The Long Run

5.73 mi, 56:11, 9:48 avg

First run of the new year!  Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Was feeling a bit behind but didn't do too badly considering the missed days running and the jet lag.  It was cold enough that just a few degrees colder and I might have worn long pants for the run.  But, with high 30's I was fine in shorts, long sleeve shirt and hat.

3.23 mi, 29:44, 9:12 avg

Just a short, solo run.  Legs felt pretty bad, nothing seriously wrong, just dead.  Thought that taking the weekend off would help, but it did not.  I started to cap off the run with some strides, but bagged it after the first one.  I'll try again later in the week.

5.1 mi, 46:15, 9:04 avg

Ran a little bit farther than yesterday and felt much better also.  Did one loop in the neighborhood and then out and back to Little Road via Fox Hollow, nice 63 degrees morning.

Pull-ups: 9-9-13, push-ups: 2x25

3.4 mi, 30:49, 9:03 avg

Did two neighborhood loops, the first loop always seems really far even though it is only 1.7 miles, the second loop feels much shorter.  This was one of my basic runs in 2006 when training for Disney Marathon and Hal Higdon's beginning marathon plan had a lot of 3 mile runs in the early stages.  

I borrowed my sons Newton running shoes which he hasn't worn for a while.  Seemed to give my legs a little new life as my short easy run seemed like less effort than a short supposedly easy run that feels slow and clunky.  Unfortunately, my knee was hurting later in the day, not horribly but enough to be a warning.

2.3 mi, 20:20, 8:51 avg

I kept this run short and fun.  Knee was feeling funny still from yesterday, but fortunately it does not hurt to run on it (just walking).  I ran out to the gate and back to get in one mile, then I did random short distances up and down the street while waiting for Jessica to get ready so I could say bye to her.  On my last return trip I picked up the pace and and did the last 0.3 miles at 6:37 pace.

3.4 mi, 33:10, 9:45

Daisy's birthday run.  I haven't run at 5:30 on Friday morning for a long time.  It wasn't so bad.  She was just doing 3.4 miles for her 34th birthday.  Also there were Evan and Yvonne.  Run felt nice.  We had two headlamps for the group so that was ok, too.

As we finished up, I saw Thomas starting his run and said hi.

Drove back home and got another hour of sleep.

Pull-ups: 9-9-12, push-ups: 2x25, and some dumbbell curls

11.65 mi, 1:45:10, 9:02 avg

Ran from my house with intention of doing 10 miles.  Ran to SR54 and up Starkey Blvd.  It was low 50's and a little bit breezy.  First mile was typically slow (at about 11:00 pace) with the feeling that I'd never get faster again. But then was in the 9:00's and eventually below 9:00.  Ran to Diane's house where she still had some water set out, chatted with her for a bit before heading back.  I felt better as the miles went on but only aerobically - feeling a bit stiff, like it was holding me back from going faster so I just went with it.

Not the fastest run but not the slowest, but definitely the longest run on 2018 so far!

6.05 mi, 1:00:21, 9:59 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood starting at 6:30.  No Joe this morning.  Mid 40's for the temp, a little bit chilly.  Day off so got back in bed for another 45 minutes.

Jessica's kids were over, so I did my pull-ups with Jacob and did his routine: 5 palms forward, 5 palms back, 5 swtich grip, then 5 more with switch grip reversed.

2.67 mi, 23:57, 8:58 avg

Very short run consisting of 1 mile (out and back to the gate), then running up and down the street at various distances with slow on the way out and picking it up on the way back.  Just switching things up a bit.

6.01 mi, 58:28, 9:43 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood for 5.4 miles as well as Joe for the first 1.5 miles.  Got back home and ran Stella for another 0.6 miles.

3x25 push-ups and 3x10 pull-ups

4.41 mi, 41:05, 9:19

Well, it finally happened, below freezing weather.  Car thermometer said 28 degrees.  I put off starting while it was still dark out so I wasn't running in the cold and dark.  Put on two shirts (tight short sleeve and MCM long sleeve shirt), hat, gloves, and shorts.  Wasn't too bad except for the fingers on my left hand.  It was clear and sunny so that was nice.   Ran from my house to the last neighborhood in Fox Hollow area before getting to Little Road.  Not a bad run at all.

5.43 mi, 51:49, 9:32 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood on the usual t-shaped route.  It was still cold this morning but was a few degrees above freezing rather than a few degrees below like yesterday.  My legs have finally been feeling better.  Maybe it has been just the right amount of cut back while not skipping runs and adding some more strength/mobility and a little bit better warm ups.   Whatever the reason, it's nice to have a run where nothing is bothering me (knee tweak from last Wednesday is getting close to being finished).

Pull-ups: Jacob's routine 5 front facing, 5 rear, 5 switch grip, 5 switch grip other way

Push-ups: 35 "perfect push-ups" 

13.07 mi, 2:05:24, 9:36 avg

I started out a few minutes late.  Last night, a crown on my tooth fell off. I tried to glue it back on but as I was leaving and trying to eat a banana, it fell off again.  So, I had to to put it back in.  I texted Joe and Jamie even though I knew they probably did not have their phones on them.  So, I headed out anyways expecting to run along but pretty soon I saw them heading toward me, they were wondering what was taking me so long.

We ran together to SR54 and then up Starkey Blvd.  Stopped to say hi to Andrea and her bf George and also Marie who were stopped at the bridge.  Joe turned back and Jamie and I continued onto Diane's house.  Said hi for a bit, topped off drinks and then continued down to the end of Alico Pass before turning around and heading home.  I was hoping to run just a little bit farther than last Saturday.  It was a little bit slower pace than last week but felt good to get in 13 miles.

5.57 mi, 55:05, 9:53 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Back to short sleeve weather (almost tank top).  Joe turned back early.  He's on taper for Celebration marathon coming up this week.

Post run, pull-ups 3x10, push-ups 3x25

7.42 mi, 1:04:06, 8:38 avg

It was a good run today, felt like I'm on my way back.  Went to Longleaf for Tuesday Striders run, although got there about 5:35 and missed seeing the group start.  Looked desserted at first because it was raining, but it was a very light rain, mid 60's, so not too cold to run in the rain.  First mile was typically slow and was able to pick it up a little more each mile until finally at 8:02, then 7:36 for last full mile, and 7:17 for last 0.42

I didn't feel sluggish or have dead legs, moved pretty good without struggling.  Felt like running should feel.

6.23 mi, 59:43, 9:35 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood for 5.4 miles (usual route).  I walked Stella, then went out again for about another 0.8 miles just because.

Did the Jacob pull-up routine but tried 6 instead of 5,  so 6 palms forward, 6 palms back, 6 switch grip, 6 switch grip the reverse way.  The last rep of the last set was kind of questionable but it was pretty close.  Then did 40 "perfect push-ups"

2.88 mi, 25:40, 8:55 avg

Trying to keep it fun and not tedious.  Short run consisting of 1 mile run, out and back to the gate, and then various length fartlek type runs up and down the street in front of my house.  I was sub-6:00 for 4 out of 7, the other three were not too bad, just not sub-6:00.  This was better than last time I tried these.  Felt pretty good overall.   A little guilty though because of less volume.

5.57 mi, 52:19, 9:23 avg

Warmed up a bit, running up and down the street, then after saying goodbye to Jessica, ran out towards Fox Hollow and then down Trinity Blvd to just past the entrance of the water blending facility, running along the grassy shoulder.  Weather was nice, in low 50's.  Running off the pavement felt great.  Baby steps back towards running some trail races.

Post run - 25 push-up, 10 pull-ups, repeated 3 times (last pull-up set was actually 12 instead of 10)

14.13 mi, 2:23:49, 10:11 avg

Met Jamie and her neighbor by the gate at 6:30 (left the house about 6:23).  I had to be back by 9:00, and I wsa planning on 15 miles.  Sometimes the stops really add up, so to make sure I wasn't late I kept my watch running.  Only made a few quick stops and seeing my average pace slip away was good incentive to get going again.

We ran out to Diane's house then back to Starky Blvd where Jamie and I turned north and her neighbor headed back (was only planning on 10 but would get 11 or 12).

My legs were not quite cooperating like they were last Saturday.  It was kind of a struggle to keep going but I needed to get home (boys were at the house this weekend).

Weather was just about perfect, good run overall.

For dinner made sauteed cube steak with feta, olives, spinach and prosciuto, side of rice and for dessert cheery pie.  Had both sets of kids for dinner at the house for first time.  It ended up being pretty quick but was a good start.

6.03 mi, 1:00:48, 10:05 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood.  Left my house before 6:45 so I could drop off Jamie's garmin charger before the run - so I ended up getting in a little longer run.  Joe did not join us due to running the Celebration marathon yesterday where he won his age group.

Jessica and her kids stayed at my house so I made sure to stay on schedule and get back home before 7:45 and drove the older kids to school before heading to work.

4.52 mi, 40:00, 8:51 avg

I went to the Y so I could use the leg extension machine and ride on the stationary bike for a bit.  This is my old knee remedy.  Do this 2 or 3 times a week.  Also will be good if I do some more downhill running.

After the bike and leg extensions I had a nice 40 minute run on the treadmill. 

Sadly, they have gotten rid of all of the yellow treadmills which were capable of a 2% downhill grade which I had used for training for the Super Tunnel Marathon in Washington.

5.44 mi, 52:41, 9:41 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood on usual t-shaped route.  Was nice and cool out.

On the drive to my house I was able to see the Super blue blood lunar eclipse.  It was pretty amazing to see.  I had actually forgotten about the eclipse at first.  It looked like a piece was missing from the moon but it was supposed to be full so I was confused until I remembered later about the eclipse.

Post run, push-ups: 25-25-30, pull-ups: 10-10-14

7.27 mi, 59:58, 8:15 avg

I went right from Jessica's house to Longleaf so I could run on the Starkey Blvd bike path.  I was going to bring a gel for the halfway point but I forgot.  Nice morning so I didn't really need water or anything.  Was good to run non-stop.  First mile was 10:14, last mile was 7:09, with last 4 miles at 7:39 average.

Felt really good overall, no knee problems today.

While I was running Jenny had called to say she had a flat tire and to see if I could drive Tom to school.  I was only about 3 minutes away, so stopped by her house to pick him up, then dropped him off at school.  She was also able to use the combo jump starter/tire inflator I had bought Andy for Christmas to inflate the spare which was also flat.

5.62 mi, 55:43, 9:55 avg

Easy run in the neighborhood with Jamie.  Slower pace throughout with a small pick up for the last 0.62 miles (8:21 pace).

Post run: push-ups 25,35; pull-ups - did Jacob's routine with 6 each which I completed without a questionable rep at the end.  After a short rest tried a max set but only got 11 this time.

Race stats: 13.09 mi, 1:42:56, 7:52 avg

(warm-up: 0.79 mi, 8:05, 10:11 avg)

Ran the half-marathon in Safety Harbor.  No expectations other than to try and push myself a reasonable amount.  Hoping for 1:40-1:45.  Felt pretty good going out, much better than at the start at NYC marathon.  First mile was 7:57, then had 5 good miles averaging in the low 7:30's.  For mile 7 slowed down a little then even more when I stopped to take a gel, next two miles I missed being under 8:00 and then found one more mile sub 8:00 at 7:44.  On track for another sub-8:00 but slowed down too much on a hill.  After mile 10 I mentally felt done as in "10 good miles is good enough", this made it really tough to even stay faster then 9:00 pace. 

Fortunately, Strider friend Rudy came up behind me, gave some encouragement and said something about locking onto a pace.  He pulled ahead of me but I was able to just concentrate on him and soon forgot about my slow pace and caught up.  We ran together for a bit.  He said his brain was getting fuzzy.  I pulled ahead a little bit hoping he'd hang on with me.  My last mile was finally back under 8:00 (7:53), which was slower than last years last mile but was more of a pick back up than last year.

My new garmin told me I had two PRs today, fastest half and fastest 10k (new garmin knows how to make me feel good).  I haven't run this pace for 13 miles since quite some time ago (maybe last spring?).  I've got some work cut out for me and had some good mental practice at staying in the game.

Lots of fun hanging out afterward with big group from the Striders.

2.21 mi, 21:08, 9:33 avg

Just a very short run.  Out and back to the gate and then up and down my street doing random distances, picking it up on the return trip.  Legs a little sore from Saturday's race so keeping it light.

I have a stressful week ahead. I have to travel this evening to conduct training at a customer site tomorrow.  I perform this training one or two times a year, so not often enough to be good at it, but I get through it somehow each time.

2.5 mi, 23:12, 9:17 avg

Ran on the hotel treadmill in Warner-Robbins, GA.  Just enough running to avoid getting a 0 today.  Spent a few minutes on the stationary bike to warm up.

Training turned out ok, then I got on the road about 5:15 and headed back home arriving just before 11:00.

One more stressful thing this week - dentist appointment to deal with two loose crowns and a chipped tooth in addition to the usual cleaning.

5.42 mi, 51:44, 9:32 avg

Easy run with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Good to run with company, felt a lot easier than the past couple of days.

4.61 mi, 44:56, 9:45 avg

Evening run in my neighborhood.  Due to wanting to stay in bed a little longer and worrying about my dental appointment I postponed my run until the evening.  I don't do this very often and always feel a big risk of not doing it.

Fortunately, I did not blow it off.  Felt very slow and tight at the start (I'm usually able to get going easier when I run in the evening but not this time).  I basically did one big loop around my neighborhood with some added side streets.  When I got back to my house, ran to the end of Eveningwood, turned around overshooting my house again and ran out to the gate and then back home.  It felt really long for some reason.  Not that far but farther than 0.0

Dental appointment ok,  two crowns recemented back and made an appointment to add a third crown where my tooth chipped while on vacation.

6.21 mi, 57:06, 9:12 avg

Perfect feeling 66 degrees morning.  Slow first mile and felt like it would take me forever to get going.  I ran out of the neighborhood, right onto Duck Slough, and then left on Trinity Blvd and over to the new park with the path around the lake.  Then did 3 laps around the lake and wanted to run each one a little faster without looking at my pace or going all out.  9:31 pace first lap, then 8:52 pace second lap, and finally 8:05 pace for the last lap.  Each lap about 0.7 miles.  I felt pretty good on the last lap.  Felt not so good on the first lap and thought I would start slowing down.  Saw several ducks and other assorted birds.  Ran back home via Corporate and 54 rather than staying on Trinity Blvd.

 3:25:27,20.0 mi,  10:17 avg

(garmin stats - 3:21:27, 19.52 mi, 10:19 avg)

Note: several times on the run I paused my garmin and forgot to restart it, Jamie kept hers going ok and then I ran a little extra at the end to make up for it, might have actually been like 20.2 or 20.3

Decided to go with Jamie on her last 20 mile run training before her upcoming New Orleans marathon.  I'm going to do the Long Play 33 1/3 mile race the same day but closer to home.  Looking back at my training, it's been forever since I've done a 20 mile training run.  I think I have to go back to 2016.  I had one run this past summer where I tried to do 20 but ended up walking a lot and settled for 19 miles.  Today's run felt like it was going to end up that way.

Met Jamie about 6:30ish near the back gate, we ran out to 54 and then up Starkey Blvd and into Diane's neighborhood stopping at her Saturday "lemonade stand".  Weather felt cool at first but the humidity was soon noticeable.  Not too many runners out but said hi to a few here and there - Beka and Diane, Lee and Jackie, and then Bob, Claudia, and Melanie.

We continued on into the park and ran to the shelter so I could use the bathroom and maybe grab some water.  Smaller group today but Tom had a case of water which he brought out to share.

Headed back out onto the trail maybe for another mile and a half before turning around, trying to do the math to make sure we were going out far enough.  After leaving the shelter the easy pace was feeling difficult to keep so I picked it back up a little bit.  It felt harder at first but my stride was soon "reset" back to something more normal and comfortable.

A few times I cautioned Jamie that I'd most likely have to slow down and didn't want to slow her down, but she was fine with whatever.   A little bit past 14 miles, I started doing some run/walk which felt a lot easier and really didn't affect the pace that much because when I was running I was actually running instead of shuffling.

We came back to the little Longleaf church where I stashed my partial gatorade under the picnic table.  Jamie went ahead to the Circle K to get some water while I got my gatorade.  Was not looking forward to starting up again.  But, this time, it was ok, it was easy to get back on pace and it didn't feel like the harder I tried the slower I went.  Made it to the Circle K in time as Jamie had left and headed toward me, then we headed back for the final two miles.

We split up at the gate and I turned left towards home but did a little detour to the end of Eveningwood to make up a little and then some.

So, after a few ups and downs and a couple of lowpoints and hip flexors that felt like they'd get worse and worse, things got better, legs felt a little better and the last two miles were much less of a struggle.  A lot of it must have been in my head.  Bonus points for no chaffing on a humid day and no real soreness.

Picked up the boys for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and then had Andy meet me at the oil change place to get my car and his truck oil changed.  Good to hang out for a little bit.

4.35 mi, 40:09, 9:14 avg

Shorter, but not as short easy run.  First part was out and back to the water fountain near the golf course.  Then, after Stella walk and saying goodbye to Jessica and her kids I added a short strides workout, 7x20 seconds with 40 seconds rest between.  I didn't get moving very fast but it was faster than the first part of the run.

Of note: no soreness at all from Saturday's 20 mile run!

Post run - push-ups: 25,30,35 - pull-ups: 10,12,14

So, the pull-ups really do seem to be getting better.

7.12 mi, 56:57, 8:00 avg

Ran on Starkey Blvd starting from the little Longleaf church.  No drinks or gels with me for the run but a few sips of gatorade before and after the run, cloudy and about 70 degrees.

First mile 10:15 as I warmed up and then transitioned to a faster 8:32 mile.  I also had music with me today, a new bluetooth headphone set with built in mp3 player so it works with or without a phone.  This one works pretty good but it only plays things alphabetically - no shuffle, no playlists, but for less than $50 not a bad device.

So, I think the music lets me run faster ( I wore this headset during the recent half marathon and I didn't slow down until headphones battery died).

Next 4 miles were 7:44, 7:36, 7:29, and 7:20

At the end of the 7:20 mile things were feeling harder than they should have so I decided I'd just push until the end of that mile. Kept my word and stopped for a break.  I gathered myself back together and decided to push it less and just stay under 8:00 (thinking 7:55-7:59).  But starting back up the pace didn't feel as hard and without trying I was in the low 7:00's and then with about 0.2 to go pushed the pace a little more to get down to 6:57.

I was a little disappointed that this tempo feeling run was not the tempo paces I considered to be tempo paces traditionally (anything below 7:00 pace for 4 to 8 miles).  But I was happy to find that after I thought I was done I found one more fast mile, faster than the miles I had just done.

5.49 mi, 52:28, 9:33 avg

Made pancakes for the Jessica's kids for Valentine's Day breakfast, along with some bacon and sliced strawberries.  They headed out just before 8:00, then I started my run at 8:15 heading over to meet Jamie.  Ran the usual route, nice coolish 66 degrees morning.

In the evening, went to the track meet and watched Thomas run the 3200m.  He PR'd with 11:16 (about 33 seconds faster than old PR).  He had a good strong start running side by side with the team's fastest senior for the first 4 laps, slowed down a little for the next 4 but did not fall apart.   Very impressive start to new season of track.

Later that evening did Jacob's pull-up routine with Jacob but added one more set, it was 5 close grip on the perpendicular bars, 5 front facing, 5 rear facing, 5 switch grip, and 5 switch grip the other way.

6.6 mi, 53:59, 8:11

Trying to get back up on the horse.  Need to get back into challenging myself mode.  On Tuesday, fastest mile was 6:57 which felt really hard.  For the "Say no to Drugs" 5k, overall pace was slower than 7:00.  I know I can do better but need to work on it.   I've mostly cleared up my dead legs, knee is back on track, and upper body and functional strength is improving.  So, today's challenge and goals was not to have a boring run or a slogging run.  Run 3x1 miles, all at least under 7:00.  No unrealistic goals but make it a challenge.

Ran from my house to Fox Hollow sidewalk, easy pace, a couple of short strides to get ready for the pace.

Mile 1 - 6:46

Mile 2 - 6:35

Mile 3 - 6:42

Mile 1 felt impossibly hard and difficult to keep it below 7:00 at all but pulled things together more in the last quarter mile.  Thought to myself no way can I do 2 more, but also that I say this all the time.  Mile 2 was surprisingly faster and made me happy I did not quit.  Ok, gut it out for just one more.  3rd mile was a roller coaster with a fast start, a slump in the middle and picking up a few seconds near the end to prevent it from being the slowest.

Nice and easy return trip back home.  One small challenge done, on to the next one!

5.42 mi, 55:59, 10:20 avg

Easy run with Jamie in the neighborhood, nice 63 degrees coolish.

11.77 mi, 1:48:30, 9:13 avg

Ran with Jamie and Cynthia and some on my own.  I missed getting up in time to meet them at Diane's house but met them in Starkey Park (Cynthia texted me wondering where I was, that was my second alarm).  So, we ran together from the shelter out a couple more miles then I turrned around with them and I ran almost to Diane's house before I turned around again and ran back to the shelter in Starkey Park.

I was feeling pretty good on this run.  We weren't going fast but sometimes that still feels hard if battling chronic dead legs which today I was not.  The easy pace felt easy.

When I turned back for the solo return I picked up the pace a little bit until finally doing 7:44 for the last mile.

A pretty good week running wise.

Next, I drove out to King High School in Tampa to watch Thomas compete.  He ran the 3200m and was able to beat his old PR from Wednesday by another 9 seconds.  He went out at 1:12 for the first lap which was 7 seconds faster than his first lap on Wednesday and was still able to pick up two additional seconds.  Last lap was 1:22 which was about 5 seconds faster than his last lap on Wednesday. New PR of 11:07!  So proud of him.

Next, I drove out with Jessica to Orlando to watch Sophia compete in gymnastics, glad I was there to cheer her on.

We wrapped up the day by stopping at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa on the way back - I did not gamble, just had dinner and listened to the band they had that night (Stereo FM).

Long but good day.

7.55 mi, 1:04:45, 8:34 avg

Ran from my house out to SR54 to Starkey Blvd.  Original plan would have been to run with Jamie at 6:30.  She had to cancel which was ok since had had forgotten that I had off work today, so slept in a little bit longer (plus it was still going to be cool enough so starting later was no big deal).  Ok warmup mile, then 9:16, then 8:24 and then pace went up and down from there but stayed under 9:00 and had some under 8:00 pace.

Met Jessica for lunch (she was working) at Grandma Sally's in New Port Richey, then went to the store to get stuff to fix a running toilet.  It ended up taking a couple different trips and a good part of the day to realize I had bought the correct $1.99 part  during the first trip.  Now, onto the next thing.

6.22 mi, 52:20, 8:25 avg

This was a second really good run in a row, or possibly third in a row counting Saturday's run.  I woke up early enough to get to Longleaf for the 5:30 start, ran out a little bit past the water stop before turning around.  For the last two miles and change I picked it up running 7:34, 7:10 and then 7:49 pace for final 0.22.

Stuck around for just a few minutes to say hi and then headed back home to help wake up Jessica's kids and get them moving then we had a little birthday breakfast for Aubrey's 9th birthday.

Walked Stella for a bit after they headed off to school and work.

5.71 mi, 55:46, 9:46 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Felt a little bit warmer today.  After having a few really good runs in a row, today's run was a little harder feeling and slower but no dead legs, so still pretty good.

Post workout random exercises: push-ups 2x30, pull-ups 10 and 16

In the evening watched Thomas run at the Mitchell HS hosted track meet.  Tonight he did the 1600 and 800.  He PRd in both, with 5:05 for the 1600 and 2:17 for the 800.  In both races he was in the second heat and won his heat both times.  His 1600 was also his most evenly paced one that I can remember with splits of 1:14, 1:17, 1:18, and 1:14

6.02 mi, 51:54, 8:38 avg

The workout of the day was supposed to be my old favorite 5x1k repeats, but it turned out to be a partial failure but did get some miles in and some speed, just not what I planned.

After warming up and doing a couple short strides I switched my watch to 1km laps but was having troubles and could only figure out how to do 0.65 miles instead of 0.62.  I could have sworn I've done that before with this newer watch.  So, I figured what could an extra 0.03 hurt?   First one was ok at 6:23 pace - actually pretty good since goal was 6:26 or better and this was the first one.  Next repeat was 6:18 pace, not bad at all, even better.  But, on the third one I was struggling mentally and was discouraged and looked at my watch and could not get under 6:30.  I weighed just finishing at whatever pace (probably a better choice because I usually make some time back).  Instead, I bailed at 0.28 into the 0.65 lap, pace was 6:33 which was actually not that far off from 6:26 goal.

I was also running out of time, so headed back towards home so I wouldn't be late for my appointment later that morning.

Once back at my house decided for some redemption and did 6x20-30 second strides.  I did get under 6:00 pace on all of them so that felt a little bit better.  I'll go for a 5x1km redo soon and won't give up on the third one no matter what.

5.43 mi, 54:12, 9:59 avg

Typical Friday morning neighborhood run with Jamie but no Joe was the start of the day.  Pretty good run, no soreness or major sluggishness.  Pace was slow due to being conversational.  It was a good cut back from yesterday's harder running.

After the run, did just one set of push-ups, then a lot of little sets of pull-ups, 4 reps by 10 sets (40 total).  Some of the sets I switched my palms but most of them were palms forward.

In the afternoon at work I wanted to see how fast I could walk a mile which I did in 14:06.  I might practice this some more as it could come in handy during an ultra to have better and more efficient walking form so the walk breaks don't cut into the average pace as much.

15.02 mi, 2:13:59, 8:55 avg

Left from my house about 6:10, ran the long way to the back gate, past it, and then back to get in an initial 1.7 miles before meeting up with Joe and Jamie.  We then headed out to 54 and up Starkey Blvd towards Alico Pass.  We ran into Craig returning from his run and ran back to his house and then stopped there to refill water bottles.  I was feeling pretty good and decided I didn't want this to be a sluggish pace run.  Jamie was one week from her marathon and needed something a little faster  pace.  My warm up miles (first 1.7) were a little bit slow but made sure not to let it dip too low when running with Joe and Jamie.

On the return trip I had us line up for "Indian runs" just to break up the monotony, did 3 of them.  Joe and Jamie grumbled a bit but they are always good about playing along.  (Note: I've been researching to see if there is a better name for Indian run but I haven't found anything as universally known to describe this).

After dropping off Joe and Jamie I ran back to my house, then did out and back to the gate and out and back to the end of Eveningwood to hit 15 miles, last two miles at 7:45 average pace.

Then, after the run drove up to Hudson to pick up Aubrey's unicorn shirt for her party later.  I drove by Serenova Tract entrance and saw a bunch of protesters along the road with signs to "Save Serenova".  Apparently there is a road extension which has been approved and funded by the state/county that will run right through the preserve.  Some of it will be elevated to lessen impact.  Serenova is the large tract of preserve land that joins next to Starkey Park.  It's where I've done some long runs when I'm going "extra long" like 30 or 35 miles.

Next, on to Berkely Prep High School for the track meet.  Andy was also there to watch (and drive Tom there and back).  Hung out and watched some of the events until Tom was up.   Even though he had just PR'd on Wednesday in the 1600 and 800 I was hoping he could do it again.  That sub-5:00 barrier was just waiting to be broken.  For today's meet he made it into the "seeded" group so he would definitely be running with some faster runners.  There were some pretty fast runners in the non-seeded heats but definitely more in the seeded ones.  He ran pretty even with usual pattern of faster first lap, 2 and 3 a little slower, then a faster 4th lap, similar to Wednesday, but today they were all a little faster, bringing him from 5:05 on Wednesday to a new PR today of 4:58.  Splits were: 1:12, 1:15, 1:16, 1:14   Very exciting to watch!  Proud of Tom and his hard work.  

There was a long time before the 800 races.  He also PR'd in that race, down to 2:16

It was great hanging out with Andy and also saw several other friends from Striders and other parents of track runners.

Ended up being an hour late for Aubrey's party but she wore the shirt for pictures.  It was at a place where they showed you how to paint something, she had picked out unicorns.

1.71 mi, 16:37, 9:41 avg

I did not get to run until 10:00pm.  Jessica and the kids were at the house and it was Jacob's birthday so I was going to run after breakfast and after they were off to school but I ended up driving Jacob.  After work went out to Japanese steak restaurant then went back home.  First, walked Stella around the neighborhood loop for 1.7 miles, then ran the same route.

4.25 mi, 38:00, 8:56 avg

Short out and back run on Starkey Blvd starting from Longleaf.  I picked it up the last mile for 7:17 pace.  Shorter run but pretty good overall.

I am filling this in almost two weeks late so don't remember much about it.

5.71 mi, 56:32, 9:54 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, 6:45ish start time.  I was dreading the dental appointment later in the morning for a crown and one filling which turned out to not be too bad.  The run took my mind off of things.

2.74 mi

Short mileage actually done in two parts.  Part one was done at Jessica's house, waiting for her to get back while she dropped off Jacob early.  Then I headed home and took Stella for a quick run just over 1 mile.

Later in the day I also did a fast 1 mile walk in 14:14 which I don't have counted in today's mileage.  

6.46 mi, 55:41, 8:37 avg

Ran from my house out to the new park and then did 3 laps around the lake.  I stopped after the first lap and took a honey stinger gel, then did two more laps without stopping between them and running each one faster than the one before without looking at my pace while I was running.  Pretty nice coolish morning.  This week had some shorter and more sporadic runs (i.e. less consistent) but I think that's ok to help stay out of a rut.

Post run: push-ups 3x25, pull-ups 3x8

In the afternoon saw Tom run at track meet which was mainly relay events including relay medelys (there was also an open 1600m but it was mainly relays).  Tom ran in the 4x1600 relay, going first with a time of 5:02 (1:13, 1:16, 1:16, 1:15) he ended up being the fastest on his team.   Next he did the distance medley relay, first runner, doing the 1200m (automatic PR!) - 3:40 (1:07, 1:17, 1:15) for that one.  Always great to see him do so well.

3.16 mi, 26:46, 8:28 avg

Shorter run, shakeout for tomorrow's 33 1/3 mile race.  After the run, drove out to Orlando to watch Aubrey in her first cheer competition, then visited Jessica's high school friend that lives nearby.  Watched a frisbee dog show then I got on the road, back home by 10:15, ate some dinner, went to sleep and would wake up at 4:15 am.

32.94 mi, 6:21:40, 11:35 avg

Chilly 36 degrees at the start.

With not very many long runs or many trail runs and only about 4 hours of sleep the night before, I embarked on my first ultra since this race last year (where I was feeling much more confident despite not having done many long runs before that, but was running faster and had done a few good half marathons).

First couple of miles were slow 11:30 and 11:09, then slightly faster, followed by mile 4 in 14:17 because I walked part of it while talking on the phone to Cynthia (she was going to try and meet me about mile 16 but the course had been changed this year and it was iffy if we could figure out a good spot to meet so she called it off, rightly so and went back to sleep instead of driving out).  I think there was an aid station in this mile (I stopped and asked for some TP "just in case" as I was feeling like I might not make it to Tucker Hill where there would be restrooms.

But, I did make it ok, with next few miles being uneventful.  After the bathroom break, slowly descended down the back side of Tucker Hill and at some point tripped and fell, nothing broken or even bruised (almost jabbed myself with the key fob in my pocket but didn't) - still, a humbling experience.   As I collected myself, a few more people passed me and I was pretty far back in the pack at this point.

Got going again and had some better miles, some even in the 9:00's.

Dropped off my long sleeve shirt and hat at the mile 16ish aid station as I was no longer cold.

Overall, miles 16-23 were pretty pleasant, more 9:00's and 10:00's, however mile 23 was 11:51, and then things started getting slower.

When splitting off from the usual Croom "C" loop trail to head to Silver Lake we don't take the trail with the sign that says Silver Lake, but instead we are sent on a trail running along the river.  But this year, we were routed on the trail to Silver Lake which is part of the "Florida Trail" - a hiking trail that I think covers the entire state.  On the way back, in the middle of the Florida Trail was a cactus that I almost tripped over.  I was not expecting to see one but there are some native Cacti species in Florida (varieties of prickly pear).  And in my slightly delirious mind all I could think of was telling people that I had almost tripped over a "Cacti" despite the fact that it should be cactus since there was only one, but I just really wanted to say "I almost tripped over a cacti".

The next aid station was at mile 23.  There is usually one at mile 26, where I would take my "Second Surge" gel and then feel pretty good for the last 7 miles.  But, I didn't get to the feel good for the last 7 miles feeling that I love about this race.

Miles 23-26 were a little rough.  At mile 27 I felt like walking and was already over 5 hours into the race (about 5:13 when I glance at my watch), but I thought that if I walked the whole remainder it would take me two more hours and no way was I going to make this a 7+ hour race, so decided to just do the best I could.  Things did get a little bit better and I finished the last mile with a 9:13 pace.

I was 59 minutes off of my PR for this race, but it was quite a leap up from the one 20 mile run I had done and gave me enough confidence to sign up for the Croom Fools run (50 miles) on 3/31

1.51 mi, 15:46, 10:25 avg

Still feeling a bit slow and not fully recovered from Sunday's race.  Thought I'd try just a little running to get things moving again.  Just up and down the street in front of my house, some of it with Stella.

1.15 mi, 12:04 , 10:30 avg

Better than nothing run at the treadmill in hotel in Marietta GA while here for work.  Felt a little better running than I did on Tuesday.  I didn't run yesterday due to the early flight and it was probably a good idea since I was still walking funny enough for people to notice.

8.11 mi, 1:14:56, 9:15 avg

First full run since Sunday's race, between purposeful time off and travel and life, felt good to get some miles in.  Ran with Joe, Jamie, and Renee.  Ran up to Diane's house.  Saw Melanie and Craig as well as Diane. Left together from her house and then Jamie and I turned left back at Starkey Blvd while the others headed into the park.  It was a nice chilly in low 50's.  Glad to get the run done early and now off to go see Tom run in the meet at Clearwater H.S.

Watched the track meet, Tom ran 11:09 in the 3200m and then 5:02 in the 1600m.  These were solid runs, but I know he was hoping for some new PRs but was off a couple of seconds in 3200 and 4 seconds in the 1600.  The improvement graph has dips even on the way up.  It's fun to see him get PRs but even more inspiring to see him go out and try again after not getting the time he had trained for.  Just keep going.

2.22 mi, 20:32, 9:15 avg

When I first thought about running it was still raining out, cleared up eventually so headed outside.  Ran to the gate and back and did a few random intervals up and down the street with the last one 0.25 miles, running at a 6:43 pace.

After the run, push-ups: 25, 25, 30 and pull-ups: 10, 10, 15

6.11 mi, 53:15, 8:43 avg

Ran at Longleaf from the church, out and back on Starkey Blvd bike path.  It was chilly, high 40's.  No drinks needed.  First mile about 10:30, felt like I'd never run faster again.  Last mile 6:50, felt great to get moving again.  However, that 6:50 felt like what a 6:10 should have felt like.  I'll have to try and run one to find out.

10.29 mi, 1:28:15, 8:34 avg

I set out from my house thinking that this would be a long and very slow run, which was true for the first mile and part of the way into the second mile.  I carried a 10 oz bottle with me and one gel which I took at the little church and dropped off my bottle.  I was listening to music but it was turned down pretty low and in the background, it was some sort of meditation music which I guess helped.  Pace picked up and stayed pretty steady with the last 3 miles averaging a 7:40 pace.

This run felt what I think running should feel like (at least as far as training runs go).

8.18 mi, 1:10:44, 8:39 avg

Earlier in the week my plan was to get two days in a row of 10 plus miles, but I was running too late on time and decided to cut back the mileage.  I still wanted to make it challenging so I settled on 8 miles by running to the end of Trinity Blvd which always seems much longer than it is and includes a little over 4 miles run on the grassy shoulder so it's a little bit trail like.  I wasn't aiming to run fast and would have been happy somewhere in the 9:15-9:30 range.  But, my first mile wasn't as slow as they are are sometimes and some of the grassy miles were faster than expected, so instead of 9:15-9:30 avg it was 8:39 - only slighter slower than yesterday's average.  So, despite not doing 10 miles I felt good about the long stretch of the same road.

In the evening, went to see Thomas run at the track meet, hosted at Mitchell HS.  My parents also came as well as Jenny and Andy.  He ran the the 1600m and 3200m.  Previously, for his old 3200m it was his only event for that meet but tonight he would be doing both.  He had not broken 5:00 since his first time but was coming in close.  But, tonight he nailed it with a time about the same as his PR but 0.08 seconds faster.  This time he had a really good 3rd lap compared to his other 1600s, still had a good 4th lap but not faster than the 3rd lap - he usually gets back at least a second or two faster in the 4th lap compared to the 3rd lap. 

Then, in the 3200m he ran 11:07 - nearly tied with his 3200m, but this time on 1600m race legs - also scored some points for the team with 6th overall.

I was glad my parents had a chance to see him race tonight. 

5.43 mi, 55:44, 10:15 avg

Easy paced run with Joe and Jamie.  Intentionally wanted to cut back on distance and speed compared to the last two days in order to get ready for longer run tomorrow.  Usual neighborhood and along Fox Hollow run.

23.01 mi, 3:39:33, 9:33 avg

I woke up at 2:00 dealing with repercussions from the chilli-mac I had for lunch and feared it was something even worse.  Dogs woke me up two hours later.  I got back to sleep for a little bit and then figured I'd still give the run a try, wanted to run 22 with some of it on trails.  I met up with Joe, Jamie, and Daisy at Longleaf.  We ran up Starkey Blvd to the entrance of Starkey Park where the others turned around and I continued on.

Stopped at the shelter where the Striders had set up and had two doughnut holes and half a cup of coffee, then headed onto the off road trails.  Ran near the horse corral and then out on the orange trail to where it branched slightly left and then out to the power line road.   Turned onto the bike path and ran about 1/4 mile to the water cooler to top off my bottle.  It was still kind of chilly out, glad I wore my hat but it was starting to feel comfortable.  Ran back to the power line road and turned north and headed up that was for a few miles until almost 12 miles total since I left (knowing I'd head back a slightly different way, I wanted to go past exactly 11 miles).  Part of the raod starts with baseball sized rocks, so I had to pretty much walk over that section but it was only a few hundred feet long.  

The rest of the road was nice, saw some dear crossing the path and a few Sandhill cranes flying overhead making their squawking noise (I tried to get some video of them but was too slow).

Took the detour back to the water cooler on the way back (soon had to take off my hat with the sun out), then continued south on the power line trail back to the orange trail.  Trail miles on the way back were about a minute/mile faster than on the way in.

Finally, back to Starkey Blvd and I thought it would feel like it would take forever but it wasn't so bad.  I picked up a little more speed and chugged along, finishing up the last mile at 8:15.

So, hopefully the Croom Fools Run will be not so bad now that I've gotten some distance and a little bit of off road, but will see what happens.

3.42 mi, 31:21, 9:11 avg

Easy running, warm-up near my house, then out and back to the gate, followed by strides workout 10x25 seconds with 50 second jogs in between.  First two, I could not get out of the 6:00's, but then was under 6:00 for 7 out of the 8 remaining ones.  These short workouts have been helping me to avoid  dead legs and I usually can comfortably run at a faster pace the next day, so I think it helps me stay out of a pace rut without being too harsh.

6.05 mi, 49:06, 8:07 avg

Ran up and down the Starkey Blvd bike path.  9:35 first mile - better than many of my slow first miles, felt pretty good.  5th mile was 6:33 - it felt extremely difficult, but it was the same difficulty as the 6:50 mile I did last week.  Maybe getting a little speed back.  Trying to get back to where I can string together 3.1 6:25 or faster miles to get back to sub 20:00 5k's

It's hard going back up but worth it to try.

10.64 mi, 1:29:12, 8:23 avg

So, today was a pretty good run, one of the better ones I've had in a while, maybe I'm making some forward progress.  Ran on Starkey Blvd bike trail after starting from my house and running on SR54 to Starkey Blvd and then back home the same way.  First mile was 10:22, last 4.6 miles ranged from 7:50 down to 7:22.

9.16 mi, 1:20:35, 8:48 avg

Sort of a repeat of last week, where after doing 10 miles (at a slighter faster average) on all pavement, I ran down Trinity Blvd again with a little bit over 4 miles on the grassy shoulder.  This time I also went a little bit further, turning left onto East Lake and running to near the entrance of Crescent Oaks.  It felt long again, but the pre-run dread of running the length of Trinity Blvd was gone this time, it was just something I was going to do.  Weather was good again, it's been pretty much perfect running weather lately.  I was chilly at the start but had to take off my hat after the turn around because I was getting hot.

After work saw Jacob run his his second middle school track meet (I missed his first one), he did well running the 800m in 2:36 (1 second slower than his PR), he led for the first lap but got passed by two kids coming into the last turn of the second lap, splits were 1:16.5 and 1:19.5 so not a huge slow down for the second lap.

5.6 mi, 55:06, 9:50 avg

Ran with just Jamie at 7:30 in the neighborhood (Joe said he was running at 6:30 doing intervals but he ended up starting at 8:30).

Pretty good run overall, taking it easy on the pace.

15.75 mi, 2:23:01, 9:05 avg

Ran on Suncoast trail, starting from the trailhead near SR50 with Joe and Jamie.  We dropped off a cooler about 2.5 miles from the start since there are no water stops on the trail.  Nice morning, with a chilly low 40's to start but warmed up a little when the sun came up.  Joe had 20 miles to do, I was good with 15-16 and Jamie was good with whatever.

We grabbed a drink at the 2.5 mile cooler we left and Joe grabbed his big gatorade that he carried most of the way out.   I was feeling sluggish for the first few miles but felt better as the miles went on.  

At the top of the 6 mile hill, I did one extra repeat while Jamie waited and Joe was also doing some extra. We continued on almost to 8 miles then turned back.  In the 9:00's on the way out and mid 8:00's on way back.

I really enjoy these hills and the variety from the usual flatness is a good change.

Unfortunately, someone stole our cooler.  It was not visible except to someone who actually stopped there.  Fortunately, since it was cool out, no one was dying of thirst and it was only 2.5 miles back, but still felt bad for Jamie that her cooler had been swiped.

Joe ran some more extra (in addition to his extra back and forth while we were running) to get to 20 miles.

3.15 mi, 27:41, 8:46

I ran with Jacob from my house, just past the "zero energy" house and then back.  This is my first time running Sunday in a while (not counting races).  I was feeling a little stiff from yesterday's run so I warned Jacob I might be really slow until getting warmed up, but I wasn't any slower than usual and we picked it up a little bit each mile.  First run with Jacob.

6.26 mi, 50:31, 8:04 avg

Started from the little church near Longleaf and did out and back on the Starkey Blvd bike trail.  Once again I ended with a fast mile, it felt like maximum effort (similar to last 2 weeks where I did 6:50 and 6:33) - today I did 6:42.  It probably wasn't quite maximum effort but it did feel pretty hard.

In the evening watched Thomas run the 3200m at track meet hosted by Anclote HS.  He acheived a new PR with official time of 11:01.37 (I timed 11:00.92 on my iPhone stopwatch, pretty close to official time and about what I'm usually off by).  Improved a little on all of his laps, with laps 5,6,and 7 a little slower than goal and coming back in lap 8.  He ran with Jarod who also ran a similar pattern of staying behind Tom for at least the first half or more, and then sometime in 7th or 8th lap pulling ahead.  This time Tom stayed with him most of the time and kept on closing the gap until Jarod finally pulled ahead in second half of the last lap and finished with 10:55.  Tom says he's going to work on doing more tempo runs for improvement in lactate threshold - seems like a good strategy.

Tom was one of the few (maybe only) runner from Mitchell boys team to PR today.

Quote from Jenny to Tom (originally Tim Notke) "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard"

Wanted to congratulate him after the race but left so I wouldn't be in his face.

8.74 mi, 1:09:02, 7:54 avg

Ran from my house to Starkey Blvd and ran to just past the bridge and then returned back.  First two-ish miles were at an easy pace and then I started picking it up in the third mile.  At the end of my run my garmin told me it was a new 10K PR for me (new garmin specific PR 45:23).  That was surprising but not too surprising because I have not done any longer tempo runs or 10k races.  I did run faster for the second half of a 12 mile run two weeks before NYC marathon where I averaged 7:09 pace - but that was with the Garmin 310.  Anyway, it was a nice reminder of where I need to get back to and that I'm slowly improving.  

3.2 mi, 26:00, 8:07 avg

After yesterday's slightly faster than average run, my left knee felt a bit off even just walking around (a bit worrisome only a couple days before wanting to run a 50 mile trail race).  So, I went to the Y for my favorite knee fixing exercises.  Did 10 minutes on the stationery bike followed by 3 sets of 10 reps of leg extensions.

Next, got onto the treadmill with an easy start and gradually increasing speeds (some of it at 6:50-7:10 range but only short amounts).

Fingers crossed that there isn't anything wrong with my left knee that the right workout can't help fix.

5.53 mi, 55:46, 10:05 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, 6:30ish start time.  Usual t-shaped route over near the golf course from one end of Robert Trent Jones Blvd to the other end.   Details include actually touching the Heritage Springs gate at one end and a brief stop at the far end at the corner of RTJ Blvd and Trinity Blvd.

1.11 mi, 12:37, 11:21 avg

Legs still stiff from Saturday's race (they were pretty good on Sunday but on Monday the delayed soreness set in).

First half of the run was a struggle but it was easy on the way back (basically ran out to the gate and back).

Overall, this short run seemed to do the trick restarting.

4.23 mi, 37:30, 8:51 avg

Ran on Starkey Blvd bike path starting from the little Longleaf church.  Although yesterday's run made me feel like I could run again, the first mile this morning felt otherwise but then I was ok.

I've been trying out one fast mile each week, thought about skipping it but wanted to get it down.  So, once the 4th mile started I picked it up to what felt like the 6:30's, glanced down at my watch and saw 6:35 (good!), about 30 seconds later I looked again and saw 6:52 (not so good), I then thought about scrapping it, then argued to just try even if my pace slipped and I could only run 7:20.  So, with that argument out of the way I settled back in and slowly saw the pace drop until I finally finished at 6:24.

I had been worried about getting back to sub-20:00 5k pace without even being able to run a mile at that pace, but now there's one less thing to worry about.  The challenge, the doubt, and overcoming the doubt was what I needed today.

5.18 mi, 44:35, 8:37 avg

Out and back from my house, past the golf course and then down Trinity Blvd just past what was supposed to be the water blending facility.  A little bit farther than yesterday's run, faster average pace, but not an all out last mile.  Pretty good run today.

5.54 mi, 56:23, 10:10 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, usual t-shaped route.  Slower pace, taking it easy and kept it conversational.  There was an armadillo that would not get out of the way at first, finally did but then ran parallel with us but through the bushes, making a lot of noise, but we finally outran him/her.

10.01 mi, 1:33:51, 9:23 avg

Ran with Joe, Jamie, Daisy, Cynthia and Leah at Longleaf, heading north up Starkey Blvd to the entrance of Starkey Park and then back to the start with a pit stop at Diane's house (saw Diane riding her bike with Craig and said hi).  Return trip was with Jamie and Cynthia.

After the run sat down and chatted with Keith at Havana Dreamers.  Hadn't seen him for a while, good to catch up.

In the afternoon, saw Thomas run in the Sunshine Athletic Conference West championship held at Cypress Creek High School.  Mitchell (both boys and girls teams) won their conference.  He ran 5:01.99 in the 1600m and 11:24.40 in the 3200m.  The splits for his 1600 were very even but the time and place was not what he had hoped for.   Scored 3 points for the team on the 1600 and 4 points on the 3200.

Next up is Districts, same location as conference this coming Friday.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

2.94 mi, 25:49, 8:48 avg

Short run day, a little bit of warm up, then out and back to the gate followed by 10x25 second strides with 50 second easy jog between.  I did not get below 6:00 on the first two but the remaining 8 were between 5:13 and 5:54.  One of them did have 4:54 for "best pace".  I don't think I have ever run a 400m at faster than 1:15 (only tried once a long time ago).  Might make me go faster if I try and break my record.   Running these strides usually makes my "easy run" pace a little bit faster the next day.

5.78 mi, 46:50, 8:06 avg

For today's run, I ran out to the new park, ran two laps around the lake there and then ran back home.  When I got to the lake I did not look at my pace while running, but decided to run the first lap at about the pace I had just been running, and then beat the pace on the second lap.  After I got home, saw that I ran the first lap at 8:23 pace and the second lap at 7:12.  

Last mile was at 7:25.

9.08 mi, 1:14:04, 8:09 avg

Ran from my house to Starkey Blvd, stopping at the little church, then ran out and back just past the bridge a little bit.  When I woke up I didn't think it was going to be this cool and it felt even cooler than I thought it would.   I brought a gel with me and a 10 oz water bottle.  The water bottle had a small leak in it which squirted out a tiny stream of water when I squeezed it, so upon learning this new fact I stopped squeezing the water bottle.  First two miles were slower, then third mile was 8:29, then I got going a little faster with the next 5 going from 7:57 down to 7:21.

I had decided to not do my fast mile on my way down Starkey Blvd.  However, as I approached back to my neighborhood I started going faster and was at about a 7:00 pace.  The gate was closed almost shut so I had to stop and open it, so my pace dropped but there was still time to make it up.  So, I did and finished the last mile 6:43.  But, I wasn't trying to do a fast mile and I didn't have that feeling that I was going all out and taxing myself.  It felt like an old feeling of fitness returning.  I've been running some different things and trying to make each run a little different and throwing in some challenges and it might be working.

3.33 mi, 27:32, 8:16 avg

Short run to get something in and wanted to run it not too slow.  Last mile 7:36 pace, and final 0.33 at 7:04 pace.  Ran from my house to a little bit past the water fountain on the golf course (but I haven't actually gotten to use that fountain in quite some time other than as a landmark to run a 3ish mile run).

Did not get to run this morning.

In the afternoon, went to watch Thomas run in the divisional championships.  He ran the 1600m and 3200m, running sub-5:00 in the 1600 and was less than 1 second behind one of his teammates he's been trying to catch up to this season.  Glad I was able to make it watch the meet.

6.0 mi, 46:12, 7:42 avg

Ran on the treadmill at the Palm Harbor Y.  I was surprised to find that their new treadmills are capable of -3 degree decline.  Played around with speed and incline, with a lot of downhill running, then switching to brief uphills.  No splits because it was on the treadmill, but after an easy warmup I kept it faster than 8:00 pace with some sections between 6:45 and 7:15.

Got in a lot of steps helping Jessica to pack up her house, getting ready to move all of it to a new Palm Harbor house closer to her kids schools and without the restrictive HOA  (still has an HOA, just much less restrictive).  I'll keep the Trinity house, but hopefully I can do less back and forth now.

Did not run today.  Yesterday felt like another marathon of packing, filled a small uhaul with stuff that didn't fit in 3 PODs.  Finally got everything out of the house about 11:00, with the laundry room finished last.  Drove the truck to near my office to park for a few days until closing on the new house.

1.33 mi, 13:18, 10:02

Short  "better than nothing" and avoid 0.0 run from my house to just past the gate and then back.

5.44 mi, 56:19, 10:21 avg

Easy run in the neighborhood with Jamie, out along the golf course in the t-shaped route.

On the way back we came pretty close to getting run over.  Light was green and we had the crossing sign, light was red for traffic the other way and had been red for a little bit when a guy on his phone while driving blew right through the light.  We glared at him and he sort of shrugged a "sorry not sorry" look at us.

A few days later there would be a fatality on this same stretch of road, not the exact same spot and different circumstances but literally too close to home.

4.26 mi, 36:05, 8:29 avg

Short solo run in the neighborhood, from my house out to the intersection of RTJ and Little Road.  Last mile was 6:57.  A little bit warmer this morning.

5.8 mi, 48:40, 8:24 avg

Ran from my house out to the new park and did two loops around the lake.  Exercise in pacing with first lap run comfortably and then next ran run faster, but not all out, but with the goal of beating the time for the first lap.  Did paces of 8:31 and 7:30.  Then ran back home (2.26 mi) at an average pace of 7:17.

I had started out the run without wanting to go fast or even feel good, I just felt like plodding along, what a difference the run made, I felt great finishing up.  Glad I had enough get up and go to get out the door.

10.5 mi, 1:28:23, 8:25 avg

I had wanted to go do Robbie's run but it was a later night than expected (Went to Friday service to see Aubrey get her prayer book, then unloaded and returned the uhaul).  Jacob and Jessica were over.  I did not get out the door until 9:15.   I was hoping I'd have a surprisingly good and better than expected run or a faster run where it wasn't easy but I pushed myself.  Instead, I got this run which was still a pretty good run.

Solo from home, to Starkey Blvd until reaching just over 5 miles then heading back.  Stopped in Longleaf to use the fountain.  When crossing back over Starkey Blvd I used the new pedestrian crosswalk warning lights which no cars seem to care about.  However, one vehicle did finally stop (a Stanley Steamer carpet cleaning van), and all the other vehicles in the other lane did stop.

It was getting a bit warm by the time I got back home.

A bit of a light week for mileage, but better than nothing.

3.35, 34:39, 10:20 avg

I didn't run in the morning, was determined not to miss my run, and was going to head out anyway to take Stella for a walk, so I turned it into a run.  It was a little bit warm and a little humid but not terrible.  We ran from my house out just past the golf course water fountain.  She was pretty well behaved during the run and after the run, stretched out on the tile panting (after a big drink of water).

3.04 mi, 26:03, 8:35 avg

Ran out and back, just past the gate, then did 8x25 second strides with 50 second jogs between, followed by a short cool down.  Was hoping to easily and smoothly do each one faster than 6:00 pace.  I was pretty close but missed the goal on two of them.

It was challenging and fun and went by pretty quickly.  No boring run today.

5.4 mi, 54:44, 10:08 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood - t-shaped route (actually looks more like a "Y" when looking at the map).  Nice 70 degrees at the end, good run, relaxed pace.

AM 1.14 mi, 11:36, 10:13 avg

I had originally intended to run in the morning, then decided a tempo run would work out better in the evening, and then decided to at least do an "insurance" run of something besides 0.0 in case something prevented me from running in the evening.

PM  8.09 mi, 1:02:10, 7:41 avg

Got home from work, fed Stella and let her out then set out on my run while it was still light out.  Ran about a mile warmup, then started tempo run of 10K.  Plan was to set a new "new garmin record", wanted to keep mile splits between 7:00 and 7:15 which I did except for one of the miles at 7:18 and one of them at 6:54.  (7:02, 7:07, 6:54, 7:06, 7:18, 7:12, 0.24@7:14) - 44:22, 7:06 avg

But, it felt way too hard, but that's ok I guess since it let me know where I'm at.  In my mind this should have been not such a hard run that you feel really wiped out at the end and not so hard that you can't speed up a little bit at the end instead of slowing down slightly.

But, I did make my goal of the garmin telling me this was the fastest 10k I've run since I've owned this garmin, I even think I beat the pace from the run two weeks before NYC.

After the run, had a pretty long night ahead getting ready for the weekend trip to Raleigh to visit Jessica's sister and their family.  Flight was earlyish Friday at 8:10am and we had to stop and pick up Jessica's kids along the way

1.25 mi, 12:56, 10:19 avg

Short "better than nothing" to break my non-running streak since Thursday, 4 days, yikes!

3.05 mi, 27:52, 9:08 avg

Ran out to the gate and back and then did 10x25 second strides workout, under 6:00 pace for most of them but not all.  Got in a little more mileage and glad I pushed myself a little bit.  

3.82 mi, 36:55, 9:40 avg

Ran with Jacob from my house to the c-gate neighborhood in Champion's club.  We ran onto a service road to look for the end of the new Pinellas Trail extension which will soon join up with the Pasco section linking to Starkey Blvd as part of the cross-Florida trail they are working on.  Found the trail, but it is blocked off for now.  New section will be done sometime next year.

As we approached back to the house, I told him to take off and I'd try to catch him.  He got out way ahead.  We ran a few more strides which he wasn't expecting after going "all out" thinking each one was the last one.  Pretty fun run.

5.46 mi, 53:14, 9:45 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Joe had to turn back early to make it to an appointment on time.  I took Jamie back to show her the new trail.  Part of the barrier had been taken down.  Mostly took it easy, but I did pick it up a little bit on the way back as the pace felt unnecessarily lazy.  Good run overall.

10.18 mi, 1:22:06, 8:04 avg

Woke up at 2:00, drove back home from PH house so Stella wouldn't be alone all night, went back to sleep but couldn't get out of bed until just before 8:00 (when alarm went off at 6:30 I saw that the weather would stay cool for a while so I opted for sleep).  Ran from my house to Starkey Blvd, then ran up to Alico Pass before turning back.  First three miles were slower (especially the first mile).  Picked up the pace and averaged 7:34 for the last 7 miles.

Today is Sammy's birthday, he's turning 13.  I took Stella over to Jenny's and brought a gift for Sammy.  Stella, NiKYO and Sammy played in the backyard, although it was mainly Stella and NiKYO playing.  Saw Tom and Andy briefly.

3.1 mi, 27:47, 8:57

Easy  run in the neighborhood, solo, from my house out near the golf course water and then back home.  Warmer out this morning, reminding me not that many cool mornings left.

2.56 mi, 36:00, 14:03 avg

This was either the run that almost wasn't but I started walking and then did some running or the walk that was almost a run, either way it was something.

Stella's first night at the Palm Harbor house.  She was awake a lot and kept on waking me up.  Ended up going down Village Way to Westlake Drive until hitting Nebraska over to 19th Street and then back.  Weather back to cool again which was nice.  Was in much better mood after the run/walk with Stella and so was she, almost forgot I was up most of the night (until later in the day).

3.55 mi, 33:18, 9:23 avg

Better run than yesterday. Ran in Westlake Village.  First 2.75 miles with Stella, but she was getting a little bit tired toward the end running up some of the hills.  Garmin claimed on 77 feet of climbing although it seemed like a lot more, probably because a lot of runs in Florida can be like 10 feet of climbing over a 15 mile run.  It was pretty fun finding some new routes and new hills.  Weather was good also.

4.59 mi, 39:41, 8:38 avg

Another Westlake Village run - a little bit longer and faster with last mile at 7:45.  Today I managed 132 feet of climbing.  My last Brooksville trip had about 350 feet of climbing over 15.75 miles, so feet per mile this run had more.

Still kind of light on the miles this week but at least it is a little bit different from usual patterns.

5.44 mi, 52:43, 9:41 avg

Return to Foxwood.  After what seemed like being away forever (3 nights, lol), back at the old house.  Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Joe was a surprise as he said he couldn't make it but ended up surprising us but only ran about 3 miles or so before heading back early.  Good, relaxing run.

11.81 mi, 1:37:30, 8:15 avg

Solo run from my house to SR54 , up Starkey Blvd, and then into Aristida nbhd turning around at Diane's house.  She had just brought her stuff inside but garage door was open so I went in and said hi and she gave me some gatorade for my bottle.  I didn't start until just before 8:00, but it was still pretty cool out and there was a little bit of very light rain here and there.

The run overall was pretty good, never really got into a very smooth feeling faster pace but wasn't horrible or too hard, just a little more effort than the runs earlier this week.

Also, on my way up I saw Joe and talked to him briefly, and then a little bit later saw Jamie and Renee (they all started about 6:30).   There were a number of people running south down Starkey Blvd that were part of the C2C - new relay from Cocoa Beach FL to Tarpon Springs following the route of the in progress Coast to Coast Florida trail.  I had not heard of this race before , inaugural event, maybe check it out next year.

2.64 mi, 25:00, 9:27 avg, elev gain 53 ft

Fairly short, mostly easy paced run in Westlake Village.  Sort of a big rectangle loop with a little rectangle near the house at the end of the run.  Was a pretty decent morning weatherwise.  I was hoping for more climbing on the small rolling hills.  Still working on best routes for most climbing.

3.8 mi, 34:18, 9:01 avg,  elev gain 82ft

1.34 mi, 10:37, 7:55 avg, elev gain 50 ft

Two part run, around the same time.  First part was a squarish loop venturing a little outside of the neighborhood, south to Nebraska Ave, up Omaha St back to Alderman and then back to the house.  It was pretty good scenery and seemed somewhat rolly but was not as much as I thought it was.

So, I added one more out and back on Lakeview after finishing the first part.

3.34 mi, 28:58, 8:40 avg, elev gain 61 ft

Morning run in Westlake Village and a little outside the neighborhood also.  Left the neighborhood, then right on Alderman and then south down Belcher to Nebraska and back up through the southern entrance.

1.19 mi, 12:37, 10:35 avg

I promised Stella I'd take her to hump day hustle near Longleaf on the Starkey Blvd bike path.  Got there a little bit late and I ran in cargo shorts and a tech shirt - almost a come as you are run.  Stella had fun and it wasn't too hot (82 with a little bit of breeze).

6.26 mi, 53:20, 8:31 avg

Ran in Foxwood and near Fox Hollow, ran from my house to Trinity Blvd, then went into the c-gate neighborhood to run 4x400m repeats with 400m easy jog between.  I wanted to do at least something and not keep letting speed slip away.  Ran splits of 1:31, 1:33, 1:29, and 1:31

Fairly consistent and maybe slightly better than how I thought they might go.  

5.41 mi, 51:03, 9:26 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood and up and down by fox hollow.  Cool weather and mostly relaxed pace, nice morning run.  6:30ish start time.

13.12 mi,  1:54:34, 8:44 avg

Parked at Diane's house, ran to Alico Pass and intercepted Jamie and Daisy who had started earlier at Longleaf.  Ran back with them to Diane's house, headed back out running toward Longleaf and were joined by Craig and Diane.  In the 9:00's (9:05-9:47 range) for the round trip to Longleaf and back. Picked it up a little for last mile back to Diane's, stopped for drink refill then headed out again with goal of 4 miles at marathon pace (targeting 7:45 pace), it wasn't super hard but it wasn't easy and I had to keep some focus to hold the right pace until the last mile which seemed to finally start to feel easier (ran 7:43, 7:41, 7:31, and 7:24 and then last 0.12 @ 6:44).

It had warmed up by the end but breeze was helping.  A little bit better mileage for the week and a longer run to finish a pretty good week of running.

1.42 mi, 14:16, 10:03 avg  (with Stella)

2.27 mi, 18:17, 8:03 avg (sans Stella)

First part of the run was with Stella, looping around on Westlake Village roads and through the little park.

Second part of run was without Stella, similar but slightly different route, hitting some of the small hills.  Garmin data only says I did 49 feet of climbing but when I look at the elevation chart and it shows several climbs which add up to more than that.

5.94 mi, 53:55, 9:04 avg

Went for a less broken up run and ran sort of a trapezoid/rhomboidish loop.  Headed south through Westlake Village and headed west onto Nebraska Ave to Alt 19 and hopped onto the Pinellas trail, turned left onto Crystal Beach Ave and ran to the little beach area that they have and touched the water of the Gulf because I was there.  About 4 miles to get out there.  Took a shorter route home - back on Crystal Beach Ave, north a little on Alt 19 (ran past Gyro King which has a sign for 2for1 Gyros every Wednesday from 3-close), then head east on Klosterman (ran past my old office in the key west style office building where I had my own little porch) until arriving back at Westlake Village and then to the house.

Fun little route.

1.83 mi, 17:12, 9:23 avg, 48 feet  with Stella

2.66 mi, 21:28,  8:04 avg, 101 feet  sans Stella

1.59 mi, 17:16,  10:51 avg  with Aubrey (Jacob had Stella)

AM:

Started out running with Stella, doing some random loops in Westlake Village, see seemed to have had enough, so I dropped her off and went back out and ran up and down the hills.

PM:

Took Jacob and Aubrey (and Stella) to "hump day hustle" at Longleaf at the start of the Starkey bike trail.  It was a bit warm still (low 80's).  I started out and was in warm up mode but Aubrey took off with the group so I had to get out of low gear a little bit early to keep up with her.  Apparently Liz was also trying to keep up.  After about a half mile Aubrey started to slow a little.  We took a short walk break and made it to a little past 3/4 mile before turning back.  She finished the mile at 10:12.  We took a couple more walk breaks on the way back but made it ok.  Jacob and Stella did three miles.  Stella was wiped out after the run and drank two bottles of water (although a lot of it ran onto the ground as it was poured into her mouth while she lapped at the bottle).  Two different people took turns watering her.  

We dropped Stella off at the house, gave her dinner, and then met the group at Johnny Brusco's for pizza and watch the Lightning game.  I had to turn down a free beer, sad.  But, other than that it was pretty fun.

3.29 mi, 30:32, 9:17 avg

Short, easy run in Westlake Village.  First 1.4 miles with Stella and then ran the rest by myself.

5.43 mi, 52:04, 9:35 avg

Easy run with Jamie in the neighborhood, 6:30ish start time in the morning.

11.03 mi, 1:47:33, 9:45 avg

Joe, Jamie, and Cynthia drove down to Palm Harbor to run with me in Westlake Village.  Joe brought some fresh baked blueberry muffins for after the run.  At the start of the run it was sprinkling a bit -  rain was on and off lightly for a good part of the run.  Run started with a loop through the little neighborhood park (about 0.6 mile loop), then continued back onto the roads and making our way south (in a sort of zig-zag) until exiting onto Nebraska, then heading through downtown PH to the Pinellas Trail, then north to Crystal Beach Ave.  Cynthia was looking for just 7 miles.  I had wanted to run to Crystal Beach but it would have made the run more like 8 miles, so we turned right instead, making our way back to Alderman Road and then heading back to the north entrance of Westlake Village.

  Cynthia hung out and walked Stella in the park while I took Joe and Jamie for another 4 mile loop, this time turning left on Nebraska, north up Belcher and back to the north entrance.

Hung out for a few more minutes after the run.  It was a pretty fun morning.

8.56 mi, 1:20:27, 9:24 avg

Memorial Day run with the Striders.  Left my house about 6:30 and met Jamie at the gate near Duck Slough, then we ran to Longleaf in time for the group photo.  We had at least 40 people this year.  Ran out and back on Starkey Blvd with Joe, Renee, and Cynthia and other random people from the Striders.  They had all sorts of fun food and drinks and some healthy fruit.  Hung out for just a few minutes before running back home.

3.13 mi, 27:11, 8:41 avg

Cobbled together about 5k of running.  Started with about 0.5 miles with Stella running up and down the street for a warmup.  Next, ran out and back to the gate for another 1 mile.  Then moved onto 9x25 seconds strides with 50 second jogs.  I was going to just do 5, but added some on and on the last one I promised myself I would not make myself do ten this time - although I should have!  I almost ran all of them under 6:00 pace - somehow on the second one the pace was 6:01.  It's a pretty good improvement from back in December where I could only run one of the ten under 6:00 pace.

5.08 mi, 46:26, 9:09 avg, 108 feet

I got pretty wet on this run.  Sure, it felt nice at first, a very light sprinkle you could hardly feel, making the warm humid air more bearable.  I ran a couple loops around the Westlake Village Park and then ran up and over the hill at Woodcutter and Lakeview before heading back on Lakeview, past the house, then turned around and ran up and over the Woodcutter hill until reaching one mile away from the house.  At this point rain had picked up and was now pouring down, ran back toward the house again until getting just over 5 miles for the morning.  Now I was wet, but it was all good.

2.54 mi, 21:40, 8:32 avg, no climbing

Insurance run.  Wanted to run in the evening if I could get my end of month work done early enough but was not sure if that was going to happen so I went out for a little bit.  Foxwood neighborhood run, first 0.8 miles with Stella, then ran one loop around the neighborhood. First mile average was 10:20.   Then, for a fun run I had the idea to keep running until the average got below 9:00.   I was able to reach that and then kept on going for a little bit after that.  So, next mile was 7:22 but was not looking at pace until I had finished the mile.  Last 0.54 stayed at 7:22, so must have found a groove.  Easy to do I suppose when you know it's just for a little bit.  Just need to extend that out another 24.66 miles or so and I could run another good marathon!

4.38 mi, 34:02, 7:46 avg

Broken up run in the neighborhood.  Ran Stella for a little over half a mile, then ran to Joe's house to let his dog out, once I got there I accidentally stopped and saved the run (first part was 1.8 miles at 8:17 avg), then ran back home and up and down the street a little past my house (2.04 miles at 7:25 avg).  After finishing and going back inside I noticed that my total was 3.84 miles, so why not at least get over 4 miles for the morning.  So, I ran out about a 1/4 mile, then came back running fast to run some sub-7:00 which turned into almost sub-6:00 with 1:31 for the return 1/4.

13.03 mi. 2:00:06, 9:13 avg

Ran with Joe, Jamie, and Renee from Longleaf to Diane's house where we picked up Craig and Diane.  Ran from there to Starkey, stopping at the shelter briefly before turning back.  On the way into the park I talked everyone into an a few sets of an "Indian run" or sometimes called last man sprint or leap frogs.  Everyone complains at first, but then they seem to have fun and some distance paces and the overall pace picks up.  

I was feeling pretty good until about mile 11 when the mugginess of the morning caught up to me, I stopped for a bit, then started again but went slower for mile 12.  Joe and Renee went ahead.  I felt better once we finished mile 12 and got back to the old  pace and even picked it up slightly for mile 13.

Picked up Tom and Andy from Jenny's about 12:00 and took them to lunch at Tarpon Tavern - Andy picked it but it's one of my favorites.  I wanted to live there one time - mile 36 of the 46 mile Pinellas Trail Challenge has an aid station there.  Great to spend time with my two favorite boys.

4.32 mi, 38:35, 8:56 avg, 113 feet elev.

Westlake Village run - ran the Village Way loop and then did out and back on Lakeview Drive so I could go up and over the hill.

7.4 mi, 1:06:58, 9:03 avg, elev gain 163 feet

Zigzagged through Westlake village to hit some of the hills, then exited onto Nebraska Ave, until turning left on Omaha Ave.  I was going to head south for a while until reaching 3.5 miles, but instead when I got to Florida Ave, I looked to the right and had a clear view of the flag pole outside of Pop Stansell Park and could see the water of St Joseph Sound and the Gulf, so headed that way.  Ran out onto the little pier where some guys were fishing and stopped to look out over the water before turning around and heading back the way I came.  It was a bit warm this morning and I did not carry anything to drink nor did I bring any money to stop at a store - I'll have to not do that again.

6.19 mi, 56:03, 9:04 avg

Ran in Foxwood neighborhood with Joe and Jamie.  Jamie canceled so it was just Joe and I.  Good run, but it felt very muggy (it rained a little bit later which explained it).  We saw a little alligator past the bridge.  This little guy had been hanging out in an ever shrinking puddle until there was only a little water left by the drain - but now it is filled back up.  We also saw another little gator (this one even smaller) in the pond near the Heritage Springs gate.  As for land animals we saw an armadillo and a rabbit as well as the usual array of squirrels.

On the way back into Foxwood we ran into Jamie who had decided to at least get in a couple of miles.

6.45 mi, 58:36, 9:05 avg, elev gain 60 feet

Did an out and back run from Westlake village from the northern entrance, west on Alderman to where it dead ends, then further west on another street that dead ends but has a little cut through to the Pinellas Trail.  North on the Pinellas trail to Wall Springs park, then did a little loop inside the park with a stop at one of the little wooden piers (pier #2).  Looked into the water and saw a school of fish, mostly mullet but also a few sheepshead.  They looked like they were enjoying the morning.   Ran back out the way I came but headed north on the Pinellas trail just a little bit more, almost to the old railroad tunnel before turning back.

Temperature felt much nice today (75 vs yesterday's 79), and I brought a little hand held bottle.

4.11 mi, 37:54, 9:13 avg, elev gain 70 feet

Very unmotivated to start running but decided to at least get some miles, meaning at least 3, which fortunately turned into 3.  Found and took the secret cut through out of the neighborhood which makes running to the Palm Harbor Y only about a mile (otherwise almost 2 miles without the cut through).  Ran along Nebraska, back into Westlake village from the south entrance, looped through the park and then one more loop on Maple Ridge back to the house.

Purposely went a little slower today.  Going to give 5k a try tomorrow morning at RAP River run.

This was my first 5k since December when I did the Say No To Drugs 5k in Clearwater, where I could not get under 22:00.  So, it was good to take a chance and sign up for this race as well as asking if Thomas wanted to run this one as well (we both ran the Turkey Trot, where I ended up having a decent time there "in the 20:00's").

It was lucky that the weather was a little better than usual, relatively "cool" for a June race in Florida and it's a mostly shaded course, pretty flat but a few very small hills which prevent it from being overly flat.  Warmed up by walking from the car to registration, then back to the car, then back to the race area and then did about 0.6 miles easy jogging and a few strides.  I saw lots of people I knew and it was great to be surrounded by so many friends.

The race started like it always does, packed into the starting area, just waiting for the horn to sound.  I was a couple rows back from the very front.  Thomas was farther up with his high school friends.  For the first half mile, the crowd thinned out into a long line with gaps between small groups of runners.  I slowly caught up to (Magic Pants) Robin (wasn't sure if I would - he's been chipping away at his times despite the increasing age (now 68).  His wife Pat has been doing the marketing for this race, now 11 years in a row.

I was feeling better than I had been in a while, holding my pace just under 7:00.  I think the beet juice shot I had done at 6:00 was helping.  

Thomas was nowhere to be seen.  Last year, I was trailing him, slowly caught him and eventually passed him, but not this year, he was way up ahead someplace I was pretty sure.

As I approached mile 2, I was on track for a few seconds over 7:00 pace.  I decided that wasn't going to happen, even if it meant slowing down for mile 3.  Made it under in 6:56, relaxed a little and saw my pace slip.  But the race had other plans.  There were still people ahead of me that I was following and people behind me that I knew would pass me if they could - people I had passed and were hoping to pass me back.

I slowly got back my pace, coming back from a slow down to 7:30ish, to almost breaking 7:00, hitting mile 3 at exactly 7:00.  It was a straight shot to the finish line and I ran the last 0.1 at a 5:40 pace.  A guy who had been wanting to pass me shook my hand after the race congratulating me on how I took off at the end.

My friend Daisy had run the 10K that morning and was cheering on the finishers.  I asked her if she'd seen Thomas.  She had seen him finish and thought she saw about 17:50 on the clock.

His actual time was 17:48 (about a 2 1/2 minute improvement from this race last year and a new PR by about 35 seconds).  The two top finishers were guys in their mid 20's with times of 15:51 and 16:13, followed by another high schooler (not from Mitchell) named John who was a second behind 2nd place guy.  Then there about a 1:30 gap with Tom at the lead of all of the other high schoolers (the next 10 finishers).

So, overall, I could not have been happier with this race.  I feel like I'm ready to race again, I had a lot of fun, and Tom had a big jump in time from his last 5k as well as over his fastest 5k.

Finished off the running morning with a lap around my neighborhood so I'd have over 6 miles for the day.

6.25 mi, 55:28, 8:53 avg, elev gain 86 feet

I did not want to run more than a few miles, I did not want to run a new route, I didn't want to leave the neighborhood, I didn't even want to have a run where you're amazed at how much better you feel at the end of the run vs the start of the run because it means you had to make it past the sucky part.

So, despite all of this, I ran a new route, east on Alderman, south on 19, and then east on Nebraska, turned right onto 19th street thinking I could cut through the side streets to get to the Palm Harbor Y, which you can't do, so  I turned around, went back to Nebraska, and then headed up 18th street, and then to Pennsylvania Ave to 16th Street where the Y is located.  There were some new hills to run on, there's even a hill to get to the Y parking lot.  I went inside to use the fountain and take a gel, then headed back out and used the cut through to get back into Westlake Village where I took Village Way back to the house but going the long way.

So, I ran more than a few miles, ran a new route, it felt like an adventure and I was glad that I had one of those runs where you feel a ton better at the end compared to the beginning.

7.67 mi, 1:13:09, 9:32 avg

Wanted to do a fairly simple route with only an out and back (although did end up with one small loop and a little side trip to Pop Stansell park).

Ran from Westlake village, exited south through the cut through past the Y, continued south until reaching Florida Ave which took me to the Pinellas trail, headed about 1.75 miles south until reaching the closed pedestrian bridge (could have crossed the street at street level but decided that was a good spot to turn around).  Headed back north and took a short detour to Pop Stansell to go look at the water from the dock and then stopped for water refill at the fountain before heading back to Westlake village.  

Felt like the right amount of miles for today.

AM 5.51 mi, 52:02, 9:27 avg

Ran in Foxwood neighborhood with Jamie.  Usual route from neighborhood out by golf course, Joe wasn't running today.  Temperature a little nicer, 75 degrees.

PM 11:57, 1.15, 10:21 avg

Short version of humpday hustle with the Striders at Longleaf and Stella.  Saw Tom running on the way back as he was heading out.  Ran into Jenny after the run while she was walking Sammy and Nikyo, like a small dog party.

Did not realize it was going to be 6.66 miles until after I finished.

3.17 mi, 29:52,  9:25 avg, elev gain 50 feet

I thought this would be the first of two runs today, but it turned out it would be the only run, but maybe I needed less mileage today.  Westlake village loop, with an inner loop around the park next to the house.  81 degrees at the finish, not too bad as long as it was shaded.

7.33 mi, 1:07:33, 9:13 avg

Stayed at my house, was going to sleep in a little but Jessica had to head back to Palm Harbor so I ran a little longer, solo, as it was too late to bother Joe or Jamie by the time my plans changed.  I wanted to run a little bit on the new section of Pinellas trail that ends at the Pasco county line which will soon have a connector going to Starkey Blvd trail as part of the Florida coast to coast connector trail system, linking existing trails with new gap connectors to traverse from St. Petersburg to Cocoa Beach.  This new section heads south just over 2 miles, then heads west on Keystone Blvd where it links up to the main Pinellas Trail.  It was a very peaceful run (especially since the northern end is officially closed), running next to (fortunately not directly underneath) power lines.  It's mainly open but there's some shade here and there, no water stops.  Saw a deer cross the trail.  It didn't seem to care that there was a 4 foot high fence on either side of the trail area.

14.13 mi, 2:05:00, 8:51 avg, elev gain 85 feet

Ran out and back from Westlake Village to Tarpon Springs just past US 19 by running on Alderman Rd (about mile and a half), and then up the Pinellas Trail.  Temps were reasonable at first but humidity was wearing on me.  Had a 10oz hand held bottle at first with gatorade and then refilled with water at the Tarpon sprayground and Wall Springs Park.  

I decided to run a little faster and was able to get under a 9:00 for the average but it seemed like I should have been able to go faster with the same effort, maybe on a cooler and less humid day.

This run capped off my first 40+ weekly mileage which used to seem like such a standard, even lower bar, but I'm feeling pretty good and staying away from being overtrained.

I would go on to cover some of these miles on the Pinellas Trail while on the father's day bike ride with the boys and lunch at Tarpon Tavern.

3.77 mi, 39:43, 10:32 avg, elev gain 78 feet

Stressful morning, wanted to skip my run but needed at least some to try and clear my head.  One big loop around Westlake neighborhood.  First mile was pretty slow, the rest was not very fast either.  Run helped a bit, they usually do.

10.1 mi, 1:31:55, 9:06 avg, elev gain 162 feet

Started out with the idea of doing just a bunch of small loops in Westlake.  After the first small loop, which was made even smaller by needing to stop back at the house for bathroom break, changed the plan and decided on a much bigger loop.  Headed out onto Alderman Rd then headed north up Belcher until reaching Klosterman, then left until reaching the Pinellas trail.  I'd never run very far along Belcher, it wasn't bad, decent sidewalk and not too much traffic.  Ran nearly 4 miles down the trail (with brief stop at Wall Springs for water) until turning onto Florida Ave, and then 16th street and back to Westlake via the cut through.  First 10 mile midweek run since getting the Westlake house.

AM: 6.06 mi, 56:33, 9:20 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in neighborhood and along the golf course.  We were all dragging a little bit from the humidity.

PM: 1.12 mi, 12:34, 11:14 avg

Ran on the Dunedin causeway with Stella.  I skipped humpday hustle to take Jacob to the causeway where he was meeting up with friends.  It was slow going with Stella because I had to keep stopping to walk when there were other dogs, and then she started to look like she was overheating, so we walked a little bit and didn't go out as far as I had originally planned.  Stopped and got some water for her and then walked some more.  As the sunset it started to feel nice out.

5.52 mi, 47:02, 8:31 avg, elev gain 133 feet

I noticed yesterday that last month I ran 1.0 mile of V02 max and this month total so far was 0.0, so I decided to make one small step forward and run 1.25 by doing 5x400m.

Warmed up with just under 2 miles easy running, I ran to the high point on Lakeview Dr, then looped around Woodcutter/Sandy Hook.  Cheated just a little bit by starting some of the 400s on a slight downhill.  Although, the fastest repeat had almost equal gain and loss (17 vs 19 feet).  Paces for the repeats were: 5:57, 5:53, 5:59, 5:50, and 5:57

This was more successful than I thought it would be. Kind of wish I had done more.  They were not easy but it was a good hard

6.1 mi, 56:16, 9:14 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in Foxwood and along golf course.  Was pretty humid this morning, one rest room visit/ac break.

11.36 mi, 1:45:02, 9:15 avg.

Warm and humid morning, did not help that I started at 8:20.  Did a big loop from my house, past the golf course, continued on to the Y where I refilled water bottle, back to Little Road, then cut behind the hospital and ran along SR54 before crossing, over to Ellington Way, then over to Town Ave to make it to Havana Dreamers in time before the Krispy Kreme fundraiser was finished.  Handed over my sweaty $10 and then delivered the 12 glazed doughnuts to the boys.  Then finally, made it back home completing an 11ish mile loop.  

Next up was a trip to the vet to drop off Stella for boarding.

One more 40+ mile week (these used to be a "low" mileage week).  Run felt pretty good overall especially compared to what I thought it was going to feel like.

3.12 mi, 38:21, 12:18 avg

Despite the slow speed this was not an easy run.  First day of vacation in Cabo San Lucas at the Pueblo Bonita Sunset Beach Resort.  Resort occupies the side of a hill.  After going to the pool for a bit, decided to run, but didn't feel like changing.  So I ran wearing swim suit and water shoes.  Water shoes actually worked out pretty well, felt like barefoot running except with protection.  

I started out going up a pretty steep hill.  I was at more of a walking pace even though I was running between the incline and running in water shoes.  Ran over toward another section of the resort where there was much construction - so the path I was on would end some times, I'd switch to the road and then back to the path.  Turned back about 1.3 miles into the run and then passsed by where I started from and headed onto the beach.  The sand is pretty course and not packed in tight which made it difficult.  Ran to the resort boundary on the beach then another tenth of a mile to make it 5k.  Just past a rocky point was the small beach area called Pedregal Beach. It felt peaceful there, much quieter.  Looked like it was mainly private homes but there was public access to the beach.  You can't swim in this area (either by the resort or Pedregal Beach) due to very dangerous currents.  Near the resort they have a few lifeguards that make sure you don't get too close.

One year anniversary today.  We would do a photo shoot a little bit later then go out for a nice dinner at the resort's Steak House.

2.18 mi, 20:00, 9:10 avg

Resort had a nice fitness center with great view of the water.  Did some random weights, about 10 minutes on the bike, and then 20 minute run on the treadmill.

This would be my second and final run for the week of vacation.  Although, I really did do quite a bit of walking including a lot of steps and hilly paths.

5.13 mi, 45:55, 8:57 avg

After last week, where I only ran 5 miles and probably overindulged more than I should have (but I did do a lot of walking and climbing!), today's run was better than expected.  Westlakd village run, down Lakeview Drive to Nebraska Ave for a bit then onto less busy Pennsylvania Ave which has a few small rolling hills.  Then turned around the way I came.  Last mile was 7:46, bringing my overall average just below 9:00.

6.49 mi, 58:00, 8:56 avg, elev gain 120 feet

Ran a similar route to yesterday but went out a little bit farther on Pennsylvania until I hit the Pinellas Trail and ran south a little bit.  On the way back took a longer way on Village Way back to Lakeview.  Felt pretty good overall, second good run in a row.

Lutz Independence Day 5K

I'd wanted to do this one for a while and thought it would be a good chance to see if I could improve a little over my last race.  Before the race it almost felt cool, but after warming up realized it was going to be a warm one.

First mile was pretty good, coming in at 6:40 it was nice to not be struggling to stay just under 7:00.

But, the next two miles started to go that way, with second mile at 6:51, but still better than RAP River 5k.  Third mile I felt like I was really slowing down but somehow managed to get a little bit back and then had a pretty good kick.  Managed first in age group and felt like it was a step in the right direction back to sub-20:00

5k's sure are hard.

Fun morning though.

6.05 mi, 56:50, 9:23 avg

Ran in Foxwood with Joe and Jamie, 6:45ish start time.  Usual route from neighborhood and along the golf course.  Pretty nice 75 degree weather.

3.35 mi, 31:02, 9:16 avg, elev gain 79 feet

Shorter run this morning.  First, ran a little over 2 miles easy.  Stopped back at the house before Jessica left for work.  I was going to drop off Aubrey at a friends house on the way to work so didn't want to be far from the house, so ran some 20-25 second strides up and down the street near the house, ran 7 of them, missed sub-6:00 on a couple of them.

Glad I added in some strides, made the run feel a little more productive.

15.15 mi, 2:22:53, 9:26 avg

Ran from home, kind of a late start at 8:26 by the time I finally started my watch.  Earlier in the morning it had been raining pretty heavily with enough lightning to keep people in bed longer (like myself), although probably would have been safe to start running about 7:15 or so rather than almost 8:30.

Left from my house with a 20oz handheld filled with gatorade, out to SR54 then onto Starkey Blvd.  There was a little bit of coolness left over from the rain which made it feel not so bad at first.   I had a slow first mile (11:02), and then was in the 9:00's for most of the run except for 3 of the miles which were in the 8:50's.  

I'd wanted to get enough miles to make it over 40 miles for the week.  So, I decided I'd run out a little over 7 miles which would take me to the park shelter where if nothing else there is a water faucet with water that is not ice code or delicious but manages to do the job of water.  As I approached the park entrance I saw Craig and Diane heading south (had just seen Tom and Jenny a little bit before that).  They said they'd leave the drinks out for me.  So, I turned around at exactly 7 miles (or pretty close to exactly) without reaching the shelter and the ok water.  Detoured to Diane's house and refilled 20oz with gatorade and drank one bottled water along with a gel.

Started out again, felt ok at first but then started getting tired legs.  Stopped at the bridge to stretch a little bit before continuing on until reaching the Circle K.  I had a soggy $5 bill on me, so went in and bought a polar pop, lots of ice, powerad and mountain dew.  Quite refreshing and did the trick to get me almost home.  A little bit after hitting 15 miles, with still about a half mile to my house, decided to just walk it in.  I'd already done more than the 14 and would have over 40 for the week.  A little walking would not hurt.

Felt kind of wiped out for most of the day.

For dinner, later that night,  had the "di parma" pizza at Fireside Pizza in Palm Harbor (prosciuto and arugula) - no problem finishing it.  Jessica was out with Amy (from Ohio) who was visiting for the weekend and doing their girl's night out, but met up with them after dinner for one drink at Peggy O's.

2.11 mi,  19:04, 9:02 avg

Ran from the house to the gate, past my house again the other way and then back.  The last 0.11 was 6:29 average.

This was basically a "better than nothing" run.  Still felt a little bit beaten up from Saturday but didn't want to skip.

3.33 mi, 31:52, 9:34 avg

A little more than yesterday, ran from the house to just past the golf course water fountain that I don't use anymore.

7.03 mi, 1:09:54, 9:57 avg

3rd Foxwood run in a row this week.  This time ran with Jamie (although there was a slight chance of Joe but he would be a no show today - sometimes he sneaks up on us when it looks like he's not going to show up).  Did the usual t-shaped route.  Ran back with Jamie towards her house and kept going on my own the long way around the loop back home to get a little more distance.

6.25 mi, 56:51, 9:06 avg, elev gain 115 feet

Out and back run from Lakeview house, through south entrance of Westlake, 18th street, Pennsylvania Ave and over to the Pinellas Trail.  Ran through Pop Stansell Park (but didn't stop at the pier), got a drink of water from the fountain then headed back the way I came.  First mile was 11:18, last full mile 8:01.  

81 degrees at the finish.

4.49 mi, 41:18, 9:12 avg

Ran Stella around the block, going slowly at first and then picking up some steam.  Had not run Stella for a while, she really enjoys running and is pretty good on the leash.

Dropped her off at the house, and then ran out and back to the gate but took a detour through the last side street before the gate and then through the parking lot where Brick Oven is and then swinging by the bridge action on the way back.  Finished up with three strides to see what the fastest pace I could hit - 4:42. 

11.27 mi, 1:47:36, 9:33 avg, elev gain 168 feet

Ran with Joe and Jamie in Palm Harbor.  We stopped by Joe's office on Alt 19, then cut over on Oceanview to the Pinellas Trail and ran north to Klosterman before turning around.  We stopped and said hi to the primates at the primate sanctuary.  Continued on and stopped for bathroom break at Wall Springs Park.  Then Wall Springs Park south with plans on running to Pop Stansell Park but turned a little early onto Pennsylvania Ave, left at the Y and took the cut through back to Westlake.  

Joe stopped at the house and took Stella for a walk while Jamie and I ran about a 2.5 mile loop in Westlake.

There was much stopping and sight seeing but it was kind of warm and humid so not a bad day to take it easy and still get some miles in.

5.53 mi, 47:48, 8:38 avg

Ran in Foxwood/Foxhollow area, t-shaped route.  Solo run - had texted Joe and Jamie last night but they could not make it.  I felt better than expected.  The run started out slow, like they've been doing, but first mile was not as slow as usual (10:25 this time), next 4 miles between 8:00 and 8:52, and then homestretch from the gate back to my home at 7:04 pace.  Was not looking at lap pace or instant pace while running but just the overall average.

By the time I finished, was no longer trying to run "easy", but most of the rest of the run felt like I was not pushing it (ok, maybe mile 5 was slightly pushing it).

Temperature was about 79 degrees.

Made it on time to 8:30 dental appointment to get the crown on my dental implant recemented.

6.19 mi, 53:03, 8:34 avg, elev gain 118 feet

Ran a short loop near my house, and then headed out the south entrance of Westlake Blvd to Nebraska, then cutting over to Penn Ave to get out of the traffic, then through downtown Palm Harbor to Pop Stansell Park (near the water) where I stopped at the fountain before turning around, heading back the way I came except taking the cut through near the Y back into Westlake until returning home.  After I looked at my route on the map and seemed to draw a cartoonish looking dog.

My first mile was not the usual sluggish 10:00-11:00 range but a relatively faster 9:09, followed by next 4 miles in the 8 minute range with last full mile at 7:49 pace.

Not a bad run - felt good, saw the water, and drew a dog

5.47 mi, 42:20, 7:44 avg, elev gain 101 feet

The goal of today's run was to not have a slow first mile - i.e. not 10 or 11 minute pace or high 9:00's but low 9:00's or faster.

Warmed up a little bit, and started on a very slight downhill, which quickly sloped back up, was in the mid 8:00's until finally finishing first mile in 8:12. 

I was running a loop through Westlake, which has several rolling hills, decided I'd run the loop twice which always feels tough on any course with any kind of hills when you know you have to run them a second time.  But, I managed to slowly get faster each mile and run the second loop faster than the first.

It had been raining earlier that morning which had cooled the temps a little bit, and fortunately enough clouds were still around to keep it from heating up too much.

Overall, the run was much better than expected.  Once the goal of the faster first mile was met, it was easy to stay on pace.  Still followed a similar pattern of getting faster but without a much slower first mile to bring down the average.

The hills and the little bits and pieces of speed work have been helping to keep me out of the usual ruts.

7.15 mi, 1:05:28, 9:09 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood, usual t-shaped route along Fox Hollow and Champion's Club neighborhoods.  I finished up with loop around Foxwood, taking the long way home.

Packed up and dropped Stella off at the kennel for the long weekend away up to Rochester and Thousand Islands with the boys.

9.04 mi, 1:19:38, 8:48 avg, elev gain 140 feet

Ran in Webster, NY from my brother's house.  Made my way over to the Hojack Line Trail (rails to trails) - grass gravel and dirt, ranging from double track down to single track.  Ran out to the end of trail where it crosses Lake Road on an old train bridge.  It was a nice 68 degrees at the start and a still not too bad 75 degrees at the finish.  Ended up going a little bit farther than planned, but really wanted to run out to the end of the trail.   So, on the way back I shortened the return trip a little bit.

Had lunch at Nick Tahou's and stopped by the Genessee brewery and had some samples there and enjoyed the view of the falls.  Headed back to Jim's house and headed out a little bit later to visit Seabreeze amusement park to ride the Jack Rabbit and several other rides and finish off the park visit with an overly large orange float.  

Then, back to Jim's house and celebrated his birthday.

11.8 mi, 1:39:05, 8:24 avg

Another run in Webster, NY, another cool (compared to Florida) morning with 68 degrees at the start and 72 degrees at the finish.  I also had a fun goal today - run from my brother's house over to my old house where I grew up (parents sold it in 2008 to move to FL).  Took Klem to Holt Road, and then got on the (new for me) 104 bike trail and took that to Gravel Rd to Cherry Hill Lane back to my neighborhood.  I stopped and took a picture of the old house.  The "new" people have a pop up camper parked in the side yard.  We also had one parked there from about 1978 to 2000.  It's almost like it is back.  Knocked on the neighbor from across the street and waited for her to answer.  Her neighbors were out and called out to me a friendly/what-are-you-doing-here "can I help you?".  Told them who I was and where I grew up and they were nice enough to give me a run down on who was still here and who had moved.

Got going again with a loop around the block before heading back the way I came.

After yesterday's run which was a little longer and faster paced, wasn't sure how I'd do but apparently I did ok with a faster overall pace then yesterday and a faster last mile.

Got back to Jim's house, showered and got ready to head up to 1000 Islands.  Brian drove and we stopped at Charlie's for lunch for a Charlieburger (of course!). They had Loganberry juice at the fountain drink station. 

Had a nice drive up, said hi to my parents then I took the boat into town with the boys for dinner and strolling around.  Brian and Andy played chess on the giant chess board near the docks.  Alex Bay is pretty much the same year after year but I miss Van's Marina with their "Sun and Fun Shoppe".

3.22 mi, 30:29, 9:28 avg, elev gain 95 feet

Short, easy paced run on Wellesley Island, NY.  Some small, rolling hills on out and back run from my parents cottage to just past the bridge near the golf course.  Nice morning.

After the run we went to the golf course at the state park on the island, finished 7 out of 9 holes (we are all pretty bad except for Brian but it was still fun).  After golf, had ice cream at "The Guzzle" in T.I. Park.  Back at the cottage, did a little bit of kayaking then grilled hot dogs and sausage on the grill (my Dad made salmon for himself, my mom, and Thomas).

Headed back to Webster with Jim and the boys after the late lunch/early dinner.  Ran into some rain but made it back in time for Thomas to get his second run in for the day despite the rain.

The long weekend went by way too fast.

6.65 mi, 1:01:57, 9:19 avg

Back home in Florida.  Ran with Joe (no Jamie today) in the neighborhood.  Back to warm and muggy, but not too terrible 77 degrees.  

7.12 mi, 1:02:36, 8:48 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders - first time on a Thursday in quite some time.  I had forgotten how dark the bike trail is so didn't bring a headlamp or hand held.  So, first few miles were kind of slow but was able to pick it up once I hit the lighted streets of Aristida.  Approaching the turnaround, I decided to play "beat the 9:00 guy".  Ran by feel and looking at the overall average as it ticked down.

Was nice to visit with some of the Striders - Karen, Tom, Lauren, Clarke, Cindy and some others.

6.08 mi, 49:00, 8:03 avg

Ran from home and made my way over to the new, not quite yet opened section of trail.  A bit warmer by the time I started (81 degrees).  Today's challenge, was not starting out slow.  So, warmed up a little and was determined not to do 10:00 or 11:00 for first mile, but able to do 8:36.  Then, after that was on a roll and managed to get a little faster each mile, with last two miles at 7:54 and 7:29.  So, with the not too slow first mile, the average was a little faster than average, although not quite a tempo run.

I was a little afraid my streak of good runs would be over after the trip but the last two days were pretty good.

13.51 mi, 1:52:46, 8:21 avg

Pretty good run this morning, despite the later start (about 8:00 am).  Goal on today's run was to not start out slow (somewhere in the 8:00's) and get all the miles in between 8:00 and 9:00.  Almost did it with one mile at 7:45 and one mile at 9:09 when the heat was starting to get to me (but picked it back up for the last 1.51 miles after the 9:09).  Ran from my house, out to 54 to Starkey with a stop at Diane's house (she had just taken down her "lemonade stand" but she still had some cold stuff handy - after I knocked on her door).  Ran to the end of Aristida neighborhood and swung by her house to grab the drinks I left there.  Made one more quick stop at Circle K and got a 32 oz drink of powerade and lots and lots of ice, just what I needed to cool down and make it home the last two miles.

Again, not really a tempo run or even a marathon pace run but just something to get me out of my slow start rut.  Slow start is not always a bad thing but being in a rut is not.

Should probably add some quality runs back in but would be a good idea if I had something on the schedule to train for - that usually helps!

5.04 mi, 44:44, 8:52 avg, elev gain 69 feet

Was not expecting much from this run other than to at least get in a few miles.  Ran in Westlake, heading south down Lakeview, right on Westlake Blvd then right on Nebraska, then down 19th Street.  Made it to Palm Harbor MS and thought about taking a lap or two on their track but chickened out due to the "No Trespassing" signs, although the open gate was tempting and I have heard that you can use the track.

Anyway, headed back the way I came, picking it up a little bit each mile but never feeling like I was past the "easy pace" zone - except for the last 0.04 miles sprinting up to the top of the little hill where my house is (6:34 pace).

8.87 mi, 1:09:53, 7:53 avg

Finally, a planned tempo run.  The last time I did something close to a tempo run was at the end of April when I was determined to run 10k distance at 7:00-7:10 pace range.  That run was very hard and turned into 2x3mi repeats (big break halfway through).  Today's goal was just 4 miles at 7:20 or faster.  Ran from my house to SR54 to Starkey Blvd.

Started the tempo portion and wanted to quit about a 1/4 way into the first mile, decided that wasn't going to happen.  Soon forgot about how hard it was and kept going until finally finishing the first mile.  Then one more mile out and then turning around.  Picked it up the last mile and made it under 7:00 pace.

Splits: 7:08, 7:04, 7:01, 6:50

Today's weather was a few degrees cooler so it felt pretty tolerable.  I still have a ways to go to get back to where I want to be but it felt like one step in the right direction.

Stopped for my stashed gatorade at the little church, ran a little bit slower for that mile but picked it back up for the last 1.5 miles at about a 7:20 average.

3.33 mi, 28:53, 8:41 avg

Ran in foxwood this morning from my house and just past the golf course water fountain (classic 3 mile route and a little extra).  I thought it would be a slow run.  My feet were sore from yesterday so I started out easy and wasn't going to go far.  First mile was 10:17 but I got faster for the next two miles (8:24 and 7:54), and then galloped the rest of the way home.

No AC at home last night but yesterday was a little cooler than normal so inside only got to 80.  I opened the windows and turned on the fan, was a little humid but slept pretty good.  I could hear the frogs outside much more than usual.

Wires somehow got cut by the fan, AirHawk showed up the next day to fix it, I said it wasn't an emergency.  Wires got fixed (and shortened and a couple more ties added), now back to normal.

6.62 mi, 58:16, 8:48 avg, elev gain 81 feet

Missed running on Thursday due to getting into camp super late (about 2:00), and then rain in the morning as well as getting ready to leave for the drive back, but I probably could have at least squeezed in a couple of miles - and gotten some nice hills as well.  Thursday night drive back turned into much later than planned - getting back about 1:00, so ended up taking off Friday morning as well, maybe I needed it.

But, finally, ran on Saturday morning - although a little later (10:15 am start).  Did two loops around Westlake but in the opposite direction of the last time I did two loops.  Run ended up being better than expected and had a nice steady pick up in pace.  Apparently it is 20 feet less climbing when going in the opposite direction, not sure how or maybe I don't really understand the elevation gain statistic.  The route is a pretty steady up and down, but with much of it 10-20 feet I think it gets smoothed out.

When  I finished the two loops, decided that 5.8 miles was kind of lame for a "long run", so went back out and looped around the trail by the little lake for an addional 0.8 miles.

7.04 mi, 1:02:38, 8:53 avg

The goal today was to run steady, but relatively easy but not too slow.  First mile 9:16 and last mile 8:34.  Started with loop around the neighborhood and then t-shaped route along the golf course and back.  81 degrees at the end but stayed in the shade as much as I could.

It was a pretty good run.

7.17 mi, 1:03:30, 8:52 avg, elev gain 231 feet

I decided to start a structured marathon training plan after I ran across one from BAA.  It looked interesting with a good variety of workouts and different phases.  It's 20 weeks long but I decided to start in week 3.  Next, I'm going to look for a race around the time that the plan ends (a little bit into December).

The core of today's workout was 6 hill repeats, 300m up at 10k pace, 30 seconds rest, back down the hill at marathon pace, then 1 minute 30 second easy.

I found a hill in the neighorhood that looked like it was long enough, ran to the top then jogged back down to measure about 300m (0.19 miles as an approximation).  Also, picked a hill that was shaded.

I started the first one and didn't seem to be going fast enough but was soon on pace.  Goal pace was 6:48. 

Paces for the uphill repeats: 6:26, 6:25, 6:29, 6:29, 6:21, 6:12

Overall it was pretty fun and made the miles go by quickly.

Did 2 more "easy" miles for a cool down.

6.07 mi, 52:05, 8:35 avg, elev gain 107 feet

Day 2 of following the new schedule.  Easy run with planned range of 8:33-9:10 and secondary goal of not starting out too slow and not having to run too fast to get the desired average.  First mile 8:45, last and fastest mile 8:21.  Ran south down Lakeview to Westlak Blvd, onto Nebraska and then zig-zagged way until heading south for a little bit on the Pinellas Trail.  Took a slightly less zig-zaggy route on the way back.  I ended up at the faster end of the easy run range.  Miles 3 and 5 I held back a little bit on purpose.  Warm 81 degrees run but not bad as most of the route was shaded.  No real stops on today's run, carried a little 10oz handheld bottle with gatorade.

PM: 1.16 mi, 13:58, 12:01 avg

Took Stella to "hump day hustle run" at Longleaf.  I was not wearing running clothes so we just sort of jogged.  Got pretty sweaty but Stella didn't seem to mind.

8.17 mi, 1:07:28, 8:15 avg, elev gain 49 feet

Yesterday was a scheduled day off.  I was not able to run this morning but it always feels tempting to just skip the run in the evening, but I wasn't going to even though it had been kind of a rough day and it was still 86 degrees and typical Florida August humidity, but it was getting later and it at least seemed cooler.

Scheduled run was 2 easy, 2x2 miles at half marathon pace (7:08), 3 minute jog between and then 2 miles easy to get back home.  It was about 2 miles to the Pinellas trail and looked like there was a good two mile stretch at least before crossing any major roads.  First mile was better than expected and finished it in 6:54.  Next mile was 7:03, but just after I finished was realizing how much the heat had taken out of me.  But, just two more miles and then an easy jog home.  

Second repeat did not start out well, I really didn't think I'd be able to finish it.  I stopped, mentally regrouped and then got going again and decided to just try my best.  Made the next mile in 7:16, not too far off and then slowly got a little bit faster as a chipped away at the last mile and finished it in 7:05.

1. 6:54, 7:03

2. 7:16, 7:05

Run back home was good and saw a nice sunset when I stopped to scratch a bug bite.

6.09 mi, 52:21, 8:36 avg

Monday was a good run, Tuesday felt great, Wednesday seemed to just flow right, Thursday was an off day, but Friday was a little bit tough and I was worried that Saturday, although scheduled to be easy would feel slow and clunky and not easy at all.  Started later in the morning but had good cloud cover and a little bit of light rain at the end.  Run seemed to play out like Wednesday's run, not too slow of a start and kept a good mostly easy feeling about the run.  First mile was 9:02, last mile was 8:25.

11.46 mi, 1:41:15, 8:50 avg

Today's run was 60 minutes easy, followed by 10x(1min 5k/1min MP), then 20 minutes easy.  At first it didn't sound bad but then I realized it might be kind of rough.  84 degreees, some clouds and fairly shaded course mostly in Westlake Village.  First part easy felt a little harder and that was even with backing off the pace to adjust for heat index.

After the easy part, topped off my handheld, took a gel, then got started.  Speed portion did not go great, not a total disaster in that I did all 10 repeats, but fell way short of mainining "marathon pace" for the minutes between 5k pace.   I did what I could.  5k pace portions were not quite what I hoped for.  But the main thing was I did not give up.

Last 20 minutes of "easy pace" after the intervals felt better and was a little faster than the first 60 minutes of easy pace.

It definitely feels like I'm out of my rut.

9.33 mi, 1:21:11, 8:42 avg, elev gain 172 feet

Yesterday was rest day, which I needed, today was back to hitting it pretty hard.  2 easy, 5x1km @ 10K pace, then 5x200m @5k pace.  

It was already fairly warm even though it was just getting light, but it at least felt a little bit cool.  Shortly into the warmup I soon realized the cool feeling was deceptive.  The repeats didn't seem like they would be too bad, and looking over the numbers I was just a little bit slow on tow of the first three (goal pace was 6:48), but I felt like it wasn't going well, wanted to quit, but then ending up doing the last two a little bit too fast.  Other small snafu was that I could not figure out how to get my garmin laps set up for 1km, so had to settle for 0.65 miles, no biggie.

Paces: 6:52, 6:54, 6:48, 6:23, 6:23

200's were a little bit faster then goal pace but felt great.  When I finished the last 1k repeat, I was in no mood to crank out the 200's, but fortunately, they were on the schedule so I did themm and glad I stuck it out.

The run was a little hillier than I would have liked but I wanted to stay in Westlake so I'd be near the nice water fountain outside the pool with the very cold water.

And in very sad news, I actually kicked a squirrel this morning.  Of course by accident, but still.  They usually do that indecisive move of running one way or the other really fast until finally getting out of the way.  Well, this poor little squirrel was not quite as fast and was taking a more casual approach assuming I'd go around him/her and I assumed we'd miss each other.  But we didn't, my foot made contact with the squirrel, putting the little creature slightly airborne but not too high, before landing and running away.

6.07 mi, 57:14, 9:26 avg

Ran with Joe this morning in the neighborhood and out along the golf course.  We can see actual work being done on the Starkey Gap trail with stakes and silt fences up.

Today was a scheduled easy run of 4-6 miles.  Plan calls for "easy" pace of 8:33-9:10 (assuming I'm in shape to train for between a 3:15 and 3:30 marathon).  I'm ok with the 9:26 average since it is easy day and some might say that 8:33-9:10 is not actually an easy pace.

Tomorrow calls for 6-7 mile "Aerobic run", 8:00-8:40 range.  

7.09 mi, 57:37, 8:08 avg, elev gain 116 feet

Another run completed from the new schedule, 6-7 mile "Aerobic Run" with goal pace between j8:00 and 8:40.  I wanted to get a first mile under 8:40 so I made sure to do a good little warm up routine with dynamic stretching, lunges, jumping jacks and a little bit of jogging.  Weather was pretty good this morning, just a degree or two cooler to make it not feel so warm.  Despite this, it felt like I was stuck at 8:42 for about 3/4 of the first mile, but got a little bit faster with the same effort after getting over the Woodcutter hill.  I ran past and through downtown Palm Harbor to the Pinellas trail where I had to weave a little bit through the morning school kid commute of kids and moms (and a few dads) walking to school, it wasn't bad, kind of nice to see, and the crossing guards where the trail crossed the streets made sure the cars stopped for me.

Did each of the miles a little faster except for mile 6 which was one second slower than mile 5, possibly on purpose.

I'm starting to feel those old memories of actually following a training schedule rather than training by feel and experience (both of which have some merit).  I have those up and down feelings of dread toward hard workouts followed by either the feeling of accomplishment or the let down of coming up a little bit short and then regrouping to try again.

After the run, cut the grass in the front yard which was getting kind of long due to missed windows of free time to cut it due to random rain showers.

Tomorrow was originally a scheduled day off but I'm going to do the long run so I don't have to worry about it on Saturday when Thomas has his first cross country meet.  He's trained hard (and smart) all summer logging more miles than any of the other kids on the team.  Last year he placed third place for the school at most meets behind two senior boys that have graduated - until the end of the season when several kids had caught up to him and passed his times.  I hope his hard work pays off, it takes some courage to go all in like that instead of not putting in the effort and say, yeah I could have done that if I had wanted to.

10.44 mi, 1:28:41, 8:30 avg, elev gain 140 feet

Partial failure.

This run was supposed to be Saturday's run but I didn't want to have to run super early alone in the dark before Thomas's meet or after the meet when it would get hot.  Scheduled run was 1.5 warm up, 4x3miles @ MP, with 3 min rest between, followed by 1.5 warm down.  Wanted to start a little earlier but got delayed and started about 7:20, but still felt pretty good starting out.  Cheated a little by finishing my warmup at the top of a hill.

I ended up not running the 15ish miles and did not finish 4x3miles.  Did the first three after the warmup at about a 7:50 pace, would like to have been faster but I'd be happy with a 7:50 average pace marathon, so ok.  First set started out ok with 7:44 for first mile but I was feeling really worn down.  The mile was actually slower for most of it until I bargained that I'd stop, regroup and try again.  Could not get back to goal pace, it suddenly felt difficult to maintain any pace.  

There was a fountain nearby, but not chilled, so drinking the water was not refreshing but pouring some one me helped.  At about 7.5 miles into the run, decided to take a left hand turn off of the trail early and head back to the house.  Other option was to gut out the next 7.5 miles to at least make my long run goal.  But, I decided on finishing early and trying again on Sunday which was supposed to be 7-10 miles easy.

Summertime running with goal paces can be challenging, summer heart rate training is much easier feeling.

Planned day off so I could watch Thomas race his first cross country meet of the season.  This was the Buccaneer XC Jamboree (combined Varsity and JV) for several area schools hosted at Gulf High School.  

He did very well with a new cross country PR of 18:13.3, holding onto third place overall throughout the race and was first for his school.  Course was three loops (although not the exact same loop) around Gulf HS campus with last 100m on the school's track.  One mile and two mile markers were near each other, each one with time clocks.  He came in at 5:33 for the first mile, 5:52 for the second mile, and then about 6:00 average for the last 1.1  Weather was kind of hot, course was twisty.

His hard work paid off and I hope this season is full of accomplishment and growth.

15.68 mi, 2:09:18, 8:15 avg

Redo of Friday's attempted run.  Not ideal conditions for running but passable.  I had three ideas where to run: 1. try Palm Harbor again, less driving but warmer by a few degrees, 2. run on Starkey Blvd, a little cooler but a little more driving, or 3. Drive to Brooksville, almost an hour away but would be less than 75 degrees.

I decided on Starkey Blvd.  Plan was to finish the 1.5 mile warm up before sunrise and start the MP miles before sunrise but while getting light out. Got there a little bit late.  Ran into Cynthia, Joe, and Renee.  They were going to run 1 mile easy , followed by 1.5 miles at 7:40 pace, and then onto some other stuff.  So, I ran 1/2 mile while waiting for everyone and joined them with another 1 mile easy and then ran their 1.5 miles with them.  This helped me a lot to ease into the faster pace without the stress of setting my own pace.  Said good bye and continued on another 1.5 miles at the same pace.

One 3 mile repeat down, 3 more to go.  Kept on running north and into Starkey Park, onto the bike trail and ran the one mile from the Sun to Pluto and then a little beyond, turning back with about 1/2 mile left so I'd end up at the water stop during the 2-3 minute break.  After making it for the second set I knew I was capable of finishing.  The water jug at the water stop was full and cold, that helped tremendously.

Got going again, ticking off the miles, 1, 2, 3.  Third mile was getting tough and I slowed a little bit.

For the final set, I gave myself a small cheat and stopped 1.5 miles in, stopping at the bridge to stretch.  Found some new life in my legs, then finished up the second half of the fourth set.

I pulled it off somehow and redeemed my failed Friday run, taking the chance that when I quit on Friday I would actually try again and would not quit this time.

Splits for the 4x3 mile sets:

1. 7:36, 7:33, 7:28
2. 7:31, 7:34, 7:32
3. 7:37, 7:24, 7:40
4. 7:30, 7:35, 7:21

Stopped back at my car for my gatorade slushie then finished up the 1.5 mile warm down.  Banged my head on the car door when I opened it and was standing too close, giving myself a small slice on my eyebrow.