Seeking a better country...

8:30 pm  Jack came in the stroller.  He used to be much smaller.  I guess some of the food is finding its way into his mouth, although from the looks of the floor after meal time, that is hard to believe.  Tonight he counted to 10, sang songs, shouted hello, and at intervals, sat quietly.  He's quite a little running buddy.  Also, he shares my affinity for grape powerade.

7:30 am  This time Anna came on the usual route, including a stop at Dicks for her donut.  She was less pokey and slow than last week.  We've been working them pretty hard helping with door hangers for Tami's campaign, so I guess from that experiment one could conclude that exercise pays off.  

When I opened the garage to wheel her bike out, a surprising thing happened; cool air rushed in.  This was the most pleasant temperature run I've had in at least a month. 

7 am.  Another non-planned, solo long run on Saturday morning.  I'm tricking myself into not getting ready for a marathon.  If I don't make a big deal out of the long runs, then getting ready for the marathon isn't happening, right?  I've been fond of saying there's no point in running over 12 miles unless you are getting ready for a marathon.  Well, 3 out of the past 4 weeks I've been way over the threshold, so I guess it's on.

 I took pavement to Farmington pond, with pauses at Smoot and the Farmington pool for drinks.  For reasons unknown, the bathrooms and fountains aren't on at a public building in South Farmington and at the pond, so I was pretty thirsty for the third section of the run, from the pond to Freedom Hills via BST.  Once I got down the switchbacks, I completely soaked in the firehose sprinklers, and got enough drink to get home.  Miles 13 and 14 were quicker, 7:10 and 6:45.  I should have done more tempo, but without better planning, it's tough.  I was happy to see that pace on flat after a very minimally fueled 1:45 minutes of running.  

After the run my back is very sore, lower left side, with numbness in the leg, and difficulty walking.  Picking up Jack is a misadventure.  This is residual from the tempo tuesday; I'm not sure what to do about it.  It doesn't pain me much while running, but afterward, things definitely aren't right.  I'll get into the chiropractor a couple times this week and try to sort it out.   One night last week I crawled to bed, rather than walk, it was bothering me so much.

8:30 pm  Jack in the stroller, Jens on the bike.  We ran easy to the park.  I did a couple laps while the boys played in the sand.  Jack was tired, and really relaxed.  Me and Jens had a good chat.  Pace was very slow, dreading the workout  in anticipation of the workout in the morning.

7 am.  I overslept, and missed out on group tempo Tuesday, but since I'd spent so many hours dreading it on Monday, I couldn't just scrub the workout, so I went down to Pages, and caught Andy and Tara as they were finishing up.  Tara gave me the workout; 3 on, 3 off.  I missed how many reps, though.  I ran today sans garmin, but thanks to the handy dandy half mile markers, I know I kept all 7 reps of 3 minutes at or below 6 minute pace.  (never much below, mind you)  This workout was a wringer.  The clock just keeps ticking, and the off 3 minutes are over all too quickly.  Shorter recovery would really ratchet up the intensity, but this was plenty tough. By #6 and #7, I didn't just have a side ache, I had sides aches.  

The slow miles include a mile or so warmup, and 2+ coming back.  I have no idea how much distance I traveled in 18 minutes after the fast 3's; I guess 2...

7 am.  I never remember what shoes I wore if I write it up a day later.  Ash has continued her habit of rising early, but instead of running with me, she wants to stay home and play minecraft.  Today I insisted she come along.  We did the usual six, but I was so wiped out, I barely made it home.  A couple kids are sick, and I wonder if I'm also getting it.  10-11 minute miles, all around, with a pause at the park to play on the swings.  After swinging for a minute, I nearly puked, and decided it's more fun to push kids than do prolonged swinging.  I'm still good for as much swinging as it takes to do a jumping out of the swing contest, but I think I'm done as a recreational swinger.  It comes as no surprise, I guess, since I can get dizzy by closing my eyes in a rocking chair.  

6:30 am.  Mueller park trail, 5.25 up, 5.25 down.  allie and Tara let me come with.  It's too bad dental work superceded running in importance, or we could have done the whole loop, but I'll take a midweek out and back on a nice trail whenever I can.  After climbing for 50 minutes, we found some genuinely cool air.  It felt great.  At one point we scared up a deer.  It would have been more appropriate had it been a moose.  

6:45 am Longish run, 11 going to Farmington State street and back, then almost 5 on the grass of the soccer field.  My oldest was out with the old men playing ultimate.  I watched his run around like a frolicking deer for a 1/2 hour.  It's hard to believe, and it pains me that he'll be leaving in 3 weeks.  

Those were my first grass miles all year, also my longest run to date in the kinvara 3's.  They held up pretty well.  It's remarkable how adaptable we are; a couple weeks ago, after a 16 miler with Nate I was totally wiped out, and couldn't have run another step.  Today was just another day, with several hours of helping the neighbors move just after getting home.  

A good friend came over yesterday and spent 12 hours buttoning up odds and ends with finish carpentry.  We've lived in our home for exactly 10 years, and now there are no missing pieces of baseboard.  It's funny how long we've lived with drywall sticking out, and missing pieces here and there.  Life is like that.  We've all got unfinished business we are working on, and some of what we neglect is pretty ugly, but we are accustomed to it, so we rarely notice our own shortcomings.  

I hope it doesn't take another 10 years to complete the paint touch up...  

8:50 pm.  I took 2 signs with me to drop off on the way to my daughter's softball game.  She got in a summer rec league, and I needed to check out one game before the season ended.  Running up to Rocket Park isn't easy.  I staggered the climbs, so none of them were too heinous.  Then I watched the game; I guess they play however many innings they can squeeze into an hour.  It made me wish I was on a team, but not too much.  

6 am.  The alarm sounded at 5:40, I was extremely confused.  Notwithstanding my stupor, I got up and ate a piece of toast.  Then I remembered; tempo Tuesday.  I don't know how we ended up with 9 miles, it certainly wasn't my intention, but I'm glad we did.  Three progressive miles at 7.5, 7 and 6.5.  Despite being home by 7:30, I stuck around to see Jack, and didn't make it to work till well after 9.  

The mornings are nice at my house.  Everybody is slurping up cheerios and slathering butter on toast.  The little girls were up by 6:15 to play with a large cardboard box.  They were making cutouts and using packing tape to turn it into a train.  I hope the smoker that was inside works out as well as the box.  

7 am  4.5 with Ash, plus a donut.  I noticed two flat tires when I got home, so drove the car to Big-O then ran home.  Tami made it through the primary, but is disappointed with the results.  I guess much work remains.  

7:30 am  By the time I talked both girls into coming with me, we got off to a late, sunny start.  There was ash on everything.  Every footfall kicked up a small puff of dust, just like Charles Schultz's Pigpen.  The air was chewable, but the DAQ only reported 9.3 for the particulate level.  I hope it rains soon to wash away the ash and damp down the fires.

8 am  Meandering run with both girls, including stops at parks, garage sales, grocery stores, etc.  We all had fun, but by the end I was a bit hungry.

7:30 am  This run was half what it was supposed to be.  I ran to BST, and man, I wasn't feeling it.  There were not a few walking breaks, interspersed with not a few standing around breaks.  As I approached the end of the loop, I decided to quit.  No sense pushing on to get some empty, non-fast miles, and wear myself out for the day.  It was a good call for my personal life, but probably not for marathon training.  These are peak weeks, and I'm not getting much done, while my peers are running 1:2x half marathons, I'm pulling a few weeds in my yard.  Oh well.  Been there and done that, I guess.  

Hopefully I can put together a group run/big workout next Saturday in Huntsville.   

7:30 am  Not a very early start, even though I awoke much earlier.  Ash wouldn't come because she had boingers in her hair, thus the helmet wouldn't sit properly.  Well, that was her spoken excuse, but really she just wanted to stay home and watch the tomfoolery of Phineas and Ferb.  So, I took to the trails, since she shuns climbing.  The run felt a lot like Saturday, but not quite as bad.  My work arrival time:  10:30.  I'm going for employee of the month!

6 am  4 warmup miles, then 7:10, 6:45, 6:45, 6:30, all plus or minus a few seconds.  We make a good little pack, bothering all the cyclists on Legacy Trail.  On the plus side, no puking.  On the minus side, headache.  But I stopped at Colonial to return some masonry anchors, and they have a free soda fountain.  I filled up my 32 oz powerade bottle with Dr. Pepper. 

I know I ran one of these days, Wednesday or Thursday.  Hopefully I wore a garmin so I can sort it out later.

7:00 pm  Six with Jack in the stroller.  He's great to have along, especially if you are trying survey houses with flags, learning the abc's, how to count to 14, or want to know the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

6:30 am with Ash on the bike.  She set a new distance record.  We had a real lightning scare by the Pages Lane trailhead.  Overhead power lines cross the road, and they always crackle and hiss.  We saw lightning to the west, and seemed to be running in the storm's path.  When we got down by those lines, the sound intensified and seemed to run back and forth, not just the usual hissing.  Then FLASHBOOM right at the same time.  It scared us pretty bad; Ash wanted to go home, but I was loathe to head east, the exact direction the storm was tracking.  So we went south on Legacy, leaving the lightning behind.  We made it to the splash pad, then made our way back via 500 South and Smiths for ice cream cones.  We tracked a rainbow for 40 minutes, watching it intensify and dim, going from streaks to full arch to double, to nothing.  This was one of the best runs ever.  I'm glad I talked her into coming along; it's much nicer to share than do solo.

8 am.  First day of school run.  Lots of kids walking with parents for flag ceremonies and other first day festivities.  'Twas much cooler, temps in the low 60s.  Jack came with.  We took a dirt stretch from 400 W to Main, and saw a couple horses.  One was friendly and came right up to the fence to be touched.  When he stopped, he spit all over Jack. Oops.  

6 am.  Eventful tempo Tuesday with Andy and Tara.  My gut was not right; Tara suffered a similar malady.  After an extended warmup, we did manage three faster miles; 7:15, 6:55 and 6:30ish.

I'm still trying to be recognized as employee of the month.  I made it to work by 9:45.  I love walking into the building when everyone is in the middle of a production meeting.  At least I brought fresh peaches to share.

7:30 am  Even three hours later I struggle to remember what shoes I wore.  I haven't run in crocs for a while.  Maybe that's the problem.  Perhaps I need some new shoes.  Scratch that.  Definitely I need some new shoes so I have some ready to go for the marathon in a month.

If you want to see what a plateau looks like, visit my blog as a weekly graph view.

8 am.  Skipping work to run...my son dropped me off on Island View and I took the shoreline trail over to the Farmington Road, then back to Freedom Hills and home on the road.  I got in a couple faster miles toward the finish.  

Afterward I spent the whole day sorting out 2 yards, planting trees, landscaping, sod laying, etc.  My back is sore.

6:30 am  Very good run on the course this morning with Angie and Jasmine.  We backtracked the marathon course 20 miles, and finished the race.  Overall pace was 7:10, which was extremely easy on the downhill, challenging on the flat final 6 miles.  We held, and even dropped pace on the flats, finishing up with 3 sub-7 miles.  Temps were great, the scenery was wonderful, with trees beginning to change, birds aloft, and a rising sun.  I slept the night before at Anderson cove, under the stars, enjoying the view on a moonless night.  Even without my glasses I could make out several constellations.

I feel encouraged by the outcome of this run.  I figured the girls would drop me like a bad habit, but we stuck together and got it done.  I've been doing some year to year comparison, and my mileage this year is comprable to last.  I don't have a single switchback to my name, but have banked 7 tempo tuesdays.  With a taper, better sleep, and cooler conditions on marathon day...well, who knows?  At least my pacing should be better this year.