Seeking a better country...

I am missing a shoe.  I have a dozen pair of shoes lying about; some my son took to mow lawns in, some I mow lawns in, 4 pair are currently rotating and running, but one of those 8 shoes is missing.  I really want to squeeze another 100 miles out of that pair...

8 miles, 67 minutes.  2 warmup, then three in the middle at 7:30 pace.  It didn't feel great.  This treadmill festival of running wasn't the greatest.  Having to stop in the middle to serve/eat dinner didn't help much.   The last three after beans, homemade french bread and meatballs were somewhat pedestrian.  Maybe tonight's Biggest Loser run will go better.  Since we already got all the romance of V-day out of the way last night by going to the tax prep lady, tonight I'll run through BL while my wife watches upstairs.

16 miler on Saturday...I hope Firebreak Road will be dry enough to do some on the hillside. 

If I was wearing $120 cvx tights on Saturday I'm sure I wouldn't have been chipped by .7 seconds by the 1st place female, and that I could have made up the 7 seconds between 3rd and 1st place in my age division.  ha ha ha 

Biggest Loser progression run, Valentines edition.  I put red hearts, white lacy and pink cupids all over the treadmill.  After grandma went home, I got the girls back to bed and fired up the machine.  I started at 7 mph and added .3 mph at every commercial break.  Top speed was a meager 8.8.  I hit my planned mileage with quite a bit of show left, so cooled down for a mile.  It's crazy how much better today felt than yesterday.  My legs were definitely a bit beat up from the steep downhills on Saturday.  61 minutes

For Valentines, I got a special present from my wife;  2 glass 9x13 pans.  Obviously, I've still got it.  Nothing says I love you quite like kitchen-ware.   

7 more, 57 minutes.  After running, I did some planking and such.  Later, I checked my physique in the mirror and couldn't see any difference.  How disappointing.  

I've been pondering a philosophical question.  If I run and don't enter it into this blog, did it really happen?   

I will be home from work tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to a mid-day, high-sun trail run.  That should get me nice and tired for a longish, little big workout on Saturday.  Tonight, however, will be the treadmill as usual.   

On the treadmill again.  I watched the mentalist for the first, and likely only time.  What a dumb show.  When I got done, my wife said, "Wow, that was fast."  What she didn't know is that I did less miles than usual.  Afterward, I did some more planking and such.  My daughter joined me.  She's a dancer with great balance and core strength.  After that, I got looking at my r2 toe.  The nail has never really been normal since I lost it a couple years ago.  It grows in 2-3 removable layers.  I decided a fresh start would be good, and just ripped it all out.  It only hurt a little bit. Out with the old and in with the new.  

Morning run outside.  We had a big lunch meeting at work, so I had to finish in time for that.  I announced "Mandatory Family Run" and got 3 of the bigger kids to run 1 mile.  The little girls rode their bikes.  The sun wasn't exactly shining, and the day wasn't exactly warm, but it was nice to be outside.  My 12 year old runs like a duck.  My 16 year old goes too fast and makes herself very uncomfortable.  I didn't get to observe my 14 year old.  My 17 year old refused to participate. 

Tomorrow is a 16-18 miler, little big workout.  I'm planning on 4 zig-zags after 10-11 miles.  These are .5 mile ascents up the switchback trail at Freedom Hills park.  Tara and Andy can attest that it's a rugged 800 meters.  

The unpaid internship continues.  Fingers crossed.  I'm too old for a job like this. 

I met up with Andy.  We looped from my house to LPT, east on Farmington State Street to Freedom Hills.  I had quick drink, and we tackled the switchbacks 4x.  It was tough; 270' of climb in .5 miles.  The final 3 miles were considerably more challenging than usual.  Total climb for the run was 2800'.

I may have crossed the line between fitness deposit into withdrawal territory today.   It was a good thing to have Andy along; sharing the mental fatigue makes a huge difference.   Total time was 2:24, we did 8 minute pace on the flat stuff, much slower on the switchbacks.  In hindsight, I wish I wore my heartrate monitor.  

Other than the workout, it was a perfect morning; cold, but not too cold, with sunshine and blue skies.