I'm retired from racing. Really.

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.