Getting back to Boston

94 laps at MAFC this morning. Back and legs both very stiff at the beginning, so started very slowly. Took a stretch break after one mile, felt much better afterward, but still was barely under 9:00 pace. Until about five miles left, when some kid jumped on the track, started running and passed me. He got about 40 yards out front, slowed a bit, and I decided I was going to slowly reel him in. Which I did in about a half mile. When I passed him, he quickly stopped, but I kept going at the same pace, which felt about MPish. That took me the last 1.8 to the finish, roughly, at ~MP. Felt pretty good, actually. Total of 7.09.

Right after the run, T called me; Pupe had arrived to move him up to UA. So I showered, went home, we loaded the vehicles, took them to Fayetteville, unloaded and carried everything up two flights of stairs to his apartment (and then much of it up more stairs to his bedroom). A fairly concentrated 45-minute workout, but amazingly the back behaved. My foot slipped off the curb as I was carrying T's big TV back to the car (no place for it), but somehow I neither fell nor dropped the TV. I couldn't do that again if I tried.

Called the fix-up elves for more of their magic, plus I have a promise from Kay of a meeting and some other options I'm considering on my own. Just have to carry through with them. Somebody's out there; I'm pretty sure of that.

I'd planned to do 20 tomorrow, but I have to take the Prius in to get the dashboard display screen replaced. Maybe I run afterward, maybe I wait to Wednesday. We'll see how long it takes. After 7 plus a move, I'm quite pooped right now.

Easy 7.5 on the mill. Legs felt better afterward than before. Briefly thought about going ahead and doing the 20 today, the legs felt so good. We'll see tomorrow if I should have.

Some of this run might actually have been at MP, but if it was, it would have been the first eight miles or so. After that, the legs got very heavy very quickly. Definitely an HTFU type of run. Even had problems with the cartilage in the left knee for the last four miles, but sucked it up and got it done anyway. All I can say is I got the run done. Garmin wasn't charged and I didn't have a watch, but I think the run took roughly three hours. Will I be ready to run a good race in 38 days? Dunno.

Going to run with Cindy tomorrow. We'll see how that goes -- and how the legs work at 5 a.m. after 20 today. Don't think I need to worry about holding back to stay with her.

Up early to run with Cindy and two of her friends on Phoenix. Thunderstorm had blown through earlier, so it was fairly humid, but cool with a bit of a breeze. Really a nice morning for a run. Scenery wasn't bad either :) We ran about 9:45 pace going out, about perfect for a recovery run, then Cindy and Rose, I think her name is, put the hammer down for the last mile and I couldn't let them run off and leave me. So the last mile was sub-9. That's OK. Legs feel pretty good. I'll do a second run later, probably on the mill at MAFC. I'd like to get somewhere over 70 miles again this week.

Second run in the books, 6.42 on the mill in exactly an hour. Or should I say, I ran for an hour and the distance happened to be 6.42.

Easy 106 laps at MAFC. Don't know how easy, because I didn't wear a watch, but didn't seem to be any strain. I'm guessing it was probably 9:30ish average.

Went to Chaffee this morning and ran with the WAR crew after not much sleep. Temps were nice, around 70, although very muggy after overnight rain. I got 9.36 done at reasonable pace. May do a double this afternoon; this didn't seem to take much out of me other than that I'm ready for a nap. As it is, up to 62 for the week. With a double, 75 or even 80 is a possibility for the week.

Run 2: Easy run on the track at MAFC, squeezed in before they closed at 5. Got me to 15 miles for the day, but felt much easier that if I'd done 15 all at once. Three-hour nap didn't hurt either.