I'm retired from racing. Really.

Lunch- 10 with the guys.  Back to the heat and humidity of SC.  We arrived home after 2 am this morning, after a 16 hr travel day.  Bleh.  At least the kids were generally well behaved on the flights. 

I know I keep repeating this, but it has been so wet here.  Greenville averages 4 inches of rain per month and 48 per year (pretty consistent).  In the first 2 weeks of July, it rained 20 inches at the airport here.  That's after one of the wettest June's ever, too.  It's nuts!  20 inches of rain in 14 days.  My grass has never looked so good but I'm not sure I can ever cut it because it's always too wet. 

Lunch- 6 miles with Barry, then 5 by myself on the dirt/mud.  Hot and muggy.  The blackberries are finally ripening by Sam's Club so I stopped and ate 30 or so.  Delicious.  11 miles total.

 I highly suggest popping over to Justin Cole's FRB today.  Looks like someone is learning and reflecting... 

Lunch- it was a warm one today.  10 miles with the guys.  Started with a group of 9, so pretty big group.

Lunch- ez 6 win the guys

PM- Paris mtn with just Jim. Hot and humid. I'd almost say it's summer. Jim hit his head on a branch and had blood streaming down his face for a while. I took a fall near the end and dirtied myself up. I'd say it's the dirtiest I've ever gotten from a fall, partly cause it was on soft dirt and I was soaked with sweat. Both knees, both hands, my right arm, and somehow my entire back from shoulder to mid-butt (guess it pulled my shorts down some). We passed by a campground a mile later so I tried to wash off in the bathroom but it was futile, till I realized there was a shower. I hopped right in and cleaned up quite a bit, then finished the run. I was already soaking wet, but that was definitely my first mid-run shower. 12 miles and 1400 ft climbing in 1:55.

AM- 8.  Fresh fruit Friday in the gym, so I pigged out.  Yummy.  Felt bad the first mile of the run (tired/sluggish) but managed to keep going the full hour.

Lunch- 8 with the guys.  Stopped by the blackberry bushes, too.  Very hot/muggy- after the run, we all pretty much collapsed next to the fruit table.  I think I ate 5 or 6 watermelon slices, plus other food. 

AM- drove to Rocky Bottom to get in some good hillwork.  Ran FHT up Sassafras, then decided to go down the trail towards Caesar's Head rather than Table Rock to see what that was like.  I only made it a mile, which was slow due to excessive undergrowth even though it dropped almost 800 ft.  Decided to go back to regular FHT rather than bushwack.  Got back to Sassafras, having traveled a whopping 6 miles in 1:45 (17:30 avg pace).  Most of the steep climbing for the day was over, though, as I had already climbed 2600 ft and had probably 2/3 of the walking done.  Cruised down the FHT towards TR, which had relatively few spider webs even though I only saw 5 people all run.  Decided to go all the way to Bald Knob overlook, 10 miles from the car.  Felt generally good after about the 2 hr mark and was glad to get in some nice heat work, hill work, and a good long run.  Finished with just over 22 miles (almost 22.5) and 5800 ft in 4:48.  I'm also getting my summer hydration plugged in- I only drank 110 oz and 3 S-caps, and didn't take any leaks after the first hour (as opposed to previous, where I drink more and keep stopping every hour).  No need to run over-hydrated since I'm only going a few hours.  85 deg at the finish and still very humid, with me just beating the afternoon thundershowers.  Finished with a dip in the creek and drove home, arriving at 3 pm, over 8 hrs after I left home.  Solo run meant I got through 6.5 hrs of ultrarunning podcasts, too.

If I ever had ultra buddies visit, I'd either take them on this run or on the Bench Marathon.