They all can't be "easy" runs.

10 miles on West Venetian Waterway Park at noon. Beautiful day. Lots of boats on the water. Downtown craft festival. Etc. Etc. 

4 miles. Hood Route to SMH extra and back. 5 am start. I had to run early to make it happen today. 

1 pm run. Venetian Waterway Park plus North Bridge. 81 deg., 57% hum., 65 d.p. Love Bugs are back. 

5 miles on West Venetian Waterway Park. At noon. Steady Cruising, but I still pulled the plug early on the run.

2 on the trails plus (4) x 100m at extra effort + jog back at soccer field on each lap. 

I lost WAY too much time catching up with an old neighbor that I haven't seen in 5 years. 

200 yard run fail. I went out to run on Venetian Waterway Park. 87 degrees, nice breeze. I got @ 200 yards down the path, when I got sick of fighting it. I'm guessing the cause of this is my recent taking to ice cream at night. I haven't had a beer since 1/17, but I have had LOTS of ice cream, which I didn't used to eat at all. 

Whatever the cause, I have run every day since 1/24. What's that? 38 days? Not a bad streak. Maybe I'll go out again later, and try to put "something" up on the scoreboard for today. Or maybe I'll do the usual routine for me. Which is, fix today's run fail with something tomorrow that is way beyond my present day abilities. 

10 miles on West Venetian Waterway Park at noon. 87 degrees and hot breeze. It was a fight, but I finished it. 

The Sharkstooth 10k was this morning. I really should have raced it. I know I'm not ready, but I have to find out what my present day paces are, if I'm ever going to plan on a race again. It's been too long. I checked the finish times. 10 years ago me would have got top 10 finish. Yeah it's a weak field around here. But I have no idea what present day me would get. 

I've had my eye on a 5k I haven't run before in 2 weeks. It's just so hard to get motivated to run fast. I feel like I've got to the point that I can make myself run, and sometimes enjoy it, all the time. But when I get to the days I'm supposed to go "fast", I wimp out and would rather live in a fantasy world where I'm capable of getting 5ks or 10ks like I did 10 years ago. I'm trying to push the pace on a regular basis, but on those days, I somehow change my mind about the run goal. 

Monday will be 1 year since Pop passed. We are all going to Sarasota National Cemetary tomorrow. It really doesn't seem like a year.  

5.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 pm start. Today was such a mix of things that I went out thinking I would just get 3. It felt great, so I kept going.

8 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail over the SWOM bridge and back. 84 degrees, 60% hum., 68 d.p.

3 on the trails plus (4) x 100m sprints and jog back on each of the first 2 laps. Then to USF to watch boy #2 perform a solo. Then home to play with a baby. Then I caught up with an old friend. Great day.

8 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail over the SWOM bridge and back. 85 degrees, 58% hum., 68 d.p.

Happy 311 Day!

I bought an $11 watch last night. This is my first self-timed run in almost 3 years. No more living in fantasy world about my abilities. 5 miles on the venetian waterway park. First half - 23:40 (9:28 pace). Second half - 22:24 (8:58 pace). Overall - 46:04 (9:13 pace). I'm not crazy about those numbers, but it is the truth. Then I ran a 0.9 mile cool down. 

I learned that having a watch on makes you run faster instinctively, that I should have done maybe a minor warm up, and that I have a long way to go to get back to what I was. 

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. First half - 21:58 (8:47 pace). Second half - 20:00 (8:00 pace). Overall - 41:58 (8:24 pace). These are the numbers I was expecting yesterday. Still on the fence about whether I'm running in that 5k in 2 weeks or not. 

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. First half - 24:04 (9:38 pace). Second half - 22:35 (9:02 pace). Overall - 46:39 (8:24 pace). 

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park.

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. last 2 in 16:42. 8:21 pace. 85 deg. 16 m.p.h. winds.

52 days of running everyday. 

4 on the trails. 50 degrees.

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. First half - 21:13 (8:29 pace). Second half - 19:55 (7:58 pace). Overall - 41:08 (8:14 pace). Then 1.65 mile North Bridge Loop cool down. Great run. Then to beach for sunset. Lots of spring breakers taking selfies. Like a ridiculous amount of young people in this old folks town.

4 on the trails. Great weather. 

I'm not racing this Saturday. 

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park.  - 43:44 (8:45 pace). Then 1.65 mile North Bridge Loop cool down. Lots of talking to myself out there today, which is kind of why I forgot my first half split. I guess I had some things to sort out. 

10.2 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. 76 deg., 47% hum., 55 d.p. Insane amount of electric bicycles on the legacy trail today. Very few old school bikes out there. 

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. First half - 22:26 (8:58 pace). Second half - 21:25 (8:34 pace). Overall - 43:51 (8:46 pace).

5 miles on the west venetian waterway park.

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. First half - 22:39 (9:04 pace). Second half - 21:02 (8:25 pace). Overall - 43:41 (8:44 pace). Then 1.65 mile North Bridge Loop cool down. This is still way slower than I think I should be. I just keep reminding myself that although I don't like these times, at least they are not as slow as they would be if I ran without a watch. I'll get there eventually. 

3 on the trails plus (4) x 100m sprints and jog back on each of the first 2 laps.

8 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail over the SWOM bridge and back. 80 degrees, 55% hum., 63 d.p. Lots of crazy stuff on this run. I saw a 10' gator, was witness to the beginning of a fight at a park entrance, I gave directions to Mennonites on electric 3 wheel bikes, and I accidentally caused an 83 year old cyclist to wreck on his bike. 

How am I just now seeing this?:

https://youtu.be/hHp8EYw53DE?si=dzCAkmOeXEzKonBv

Noon-ish on Venetian Waterway Park. 82 degrees, 59% hum., 66 d.p. No wind. 

Goal was 0.9 up, 2 @ 16:00, 1 easy, 2 @ 16:00, 0.9 down. 

I got 0.9 up, 2 @ 14:58, 1 easy, 2 @ 14:56, 0.9 down. 

Faster than I thought, for sure, which is good. Bad news is I have no idea what 8 minute pace feels like, and I possibly blew up tomorrow's run. 

I have had the Travelling Wilburys' "Handle With Care" stuck in my head for 2 days. 

12.9 miles. Hood Route To Legacy Trail to Venice Avenue and back. 80 deg. 54% hum. 62 d.p. Very easy running this morning. I finished feeling I could have gone faster. Very little sleep last night. 

12:30 5.6 around the lake in Wellen Park with Noah. It was good catching up with him. Kind of windy, and right before the rain.

Noon-ish on Venetian Waterway Park. 85 degrees. 15-20 mph wind coming from the south east. 

Goal was 0.9 up, 2 @ 16:00, 1 easy, 2 @ 16:00, 0.9 easy, 2 @ 16:00, 1 easy, 2 @ 16:00, 0.9 down.  

I got 0.9 up, 2 @ 15:33, 1 easy, 2 @ 15:38, 0.9 easy, 2 @ 16:00, 1 easy, 2 @ 16:00, 0.9 down.  

I was running into the wind on reps #1, and #3. Running with the wind on #2, and #4. I still had to work really hard for #4 to hit my number. I'm really liking this workout. This might become a thing for me. 

1.65 mile North Bridge Loop warm-up, then 5 miles on the west venetian waterway park. Then 1.65 mile North Bridge Loop cool down. 7:30 am start. This felt surpringly good.