They all can't be "easy" runs.

10.2 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to colonia and back. 80 deg., 69% hum., 73 d.p. It went bad. Way too hot and too long to run without water. What was I thinking? 

7.5 miles. 3 trails + 3.5 hood + 1 trails. 9 am start. 

At the beginning of the year, I started looking around for a marathon to run in the spring. I figured 3-4 months was enough time to build up to get ready for a race. Before 3 weeks ago, I had never even heard of Rehoboth Beach. But then, looking into the marathon they have there, I thought it was pretty cool, and decided to sign up. I signed up yesterday. And then there was a 24 hour news cycle, where everyone was talking about Rehoboth Beach, and stuggling with the pronunciation of that as much as I do. 

PM: at track. 1.5 up. (5) x 800m w/ 400m recoveries. Recoveries run first. 1.5 down. 3:21, 3:27, 3:25, 3:21, 3:24.

4 on the trails. The easy runs are feeling a bit faster. 

16.25 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to circus bridge and back. 54 deg. at run start. 64 deg. at run finish. 9:40 pace overall. 8:15 pace for 3 of the last 4. felt better / smoother/ more in control than last week. You've got to love the process and not the goal. The process is working.... slowly. 

6 miles on Venetian waterway park. Venice Avenue Bridge to Circus Bridge and back. At sunset. Great weather. Started rough, but finished strong. The goal was to continue to the north bridge, and then do bridge (hill) sprints and jog back to venice avenue bridge. That didn't happen. maybe next week. 

7.75 miles. hood route to legacy trail over the SWOM bridge and back. 10 am start. 75 degrees. 

At track. 2 x 2 miles. My additude is garbage right now. About running, and most other things too. I've got to turn this around soon. Life is good. I've got no reason to walk around surly.

3 on the trails. 3.5 hood route. 1 on the trails. 75 degrees. 

PM: at track. 1.5 up. (6) x 800m w/ 400m recoveries. Recoveries run first. 1.5 down. 3:10, 3:12, 3:18, 3:23, 3:20, 3:21.

Pop went into the hospital again today. It was 12 hours at venice hospital before they shipped him up to Sarasota. I was there for the last 4 of those. Venice has been full since the day it opened. That place is like a shipping depot for sick humans. It is a big line of ambulances just taking people to other hospitals. No one in my family will ever go back there willingly. Drive an extra 20 minutes to get care at a place that actually treats you. 

Spent some time with Pop in Sarasota Hospital. He was "combative" before I got there, aparently. So my visit was with a drugged out sleeping guy. I'm sure he didn't even know I was there. 

14.25 mile run fail. Goal was 20.75. Hood route to legacy trail to caspersen beach back to venice avenue, before I gave up. 70 degrees at the start. 80 degrees at the end. 75% hum., 71 d.p. The 20 mph wind out of the south wrecked me. I ran 6 miles straight into that. I was hoping the turn around would help me more than it did. Mentally, I didn't have it today. The early half of this week was light on miles. I'm going to try to change that next week so that I'm not running so many miles late in the week. 

Now I'm going to shower, eat something, and go back to the hospital to see Pop. 

AM: 3 on the trails. then 3.5 miles hood route. super windy.

PM: 0.5 up. 10 X 0.15 hill (bridge) sprints, jog downhill recoveries. 0.5 down. Still windy.

Then drove to sarasota hospital to see dad. He's doing a lot better. But they still don't know what is causing the problem. Watched the pregame and kickoff with pop and most of the first half. Made it home by the halftime show.

3 on the trails. 3.5 hood route. 1 on the trails. 63 deg. no wind. 

7.5 miles. Hood Route to legacy trail and back. 1:00:40. 8:05 pace. 73 deg. 

4 on the trails. Pop is getting out of the hospital today. 

4 on the trails. Noon time. 

6 PM: at track. 1.5 up. (7) x 800m w/ 400m recoveries. Recoveries run first. 1.5 down. 3:15, 3:20, 3:17, 3:18, 3:12, 3:15, 3:16. Last week there were 2 walkers with trekking poles bogarting lanes 1 and 2. I went a bit later this week so as to avoid that situation. Upside - just me at the track until the cool down, when a jogger that was on her cell phone for her whole run showed up. Downside- some of the next door softball fields did not have their lights on, so most of this run was pretty dark. 

It's funny, I remembered a post from Mike from a long time ago, where he was at the track, and he was complaining about the folks he was running with "dogging the recoveries." So every recovery run, I kept thinking - 

Don't dog the recovery. Mike doesn't like it when you dog the recoveries. 

I did not dog the recoveries. 

2 months to race day. I like the improvement, but the pressure is on now. 

20.75 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail over Circus Bridge to Caspersen and back. Slow, and I mean slow. Like 10:20 pace. I've finished marathons in less time than this! But instead of crashing like last week, I wanted to make sure I could finish the run. Paces are next week's problem. Slight wind out of the east, which only was a pain for 2 of the last 4 miles. 

I went to the boat show in punta gorda. My oldest boy has a job he started about 2ish weeks ago. I met his new boss that spent an hour telling me how hard of a worker my kid is. That is music to a dad's ears. 

went out to run and had a very sharp pain on the top of my right foot, up near where I tie the laces. The interwebs says that this means I am either tying my shoes too tight, or running for the last 2 months in $30 shoes was not smart. So I went out, after re-tying my shoes and ran up and down the street. Most of the pain went away, but I don't want to risk it for a run of any serious length. I think I'm going to take the day off, and get some better shoes for tomorrow. 

4 on the trails. foot pain seems to be done with. I think I just tied my shoes too tight on Saturday. I never got new shoes, but that will be coming shortly. So I'm back in business tomorrow, with my plan. I have to fight the urge to try to make up the miles I missed earlier in the week. 

4 on the trails at 10 am. Hot. Foot pain goes away quickly, but I'm still not out of the woods yet. 

Pm. At track. 1.5 up and pulled the plug. Not because of pain, but because I'm a big coward. Also, I mentally punted this week, because of the bad start to the week. I got new balance fresh foam 880s today. They're awesome. And I got to be the starter for 3 guys at the track doing sprints. First time saying ready-set-go to people that are not my sons, I think.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 80 deg., 77% hum., 72 d.p. 

16.25 miles. 2:36:27, 9:38 pace, hood route to legacy trail to circus bridge and back. Hot. 80 deg., 71% hum., 70 d.p. I came home with pruned fingertips. Also the middle 8 ish miles were all red tide stink. I crossed 2 bays x 2, and run next to an ICW littered with dead fish. 

3.5 miles. Hood route. Talked to the shirtless tire dragger for a bit. Dude is always trying to recruit me for a spartan race. I have no interest.

PM: 0.5 up. 10 X 0.15 hill (bridge) sprints, jog downhill recoveries. 0.5 down. Pretty sunset on top of the north Bridge. Still with the red tide stink though. I have had Jim Croce's photographs and memories album stuck in my head for a couple of days. It started with "one less set of footsteps", and then basically the rest of the album got on The mental playlist. Except "time in a bottle". That song is just awful.

7.5 miles. hood route to legacy trail and back. 77 deg., 67% hum., 65 d.p. 1:07:32. 9 min/ mile pace. 34:00 out. 33:32 back. Really steady. A smart guy would have started 2 hours sooner (and 15 degrees cooler). 

7.5 miles. Hood Route to legacy trail and back. 1:00:21. 8:03 pace. 77 deg., 75% hum. 69 d.p. I really wanted less than an hour on this run. So close.

Was it last night's pizza? Was it the heat? Was it the pollen in the air? Nope. It was a bunch of idiot drivers that are going to get themselves in car accidents, if they keep stopping in the middle of 45 mph roads. If I'm in the crosswalk, driver stops - fine. If I'm 30 yards from the crosswalk, the driver should proceed through. When I didn't time my runs, none of this would matter. I would stop, turn my back on the intersection until the driver got the message. But now that I care about my times again, this is becoming a thing. So, in addition to avoiding heat, I should run sooner to avoid traffic. I go by 2 schools that open at 8 am on this run. So I need to be moving by 6:30, or wait until 8:15. 

Oh yeah, we had celebration pizza last night. Boy #1 got accepted into welding school, and we are all kinds of stoked. He's going to be marine mechanic by day, welder by night for the foreseeable future. When you see your kids apply themselves to something, something that will eventually lead to the parent's planned obsolesence, that calls for stuffed crust sausage pizza.