They all can't be "easy" runs.

5:30 am .75 miles. Didn't have it. Turned around. Ran home. 1.5 total.

Spent the day stewing over the fact that I didn't have it this morning. I dislike both teams in the superbowl, so I went running at the start of the 2nd quarter. I didn't watch the first quarter, either. I figured there would be no one on the roads, so the timing was perfect.

16.25 miles. Legacy Trail to Circus Bridge and back. 2:10:16. 8:01 pace. 1:05:01 at the half. Perhaps the most evenly split long run I have ever done? It wasn't easy, but it was never really pushing, either. 67 degrees. Shirtless.

5:45 pm. 3 recovery miles around the marina. Kind of windy. The legs feel better after running this.

5.5 miles. Hood Route. 6 am start. 45 deg. 63% hum. 33 d.p. That moon this morning was really bright, and really low. I kept thinking my shadow was coming from car headlights. That was different. 

5.5 miles. Hood Route. 6 am start. 53 deg. 74% hum. 48 d.p. Track stuff later. 

Track Stuff: 6:15 pm start. 73 deg., 59% hum., 64 d.p. 1.5 up + Strides. 5 repeat miles with 4 minutes rest. 1 down. Miles were 6:09, 6:12, 6:20, 6:16, and 6:15. It felt way more humid than what the weatherman says. I finished soaked like it was summertime. Silent backwards running board shorts guy was there again. Good workout, I think.

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 5:30 pm start. 63 deg., 83% hum., 58 d.p.

4:45 am start. Legacy Trail to Venice Ave. and back. 50 deg. 94% hum., 49 d.p. Runfail! Emergency bathroom stop at halfway, then turn around and soft-J jog home. I don't know what this means for tomorrow.

10 miles. Legacy Trail. Laurel Road to just south of Circus Bridge and back. 75 Deg. 46% hum., 53 d.p. Clear, Blue Skies! Awesome weather! Boy #2 paced me on his bike. No injuries. No crashes. No GI issues. Boy #1 and Spouse stayed home. They both still feel rotten. As bad as I feel about skipping church because everyone was sick, I have to feel pretty good about how well this run went.

7.5 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail and back. 5:45 am start. 57 deg., 75% hum., 58 d.p. Slow. On the way back, a woman stopped her car to let a family of otters cross the street. Those things are way more graceful in water. Cars were backed up and honking. 

Then, at work, we designed a new playground next to the Ringling Bridge. I was out on site this morning, meeting with the contractor and the sub that will be installing the rubberized surfacing. I was just about to go back to  the office, when some guy jumped off the bridge. When I got back to the office, the Sarasota PD's facebook page had an explanation of what happened, and why traffic was backed up. That story got 5 "Likes"! What, in that story, is like-able? 

Gonna be a weird week. 

Boy #2, Spouse, and I have the stomach flu. Boy #1 had it Saturday - Sunday. 

3.5 miles. 6 am start. Slow but good form. Very nice Sunrise over steaming lakes. 45 deg., 52% hum., 43 d.p. 1st run back from the plague. Sore throat remains, but I can live with it. We fly out a week from today. Everything is fine. everything is fine. everything is fine. 

12.9 miles. Legacy Trail to Venice Avenue and back, 11:00 am start. Fantastic weather. Low 50's start. Mid 50's finish. Clear skies. 10 mph winds. Nice. I still have a bit of a sore throat, and a slight cough. This has been a wacky week.

Race simulation run. Ha!

5.5 miles. Hood route. 2 pm start. 66 deg. 94% hum. 59 d.p. Flat. Really smooth running.

Race day weather forecast calls for 46 deg., and raining. So, this should set me up well.

7.5 miles. Hood Route. 6 am start. 51 deg., 92% hum., 51 d.p. 5.5 easy with the last 2 at 6:46, 6:45.

5.5 miles. Hood route. 2 pm start. 66 deg. 100% hum. 64 d.p. Hot enough for shirtless. Still spitting like a mad man.

5.5 miles hood route. 6 am start.

Then we flew to Birmingham, Flight went smooth. 20 something degrees and windy as all get out when we landed. We drove immediately to Vulcan Park. Toured the statue (largest steel statue in the world?) and the museum there. The statue is on a hill overlooking the city. You stand on metal grates @ 60' off the ground. Spouse and my Mother in Law were afraid to go out in the wind on the platform. The boys were not. Then we went to the hotel and then to the Big mall (43rd largest mall in the US - yeah! Birmingham!) Where we killed some time at the awesome Lego store.

In Birmingham. Went to Barber Motorsports Museum. 1400 vintage motorcycles and several hundred collector cars. Toured the area where they refurbish the historic bikes. On the test track out back, they were testing Porches and Mercedes Vans. The kids liked it, but it might have dragged on a bit long. MIL bought the kids a toy motorcycle an a toy car.

Then we went to a pretty impressive Bass Pro Shops. We were eating lunch inside, when it started snowing outside. This is the first time my boys have seen snow. They ran out the back door of the store to get out in the snow, accidentaly setting off the alarm system! The snow quickly turned to sleet. It made an interesting noise coming through the trees, and hitting the ground.

Then to the expo. This is the first time I have brought family to the expo. Tht might not happen again. Way too much time and money. Oh well, live and learn.

Then to visit Spouse's Great Aunt and Uncle. They live next to a creek. So the kids went exploring the creek. I can not explain the wide-eyed looks of amazement, when they held icicles. THERE IS ICE! AND IT IS JUST OUTSIDE! YOU CAN TOUCH IT! Floridians! Then the kids great-great Aunt and Uncle gave us the most Alabama dinner ever. Pulled pork, mac and cheese, baked beans, sweet tea, and golden flake potato chips.

3 miles around the hotel, before anyone got up. Still really cold and really windy. Like, stand you up wind. The weatherman predicts low 50's for race day, and rain. (Turns out he was right.)

Then we took the kids to Red Mountain for the zip line tour. MIL was not interested in hiking a mountain in high winds, so she went to her aunt and uncle's house. You have to hike for @ 20 minutes on uneven terrain to get to the base. I had some feeling that this might have an adverse effect  on my race the next day. But, I most likely, will never go back to Birmingham, so I better make this trip count. This zip line tour was the real purpose of the trip anyway, according to the boys. We got there early, and hiked further up the mountain (also not a good idea) to kill some time. The zip line tour was neat. In order to keep your momentum up on a couple of zip lines, you had to pull your knees up to your chest, like you were doing a cannonball. I had sore abs at the end of the tour. Spouse was a trooper. She was up in the trees with us, and the trees were swaying in the wind. A couple of times the boys got stuck on on the slight slope zip lines, because they didn't weigh enough, so the guide had to go out and retrieve them. We all started quoting Forest Gump, saying "And I showed her how to Dangle!" It was pretty funny.

Then boy #2 and I did the MEGA-ZIP line. You climb a tower @ 80 feet up, and you zip line really fast for longer than a football field. The dad-son combo behind us were bragging about therir previous zip line adventures. "So you're good at gravity, huh? Awesome." We got to do the MEGAZIP twice, and it was awesome. Boy #2 was satisfied that this was a successful vacation.   

Then back to pick up MIL. Then we had dinner at "Nothing but Noodles." I got my pre-race Spaghetti and Meatballs. I slept pretty well the night before the race.

We got to the race @ 6:00 am. It was raining. Not a heavy downpour, but enough to make folks huddle under awnings. I lined up half way between the 7 minute pace and the 8 minute pace signs. I talked to a couple of guys that were doing the half. I was prepared for the rain with my garbage bag raincoat. Those guys were not. I may have learned some stuff over the last couple of races.

The course is a 2 lap course, with some serious hills (by floridian standards) between 4-10, and again at 17-23. The half and the full start at the same time. (Also, this race had relay racers, that ended up having a wierd impact on me. When a dude flies by you on fresh legs at mile 18, it is a bit of a kick in the gut.) When I have run races like this before, there is a proportion of @ 2/3 Half-ers, 1/3 Full runners. This race was more like 5/6 half-ers, so I knew there was a chance that I would be alone on the second loop.  So, again!, I misfired my watch at the start. This is a lesson I have not learned. Spouse says "Man, you need to get a handle on that!" I have done this enough times, that it is almost comedy. The race started at 7:03, so when I looked at my watch at mile 1, it said 7:09, which is what I thought was my pace. When 2 guys running next to me later said they were running 6:45 pace, I re-checked my watch, and realized it was set for Date / Time. So I ran the whole race blind, again. That makes 3 marathons with no watch, BTW! I felt like I was moving at a comfortable manageble pace, but as ususal, I was faster than I wanted. I rained for the first 5 miles. My socks were soaked. At @ mile 14 I knew I was in trouble, but I held on. It was almost worse knowing the hills that were coming up, but I kept on pushing, and never stopped. The worst hill is the last one at mile 9/22ish. For about 2 miles, I was trading places with this guy wearing all black. we rounded that near-hairpin corner at mile 22, he looked up the hill, and just stopped. I saw him later at the post race party (Which was great).

I have a church function to go to now, so I'm going to finish this later.

Ah, dang it! I just finished typing it and lost it!

~~Okay, if this doesn’t work, I give up.
Nutrition: usually I take a gu packet every 40 minutes, drink water on the first half, drink gatorade on the second half. Something went vurpy after the second gu, so I stopped with those altogether, and alternated Gatorade and water at the remaining stops.
This is the most spectator-friendly course I have ever run. There was an opportunity for my family to see me at several points along the race course. I saw them at the half. However, with the rain, they spent the majority of the time inside the hall where the post-race party was, watching for me on the big screen monitor. It all worked out, because they became experts in the BBQ there, and had some great advice.
This is the most Y’all yelling crowd I have ever experienced. “Y’all are looking good!” “Keep it up, Y’all!” I had to laugh after a while.
Splits: Notice the standard decline from 7’s to 8’s.
10k     00:42:46    7:01 pace
15k     01:04:54    7:23 pace
25k     01:48:27    7:20 pace
30k     02:12:09    7:39 pace
35k     02:44:48    8:04 pace
Finish 03:16:27    7:55 pace
This is what I do. Another “Well, given the circumstances..” race. It’s always something. I’m not sure I would have done much better, had I correctly started my watch, or if it were not raining. This is just where I am right now. Maybe things will line up again someday for a PR. Right now, it is all right to be looking forward to that. I got a bit spoiled early on, when the PR’s came easily.
I promised the boys we would go swimming in the hotel pool after the race, even if the heater was still broken. I made it to mid thigh. It was stupid cold, but great therapy. Don’t call family services on me, but my 2 lunatics went swimming for about a minute. It was great watching them psych themselves up to jump.
If there is a PR to be awarded here, it is to spouse. She is really nailing it with these family vacations, built around my silly hobby. It’s like I find the most generic town, and say I want to run a race there. Then she figures out all of the coolest stuff to schedule for the kids, on the days surrounding the race. Another trip where I’m left saying “Who would have thought Birmingham was so cool?” Anyhow, we went out for sushi after the race. She loves that stuff, I don’t. It was kind of her victory dinner.
Savannah is next, and I just realized how Forrest Gump-y this year is going to be for me! 

7.5 miles. Hood route. Super easy. 6 am start. low 50's and humid. My left calf is still a bit tender.