I'm retired from racing. Really.

Run?  Ha- yeah, right.  I did walk up and down a few flights of stairs today, though, and even mowed my lawn.  Hips and right ankle feel much better than yesterday.  Still sore, but better.  Forcing myself to take at least 1 week entirely off.

Preliminary results are posted.  Looks like I was over an hour behind 2nd and 3rd place, but then had Troy and Chris just behind me.  Knowing they were back there gave a little extra incentive at the end.  Full report soon.

30 min yoga.  Stretching sure felt nice.  I feel much better than I should- pain is only a 1 out of 10, with some additional tightness/stiffness.

Donated blood.  It's a good way to make sure I don't talk myself into a run this week, even though I feel no soreness.

Lunch- 15 minute of abs.  Holy crap, my abs are sore!  Apparently running 100 mile really works the core- I'm hurting each breath after that workout.  They are also having a competition at work where you bench press 75% of your body weight and then run a 5k.  Each bench rep subtracts 30 seconds from your 5k time, up to 15 min.  I haven't lifted since college but was hoping for 10 reps.  Nope- 5.  5. Pathetic.  Upper body weakling, that's for sure.  Finished with a bunch of biking.  Legs feel recovered.

Race report is finally published for Umstead 100.

Lunch- 6.5 ez.  Hammy was tight and definitely felt sluggish everywhere, but no other pains.  Finished up with some good weightlifting to try and improve my bench press strength.  Get swoll or die trying.

Lunch- 2 miles running, 30 min yoga, 15 min abs.  Arms sore from lifting yesterday.

PM- PM with Nick, Barry, and Justin.  Felt much better than expected.  Slow pace, 11 miles on a nice day in 1:53. 

Lunch- 5.  Longest run yet in Altras.  My already-high cadence is slightly higher in these- 188 steps per minute or so.

Lunch- 15 min abs, 1 hr run, weight lifting.

Lunch- a quick 6 by myself on the track.  One guy just left my group and I took over all his work, so I'm very busy now.

Last day of my reverse Umstead taper.  Ended up not running.  It was glorious to sleep in and lounge around all morning.  In the afternoon we cheered Marci running the Mud Run.  They did awesome.

Lunch- 9.5 around the lake and the bamboo forest run.  Calves were a bit sore after this run- longest run in Altras by 30 min.

Looks like the expected carnage at Boston.  Fun times.  Shadley seemed to have a great race, though. 

Lunch- 5 with Jim discussing Boston marathon.

PM- PM with the guys.  Talked the normal stuff- food, government rants by me (surprise), and Justin's upcoming 50k, his first-ever marathon or longer event.  While running across the dam at North Lake, Justin just threw down his bottle and jumped in.  Barry followed.  I did too, eventually.  Water was surprisingly nice.  12.2 miles in 2:12 with 1500 ft climb.  Ordered pizza on the run and he arrived a few minutes before we did- oops. 

AM- 5.5

Lunch- 8+2 

AM- 5.5+2

Lunch- 10 with Aaron and Jim 

Lunch- warmed up 2 miles, then tried the pump and run.  I have felt increasingly crappy all week due to big bump in mileage and not enough sleep but was still hoping to run a sub-17 time (Jim did 15:45 on Wed- yes, treadmill is a bit faster).  Managed 10 bench reps (an improvement from my 6 reps two weeks ago, but still tied for the lowest), then started the run.  Felt ok at 11 mph for about 1/2 mile, then just felt bad to worse.  Finished in 18:44.  Blah.  Not a great showing- my speed is very slow to come back after a 100, that's for sure.  2 xt after.

AM- The month of Marci continued with her 1/2 marathon.  After seeing the play Les Mis last night, we only got 4.5 hrs sleep prior to wakeup.  She ran great, beating her goal.  Zach and I ran 7.5 miles cheering for her.  Nice job, babe!

Was supposed to run more with Eric Grossman, but he had a change of plans.  Probably a good thing- my right foot started hurting yesterday- feels similar to the beginning of a stress fracture.  Probably from increase in miles plus no sleep.  Rest- might even take a few days off next week if necessary.

Rest the niggle.

Lunch- yoga, lifting, abs, and xt.  Basically, everything except running.  Once I get up to speed again, it's running all the way till Waldo 100k in Aug, then still on till TNF 50 San Fran in December.  So I've got a long haul ahead and am enjoying my post-race/recovery month.  Besides, I have to give Joe and Cody a chance at Logan Peak, don't I?

Lunch- 8+2.  Felt good.  Foot didn't hurt, and I didn't feel sluggish after a few days off.   

In case you're wondering, that really is 19 pairs of shoes listed above.  And I have 2 more still in the box.  That's a whole lot of rubber and cloth sitting around my house.  Assuming each shoe lasts 500 miles, I've got 5500 miles left- almost 2 years.

Lunch- 4 with Jason and Phil.  Almost stopped at 4 miles when they both did- felt bad, very hungry, tired, etc.  But kept going and ran strong, even if I never felt better.  Went another 6 miles on the trails behind GE.  10 total.

AM- 7 and some bench

Lunch- 7 more.  Humid and warm.  Summer is coming.  Maybe someday I'll have a car with air conditioning.  It sure would be nice in South Carolina... 

AM- really behind on sleep this week, so my trail run plans went the way of my 5:30 snooze button on the alarm clock.  2 hrs later, finally got up and eventually went running on the rolling hills around home.  Finished a rather tired 2:48, 1800 ft climbing, and 22.5 miles later feeling fatigued but still running well.  Humid, but only mid-60's.  2 dog incidents- sigh.  Part of living in the south, I guess.  I've gotten used to sometimes running with rocks in my hands or a large stick.

I'm going to start recording what time I go to bed each night in hopes it will motivate me to sleep more. 

Next 10 days in Greenville: Avg high of 87, avg low of 63.  And it's just the start of May.

AM- 8

Lunch- 10 on a hot day, though I seemed to sweat a lot less than the rest of the guys.  Not sure what that means.