I'm retired from racing. Really.

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.