I'm retired from racing. Really.

Lunch- 12, the first half with a big group, then 3 with Jim and 3 solo.  Bread and butter run. 

AM- 11.

PM- I missed the lunch group, so ran 10 more by myself, primarily on the trails behind GE.  Humid today- summer is coming. 

AM- Big Workout on the GE track, a 0.68 mile loop with about 25 ft climb per loop.  Perfect morning for a run- 50 deg and chilly, breezy.  3 miles warmup, then 10 miles tempo.  Goal was 6:05 pace, actual splits were 6:01, 6:03, 6:02, 6:00, 6:00, 5:59, 5:59, 6:02, 6:01, 5:48- so my workout was 59:59 for 10 miles.  Felt good, definitely tired by the end.  3 cooldown- so I did 23.5 laps on the track!  16 miles total in 1:45:30 with 600 ft climb.  First time wearing my Tangents since 2009 TOU.

Lunch- I'm used to doing my second run after work like in Utah.  Doubles are harder here in SC when I do my second run at lunch.  4 hours is not enough time to recover- my legs were still very achy.  Still, ran an enjoyable 8 miles on the wonderful trails behind GE in 69 minutes.

I was tired all day after my runs.  I'm definitely at high-mileage time for the year, marked by a constant, dull ache in my legs.  I guess it means I'm still getting better.  Or older.  I don't feel like I'm in great marathon shape, but my BW today was about as good as anything I did before my 2009 marathon PR.

PM- Paris Mtn with Barry, my first run there since Apr 5.  We did an enjoyable 10 miles with 1300 ft climbing- the short loop (no lake).  Perfect day, 70 deg.  The leaves have really come out on the trees in the past month- full shade cover everywhere.  Very, very green.  Lovely.  I heard about Barry's 50k and recent Mud Run, since we hadn't run together in a month.  10 miles in 87 min (8:46 avg).  5k race tomorrow after work- my first evening race since high school, I think.  It's a hilly one, so should play to my strengths.  I just hope I'm not too tired.  Lots of mileage plus I have a head cold right now (I can sing as low as I want- anyone need a bass?)

This evening was another of the Greenville Corporate races, the Swamp Rabbit 5k.  I think it was my first evening race since high school.  It's a huge 5k- 4000 entrants this year.  Showed up early with my family, who enjoyed the bouncy castles, free food, and music.  I warmed up by running the course with Jim and Barry, plus a bit.  75 deg at the start, which I guess is much better than the very humid 85 from last year.

The course is very hilly- almost 300 ft climbing, most in the last 2 miles.  The race started late.  There were a ton of high schoolers at the front, but I started fast enough to stay ahead of them (only 2 guys sprinted out, and they were walking by .5 mile).  First mile is very gradual downhill and was a 5:13.  I was in 3rd, right behind my coworker Jim and someone I didn't know.  Mile 2 starts with a big downhill, then steep up, another down, then a 3/4 mile uphill.  I quickly found that my high mileage left my legs sluggish on the ups, where the top 2 guys steadily pulled away.  I held my own on the downs.  Mile 2 was 5:33, and I was ~10 seconds behind the guys, with no one in sight behind me.  Mile 3 was very nice, running down a shaded bike path, but I couldn't close any distance.  6:09 for the 1.1, with a final time of 16:55.  Mystery man won in ~16:30, Jim was about 10 second back.  Decent race for me- I never got excited for this race and have felt worn out this week, so I ran about as expected.  I was breathing hard right from the start, but didn't really die off.  Can't complain about a 3rd place finish in a race of 4000.  And like Jim says, if I add some real speedwork and actually reduced mileage, I'd have a great 5k.  But, these aren't my focus races, although I'll try to PR in the 100x5k in 2 weeks (solo run on the track- should be fun).

Lots of free food and talking at the finish, while the kids played for 2 more hours.  Now bedtime, then a trail run tomorrow.

AM- Ok, now I'm tired.  It's the end of a great week.  Finished with 3 trail runs totalling 38 miles (1 short, 1 med, 1 long), one good BW, one 5k race, and my highest mileage for the year.  Only downside is that my left Achilles started twinging again the last few miles today.

I wasn't expecting to feel great today after my high mileage and the race yesterday, but I drove up to Rocky Bottom, SC, to run more of the Foothills Trail.  Ran just over 10.5 miles out, then turned around and came back- ran the Laurel Valley section almost to the NC border.  Saw a fair number of hikers/backpackers, and one trail runner, Craig Sandstrom (we exchanged info to maybe run together in the future).  Nice day- 55 at the start, 75 at the finish.  21.5 miles with 4000 ft climbing/loss in 3:30.  Lots of stairs (they sure like stairs on this trail), spider webs, and bridges.  The trail passes some nice waterfalls, too- Laurel Fork Falls and Virginia Hawkins Falls.  Enjoyable run.  

Next week will feature pacing Neal Gorman for 20 miles of Massanutten 100, then running the last 20 of it by myself.  After that, taper for Old Dominion 100.

Lunch- run 6 with Ben and Daniel, then bike 4 to rest my Achilles a bit.  Don't want to injure it with MMT this weekend and my 100 in a month.

Lunch- 7 on the GE trails with a good group, then 3.5 on the road/track.  Mid-80's and very humid... summer is coming.  1:21:30.

AM- I was planning on a 14 mile BW, but my legs immediately and unarguably told me that it wasn't happening today, so I settled into an easy run pace for 3 miles.  That wore me out enough that I then hoped onto a XT machine for a while.  Pooped.

Lunch- yup, still pooped.  6 with the guys on another mid-80's, humid day. 

Lunch- 11 with Jim, Jason, and Dan while listening to Dan recount his St. George Ironman last Sat.  Legs felt much better than yesterday.  Even did a few fast miles with Jim at the end.

New shoes today- another in the NB 76X line.  I think this is my 13th pair in that series- started with 765's up to 769's, and now NB rolled over to 760 again.  Definitely my favorite line of shoes ever.  I normally retire all my shoes at 500 miles, but I have 3 above 500 right now- hopefully I'm not running on borrowed time and skirting injury with them.  Feel ok so far- much better than when my Brooks or Mizuno crap out at 350 miles. 

Short run tomorrow, then leave very early Sat to go pace Neal Gorman at MMT 100.  Should be fun and rainy- he's trying to give Speedgoat Karl a run for the ribbon. 

Lunch- 4.5 easy on a very hot, very humid (80%) day.  Ready for tomorrow- I am packing tonight and leave at 6 am.  7 hr drive, run 40 miles, sleep, 7 hr drive home.  Should be fun.

Out of the house at 6 am for a 400 mile drive to Massanutten 100.  Temps were mid-70's and very humid- it could have been worse.  Predicted rain storms never emerged, which was nice.  I met my runner, Neal Gorman, at Camp Roosevelt aid, mile 63.  He was about 20 minutes behind his (very ambitious) schedule and in 2nd place, 15 minutes behind Karl Meltzer.  The first leg went very fast as Neal and I got to know each other.  His crew members (wife, mother, sister) were efficient and encouraging at the aid stations.  The second leg was a real doozy- we ascended Kerns Mountain, then followed the very, very rocky ridgeline for 5 miles.  Brutally rocky, unrelenting- impossible to get moving.  But Neal did awesome- I never saw him get discouraged or trip or anything.  He was feeling appropriately fatigued given the mileage and had a few bad spots, but ran well.  The Massanutten Mountains are definitely the rockiest place I have ever run- I have run stretches with that many rocks, but never mile after mile after mile.  We loved it.  My last section with Neal was particularly enjoyable, though- a gradual descent on singletrack alongside a creek.  Very green and peaceful- I dubbed it the Shangri La of MMT.  And Neal seemed to be running better than ever.  My 23 miles and 5 hrs with Neal ended far too soon, though, as pacer 2 (Jeremy) met him at mile 87 to accompany over the last 15 miles.

After Neal and Jeremy left, I decided to keep running the course.  I stocked up and pushed hard into the descending darkness.  Neal and Jeremy had a 10 minute head start, which took me almost an hour to make up.  I passed them, reaching the final aid station (mile 95.4) after almost 7 hours of running.  I wanted to run the last 7 miles, but a few niggles in my feet convinced me that there was no point in risking injury.  I cheered Neal through, looked in admiration at the runners just reaching the aid (it served as both mile 68.7 and 95.4, so most of the runners were just reaching the 2/3 mark), and called it a day at 10 pm.  Total was 32 miles running in about 7 hrs (6:25 moving time) with 6000 ft climbing and 5600 descent.

I rode with Neal's crew to the finish, where I ate some delicious food and talked to Karl for 30 minutes while waiting for Neal.  He crossed the line in 19:40, the 10th fastest time ever and fastest non-Karl time since 2007.  He ran strong and had a great race.

After, I took a shower and crawled into my tent at 1 am, exhausted.  Even though you aren't moving real fast while pacing, time on your feet and caring for the runner still tires you out.  It started raining just as Neal finished and continued all night (wet rocks and wet runners resulted in many DNF's).  I slept poorly for 3 or 4 hours, then wandered to the finish to eat and watch more runners (only 1 finished in the 45 minutes I was there).  I packed up and started home at 7 am.  I did find a runner who had made a wrong turn and was 4 miles off course, so drove him back to where he should have turned (nothing like 4 extra miles at the end of a 100).  Very tired on the drive, but made it home.

Fun, tiring weekend.  Pictures on my blogger. 

PM- Training this week (and half of next week), so no lunch runs.  Bummer- waste the whole lunch hour, instead.  So I did 4 miles run and 4 XT after work.  Legs didn't feel too bad considering.

AM- 9

PM- same 

AM- 10

PM- 9, with 6 on the trails behind GE.  Nice day today.  Going camping with 11 year old boy scouts tomorrow night, then trying to set my 5k PR Sat at 10 pm at the 100 x 5k World Record attempt.

AM- Medium workout on the GE track.  Wanted 8-9 miles of tempo, and slower than the last time I did it (10 miles in 59:59).  Goal was 6:05-6:10/mile.  3 mile warmup, then 8 tempo miles, all ranging from 6:07-6:10 except a 6:02 last mile.  49:00 for 8 miles workout.  Felt ok, not great.  2 mile cooldown- 13 miles total in 1:26.

PM- 6 easy in ~46 min.  Then 2.5 miles backpacking with the Boy Scouts for our camping trip.

AM- 2.5 miles backpacking out from the camping trip, then 7.5 miles and 1000 ft climb at PM with Barry in 1:16.  Went slow to save energy for the 100x5k World Record attempt- I run at 10 pm tonight.

I'm also getting excited for my September Ultra Race of Champions- latest entrants include Jason Bryant, Duncan Callahan, and Michael Wardian! 

PM- World record, baby!!!  The Greenville track club is trying to set the official Guinness World Record for 5k x 100 relay world record, meaning 100 people each run a 5k on the track, relay style, 12.5 laps per runner (yes, we have to carry a baton for all 1250 laps).  WR right now is 30:56:49, and we were trying to go sub-30 hrs.  Started at 8 am, I was supposed to run at 9:52 pm as runner 49.  Arrived an hour early to find they were already 33 min behind predicted time of 29:10.  My position was sandwiched between some of my lunch run buddies, which was nice.  Temps were a bit warm (77 deg) and a bit humid- warm enought that I only wore my green shorts, no shirt.  

I warmed up and felt ready for my leg.  I wanted to break my (admittedly slow versus my marathon) 5k PR of 16:35, which would be a stretch for running entirely by myself in humid weather.  Goal was 16:29, with all lap times of 77-79 sec.  Actual splits were 77, 81, 76, 79 (5:14 first mile), 78, 78, 79, 78 (10:30 2 mile), 80, 80, 79, 79 (15:49 3 mile), and a 200m sprint of 35.  Final time was 16:24.  Ongoing relay time here.  There were only 2 runners faster than me in the first 50.

I was very happy- setting an 11 second PR while running completely by myself!  Marci and the girls had a lot of fun cheering me every lap and trying to run beside me on the infield, and it was great to wave to them.  There were a ton of volunteers cheering and a DJ playing 3 songs I had chosen.  Runner 50 finished with us on pace for 30 hrs 4 min.  A fun time at a unique event.  Hopefully the 3 am runners stay strong and we set the WR.  Either way, I have a new 5k PR.  Next goal is the set a 100 mile PR in 2 weeks (wonder how many people set a 5k PR and a 100 mile PR in 15 days...).

UPDATE: They finished the relay in 30 hrs, 1 min, 14.01 seconds.  Beat the world record by 55 min, 32 seconds. 

PM- 6 easy after work in 90 deg heat, though only a bit humid.  Didn't feel too bad, actually- I think I've acclimated quite a bit, plus I've never been a big sweater. 45 min.

AM- With only 11 days till my 100, I'm in full taper mode.  Yet I somehow ran over 3 hrs and 22 miles today.  Huh.  Did a baby workout with Dan this morning on the GE track.  70 deg at 5:45 am- yup, summer is here.  2 warmup, increasing tempo for 4 miles (start 6:25, finish 5:53 mile), then 3 cooldown.  9 miles, 1:04.

PM- Paris Mtn with Barry.  93 deg when we started.  Yup, summer is here.  Heat actually didn't feel too bad till the last 30 min, when we were both dragging.  And I had 4 stops for some reason.  13 miles on the mountain in 1:57:30 with 1600 ft climbing.  Always fun to run on the trails.  And my tiredness at the end was nothing some 5 Guys burgers and fries couldn't fix.  Really enjoyed the ride home- windows down (no a/c in the car), 88 deg, singing to some music, munching on fries, just cruising along.  Nice evening.

No more runs of >1 hr until OD 100. 

And admit it- all you folks in Utah with your 75 degrees temps are jealous of this...

AM- 4 ez.

AM- 7 with Jason on the GE track.  Worked a half day today, then spent the afternoon in a very, very enjoyable team building activity- paintball.  Tons of fun, and all of us have got the bruises to prove it.  

Lunch- 7 on the GE track with some of the guys.

Spent a bit too much time on Kevin Sayer's site today.  The best is the ultrarunner jokes- I can relate to far too many of them. http://www.ultrunr.com/youknow.html

PM- easy 4 in the heat of the day. 

PM- ran in the 92 deg heat of the day.  And wore a black t-shirt.  With a black long sleeve shirt on top.  Why?  To get me ready to run OD 100 this weekend...  Like Neal Gorman notes, it's gonna be a hot one.  Easy 6, felt good.  Still a bit sluggish, as expected.

On an unrelated note, runworks.com calculator puts my 16:24 5k from a few weeks ago as a 15:55 in cooler temps.  Huh.  I've never imagined running a sub-16.  Maybe I'll have to give it a go sometime. 

Lunch- 5.5 with 1 faster in the 90 deg heat.  The normal high for my race location this weekend (Woodstock, VA) is 81 deg.  The East Coast has record highs this week, though, with predicted temp in the mid-90's now.  I guess I'm as well acclimated as anyone.  And I've been driving around with my heat on recently (I think my car was 120 deg coming home today).