They all can't be "easy" runs.

3.5 miles. hood route. Back to the ankle brace and heel lifts. 10 am start. Sweated out yesterday's really really bad diet, including, but not limited to; scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, hoppin john, corned beef, cabbage, olives, sweet pickles, summer sausage with cheese, salted peanuts, all types of chip, and an obscene amount of ranch dressing.

Basically, I ran out "the Blerch" this morning.

5 pm. 1.5 miles. I met up with Brian, as he was doing his track stuff. I ran part of his cool down with him.

10.2 miles. Legacy Trail with the boys on bikes. 9:15 am start. 81 deg. 74% hum. 72 d.p.

Then I ran around the block (0.42 miles) with Boy #2, because I promised Matt S. I would break 40 miles this week.

Then we went swimming.

I believe there is a window of opportunity that is very small to do this with my boys. The Legacy Trail is pretty crowded. And young boys have all of the confidence that they are in control, and will not endanger themselves or others. But as a parent, it is a little nerve-racking. So I am usually barking out instructions, etc., as I go. As soon as I am comfortable with their abilities, it seems they are too fast for me, and are only going slow to be nice to me. So, on the way back today, I gave them a little more slack than before, and had them wait for me at key locations. Since we seem to be incapable of completing this trip without a wreck, Boy #2 had a solo crash @ 1/4 mile from the end. You know, just because. He didn't get too beat up from it. A nice man showed up right after he crashed, and asked him "Where are your parents?" He said "He's way back there. The one running. The ONLY one running!" The guy waited until I got there. I didn't even stop. I ran right by everyone. The boys hopped on ther bikes and finished. I don't know the point of all of that, I just thought it was interesting.

7.5 miles. Hood Route. 8:15 am start. 74 deg., 90% hum., 70 dp. Slow.

5.5 miles. Hood Route. Nice moon and sunrise. 58 deg.? Really? It didn't feel like it.

5.5 miles. Hood Route. 56 deg.

6:15 pm. At track. 2 up., 3 min. rest., 400 in 1:21, 3 min. rest., 400 in 1:23. 2 down. It's been a while since I ran something other than 'easy.' I was due, and the Achilles feels okay. I wanted to start easing back into this stuff, and I think this workout served its purpose. I'll add more reps / distance next week. When I got to the track, there were 2 guys running the wrong way. One of them was going very fast. I never saw that guy before. They were there for my warm up laps. Since I didn't want a head on crash, I went the wrong way, too.

Yesterday - I was at a conference in Clearwater - No running.

Today - new shoes test run! 4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. Kind of windy. no pains! I'm still a bit out of shape, but this is going in the right direction.

12.9 miles. Legacy Trial to Venice Avenue and back. 6:15 am start. 1:47:27. 8:20 pace. Fairly constant pace. Second run in the new shoes. No ankle brace, no heel lifts. Things seem to be going well. I would like to go for 10 miles Sunday, but I don't want to push it. We will see. Then, off to watch Boy #2 in the first soccer game in the new I9 league.

3.5 miles. Hood route. I was set up to go for more, but I didn't have it today, Achilles feels fine, but the rest of me is getting really old, really fast. I have a meeting tonight with some other runners to plan out an event. I might try to get some miles in after that.

7.5 miles. Hood Route. In the rain. 7 pm start. 66 deg. It Felt pretty smooth.

7.5 miles. Hood Route. 6 am start. 63 deg. 1:04:16. 8:34 pace. I was about 5 miles into my run, when a car stalled across the street from me. I went across Albee Farm Road, and pushed the woman’s car @ 25 yards onto a side street. I have been running the same route for  4 years and 11 months, and have never had a car stall next to me. It is a sign.

Also, in "ridiculous song stuck in my head" news, I recently found out that Peter Gabriel has described "Shock the Monkey" as "a love song" that examines how jealousy can release one's basic instincts; the monkey is not a literal monkey, but a metaphor for one's feelings of jealousy. I have had that stupid song stuck in my head for nearly a week, and I STILL DON’T GET IT!

pm: At track. 2 up + strides. 1600 in 6:03, 4 min. rest, 800 in 2:56, 3 min. rest, 400 in 1:21, 3 min. rest + slow jog 200M, 200 in 34.5, 2 down. 65 deg.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 6 am start. Slow. Last night beat me up a little. 59 deg. Heavy mist. The good news is that I finally got that song out of my head. The bad news is that this was on TV when I got up this morning, so now I'm stuck with this: http://youtu.be/w1FLZPFI3jc                    SUPER DUPER!

16.25 miles. Legacy Trail to Circus Bridge and back. 48 deg. 5:45 am start. Barely beat the 9 minute man. I haven't run this far in one shot, since September. I'm pretty unhappy about the pace, but with a month to go to race day, I've got to start building it up somewhere.

In my humble opinion, these were perfect running conditions. Not cold enough for layers, not hot enough for sweat to drip, light but not annoying breeze, fantastic sunrise over the bays - Perfect. I just wish I had my act together a little bit more.

Then to soccer. Boy #2's team won 4-3. Yeah, he scored the game-winner. There will be no living with that boy after this. I had to widen the door frame to get his head in the house.

7.5 miles hood route + .7 mile run through new neighborhod. 7:15 am start. Slow. Have I ever run a "tempo?" Hmmm...

Spouse took the boys to the Ringling Museum of Art, since they had the day off from school. My 8 year old kept covering his eyes, saying "Everything here is inappropriate!"

7.5 miles. Hood Route. 5:45 am start. 57:49. 7:42 pace. 53 deg., 85% hum., 51 d.p. 

7.5 miles. Hood Route. 5:45 am start. 58:34. 7:48 pace. 55 deg., 93% hum., 55 d.p. 

Have mercy baby, and hand me downs. It was just a few years ago, you'd hand me ups and map right out of town. 

Track stuff tonight. Repeat miles. My mom is timing me. It should be fun. 

Yasir, I did not bring my A game to the track. A bunch of stuff went wrong, I had trouble getting my head in the right place. So, this is what I ended up with:

2 up + strides. 3 min rest. 800 in less than 3:00 (1st lap 1:20). 3 min rest. 1600 in 6:09. 3 min rest. 1600 in 6:18. 3 min rest. 800 in 3:03. 2 down.

5.5 miles. hood route. 6 am start. Slow. 59 deg., 92% hum., 59 d.p. I'm taking Friday off, and then Saturday going for my first 20+ miler (I think) since Okoboji Marathon last July. Saturday should be Neat-O!

Oh yeah, it's one month to race day!

20.75 miles. Legacy Trail to Caspersen beach and back. 5 am start. slow. rainy, windy, etc.

7.5 miles, hood route. 6:30 am start. 57:01. 7:36 pace. 29:13 on the way out. 50 deg. 95% hum. 50 d.p. Best run in a very long time.

3.5 miles. Hood Route. 6 am start. 67 deg. Since Derunzo is getting a foot of snow today, I decided to run this shirtless. Joke's on me. It started pouring at halfway. Spouse was kind enough to leave a towel on the porch for me. 

Before this weekend, I have never seen a coyote while running. People have warned me about them, and I kind of laughed it off. But I was within 10' of one on Saturday, and @ 30 yards from one today. I'm starting to get a bit creeped out. Before I saw the one this morning, I could hear a big pack singing. Or, maybe it was 3 of them. Who knows? And who knows how far away they were? It's hard to tell. 

PM: 4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 33:21. 7:15 pace. Very windy. White caps on the bay.

5.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. 50 deg. 76% hum. Slow. 

Rattletrap - Lose those stones, man. Have a speedy recovery. 

7.5 miles. Hood Route. 6:15 am start. Slow. 45 deg., 45% hum.,  38 d.p. Song of the run: http://youtu.be/tuJjFL-E2Lk

Track stuff later. 

6:15 pm. At track. Goal was repeat miles - slower pace (6:20ish), but more consistent than what I have been doing. 1.5 up + strides. Miles were 6:18, 6:17, 6:24, and 6:20. 4 minutes rest between. 1 down. First lap of the first mile, and last lap of the last mile were 1:30. (Usually, I go way too fast on the first lap.) This was not a killer workout, but I think it is a pretty good bench mark. I might change my mind about that tomorrow.

5.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. Slow. 45 deg., 69% hum., 40 d.p. A licky boom boom down. 

Friday off. 12.9 (hopefully snappy pace) miles Saturday (I am substitute coach for Boy #2's soccer game, so I can't go longer.). Then, I don't know what for Sunday. Sunday is 3 weeks until race day. 

Also, I was thinking about SlowJoe being upset with "bonkathon" at his last marathon. And I thought that I had really never looked at my half splits in a race to break things down. So after some research, I got this: 

                       1st half     2nd half    FINISH   split

U. of Okobji  1:38:39     1:41:02     3:19:41   + 2:23'

Boston           1:30:44     1:43:22     3:14:06    +12:38'

Louisiana      1:31:40     1:40:46      3:12:26    + 9:06'

and then this little gem:

MCM           1:49:19      2:28:59      4:18:18    + 39:40'

Don't ask me about that race, like ever. 

I'll bet that 3:00:10 looks pretty good right now, Joe!

10.2 miles. Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. Not as quick as I was hoping for. I just didn't have it. Also, I overslept, so I had to cut the run a bit short. 49 degrees. 6:30 am start. 1:24:21. 8:16 pace.

Then Boy #2's soccer team was DESTROYED (5-0) at the game. My coaching career will be short lived, it seems. Everyone was a good sport, and played very hard until the final whistle, so I have that to hang my hat on. I knew NO ONE'S name on the team, so everyone got nick names. Nice shot, pink socks! Way to go, spider hat! Yeah, I was that coach.