I'm retired from racing. Really.

Lunch 8. Didn't run at all last week while on vacation, walking all around Washington DC.  Not having any races on my schedule is really causing a drag on my motivation and training.

I just posted my 2010 year in review on my GSR page.

It's Tuesday, which means a night run at Paris Mtn with Barry.  Enjoyable, as always, with perfect weather (50 deg or so).  Unfortunately, it also meant tons of mountain bikers- we saw more than 2 dozen on the trail.  The run was very enjoyable and seemed to fly by- I looked at my watch near the end expecting to see 1:15 or so, but instead saw we had been going for 1:53, and weren't done yet.  Longest run since the start of November, I think.  Good times.  I even had a few encounters with a bunch of east coast thorns.  My legs definitely aren't Barkley Ultramarathon bad...

... but they did get rather chewed up.  Definitely worth it, though.

Lunch 6.  Tired and sore.  And out of shape.

8 in about an hour.  Nothing to see here, folks, just move along.

Lunch 8 with Todd and Jim.  Still undecided about doing the 5k in 2 weeks.  It's a big race around Greenville- 2000 runners, loops around downtown on roads.  What does the FRB think?

On a related note, some runners may be able to relate to this video.  And some wives, including my own.

AM- Trail run with Barry.  We planned to drive to NC to Dupont forest, but learned it had 10 inches of snow.  So we drove to Croft State park, instead, which was very muddy in spots, but overall very runnable.  It was our first time there- we went on the Southside mountain bike area for a while, which was splendid, then crossed over to the state park side.  The trails there were generally muddy and has lots of horse traffic, so the trails were extremely chewed up.  Between the mud, poor trails, and bad footing, we turned around twice on various trails before finally going back to Southside to finish up.  We saw 3 deer and 0 people on the trails the entire time- a wonderful, quiet trail run all to ourselves.  The temp was around 35 deg with a slight breeze and felt rather nice.  Great place to run- I'm sure I'll go back again.  No climbs of any significance, but tons and tons of little rollers.  Finished with 16 miles in 2:29:48 and 2000 ft climbing/2000 ft descending.

I ran 60 miles this week, which feels good.  For me, I feel like I start getting in shape above 60-70 mpw.  Surprisingly, this is my first 60+ mile week since the Bear in September, 15 weeks ago.  That's a long time of low mileage to come back from.

PM- Boy, I'm starting to doubt these people who say the South is hot.  It snowed 6 inches last night, and 2 more during the day today.  I went to work, but only about 10% of the people joined me (no Southern natives, either- the ones I saw were from Michigan, Chicago, New England, and Russia).  Greenville has no snowplows, so the roads were rather bad, and the freezing rain that started a noon didn't help.  But at least the people here know it, so the roads were empty- quite literally, empty.  I drove home at lunch and worked from there.  Finally went on a run in the freezing rain/wind (17 deg windchill in South Carolina?), doing a bunch of loops around the GE track.  Finished looking almost Paul-esque, then came home and made a snowman while the kids watched.  I really enjoyed myself, both on the run (running itself, plus the strange looks I got) and playing in the snow.  Felt nice after living in Logan for 8 yrs.

On a related note, I think my kids are getting soft already when it comes to dealing with the cold. 

I put some goals and potential races for this year on my Green Shorts Running blog.  Basically, it's a whole lot of "I'm not really sure what races I'm going to do this year but will have fun."

PM- Snow day again, worked from home.  Roads are pure ice, and even the snow has a .25" thick layer of pure ice.  Ran to GE and did loops around the track again at 8 pm.  The city is still basically shut down.  6.5 miles or so.

Lunch run- 4 miles on the track, then my foot/arch was aggravated from all the uneven surface, so I went and biked a bit.  8 total.

Lunch run on the treadmill, cause I was tired of the ice.  3 mile warmup, then 3x1 mile repeats with 2 min easy between.  Pace for the miles was 5:49, 5:46, 5:38 (inc. 5:00 pace for a bit).  Then did a few more miles.  Rather than quit the run, I decided to do 1 more mile repeat (5:39 pace), plus cooldown.  10.5 miles total.  Despite feeling crappy this morning, I felt surprisingly good during the run, a nice sign for the road 5k I signed up for next weekend.

10

AM- Met Barry at the zoo, and we did a few laps on the trails around Cleveland Park, then ran quite a ways north on the Swamp Rabbit trail.  Stopped at 18, then I added on a few more by myself at the end.  20 miles total with 1300 ft climbing/1300 descending, in 2:38:15.  Averaged 7:20 pace on the flat stuff (pretty good considering 1/3 or more of it was snow covered and/or ice packed), slower on the trails.  Felt good the whole time.  My first 20 mile run since Grand Canyon on Oct 11 (wow, that was a long time ago), and, sadly, my first long run with more than 1/2 on pavement since October 2009.  15 month streak ended today.  Long runs are much better when you have someone to talk to.  And we saw tons of runners on the trail (40+?), compared to zero last Saturday.

8+2

Lunch- bike 5

PM- Paris Mtn with Barry on a muddy, misty, drizzling, foggy, and very peaceful night.  Unlike 2 weeks ago, we saw no people our whole run.  The trail was muddy everywhere from the snow, but a runnable mud- better than I expected.  It was so foggy at times that we could see the fog in our headlamps between us and the ground.  Very enjoyable, peaceful run.  Just under 12 miles with about 2000 ft climb/2000 descend in about 1:45. 

AM- A quick 4 in the morning.  No lunch or evening run- got a cavity filled, instead.

Lunch 10 miles, running with the guys.  Felt ok, a bit sluggish.

AM- Quick 5 while watching SportCenter.  This is the last good NFL weekend of the year.

Lunch- Ran 4 more then bike 2 before going to pick up my packet for my 5k tomorrow.  First time ever to break out the greeny-greens in Greenville! 

Race report is on my Green Shorts Running blog.

7 after work.  Not much else to say.  Bread and butter.

Lunch 8 with Barry and Jason.  37 deg, breezy, and sprinkling- but it actually didn't feel too bad.  Ran around some nice off-road routes.

Late lunch run with Jason.  He took me back on the dirt trails/roads at the back of the GE property- there sure are a lot of them.  Very nice.  9 miles total.

PM- 11.5 miles around Paris Mtn with Barry and Timber.  2200 ft climbing, 1:46 total time.  Nice evening, with no one on the trail after the first 10 minutes.  It's definitely staying light longer these days.  

I put a few random thoughts about race entry fees on my GSR blog.  I'd be curious to know what everyone else thinks.

Lunch- 3 mile warmup, then 6 miles in 37:00 (6:10 avg)- mile splits ranged from 6:15 to 6:02.  2 miles cooldown, giving me 11 miles total in under 1:15.  Felt real good.

AM- Barry and I ventured to a new trail today, Issaqueena Forest, part of the Clemson Experimental Forest.  It is has a smorgasbord of trails winding all over the place.  Being unfamiliar with the region and finding an extreme dearth of any kind of trail markings, we restricted ourselves to a fairly small portion, though there was still more than adequate trails.  Primarily beautiful, soft singletrack over constantly rolling hills, with a bit of fireroads mixed in.  32 deg at the start, 40 deg at the finish- perfect.  Saw almost as many deer as people (including my first ever eastern Whitetail deer- they have HUGE white tails!).  We spent some of the time ranting about the state of our country and the government (although, as anyone who has run with me will confess, I did most of the ranting and Barry mainly listened).  Finished feeling pretty good with 20 miles exactly in 2:53 (8:39 avg) with 2300 ft climbing/2300 descending.  Fabulous way to start a Saturday.

The high the next 2 days in Greenville is mid-60's.  Perfect- this is how I imagined southern winters.  I ran 24 miles Mon-Wed this week, then 42.5 Thur-Sat.  I feel good and my body is wanting to do more, but I'm trying to be cautious and hold back so I don't do too much and get injured.  But I'm starting to feel in shape.

 Like I said, a smorgasbord of winding trails...

 ... with lots of ups and downs

I miss Logan's mountains, but I sure don't miss the winter air (shown here on the right)- and sometimes it would be like that for weeks straight.  Blah. 

Lunch- 6 miles with Fedor, then 4 by myself around GE.  I signed up for a 6k trail race in Greenville this weekend- should be fun.  Looks like I'm on a "short race" streak.

On a related note, I finish the month with 260 miles, of which 231 were running.  This is my highest Jan mileage ever (2010 = 228 miles, 55 running; 2009 = 145 miles; 2008 = 199 miles), so that's a good sign.  Although not being in Logan definitely made it easier.

Lunch 10 with Barry on a bit of a cool, drizzly, foggy day.

AM- 3 mile warmup, then planned on a 7 mile tempo.  Felt like crap right from the start, but slogged through 3 miles before slowing it down.  After about a mile, I felt better and decided to give it another go for at least 2 miles.  4 miles later, I had my 7 mile tempo (averaged 6:11 miles, I think).  12 miles total for the run.  Good lesson in not giving up too early when you don't feel good at the start of a tempo.

Lunch (aka 3 hours after my first run)- 8.5 more with some of the guys.  Felt much better than expected. 

AM- 7 easy.

Lunch- 7 more.  Yawn. 

PM- 5.5 miles.  Looks like 38 deg and rainy for the 6k trail race tomorrow.  And the almost 2" of rain the past 4 days guarantee it will be muddy and fun!

Had a great time running the very muddy Foothills Drifter 6k trail race this morning- report on my Green Shorts running blog.  Finish the week with a fun race, some good mileage, and feeling strong to continue progressing in the coming months.  I feel like I'm starting to get in shape.

AM- 6.5 easy

Lunch- 8.5 more with the guys. 

PM- Paris Mtn with Barry (but no Timber this time).  Usual run- Barry's house on the road to the canal trail to Turtle trail to Mountain Creek trail to Sulphur Springs trail to Fire Tower trail to Kanuga trail to North Lake loop to Pipsissewa trail to Brissy Ridge trail, then back to Sulphur Springs to Mountain Creek to Turtle to canal to the road home.  1:53, 12.5 miles with about 2200 ft gain/loss.  A bit cold out, and I didn't have my warm gloves.  Very nice to be on the trails, and it's light enough that we don't have to turn on our lights till over half way through.

Lunch 8 with a pretty big group.

Quick 7 at lunch.  Scrubbed the morning run, so I'll do it tomorrow, instead.

AM- 4 run, 4.5 bike.

AM- This morning's run was probably the second most enjoyable February run of my life, only behind last year's Rocky Raccoon 100.  Barry and I drove out to Issaqueena forest again, parking a few miles south from 2 weeks ago.  The first 8 miles included Timber, Barry's dog, as we cavorted around the singletrack in sub-freezing temperatures.  Then we dropped off Timber and found even more singletrack.  We ventured all over the very twisty, never flat trails before finding the Waterfall area.  The entire Waterfall area is maybe 1000 m by 600 m, but has probably 7 miles of trail crowded in that area, and we ran about 11 miles there.  The trails are beautiful, narrow, soft singletrack that literally twist back and forth, almost on top of themselves, climbing and falling the entire time.  Simply splendid.  And the temperatures rose rapidly, such that I went from UA Coldgear and warm gloves to just a t-shirt in 5 minutes.  It was pure enjoyment, running on great trails with good company.  I just about killed Barry so ended up doing the last few miles by myself.  I felt great all the way to the end, pushing hard and running fast.  It's fun to be getting in shape.  

I finished with 21.5 miles (though it may have been more, since I'm sure the garmin missed a ton of tiny switchbacks) in 3:15 (9:05 avg).  Really not sure about the elevation, since I have never had a run with so many small yet continuous ups and downs.  Garmin says 5050 ft climbing, SportTracks says 2700 ft.  I know it was more than 2700 ft, and garmin often overestimates by 50%... so we'll call it 3400 ft (not that it matters).  Anyways, a great run.

I wanted to show just how twisty the trail is and how it almost runs over itself in the Waterfalls area.  Here is a map...

...another map... 

...and my GPS trace.  Amazing- the scale on this is 500 ft, so this whole area is about 2000 ft by 3000 ft (~.2 sq mi), but it has 6-7 miles of trail!

AM- BW before work.  3 miles warmup, then 8 miles tinman tempo (ended up with 49:16, 6:09 avg), then 2 miles cooldown.  13 miles total 1:27.

Lunch- 8 miles with the guys, including some nice off-road stuff (i.e. little jaunts in open spaces between neighborhoods, etc).  Rather tired by the end.  

I had to front-load my week because Marci's grandpa passed away over the weekend, so she and McKinley flew to Idaho this afternoon.  I'm home with Aspen the rest of the week.  Fortunately, a guy at work is lending me his jogging stroller and the weather is gorgeous (mid-60's), so I should get some outdoors time each day to keep from going crazy. 

PM- 10 miles with Aspen in the jogging stroller on the Swamp Rabbit trail.  It was one of those days where it seemed to be uphill with a headwind both ways.  I guess that's what happens when it's the first stroller run since July.  78 min.

PM- 9 with Aspen and the jogging stroller on Swamp Rabbit trail.  Nice day, 63 degrees.  Aspen is a really good kid in the stroller, entertaining herself by looking at things and pointing out airplanes and dogs. 

2 of my 3 roads shoes are above 400 miles and nearing retirement.  Fortunately, I received 2 new pairs of Pearl Izumi shoes in the mail today.  First new shoes in 7 months, which is probably the longest I've gone without buying any in years.

PM- More of the same, easy 6 with Aspen, plus a bunch of stops to play on toys, swings, etc.  68 deg- nice.  Tomorrow has a 75 deg high.

 Reason 297 I love my 2 year old:  After we ran down a hill and said, "we went fast", she looked up at me and said, "I want to go really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really fast!"  (I think she actually said "really" more times than that, too- I didn't count, but was amazed how many times she said it).

I think I'm in love.  Scratch that- I know I am.  With Isaqueenah Forest.  Marci had lined up one of her friends to watch Aspen for part of Friday, so I used that time to go running.  I wanted to run at least 23-24 miles, but figured I might get as high as 28 if I felt great.  Once again, I drove out to Clemson.  It was already 62 degrees and sunny when I started at 10:30 am, and I would end up running through the hottest day so far this year, finishing in humid 81 deg temps.  Given that I haven't run in more than 65 deg temps, I was roasted.  And it really gets me excited for 95 deg temps this summer.  

I stopped by the store to grab some gatorade, sunscreen, and granola bars on the way, and all would prove useful.  I started the run with just 1 bottle and ventured towards the southern most portion of Isaqueenah, an area Barry and I had not yet run.  It was delightful.  One of the things I like best in this forest is the wide variety of fauna- one minute you're running on pine-needle covered singletrack with thick forest all around, then you're running in bushes, then in a beautiful deciduous forest, then some grass along a lake.  Very nice variety.  The initial new singletrack was much longer than expected, and I ended up milking my one water bottle for 11 miles and 100 minutes before I reached the car again, with this entire leg being new to me.  I could tell I was bonking in the heat, so refueled and set off again, this time double-fisting.  I felt ok, but wish I had a few S-caps with me.  Lesson learned.

Sure enough, the previous lack of water caused me to slow from the 8:30 avg pace I had been running for the first 90 minutes to 10+ min pace.  Interestingly, miles 11-14 were all between 10:41-10:44.  Then my food and hydration kicked in, and my pace improved back to normal, though the continually increasing temps weren't too fun.  After my refuel, I ran the middle part of the forest to the Isaqueenah Lake trail, winding around to the north parking lot, then eventually over to the waterfalls area.  I gained a strong second wind around mile 19, which carried me to mile 23.  At this point, my right arch was hurting and I probably should have headed to the car a mile away.  Lacking any brains, though, I instead ran a short loop in the waterfalls area, then finally crawled back to the car just before mile 26, sufficiently tired.  Yup, I ran my first (almost) marathon of the year, 90% on singletrack and 10% on dirt road.  Good times.  It was definitely my first "hot" run of the year.  

Finished my 26 miles in 3:57 (9:06 avg) with about 4500 ft climbing/4500 ft descend.  After 7 straight weeks of increasing mileage, next week is a much-needed recovery week- I don't really care how much I run.  Maybe 40 or 50 miles.  

I swung by a grocery store to get some recovery food before my 60 min drive home.  I got 2 pints of my recovery drink of choice, chocolate milk, and a footlong sub at the deli.  They had just run out of normal sub bread, so made it on a loaf of french bread.  Holy cow, that thing is huge!  It didn't fit in their sub bag, and I could only eat half of it.  Now a few pictures, just for fun:

Today's twisting run through the forest

Overlaid with the other 2 runs here

Zoom in to show the amount of detail- lots of turns

You try figuring out how much elevation change this is...

PM- 4 around Oak Grove lake with Aspen.  70 deg and sunny- very nice day.  Legs were appropriately tired after a long run.

Typical lunch run 8 with the guys.  Did a few situps and pushups after- I figure I better start doing a little bit of stuff like that.

PM- 9.5 with Barry at Paris Mtn.  Beautiful weather- 70+ deg when we started, 68 when we finished at 7:30 pm.  Took a little easier and shorter route today, as part of my recovery week.  9.5 miles in 1:25 with 1500 ft climb/descend.

8 xt.  Cause I needed it.

Lunch 6.

xt 8

AM- My mom is in town, so we drove to Paris Mtn, where she took a hike and I took a nice run.  I felt great, not surprising due to my super-easy recovery week.  My normal PM run averages 9 min pace or so, but today I averaged 7:43 pace.  We parked at the upper lot and I did some big loops around Kanuga/North Lake, etc.  Went down to the lake twice.  I went fairly easy the first 4.5 miles, then started pushing the pace more as I had runners to pass.  I finally reached a junction with only 10 minutes till I was due to meet my mom, and decided to really fly by taking the long route.  The next half mile over rolly, technical terrain was sub-6 pace, and the 1.5 miles back to the car were about 6:25 pace- definitely the fastest I have ever run on those trails.  It was a blast dodging rocks and trees, going up and down the trail.  Good run- 9.5 miles in 1:11, including 1200 ft climbing with equal descending.  Now off to Asheville with the family.  And back to the normal mileage next week- should be 80 miles or so.

Lunch 10 with a big group- half broke off to do a workout, the other half (including me) did lake laps.  I ventured to Rolling Green trail and European Circuit trail by myself at the end.  77 deg and sunny- I need to get a hat so my head will stop getting sunburned.  I know summer here will be too hot, but the weather right now is splendidly perfect.  

I finished the first 2 months of the year with 528 miles, 127 more than ever before.  That's partially a reflection of how much easier it is to run in SC during the winter, but also bodes well for the spring/summer races. 

PM- Paris Mtn.  See if you can follow this, Barry- Lake Placid to Mountain Creek to Sulphur Springs to Brissy Ridge (hiker only) to Kanuga (upper) to Kanuga (lower) to North Lake (short) to Pipsissewa to Brissy Ridge to Sulphur Springs to Mountain Creek to Turtle Trail.  I wasn't feeling too spunky, but all the mountain bikers gave plenty of opportunity to chase and be chased.  The slow Brissy Ridge and doing most the miles after dark resulted in a very slow run- 12 miles in 1:57 with 2000 ft climb/loss.  Always enjoyable to run the trails, and the pleasant temps (58 at start, 50 at end) just topped it off.

AM- 6

Lunch- 6.5 more 

AM- Had a bit of trouble getting out of bed, but still got in a good workout before work, and even did 1 more mile of tempo than planned.  2 miles warmup, 10 miles tinman tempo (avg 6:07 pace), 1 mile cooldown.  Total 13 miles in 1:24 (6:27 avg).  I felt great during the workout, though my generally-improving PF has been hurting all day, which hasn't happened in a long time.  Hmm.

Lunch 8- the biggest race of the year in Greenville is tomorrow (Reedy River 10k), so no one wanted to run with me.

PM- Today was one of those run.  You know- the kind that are very memorable, but not particularly fun.  Occasionally enjoyable, but kind of miserable at the same time.  Running in bad weather on wet trails is more enjoyable when you have someone to commiserate with.

I had to run in the afternoon, so drove to Jones Gap State Park, my first run there.  It is right at the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, and the first decent mountains in SC.  The temp was 50 deg and it was raining.  Not drizzling- a steady, hard rain the whole time.  I had planned on a 20-22 mile run, and wanted to run downhill hard enough to make my legs sore.  I set off and discovered that the trail had transformed.  Instead of running on a trail, I spent the whole time running either in a stream, a pond, or a lake, or so it seemed thanks to all the water.  And that doesn't count the numerous official stream and river crossings, sometimes 10 per mile, and up to 25 feet wide and shin deep.  Yup, very wet.  The trail was very technical (mainly rocky) in places, but actually runnable for the most part- it was better than I expected.  I discovered that I could go faster up than down, due to concerns about footing on the moss-covered rocks and roots as I descended.  I was warm for a few minutes, but then started putting all my clothes on (2 shirts, fleece gloves, and ear warmers), and it still wasn't enough- definitely cold most of the run.  I was very grateful to have my visor, though, to keep rain and the abundant foilage out of my eyes. 

For some reason, I felt like I was moving moderately fast, but wasn't.  I think it was mainly due to the climbing, technicality, and especially the water.  I only ran 14.5 in 2:49 before the trails closed and I had to leave.  My average pace was a whopping 11:38, and only 2 miles were faster than 10 min pace.  Yup, one of those days.  The rangers even talked to me at both trailheads I passed, and made sure I got out ok given the solo run in treacherous conditions.  4500 ft climbing, equal descending in 14.5 miles, which is actually quite a bit.  Some steep stuff, even climbing up built-in stairs.  I guess some of the other trails climb 1600 ft in 1 mile- I wasn't crazy enough to try any of those today.

Good points- I had the whole place to myself, and it was gorgeous mountains.  Tons of waterfalls- the area is known for them.  Probably the most waterfalls I have seen since Milford Track in New Zealand (my most favorite place on earth, by the way).  And I got in a nice run on trails.  I'm sure I'll be back often... just not during a rainstorm.

One question- does running in the rain make anyone else have to stop and pee every 20 minutes? 

Lots of climbing- a few very steep ones.

I'll make sure to hit the 80 miles next week that I wanted this week.   

6+4

Lunch- 10 in about 70 min with Jim and Dan.

PM- 7 more by myself after a long day at work. 

Lunch- It rained the entire run today, with a fairly steady wind and chilly 45 deg temps- kind of like Saturday.  Jim, Todd, Jason and I headed out to the lake, where I learned they were all doing a workout (4 tempo laps of the slightly rolling, .85 mile lake).  I hadn't planned on it, but joined so I wouldn't have to run by myself.  First lap was 4:49, with Jim, Todd and I in a pack.  Jim sped up drastically at the start of lap 2 while Todd fell back.  Lap 2 was another 4:49, then lap 3 was 4:54 (the wind picked up noticeably on the backstretch of this lap, and I was rather cold and soaking wet).  I pushed lap 4 and finished in a 4:47.  Avg was 4:50 (5:40) pace for the workout- my first sub-6 workout this year.  Felt good, esp. given the less-than-ideal conditions.  Finished the run with a very wet 10 miles total.  

PM- Marci and I had our new home walkthrough today, so I had to run by myself.  I'm not much fun to talk to.

AM- 8 while watching the news on the earthquake.

Lunch- 7 more with Jim and Jason. 

70 degree highs expected this weekend- should be beautiful for a long run tomorrow.  Best of all, no rain expected (knock on wood)- we already have 2.6 inches this week.

AM- Today was an absolutely splendid run.  Runs like today really make me enjoy living in SC, at least this time of year.  I headed out to Dupont State Forest in NC, the site of 100 miles of trail bliss, with streams and waterfalls interspersed throughout (250 waterfalls in the county).  The International Mountain Biking Assoc. has awarded 52 areas its Epic Ride designation, meaning a trail/area is, basically, awesome.  Utah's only Epic is Mid Mountain trail.  Well, all of Dupont is an Epic area.  

After my hour drive (I've decided all the good trails are 60-90 min from Greenville), I got a late start at 8:30.  Temps were 35 at the start and 65 at the finish.  I was worried the trails wouldn't be very technical, but the very first 2 miles allayed my fears- there was plenty here to keep my happy.  One of my first trails was even Moab-ish, with long stretches over solid rock, the trail marked with cairns.  I worked my way to Burnt Mountain, with a steep climb and then a glorious, buffed singletrack descent.  In fact, the entire next 8 miles was all buffed singletrack- amazing, and every step of the entire run was runnable.  The views were great, too, since the leaves are not yet out.  The most exciting part was the river I had to cross twice- mid-thigh deep in a strong current over solid, moss-covered rock- very tenuous, that almost resulted in me going down more than a few times.  Probably not the smartest thing to do alone.  And during the entire run, I only saw 5 bikers, plus some people in/near the parking lot.

I felt great the whole run and thoroughly enjoyed the entire morning.  I hardly ever traversed the same trail twice and still saw only a small portion of the forest and trails.  My pace was strong, too- last week I averaged 11:38 miles and my fastest mile was 9:45, while today I averaged 8:22 and had NO miles slower than 9:41.  Finished with 20 miles on the dot in 2:47:14 and 3800 ft climb/loss.  I will definitely be back.  

Highest mileage week of the year so far.  Other than some PF in my right foot, I feel great.  And I am loving being able to run trails in the winter/spring.  Next week is a 5k race, then I may make my first excursion onto the 77 miles FHT, my next long distance adventure.

Not much flat stuff today. 

Long lunch run- 12.

AM- 10

PM- I had planned to go to Paris Mtn, but was expecting nice weather and did not have proper clothes for 40 deg with rain (nor did I have a desire, after my long run a few weeks ago).  So I did 7+3 in the gym. 

AM- BW time.  My first 14-15 mile BW of the year.  Fortunately, my legs felt fresh for the first time this week, despite hints of a cold with sore throat and soreness.  3 miles warmup, then 10 miles tinman tempo.  Slowest mile was 6:11, with somewhat regular increasing pace.  Last mile was 5:25, and the total tempo was 60:56 (6:06 pace).  2 miles cooldown, then rushed off to work.  15 miles total in 98:35 (6:34 avg)

Lunch- 7 very sluggish miles more.  My legs felt dead the first few miles, as expected, then perked up a bit.

Question- have any of you ever had success with any of those "Anti-stink sport clothes washes"?  If so, which ones?  I think I'm going to try that before a few of my shirts kill me- they are pretty rank.  The other option is to throw them away.

My dad wrote a very good book (my unbiased opinion :) and is trying to get on Amazon's Best Sellers list for a few days.  If you are interested, read about it at this email he sent out:

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AM- 10, PM- 6.  That makes 58 miles in 3 days.

We closed on our house today, so we are now homeowners again.  Move in tomorrow and Monday, then start all the home improvement projects Marci wants. 

AM- 5+2.  Then followed that up by a pre-race taper of moving into my new house.  I was on my feet all day and hardly ate anything, and the movers finally finished at 8:30 pm.  I don't recommend this as a pre-race taper strategy- I was exhausted by the end.  And now I have hundreds of boxes to unpack.

AM- Today was the second in the Greenville Corporate Shield races- the Milliken Earth Run 5k.  I was looking forward to this one because it is a cross-country race, run around the grass/fields of their campus.

I felt my training had been going well but was worried because of my very long, tiring day yesterday, combined with only a few hours sleep (I love it when you are exhausted but still wake up at 4 am).  Plus I had to dig around tons of boxes to find my racing gear.  I never found my race shoes, so made due with a trail pair.  Ran 3 miles warmup.  The course looked great, to me.  It was rolling hills over mowed fields/weeds/grass.  Very lumpy, bumpy, and rooty- not a fast course.  The course had lots of small rollers with lots of twists and turns.  My legs unsurprisingly felt dead during the warmup.  Temps were a bit warm, in the low 60's, with a high later that day of 84.

Lined up with the ~500 competitors near some of my coworkers- it was a true cross-country style start, with the runners lined up all along a 100-yard starting line, then funneling down to a 10 ft wide mowed section a few hundred yards later.  I found myself in 4th place by the half mile mark after having to pass the typical people who started way too fast (maybe I'm biased, but I automatically assume I will beat anyone wearing an iPod on an armband who is ahead of my 50 yards into the race- anyone else feel that way?).  The course was definitely slow due to very uneven footing throughout, though I always think those rough courses work to my strengths.

Mile 1 was 5:24- I was 15 sec back from the 2 leaders and 4 sec back from 3rd place, with someone 4 sec back from me (it's easy to tell when the RD reading times only calls out numbers when people go by).  My initial energy/adrenaline from the start was gone, and I started to draw on my training miles to sustain and push myself.  I caught up to 3rd place (who ended up being a co-worker Tim Hawkins, though he wasn't wearing a GE shirt) and put in a mini-surge to put a few seconds on him around the halfway mark.  He surged back a minute later, but then I passed him again just after mile 2, which was a 5:55 (note- mile 2 was about the same difficulty as the rest, but all the runners had it 30-40 seconds slower... so we are calling it long).  I pushed harder and harder to put some distance on him, especially up the biggest hill of the race leading up to mile 3.  Mile 3 was a 5:25, which was great considering the climb.  Finished the .1 in 36 sec for a total time of 17:22.  Winning time was 16:49, second place was Jim Harper, my coworker who recently ran a sub-34 10k.  Tim finished 15 seconds behind me (he beat me by 18 sec in the Jan 5k).  I would say the race went well, despite tired legs, and was satisfied.  The general consensus was that the course was ~30 seconds long in mile 2, plus slow.  I'm guessing I could set my road 5k PR right now, if I wanted.

At the finish, my old running teammate from college cross country at Mines, Grant Scott, recognized me and we spent quite a while talking and catching up.  It was great to see him, and very surprising- he is here on short-term assignment from St. Louis, but will likely be back occasionally.  That was a nice surprise.  Finished with 2 miles cooldown, watched the awards ceremony (GE swept top 3 team places in the open division), then spent the rest of the day unpacking boxes and fighting with AT&T to figure out why my DSL is not on- despite ~8 phone calls and many hours on hold as I got tossed between sales, technical support, and service, it appears last night that they somehow completed my transfer of service to NO new address.  In other words, no internet and no timeline for when I will get it (hence this late post).  Grrr- I definitely have not been impressed with AT&T's ability to properly turn on or transfer service and would not recommend them.

High mileage week for the year so far, with plans to continue building.  Next week features the unofficial Bad Creek 50k (a race that didn't get approved for environmental reasons) with ~15 other runners in the remote mountains between NC and SC.  Having a long Sat run of 33 miles will make it much easier to get my mileage than this week when I crammed 70 miles into 4 days.  Now I better head home- I posted this sitting in a parking lot, using the wi-fi of a nearby coffee shop!  I definitely hate not having internet and not knowing what is happening in the world (i.e. apparently BYU won, Pitt lost, we are now bombing Libya, and I have dozens of waiting emails).

Lunch- 10 with Jason and Jim in 71 min.  Jason is a product-tester for Reebok and has been wearing a bright-orange vest recently, for which he receives an appropriate amount of grief.  

PM- Paris Mtn.  84 deg and sunny at the start, and I hadn't drunk enough all day.  Barry ran the first 4 with me, which was nice, then I did the death slog for the next 8 miles- it was one of those days where you feel like crap and can't run fast.  Very dehydrated.  Still, a nice trail run.  12.5 miles in 1:55 (see, I said I was slow), with 1800 ft elevation.

Somehow my Quantcast number has been skyrocketing- it jumped from low 100's to over 500 in one day.  I figure something is wrong with the counter, cause I did not suddenly become 5 times more interesting. 

AM- 5.5

PM- 6.5 more with Jim.  Warm and sunny out.  The GE employees at our location were doing the Alan Jackson "Good Time" line dance, like on the GE commercial.  They had professional cameras recording and even a local news helicopter.   

AM- 8

Lunch- and again, with anywhere from 1-4 guys.  Lunch runs are not far enough from morning runs to give full recovery, but they are still nice.  Plus I usually don't do any real long/hard runs at lunch. 

They had a team challenge obstacle course at work, so I did it during lunch.  Now my arms and shoulders are sore!  But it was a lot of fun.  Then some running.

Tomorrow is the Bad Creek 50k unofficial race.  I think 8 or 9 of us are running it.  I have to leave my house at 4:45 am- ugh.  And the weather predictions have gotten worse all week- now they are predicting a high around 45-50 deg and rain all day.  Should be fun and muddy. 

Today was the unofficial Bad Creek 50k- 9 people were running the Foothills trail from Bad Creek to Oconee, a 33 mile distance running mainly along the Chattooga River (where Deliverance was filmed) in the most mountainous part of the NC/SC border.  Dan Hartley wanted to put together the race, but couldn't get government permission so did a group training run.  It was my first time on the FHT.

The weather forecast deteriorated all week, and it ended up 45 deg and steady rain the whole time.  We started off and I found myself running near Dan, Doug, and Victor (a crazy Siberian who literally wore only shorts).  Is started raining as we left the cars, and never stopped.  I lent my jacket to someone, so wore a trashbag.  The first few miles were very slow as we climbed wood steps and steep mountain to the Whitewater Falls overlook (the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi).  I carried a backpack full of clothes, food, water filter, etc, and kept stopping to put on more layers.  The rest of the way was generally nice trail, almost all runnable, though I decided to stick with the other guys since I was so cold and new to the trail.  However, my shirts were soaked and I was freezing.  I generally enjoyed the run, though there were many vistas I couldn't see due to the clouds.  I ended up dropping at mile 15- continuing on while freezing cold and wet just didn't seem smart.  Too many bad memories for Poky, and from 3 weeks ago.  3 guys dropped with/before me, 3 continued on, and 2 more were MIA.

I will definitely return to the trail, hopefully often.  Seemed very nice, and I'm sure I would enjoy it more without cold rain.  I kept a running time- 15 miles in 3:22 (probably 2:50 actually running) with 4000 climb/3700 descent.   My 88 miles planned this week obviously ended up as 70, but I'll just up it a bit next week.

 3 guys rock scrambling near some falls (you can see shirtless Victor)

Whitewater Falls 

Lunch- 9.5 with the guys.  I scrubbed my morning run cause I was up past midnight finishing The Hunger Games.  Very enjoyable read.

AM- 7.5

PM- Paris Mtn with Barry.  Good run, perfect 60 deg weather.  12 miles with 2000 ft climb/2000 descent in 1:54. 

PM- 7.5 + 2.5.  Cold and rainy out, so I stayed in.  I got my fill of those on Saturday.

AM- 3 warmup, 10 tinman tempo (avg 6:06 pace for the tempo), 3 cooldown.  First 16 mile BW in a while.  Felt ok, not great, but much less sluggish than the rest of this week.  Total of 16 miles in just over 1:46.

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. 

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).  

Lunch- easy 3.5 mile day

Lunch- 3 with strides.  Leave tomorrow for Woodstock, VA.  Barry is coming along to be my solo crew and pacer.  Next entry will be my race report from the Old Dominion 100.