The Long Run

3.26 mi, 29:41, 9:06 avg

Easy short run, out and back to the water fountain.  First leg trials after Saturday's race.  Was thinking about running yesterday but decided on one more day off.

5.04 mi, 44:24, 8:48 avg

A little bit longer than yesterday and felt great.  Run in the neighborhood and out and back to golf course water fountain.

6.22 mi, 54:33, 8:45 avg

Ran in the neighborhood, pleasant morning, pace felt good.

13 mi, 1:53:37, 8:44 avg

Ran in Starkey Park, arriving at 6:30 and waited for the gates to open shortly after that.  Met up with the Keith, Dixie, Jammie, Greg, Jorge, Victoria group although mainly ran with Dixie out to the 4 mile point.  Continued on by myself to where the park's bike trail ends and meets up with the Suncoast trail and turned around there.  Pace was a bit slower, then about mile 10 it felt easier and I sped up slightly, felt like something just turned on.  Cloud cover stayed which kept the run pleasant. 

Can't believe how different it was one week ago running 46 miles in much warmer weather.  Now getting early September fall teasers.

4.55 miles, 42:44, 9:23 avg

I just couldn't get my legs going this morning so decided to not try and just go with whatever.  There was a little bit of a speed up for the last half mile at least.  Ran in the nbhd and out and back to the golf course.  Weather was amazing.

6.55 miles, 55:03, 8:24 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders, starting time 5:30.  Smaller sized group this Tuesday, decent weather.  I felt faster and lighter today with the pace feeling easier than yesterday's pace.

5.22, 45:57, 8:47 avg

Run in the neighborhood.  Coolest morning so far with a nice full moon to start with.

7.26 mi, 1:01:1 , 8:26 avg

Ran at 5:30 with the Striders at Longleaf.   Ran a bit with Joe but I was kind of dragging at first so let him go.  Last two miles were in the 7:40's but it felt harder than it should have.  Overall it was a pretty good run.

4.13, 36:38, 8:52 avg

Squeezed in a little bit of a run between being slow to get out of bed but still having to get ready by the same time.  Run was good, weather was good, but still feeling like I've slowed down a lot recently.

15.21 mi, 2:23:35, 9:26 average

Ran with Joe from Longleaf at 5:15.  Started out nice and easy but kind of felt like I was dragging and the pace did not get much faster or easier.  Ran into the park, stopped briefly, then a little bit farther (to Neptune) before turning around.  When we got back to Starkey Blvd I told Joe to go ahead so he could pick it up.  I stayed on a slower pace, then got a little faster with three miles left and finally down to 7:17 for the last mile.

The weather was very nice, on the verge of being cool but not quite there yet.  I was wearing a hat and it kept on feeling loose, so I tightened it then the tightening strap thing broke.  It was a good hat, from Croom Zoom race in 2012, my first ultramarathon, a 50K trail run.

Had coffee with friends and sat for a bit after the run.

13.03 mi, 1:58:24, 9:05 avg

5:45 start from Longleaf with Joe, Cynthia, and Renee.  Joe and Renee were bonuses since Joe ran yesterday but decided to run again and Renee was planning on running yesterday but missed it.  We talked about 10-13 mile range.  Ran to Starkey Park and a couple miles into it before turning around.  I was dragging again at the start and whenever everyone else went faster I felt like I couldn't do it but soon after it would feel easier.  Last mile at 7:31.

Still not the fastest run but a big difference from yesterday.

7.75 mi, 1:02:44, 8:05 avg

Ran with the Striders at the Y.  A few degrees warmer this morning so I decided I'd postpone any type of interval work.  I did pick it up after three miles to end up with a pretty good average pace and lots and lots of sweat.

3.6 mi, 33:50, 9:24 avg

I had trouble getting up early, then it started getting dark and then the rain started, coming down in buckets.  I contemplated "doing the run later" which sometimes translates into not doing the run at all.  I decided that wasn't going to happen.  I did a thorough warm up inside the house doing sets of jumping jacks, pull-ups, push-ups and running up and down the stairs.

Rain slowed down just a little so I darted outside. Street and sidewalks were shallow rivers but it was fun puddle jumping.  I wore a hat and older shoes which are going to be wet now for a couple of days.  Somehow wearing a hat seems to make it all ok no matter how badly the rain is pouring down.

So, maybe more later but I least I got this run in.

Oh, and my procrastination paid off.  Jenny called me and said Thomas had called her asking for a dry shirt but she was already at work, so I was able to drop off some dry stuff for him on my way into work.

(old glycerins which I had reitred from the shoe manager having achieved a respectable well over 500 miles on them)

7.62 mi, 1:04:23, 8:27 avg

Ran in the neighborhood, slightly late start but weather is cooling now at least.  Legs very heavy feeling until I stopped briefly for a drink of water then seemed to be ok for the rest of the run.  Determined to do at least 5, glad to get in over 7 and happy I wasnt sloshing through deep puddles today (although it was kinda fun doing that yesterday).

8.47 mi, 1:14:15, 8:46 avg

Actually got out of bed when planned (partially due to knowing I had to pick up Andy by about 8:10).  I felt pretty good at the start of the run although the first two miles were kind of slow (9:50 and 9:20).  Third mile was almost not slow, then the remainder of the miles felt easier and were a bit faster.

The 8 miles seemed to go by quicker than some 5 or 6 mile runs.  Cooler heading into fall and staying darker longer.  Good run overall.

12.18 mi, 1:55:44, 9:30 avg

Starkey park on and off road adventure.  Decided to do some trail miles.  I made it about 1.5 miles in before getting to a very large and deeper than usual puddle blocking the trail.  I had newish non-trail shoes on and didn't want to ruin them, so I decided to turn back and cut over to the bike trail.  Before I made it this far I ran into a large spider web which I had mistaken for a cloud of gnats.  Stopped for a bit to de-web me and make sure the spider wasn't on me.

I next failed on a few attempts to short cut to the bike trail - I kept on running into dead ends or water blocked sections (I later saw on the map I came really close to making it).

Finally back tracked almost to parking lot, and then got onto the bike trail where I did about 8 more miles of uneventful running. (although a bit slower than I wanted).

4.41 mi, 39:22, 8:55 avg

Shortish easy run in the neighborhood before getting the kids going.  Did a couple of strides at the end to try and ease back into some faster stuff here and there.

7.68 mi, 59:29, 7:45 avg

Nice and cool(er) this morning, low 70's.  Ran at the Y and felt a little bit faster from the start.  Incorporated 3 intervals around .5 to .6 each.  I think this is first run under 8:00 avg in a while.

5.22 mi, 45:21, 8:41 avg

Neighborhood run.  Getting up just a little bit earlier so was able to get over 5 miles.  Cooler temperatures again this morning, nice.

8.28 mi, 1:04:42, 7:48 avg

5:30 run at Longleaf with the Striders.  Easy paced warm up until the water stop (3.1 miles), then did 4 mile tempo run with splits: 6:56, 6:57, 6:57, 6:48

Goal was to get under 7:00 for the tempo miles, which I did but it was very hard, but I did do it.  Probably would not have if I didn't set a goal this time.  Good to know I can still go faster when I want to but also shows I'm a bit off from where I was.  Time to fix that.

Weatherwise, it was wonderful.  Talked to several friends after the run.  I think I could try to hang on with them next time and it should hopefully be easier.

6.05 mi, 52:48, 8:43 avg

Nbhd run, great weather again today.  Woke up the boys before I ran so I didn't have to rush back quite as quick so I started just a little bit later.  Still battling sluggish starts, but I do get warmed up eventually so guess I shouldn't try and battle it.

18.53 mi, 2:41:50, 8:43 avg

Started out at Longleaf a bit after 6:00.  Was supposed to meet Joe at 6:00 but he was running late.  I did however see Jamie and the group she was running with, so ran with them for a bit (to Diane's and then back to Starkey Blvd).

Ran to the park, visited briefly with the group hanging out at the shelter and then back to Longleaf.

After the first 7 miles I  was at a 9:10 average.  The rest of the miles were faster and ended up with 8:43 average with 2 of the last miles in the 7:30's.

Weather was good, but a little warmer than yesterday but overcast kept the sun off of me.

8.14 mi, 1:10:38, 8:40 avg

Run in nbhd and golf course.  3/4 of the way through the run I rolled my ankle pretty badly, stopped and yelled for a second, walked a bit then started running back slowly again.  Maybe it will hurt later but at least it didn't feel bad at the time - then I would have really been in trouble.  Hopefully just a close call.

Other than the scare it was a prett decent Monday morning run.

8.13 mi, 1:08:05, 8:22 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders.  Did sorta random intervals, most of the 1/4 mile at various paces between 5:54 and 6:54.  Humidity was way up this morning, on the verge of rain and there were several huge puddles which in a couple of places compeltely blocked the road and in some other places forced us onto the sidewalks.