio.  Although I'd prefer 30 min drives like I had in Logan to these 1+ hr drives.

71.5 miles this week- that's real good since I was sick and only ran 4 days.