I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 9.  Not much to say.

Lunch- 11- We had a record lunch-run group of 9 people. Hot, of course.  I'm looking forward to when my toe isn't sore, red, swollen and bloody anymore.

AM- Met Jim and Dan at GE, ran to the lake where we did 7 laps (6 miles) tempo.  First was slow at 6:17, then 5:58, 5:59, 5:51, 5:52, 5:56.  Long cooldown- finished with just under 14 miles total, 1:39:13.  Very nice weather- coolest run in a long time, only mid-70's and moderate humidity.

Lunch- 8 with some of the guys.

PM- Played ultimate frisbee for a while, and got my toe jumped on.  Ouch, that hurt. 

I guess my Saturday hot run finished my acclimatization.  I am now fully a Southerner.  How do I know?  I heard on the radio after my evening run that we set a record high of 103 today... and I didn't even think it felt that warm during my runs.

Lunch- 6 with Aaron and Mike.

PM- 12.5 with Barry at Paris Mtn.  Stopped the watch, but it was about 1:55 with 2000 ft climbing.  Always nice to run with Barry in the mountains.  Easy pace with lots of talking.

The gym at my work is having a challenge to "Swim the Nile"- 4130 miles.  Each minute of exercise counts for 10 miles.  It lasts from Aug 1-31.  And... I'm already at 4200 miles, just 3 days in.  Maybe I should try to swim it 10 times.

60+ miles in 3 days.  I think this is my highest Mon-Wed total ever. 

AM- 7.5

Lunch- 7 run plus 2 xt.  My toe wasn't feeling good and Shark Week was on the TV at the gym, so I stayed in and ran/biked.  Plus the heat index was 105 outside, which didn't sound appealing.

Highest Mon-Thur training mileage ever for me. 

Definitely excited for UROC in 6 weeks.  They continue to add more elite runners- the most recent is Ian Sharman.  Looks like it will be a fun race.  They even put a page with all 26 of the elite runners (so far) on it, including me.  Link here.  If anyone else is interested, I encourage you to throw your name in the pot.

PM- picked up Barry right after work and drove straight to the wonderfully-fandibulous Dupont State Forest trails, where we spent the next 2 hrs 54 min hours sweating our way along 18 miles of beautifully-runnable singletrack with 2600 ft gain.  Saw 2 people the whole time.  What a great run.  Even had to do the last 45 min in the dark.  The downside is I didn't get home until 11 pm, so I never saw my daughters all day.  Last time I was at Dupont, I ran 20 miles in 2:47.  Today, 18 miles in 2:54.  The difference?  It was about 40-50 deg warmer today.  If you don't think that matters, let me show you my backpack from today, absolutely soaked through with my sweat.

95 miles Mon-Fri this week.  Sounds like a good training week to me. 

AM- I've had sleeping issues recently- no matter how tired I am, I wake up before my alarm.  For example, I fell into bed at midnight last night, exhausted and hoping to sleep until at least 8.  Instead, I was wide awake well before 6 am, so pounded out my run.  One day this week, I woke up at 4:30 am, 90 min before my alarm.  I have decided that my body will not sleep in past 6.

77 deg with 87% humidity this morning before sunrise.  I didn't even bring a shirt.  7 miles in new shoes- they feel great, except they really hurt my toe.  Of course, all of my shoes except 2 inflict undue amounts of pain on my toenail area and swollen, red toe knuckle.  Fortunately, as long as I can grunt through the pain, my toe usually goes numb after 30 min.  Usually, but not always.  The doctor recommended to rest my toe as much as possible as running will prolong healing.  Yup, he's right.  At least it gets a 46 hour rest now, the longest since my surgery.

I want to tell everyone about my next race and demonstrate how sick ultra runners and RD's are.  First, make a 35 mile race course.  Put it over the most challenging terrain in South and North Carolina, through poison ivy, yellow jacket, wild boar, and bear-infested country.  Then, make sure it is so remote that there are no roads within 5 miles of the course, other than the start and finish at trailheads.  Yup, no DNF on this one- you drag your butt out one way or another, or die trying.  Then, don't offer any aid stations or other help of any kind.  And no course markers.  Oh, and do it in the middle of August.  Let me repeat that: 35 miles in August in South Carolina with NO aid stations.  What do you get?  A 17 year old race that sells out every year.  Yes, we all paid good money to partake of this experience.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Laurel Valley 35 mile race, next Saturday.

One interesting fact- there are 55 entrants, and only 3 are younger than me.