Seeking a better country...

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  It's too bad dental work superceded running in importance, or we could have done the whole loop, but I'll take a midweek out and back on a nice trail whenever I can.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...