I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 5 ez, then 1 in my Altras.  Still adjusting.

Lunch- Big group of 8 out for the run.  Too bad I felt terrible and was absolutely dragging.  But I somehow outlasted everyone for an even 10.  Even if I was half a mile behind at some points. 

Lunch- 8

PM- 12 at PM with Barry and Justin (first time ever with 3 people).  Nice run with lots of talking.  Barry is just starting up again but did awesome for the first 90 min, after which we had to slow down.  They are putting in some new trail and taking out old, which resulted in some detours and confusion in the dark.  Finished with 12 miles in over 2 hrs and 1500 ft climbing. 

AM- Aborted medium workout due to fatigue, plus no need to kill myself while feeling down and having a race on Sat.  3 mile warmup, 1.25 MP before pulling the plug, long cooldown with some xt.  13 miles in all.

Lunch- 6 more.

Feb was only my 3rd 400-mile month ever.  The other two (Aug 09 before my TOU marathon PR and Aug 11 before UROC) both saw good results the next month.  And hitting 400 in the shortest month of the year is extra sweet, though I definitely needed leap day to get there. 

Looks like I'll have to work hard to not get chicked this weekend.  The 15k is the 2nd race in a series, and Amber Moran (Inov-8 runner) won the first race straight up last week by 7 minutes over 17k.  That's awesome.  The last time I got chicked at a regular race (other than when I ran sick/injured) was probably Des News 2009, so it's been a while.

Lunch- 6- hot, high 70's today.  Beautiful.

PM- They were having a team competition at work with 1 mile run, 100m dash, 50m dash, jump rope, and obstacle course.  It was hot- 79 deg at the race start.  Some of my coworkers are great at short/mid distances, so my strategy was to build a lead quickly and hold them off.  I sprinted right from the gun and figured I was going fast enough when my hands and arms were tingly/numb within 60 seconds.  Built a 5 second lead by a quarter mile and pretty much held that the rest of the race as we went around the .68 mile GE running trail.  Finished in 4:59 feeling tired but good.  I'm not sure when my last sub-5 mile was, but it's been a while- I ran a 4:59 at Des News 10k, but last honest/flat sub-5 was probably college track in 1998, 14 years ago!  2nd place was seven or so seconds behind.  Then watched co-workers run sprints, then our team won the obstacle course and took home the overall trophy with 18,000 points (no, I have no idea how they did points).  Finished with 3 Panera Bread bagels.

Looks like it will be warm and wet for the race on Sat- low of 61 Fri night.  And that's some strange weather Friday that you'll not often see out west- low of 61, high of 63.  Gotta be humid for that to happen.

Signed up for Waldo 100k yesterday.  Good thing I didn't try to wait till after work- it filled in under 5 hours.  Last year it took over a month.  Such is the popularity of trail running this year.  It's a lot of money and a long ways to travel from just one race, but it's a classic and I want to have fun and do well.  Plus, top 2 go to Western States.  Looks like I'll be running ultras in NC, UT, CA, TN, and OR this year.  Travelling man.

Lunch- 4 ez. 

Full report posted.  Had a fun time at a very technical trail race that was threatning to be cancelled due the the crazy thunderstorms.  Pulled off a win and enjoyed the day in the great trails of SC.  10 mile race with 2200 ft climbing/descent on very rocky, wet course.  Not sure when I've ever won two races in the same week before.  Now 2 more hard weeks before the taper for Umstead.