I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- early morning trail run with Justin.  Left at 5:30, drove to Isaqueenah forest- first run there in over a year, I think.  It was as windy as ever- it seems like you just keep twisting on top of yourself endlessly.  Hot and humid and lots of spider webs, but no prickly plants.  Ran on the south side (Doyle area) and waterfall.  Felt good and kept coaxing Justin to go further and further.  Stopped the watch for a while, but ended up around 17 miles in just over 3 hrs.  Elevation gain is hard on the garmins- SportTracks says 2600, Garmin says 1600.  

Just talked to my dad- he ran a 47 min 10k to place 3rd in his age group and the Bolder Boulder, one of the biggest races in the country.  Good running!  Now time for a Memorial Day BBQ.

Lunch- 10 with the guys.  Jim and I got poured on during the last bit.

PM- PM- Barry came the first 30 min, talking all about his 3 month motorcycle trip to Alaska starting this week.  Then I continued the rest of the way by myself.  Just over 2 hrs.  Very, very humid thanks to rain today.  12.5 miles. 

Lunch- too tired for my morning run, so just did a longer 11 mile run at lunch with the guys.  Getting hot these days.

AM- BW- 3 mile warmup, 10 mile tinman tempo in 61 min, 2 mile cooldown.

Lunch- 5.5 more easy miles.  Warm out- 87 deg and humid.  I'm hoping Logan Peak is super hot and humid, as I'll likely be the runner most acclimated to that weather. 

AM- 5 miles with Jason and Mike.  Nice, cool morning for a run.  Then some biking.

Finished May with 395.5 miles.  Not too bad.

 AM- Decided to run the FHT Heartbreak Bench marathon today, an unofficial challenge that runs along the FHT from Rocky Bottom into Laurel Valley, passing several large waterfalls and turning around at a very random bench on the middle of a steep hill.  It was a nice morning with cool, 60 deg temps.  Somehow left my garmin at home, so just had my timex watch with no distance.  I went out fairly easy and enjoyed myself, not seeing a single person until the very end and noticing even the spiders (and their webs) were fewer in number than usual.  The long, 5-mile downhill was relaxing, followed by a good climb and descent past Jocassee, then the abrupt stairs up and then down to the bench.  I always forget how far down it is to the bench, so I actually turned around a few times thinking I had missed it.  It eventually appeared at 2:08 (the exact time as when I ran Laurel Valley 35 mile race last August).  Rested for one minute, then started back.  I started feeling really good at about 2.5 hrs and ran well on the climb up, even running steeper hills and stairs than I normally would.  The last few miles were a bit slower as the temps heated up and I realized the 4 hr mark was out of reach.  Finished in 4:13:29, so a negative split by 3 minutes- pretty good considering it's net 500 ft uphill on the return trip.  I think 4 hrs is doable but wouldn't be easy.  As it is, my time is the FKT, besting Justin's 4:48 last April.  5250 ft climbing, 25 miles.  Took 120 oz water, drank just over 100.  Finished with a nice leg soak in a surprisingly cold river.  Nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

 Elevation profile courtesy of Justin's garmin from April.