I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 9 easy miles in about 66 min.  Felt real good- too bad I wasn't doing a workout.

Lunch- 8.5 in the heat, then 2 xt for kicks.  Achilles started hurting a bit at the end.  Got stuck at work an extra hour due to a crazy thunderstorm- winds, torrential rain, and lightning everywhere.  Finally ran the 400 yards to my car when it let up a bit, but was still soaked.  Drive home was interesting, too- some water/creeks across the road, up to 1 foot deep.  The thunderstorms here are sure something impressive.

I hit 2000 miles for the year today, my earliest ever (edging out last year on July 30).

AM- 10 ez.

Lunch- 6 with Brad and Jim.

PM- Today was a very rare 3-a-day.  I think I've only done this once or twice before.  Greenville Track Club puts on an All-Comers Track meet at Furman, with an emphasis on kid races.  It was the first races ever for my girls, and a lot of fun.  First was the kid 50 yard dash, which I ran with both girls.  Then was the parent-kid relay, 50 yards each (my girls collided during this and both got cuts, but finished).  Then I did the adult mile, placing third in about 5:10 (splits were something like 70, 80, 80, 80).  Given that it was my first mile race in 14 years (college freshman), plus my third run of the day and mid-90's temp with humidity, it was the best I could do.  But my first mile at my last 5k was faster!  Oh well, I just don't know how to run fast enough anymore.  We finished with Kinley running the 200, then me doing a 200 in ~30 sec.  Plus a lot of warmup and cooldown- 5 miles total.

It was a lot of fun to see my girls do some running.  I think they liked the long jump the best, though- jumping into sand can't be beat.  The performance of the day was an 800 meter guy who ran 1:51.  Of course, he is an OTQ, but he looked so smooth and powerful- amazing.  One of the fastest 800's I've ever seen.

I passed out today.  Clean out for 30 seconds.  But first things first...

AM- 2.5 run, then my toe hurt so much I had to quit (small shoes, I think, which resulted in very bloody toe), followed by 7 xt.

Lunch- 6 run, 1 xt.  Hot.  Very hot.

After work, I went to give blood so Marci and I could have movie tickets for a date- I'm O neg blood, so they call me all the time asking for donations with bribes of tickets.  I had to first convince the worker that my 90/60 blood pressure and 40 bpm heart rate were normal.  The blood donation went fine, until the end when I started feeling a bit woozy.  Then, just before I finished, all the background noise faded out and I had a nice dream for 30 seconds or so, before even the dream faded to black.  Next thing I know, they are shoving ice all over me and waving smelling salts under my nose trying to wake me up.  Wow, that was quite the experience- never happened before.  They made me sit in their chair thirty minutes, monitoring me and taking bp (80/48 five minutes after I woke up).  Needless to say, I was very late meeting Marci for dinner.  And, they were out of movie tickets so will have to mail some to me.  I still feel a bit groggy and light headed even now.  I think I'll just do some easy xt tomorrow rather than run in the high heat and risk passing out again.  My toe really needs a rest, anyways, since it is all swollen and sore.

Lunch- I kept my promise to the blood center ladies and didn't run.  Wasn't worth the risk of passing out, plus my toe needed a break.  8 on the arc trainer, instead, which is a pretty good workout in and of itself.

Lunch- 8 hot miles with Jim and Mike.  The went camping with my boy scouts- didn't see family at all today.

Jon- "Barry, this is almost my highest mileage week this year, and I want to make it even harder.  What do you think we can do?"

Barry- "Let's go for a 22 mile run over the most rugged terrain in South Carolina."

Jon- "Sounds good.  And I'm already weak from my toe and from giving blood and fainting a few days ago."

Barry- "Great!  How about we do this run during the hottest Saturday yet in Greenville, with a high of 98 and heat index of 107."

Jon- "Splendid.  And since they suggest limiting outdoor activity between 10 am to 4 pm, how about we purposely wait to start our workout until 10:30 am, then don't finish until just after 4 pm."

Barry- "The only thing that could make it better is if you somehow had a campout with boy scouts last night where it was so hot all night you couldn't sleep much, plus had a dog making noise nearby all night long."

Jon- "Sounds like a good plan, see you Saturday.  Oh, and I thought of one more item- driving 90 min home afterwards in 98 deg temps with no air conditioning would be the final cherry on top!"

Yup, that was my run.  Enjoyable, very hot and long- I think I drank 180 oz water during the run.  22 miles, 4:26, 5300 ft climbing.  Gorges State Park- Auger trail to FHT Bear Gap camp, all along to FHT to Rock Creek, a bit more up the stairs (to where I had done before), then up Cane Brake trail.  There was some steep, steep stuff- on the FHT Cane Brake steps, you climb 330 ft in under .2 mile.  It was so nice to be able to do a long run with Barry again.  We even saw a few people I knew, including Dan Hartley who was crazy enough to attempt the entire 77 mile FHT today.  Final note the self- XT Wings shoes do not hurt my toe at all due to where the bend is.  No shoe pain today at all.