They all can't be "easy" runs.

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 34:57. 7:36 pace. In the words of Joe Namath, I was

STRUG-GULL-LING!

I better get used to these new weather conditions soon.  Oh yeah, good diet today, no sweets. I feel like I'm wasting the investment I've made to the  girls scouts of america, but what are you gonna do? 

At the track. 1.5 mile warm up. 4 minutes rest. 1 mile @ 6:03. 4 minutes rest. 1 mile @ 6:15. 4 minutes rest. 1 mile @ 6:17. 8 minutes rest. 1 mile cool down. 

The goal was to get 6:20 pace miles. I came out too fast on the first one. I think I need something that paces me, as I am getting into a new pace range. If you ask me to go run a 7:30 or an 8:00 minute mile, I know what that "feels" like, and I can be close. If you ask me to run a 6:20 mile, all I know is that it is much faster than I normally run. I need to find a way of knowing what 6:20 "feels" like. I guess the short answer is: I need to do this more often than once every 4 months, or so.

Also, I am stunned at the 6:03. I know that for a lot of people around here, 6:03 ain't that fast. In my world, that is pretty fast. In high school, I remember they timed us for a mile after soccer practice a couple of times. I think my best mile was @5:53. I've slowed 10 seconds in 25 years? Really?

5.2 miles. Ringling Bridge. 38:30. 7:24 pace. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 34:52. 7:35 pace. It rained all day and all night, except for the 1 hour I had to go running. I'd like to think that the clouds parted, and the sun came out, BECAUSE I was going to run. Still a little stiff from the Tuesday milers, but it felt like my feet were hitting the ground differently. It's weird, but it felt like my toes were contributing more to the cause, than they normally do. Or I was more aware of the work they were doing, or something. Good Job, Toes! The strides felt more like "pulling back" than "pushing down." It's hard to explain. 

Yesterday at lunch, I was entertained by watching a man cut down an Oak tree in chunks. Usually, this is no big deal. But this guy was running a chainsaw 20-25' off the ground, using ropes, spikes on his feet, over a roof, next to power lines, IN THE POURING RAIN! I guess some local folks were more concerned than I was. The city arborist received a TON of phone calls. So he came out to the site, to see what was going on. The lunatic with the chainsaw climbed out of the tree, pulled his tree removal permit and licensing credentials out of his truck, and screamed red-faced at the city arborist, in the rain, for a good 15 minutes, then he went back to work. I considered giving the tree removal guy $10 for the show I just witnessed, but then I thought maybe approaching an angry, crazy person with a chainsaw wasn't such a hot idea.

5.2 miles. Ringling Bridge. 39:22. 7:34 pace. Windy. I don't usually run on Fridays. I have found that it messes up my Saturday long runs. So today is an experiment, to see if that is still the case. There is such a perfect window of time on Friday afternoons to run, that I hate to waste it by not running. I was trying to go slow today. 7:34 pace is a little quicker than I was shooting for. We'll see how this plays out tomorrow.

12.9 miles Legacy Trail to Venice Avenue. RUNFAIL. Untimed. But I don't blame Friday's run for this. The results of the experiment are still inconclusive. Getting warm.

8 miles. Legacy Trail. Venice Avenue to Caspersen Beach and back. Un timed. With the boys on bikes. Last time I tried this, Tommy broke his finger in the most odd and expensive fashion. We had 2 crashes and 4 stops on the ride south today. Only 2 stops on the ride back. The Gopher Tortoises were busy today. Nothing like a child's scream to stop you cold, then to find out it was only a turtle. So the run was fairly broken into shorter runs, but I think it was a pretty good outing. It only took a few steps to get back into the groove each time, so weather permitting, we'll be doing this again. Just not at 2 pm.

5.2 miles. Ringling Bridge. 39:38. 7:37 pace. 

5.2 miles. Ringling Bridge. 38:22. 7:22 pace. Fighting for air today. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 33:57. 7:23 pace. Is it bad luck to run in a race shirt prior to the race? 

p.s. 81 degrees. I may never stop sweating. 

2 mile warm up. 10k in 42:11, 6:47 pace. 2 mile cool down.

Not the time I was looking for, but I feel pretty good about this result. It was crazy hot, and crazy humid. Not making excuses, though. I gave this my best effort. For the eleventy-eth race in a row, I came out too fast for my abilities. I was running sub-6:15's for the first 2 miles. Right after mile 3, things slowed way, way down.  The legs and back felt great. The problem was entirely with my breathing. I just never felt right. It was funny, I was with the race leaders for the first mile. They were all looking at each other, as if to say "do you want to lead? I don't want to lead." I know they were all much faster than they were running.

After the race, I met up with Spouse at the kids' baseball game. Apparently, I missed out on Tommy knocking the snot out of the ball. He had a pretty good hit when I got there, but a couple of people described the liner he hit to right field before I got there, and it sounded amazing.

One of the best things about this race is that my father made it. Last year, right before this race, he went into the hospital. We didn't know if he would make it through that. It's been a rough year, with a couple of hospital stays in between these races. I feel blessed that he is here, and could make it out.

Someone gets "the sweaty hug" after my races. Everyone was expecting me to get dad, in "honor" of him still being around. I got mom, instead. Sneak Attack! She was NOT  happy about it. This might be the end of "the sweaty hug!"

Results and pictures will be here: http://activesuncoast.org/ST-Results-Photos.html eventually.

2nd place in my age group. I won a coaster!

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 35:32. 7:43 pace. Wasn't feeling it today. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 35:09. 7:38 pace. Okay, this is getting kind of rough. At the end of my runs lately, I yawn. That tells me that I'm not getting enough air while I run, right? I know it ain't because I'm sleepy. Maybe I'm just in a little running funk lately. Or maybe it was because I accidentally knocked my knee with a concrete block today. Or maybe, it was because it was SO HOT,...(How hot was it?)...It was so hot, my sweat started sweating! Anyway, I'm going to keep on pushing through this. Something good will shake out. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 35:42. 7:45 pace. I was slightly re-routed by the boat show. I had to run on grass. I felt like I was a step quicker than yesterday, but maybe not. I'm starting to get used to the heat, I think.

10.2 Miles. Legacy Trail to Colonia. 1:20:35. 7:54 Pace. Very slow, but very steady. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 35:43. 7:46 pace. Meh. I'll take it. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 33:52. 7:22 pace. Shirtless backwards visor dude was doing hill blasts with 5 other dudes. I caught up to him on the way back. He passed me on the uphill, stopped at the top and gave me a high five. Okay, maybe he isn't a jerk. 

5.5 miles. Hood Route. 43:19. 7:53 pace. It felt very smooth. The inside of the left knee was a little off at the start, but after a mile it went away. The full moon brought about lots of animal activity. I saw raccoons, like any other run, but also a fox crossed my path 2x. Well that was cool! Got home and didn't feel like I was done running. So I went around the block, throwing in some speed here and there, but mostly concentrating on form, for 2 miles. I don't usually get to warm up or cool down, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity last night.

The kids' Pinewood Derby was last night. We spectators ate popcorn. Lots of it. Then I went running. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 37:01. 8:02 pace. Left knee ain't cured, yet. It looks like I have to take tomorrow off. Dadgummit!

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 37:19. 8:07 pace. The knee and back pain are very bad. I went to the doc on Tuesday. I have to cool it for a while. Next appointment is Friday. We'll see what happens after that.