Had planned to do 6 on the TM tonight, but got up there and the fitness center was locked up tight. No TM for me. I was about to give up on the run, it being 7 p.m., dark and pretty cold already, but I remembered that I had mapped out a 4.75-mile loop about a year ago on the USATF website that I had never actually run. So I came back, looked it up, noticed a couple of places I could tack on some extra mileage, and set out. First, I remembered pretty quick why I'd never actually run this route. It is nothing but HILLS. Actually, the uphills proved not too much of a problem, but the downhills were pounding my thighs pretty hard, especially after 10 miles of Oucho yesterday. Even with that, I felt pretty good, and I threw in another little detour later in the run to add some extra distance. Wasn't sure how far I had run (my Garmin was out of juice, not having been recharged after yesterday's run). So I got in the car and measured it, both with the odometer and the partially charged Garmin. The result: 7.31. Didn't sleep too well last night due to coughing, but I've felt better today. Hopefully the crud is finally subsiding, but I did get some Mucinex at the store this afternoon to help push it along. If the real problem with my BQ near-miss at Memphis was a lack of quad strength due to lack of hills, running this sucker a few times will help fix that. | 