I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 15 slow before heading to work at noon. Tired, and ankle kills

PM- 5 ez. Felt a bit more energetic. At work till midnight.

AM- 8 miles on a misty, foggy, wet morning.  Felt pretty good, much better than yesterday morning.  I'm trying to pack in the miles Mon-Fri this week because I'm taking my 2 daughters to crew Justin on the 77 mile Foothills Trail this weekend.  He starts running at 3 am, we crew him starting at 5:30 am, and will go at least for 18-20 hrs, and maybe 24+ hrs.  It should be fun but, needless to say, I won't get in any runs.

Lunch- 10 with the guys.  Heard about Dan's 5 min PR marathon of 2:43 last weekend in Ohio.  Rainy still.  

Lunch- 8 on another wet day.

Heading out now for a day or two in the mountains with my daughters, crewing Justin on the 77 mile Foothills Trail.  They just put out a flood warning for tomorrow due to expected heavy rains- that should make it fun (especially the trail portion along the known-to-flood Chatooga river).  Justin is going to do great. 

Slept 1 hr, then crewed Justin on the FHT as he completed his epic adventure till midnight. Home at 1:30 am, tired. Epic rainstorm with cold and 4-6 inches in 2 days, but Justin still finished. It was a fun, tiring weekend with my daughters watching Justin's toughness. Some hiking, a bit of running, too.

PM- late afternoon run, but Jim came so I wasn't alone.  11 miles or so.  Nice weather- you wouldn't have known that it rained 4 inches over the weekend.

Lunch- 10 on a nice day

PM- PM with just Aaron.  Nice temps, muddy, and rainy off and on.  Of course, more rain.  It really started raining hard after we were done.  My new shoes are now very muddy and wet.  Usual route, no garmin, 100 min. 

It's rained 6 inches in the past 10 days, and it's raining hard again.  Crazy, this weather. 

AM- 9. Felt good.

PM- 8. Felt very tired and slow. Very tired. Ran on the trails behind GE again.  My new Hoka Stinsons are definitely no longer white after all the mud-inducing rain we've had the past week. 

AM- perfect morning for a run outside- a cool, crisp temp at the start, just warm enough to not freeze and cold enough to not sweat.  6 muddy miles with only 2 deer for company behind GE, then 2 miles with 6 or 8 long striders.

Lunch- 8 more with a good group of guys.  Nothing exciting other than finding a copperhead snake on the side of the road just as we were about to step on it, causing several screams and frantic jumps.  We realized on the way back that it was actually dead- it might provide a whole summer of excitement.

Lunch- Went further than planned, ended up around 11 miles with the guys on a hot, sweaty day.  Got some good enjoyment with the copperhead snake from people who weren't with us yesterday.

AM- too tired to get out of bed for my trail run, so slept in an extra 90 min, then read the happenings at Transvulcania.  Left at 7:30 am on my run on a warm morning.  Only had one piece of chicken for dinner last night and ~10 almonds for breakfast, so figured I would be nice and carb depleted.  Tried to maintain an even pace- wore my HR monitor and it stayed around 140 most of the time, finishing at 145.  Hilly course with lots of roadkill (lots of poisonous snakes smushed on the road).  Nice to get out in the country- not many cars, though saw tons of road bikers training.  Definitely slowed down the last 30 min, esp. the last 2 miles.  Saw the family garage sale shopping so ended up pushing the youngest two home.  21 miles, just under 2:40, 1200 ft climbing.

I've been curious if my Suunto Ambit actually had the 15 hr battery life the company claimed, so I put it to the test.  I charged the watch fully and then immediately put it outside with a clear view of the sky.  I came back the next day and it was dead, so I downloaded the data.  It looks like the watch lasted for 14:25, which is pretty close to 15 hrs.  In that time, the watch says it moved .34 miles and climbed 30 ft.  I expected the position and elevation uncertainty to add up to more than that, so I'd say overall I'm happy with the watch performance in my test.

PM- planned on morning run, but sick 4 month old screaming all night only resulted in about 4 hrs of sleep for me and less than an hour for Marci (happy mother's day, indeed) so I turned off my alarm.  Still pretty tired at work.  Finally got out for a mid-afternoon run, doing about 11 miles behind GE.  Saw the deer and turkey and actually saw 2 people, too.  Felt good, especially considering my stomach was filled with chicken fajitas.  One of these weeks I'll do a double on Monday.

AM- new test shoes.  Cold this morning- 42 deg.  Ran 4 miles behind GE with my deer and turkey friends, then did a bit of fast speedwork on GE track.  5 laps with about 440 meters of each lap almost all out (times were between 1:22 to 1:25).  Haven't run that fast in a long time.  Good to get the legs moving.  8 miles total.

Lunch- 11 more. Wore a black, long sleeve for extra heat training but still didn't sweat much.  I just don't sweat.

AM- 10 miles on the trails behind GE.  Nice morning for a run.

PM- Paris Mtn with Aaron, Jason, and first time with James.  Hottest day of the year, 89 deg, but I didn't really notice it too much.  Did the normal loop but added HO BR.  Also jumped into the lake halfway through so ran the rest of the way with squishy shoes.  12 miles, 2600 ft climb, 2 hrs. 

AM- Ran 5 miles behind GE.  The male turkey charged and chased me again several times and got close enough that I had to grab a branch and charge back at him, yelling.  Twice.  Kind of funny.  Then 3 miles on the track- planned to do some speed, but my bum ankle hurt so much I could barely run by the end.

Lunch- Planned to run 10-12 but quit at 3 due to ankle.  Then some xt.  My internet self-diagnosis is Peroneal Tendonitis.  Anyone ever had this?

Pm a bit of ez cross training to rest the ankle. They did have fajitas, fruit, bagels, and cookies at the gym so I probably wasn't calorie negative. Ok, definitely wasn't.

AM- Drove to Jason's house, then went to Oconee to run the entire Chattooga 50k course we are racing next week.  It rained very hard on the 90 min drive but stopped just as we arrived.  Temps were around 70 and very humid the whole time.  At least there weren't too many spiders- I hit maybe 10 webs the whole time.  We started running 3 miles down a road and, after several false starts, found the race trail.  We ran up the Cherry Hill campground, down Big Bend trail to Chattooga River and the FHT, then along the FHT to the turnaround and back to the car.  21 miles with 3500 ft climb in 3:45.  A huge husky was on the trail and decided to join us for 4 or 5 miles of the run- not sure who owns him, but he was nice enough.  I also caught a toe and took a digger, and it appears I literally jammed the knuckle on my middle toe in the process- it's rather swollen and sensitive.  Also had 2 ticks and felt pretty good, though my ankle was still complaining loudly and regularly.  I'll do my best to rest it for the 50k next weekend, then milk it through the trail 14k in June before a longer rest.

Like I said, very humid and wet.  Running in fog...

What a green, lush location.  Beautiful, with soft pine trail.

Lots of downed trees and stream crossings

Jason on the banks of the Chattooga River.  Run if you hear banjos... 

PM- Wanted to rest the ankle, so just a little easy spinning. Ankle doesn't hurt at all when I walk, so it's hard to tell how it's doing. I'll try a run tomorrow to see how it feels.

Lunch- 9 with the guys.  Warm day.  Ankle was improved but not great.  Well enough to run the race this weekend, at least.  Should I be worried that I now discount 50k's as not that far?

PM- got out for a late afternoon run. Rained on me, starting and stopping same time as me. 8 miles.

I gave an hour long presentation to a Boy Scout troop today on lessons for life from ultra marathons. First time I've done anything like that. It was fun, and a good excuse to look at way too many pretty mountain pictures.

Lunch- 10 miles with the guys.  Ankle didn't hurt at all, good sign.  Included 20 min on the mud.

PM- Ran 35 min to Sams Club, then 2 laps on the track with 5 or so strides.  Ankle was bugging a bit but it should be well enough for tomorrow.  The low tonight is 43 degrees- much colder than normal this time of year.  I might even have to wear gloves at the race!

Quick report- won the scenic, challenging Chattooga 50k, edging out Jason by 5 min. Only one of 4runners ever to go under 5 hrs. Very tired now.

Full race report up on Greenshortsrunning blog. 

No official run, but went to a church picnic and played a bunch of volleyball and ultimate.  Definitely some running there.  Soreness isn't too bad, so I'll try a run tomorrow.

PM- Paris Mtn with Justin.  He's just starting again after FHT and I'm post-race, so we did some upper loop miles.  65 min, so I'm calling it 6.5 miles.  Not too hot, and good to get caught up, plus Justin gave me all the borrowed clothes.  Not that I'll be needing warm gloves, pants, and shirts for a while.  Bumped into a bunch of runners after in the parking lot so we chatted for a while.  Runners are such nice people.

2 pm run with Brandon for 50 min and Jim for a full 1:22.  Pretty warm out today.  Ran the lake neighborhood loop then to Sams Club.  Feeling pretty good, though my ankle is still painful as is my bruised rib (ouch- that one is a first for me).  I'm not sure what I'd do if I didn't have any niggles- maybe doubt if I was still alive.

Lunch- ran some with the guys. Ankle hurt real bad. Stopped early to xt rather than hurt more. What a pain.

Ankle hurts like H-E-See-Kay, so I didn't even try running.  Xt instead.  This is getting frustrating- I might have to shut it down for a while, maybe even before my 14k in June.

I do find it interesting that I don't feel like I ran much this month and don't feel in A shape, yet still ran 341 miles, my second highest May ever.  Most years, I was 200-300.  Shows how much my mileage has increased and my mileage has changed the past 3-4 years.