I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM ended up not running on Sat to rest my sore PF. Still finished with 100 miles in 5 days. Got up early today, ran 1 mile then met Hot Dan at the gym to run around the neighborhoods for 10 miles. Went home and Marci wasn't ready for her workout, so I added on 6 more. 17 miles in 2:05 or so. Nice weather, felt good and relaxed. No foot pain. I love Strassburg socks- annoying to sleep in but they do wonders for Achilles or PF pain. Best treatment I've ever found.

I've felt like my training the past 2 months has been ok, but not great. A bit inconsistent. I was surprised to see I ran 380 miles both months. Made me feel a bit better. I'm feeling stronger, and am being reminded that the bulk of real base training is just a lot of average runs on tired legs.

Happy Labor Day, everyone. To all 4 of my readers. :)

PM 5 more at 10 pm. Took all my energy to keep down the greasy Mexican food from dinner, but I succeeded.

AM- 12.  I get annoyed watching the news during the run.  It's embarrasing to see all the media spouting how we need to attack Syria because Obama set a Red Line that they crossed and we can't go back on our word.  It's like a group of immature teenagers.  Which is worse- going back on your word, or killing people.  Shouldn't be a hard decision.

Lunch- 10 more. Upper 80's and humid.  Again.  Summer came late but is hanging on.

My Timex Ironman watchband is almost torn through, so I ordered another.  I got my first Timex when I was 14 or so and have never used another regular watch.  I think this is my 4th or 5th one.  I love these watches.

AM- 11, most of it with Hot Dan

Lunch- 8.5 with the guys.  There were 11 of us today- that's quite a large group to run down the road with.  Looks pretty cool. 

Either my feet are swollen from all my running recently, or my feet are now wider.  Most of my shoes now feel too narrow in the forefoot, a new problem.  It's a bit annoying.

Lunch- 6 with the lunch crew

PM- BW at Paris Mtn.  Everyone else bailed, so I was running solo.  89 deg at the start, 85 at the finish, but not too humid so didn't feel too hot.  For all the tired, sluggish runs I've had the past month, this one was equally energetic.  The long climb at the start felt relaxed and easy.  Ran CCW around the big loop.  When I hit Kanuga, I decided to do a couple repeats up it- a 1.15 mile climb of 400 ft, somewhat rocky/technical.  First rep was 12:06, second was 11:28.  Then continued the run.  Still felt great so I found myself increasing the pace more and more, till I was eventually going race pace, racing bikers down the mountain.  I'm calling this BW with hill repeats and then downhill tempo, even.  My wife just put Next to Me by Emeli Sande on my iPod, and I listened to it several times- that's a great song to help you run fast!  Finished the great run just as it got pitch dark.  It feels good to actually have energy in a run during a high mileage week, plus I'm retiring these shoes in style.  16.5 miles with 2100 ft climb in 2:20.  Home for the first time today at 9 pm.  I'll watch a bit of the Broncos before collapsing into bed.

AM- woke up and, egads does my ankle hurt. Didn't twist it or anything, but it's quite painful, mainly on the bone just above the outside ankle bone. Still dragged my sorry butt to the gym for some xt. Pain didn't improve so I canned any lunch workout. We'll see where this goes. My worst case fear is a stress fracture, which would pretty much ruin the next 4-6 months. Going to bed now, as I'm tired from staying up till 1 am watching the Broncos last night.

AM- my ankle/leg improved drastically each day during the weekend, so I decided to give it a go today.  Ran 4 miles easy with Hot Dan, then a little xt.  No issues.  Very relieved to have appeared to have dodged a bullet.  No more long runs in shoes with 500+ miles, that's for sure.

Lunch- ran 9 more with a big group.  No issues again.  We ran to Oak Grove lake, our most common route from work.  18 months ago, the dam broke, though the resulting flood didn't injure anyone (it's not a real big lake).  Well, they finally reopened the dam today, so we can run lake loops again.  18 months- that's a long time for a little lake. 

AM 7

Lunch 7 more

AM- BW.  3 miles warmup, 9 miles tempo in 55:30, 1 mile cooldown.  Didn't feel energetic but got it done.  The pit stop 5 miles in sure helped feel a bit better.

Lunch- 4.5 with the LR group on a hot, humid day.  This is my recovery week, so I'm trying my best to not go over 80 miles.  I'm having a hard time keeping my miles low enough.  After three 100-ish mile weeks, 80 seems like a cake walk.  Funny how perspective works.

Lunch- 7.  Really not much to say about it.  Running with the LR group makes it nice.  The LR chat before is usually entertaining.

PM- you know you finished your run late when the only dinner options are Wendy's or Waffle House. Anyways, did a Foothills trail run with Merle starting at 6 pm. Ran 6 miles towards the bench, then back to the car, then the other way to the top of Mt Sassafras. Generally slow due to a long week plus technical trails at night. Saw 2 campers the whole time, no one else. We enjoyed the Sassafras lookout at 10 pm, very peaceful. Finished 22.5 miles with 4500 ft climb in 4:45. Finally got home for the first time today at 12:45 am. Sleep now.

PM- busy day with hardworking, soccer, and then going to running buddy Barry's wedding in Asheville. I took running clothes thinking the wedding might finish early enough to get in a trail run in NC but didn't leave till 9 pm. Stopped by Swamp Rabbit trail in TR and ran a brisk 6ish miles instead. Felt good, my sore knee from yesterday didn't slow me down.

AM- 8

Lunch- 6

AM- 10

Lunch- workout with Jim.  Beautiful day for a workout- upper 60's, cloudy, and a slight breeze.  Ran 2 miles to the lake, then started a tempo around the .85 mile loop.  We planned on sub-6 pace, but ended up going much faster.  Hit the first 5k in 17:30, second 5k in 17:16, and finished the 8.1 mile tempo in 45:34 (5:37 avg).  All the miles were between 5:31 to 5:44.  Could have done more as I felt good (well, at least the second half, though I slowed some miles 6-8), but I have a 5k this Friday and a 50 miler next Saturday.  2.5 mile cooldown.  12.5 total in 1:20 (6:27 avg).  Fastest tempo in years for me, maybe ever.  Felt good to run fast.

AM- 9 with Jim at 7:15ish pace, then a few xt.

Lunch- 2 run, then 4 xt.  My lack of sleep finally caught up to me, hard.  Runny nose, stuffed head, sore throat, itchy eyes- yup, I'm sick.  Blah.  Rest, hope to get well enough for my 5k on Friday night.

No run, just rest.  Still sick- this seems to happen regularly pre-race, brought on by high mileage and lack of sleep, I'd say.  At least I have over a week to recover before the big race.  Taper time.

Lunch- easy 3 miles with 4 strides to shake out my legs.  They felt better than I thought they would, but not great.  Still going to give the 5k race a go tonight.  I do feel generally much better today- still have my cold, but 2 nights in a row of 7.5 to 8 hrs of sleep did wonders.

PM- Moonshiner Madness night trail race 5k again.  It's a wonderful trail race after dark on the trails of my beloved Paris Mtn.  I won the race last year by over a minute in 18:45 and was hoping for similar results this year.  Saw lots of friends at the start, including Aaron and Lynn, plus the Nighs.  The race starts off with .25 mile downhill on road before .5 mile on trail.  Last year, I had a 30 second lead by the one mile mark, but this year I actually had competition with 2 or 3 guys within 10 seconds.  After the .75 mile mark, there is a steady road climb of .75 miles and I absolutely killed myself trying to pull away- I definitely did not go too slow but instead found myself running hard and already suffering terribly.  At the 1.5 mile mark, we finally hit the uphill and singletrack trail for the rest of the race.  I estimated I had a 10-15 second lead but felt the technical downhill singletrack is my strongest part of the race.  Sure enough, the headlamps behind me faded, leaving me alone to enjoy dodging the rapidly-appearing rocks, roots, and branches.  I was able to ease my effort to 95% rather than all out, which greatly lessens risk of injury on a night run.  I wanted to race by feel so didn't even wear a watch but was happy with my finishing time of 17:58.  I didn't remember my time from last year so am very pleased to have beaten it by so much.  Plus, sub-18 seems very fast to me for a race run primarily on technical singletrack in the dark, given I only ran a 17:30 on the road during a day workout this week.  Cullen Mann finished in 2nd place in 18:34 (lots of volunteers on the course thought I was him and cheered me on to his name) and Mike Coggins finished 3rd in 19:01.  Lynn won for the women, as she has all 6 years the race has been held.  

I really enjoy hanging out at this race afterwards.  They have lots of snacks, and it's cool how the finishing area seems to magically fill up with 300 runners- more and more just appear out of the dark.  The nighttime air gives it a feeling that is different than other races- kind of special.  Plus Half Moon Outfitter gives great raffle swag and prizes (I won a $50 state park pass and a Suunto Quest watch- anybody want to buy the watch???  Or I might keep it, as I always need good gear) and cool disco balls for the winners.

Overall a fun, well organized, unique race.  If you've never done one, try a night 5k trail race- definitely adds spice to your running life.  Now it's time for me to officially taper for The North Face Georgia 50 miler next week.

AM- herded up all the kids and dropped them off at the gym childcare.  Ran a couple miles but had a real bad sideache so moved to the elliptical.  Xt is allowed during taper time!  Then practice the church primary program for tomorrow.  Now it's time to mow the lawn (if it stops raining) and a haircut.  Tired after my late night race last night, so might take a nap, too.

Lunch- easy 6 with the guys.  Taper for Saturday's race.

AM 8 miles with two 6:15-ish pace. Broncos won last night, though I only stayed up for the first half. MNF just ends too late here on the East Coast.

I got in bed early last night but tossed and turned until past 2 am. Not what I wanted race week. At least Senator Cruz knows how I feel right now.

PM 4 ez run 2 xt

Lunch- 5 miles with 4 strides.  Trying to get caught up on sleep before the race.  Weather wise, this is a great time of year around here for running.

AM 3 ez. Go time for The North Face 50 tomorrow. Just listened to Dean Karnazas. Weather looks perfect, the course is 98% single track, and Cody and Tim are doing great Bear 100.

Full report now posted.

Quick report-

45 miles of running on this

Across this terrain

While making up 8 minutes on the lead pack in 10 miles before passing them at mile 45, leads to some Dean time.

Awesome race, one of my best executed ever, over a very challenging course while racing great people.  What a fun day.

PM- some crosstraining and lots of foam rolling.  My left hammy and right quad are most sore, as are my ankles (esp. the swollen right one).