They all can't be "easy" runs.

9.7 miles. Train / bus station to circus bridge to caspersen beach to venice high school along ICW to north bridge to legacy trail to train /bus station. 3:20 pm start. 84 degrees full sun. Lots of boats out and I saw a bunch of gopher tortoises? (Torti?) first shirtless run in about 2 years. I wore a wide brim hat to protect from the sun, like running in a bright orange sombrero! I caught the north bridge on the way back. This was a righteous tour of Venetian waterway park. Pace was decent, but untimed.

6 am start. 0.4 up. 5.5 miles. Hood route. in 42:35. 7:45 pace. 1.2 down. Right shin felt really tight after mile 1, until mile 4. That's why I cut the run short from 7.5 miles. But by the end, I was moving just fine.

So, I guess, the lesson here is: listen to your body, unless it's telling you something you don't want to hear, then you just ignore it, and it will eventually go away.

(please note, I am not a coach.)

5.5 hood route. Hot. Track stuff later.

6:30 pm track stuff. Late start. 2 up. 8x400m with 200m AR. 2 down. 1:26. 1:26, 1:28, 1:27, 1:29, 1:28, 1:27, and 1:29.

5.5 miles. Hood route. Summer is here!

3.5 miles. Hood route.

6 am start. 0.8 up. 20.75 miles in 2:58:18. 8:35 pace

Shirtless and camelbak. Hood route to legacy trail to circus bridge to caspersen beach and back. First half in 1:31:11. 8:47 pace. Second half in 1:27:07. 8:25 pace. Negative splitting anything is miraculous in my world. So I'm pretty stoked. I never really pushed it today, though. 75 deg., 86% hum., 71 dew point.

Someone got me an Arctic Cool visor for Christmas. I don't usually hype products, but I've got to say, it does a fantastic job of keeping the sweat out of my eyes. For the high heat and humid conditions I run in, this is really important.

5 weeks till race day. Next 3 Saturdays have soccer. This ia going to get interesting.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6:30 am start. I took the boys to the driving range last night. It went well. There may be more of this in our future.

76 degrees. 94% humidity. 73 dew point. I am having serious doubts about my ability to generate speed. I could not get anything going today. Every step was a fight.

6 pm. 5.5 miles on the track, including (2) 800s 3:04, 3:13. I'm in the middle of a bad training week. Tomorrow is 30 days from race day. I'll bounce back.

0.4+7.5 miles. Hood Route. 5:45 am start. Slow and steady. We went from 80+ degrees at the track last night to 60 degrees this morning. It was like running in another state. 

0.4+3.5 miles hood route. 6 am start. 

Pretty bad week of running. Ending with a good long run. 20.75 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Circus bridge to caspersen Beach and back. 2:52:10. 8:18 pace. 1st half 1:29:25. 8:37 pace. 2nd half 1:22:45. 7:59 pace. Last 5 in 38:10. 7:38 pace. 76 degrees. 70% humidity. 65 dew point.

10.2 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to colonia and back. Super duper hot and humid. Good luck to those folks racing tomorrow! I'll be watching from my dry, climate controlled office.

6 am start. 1.2 up. 5.5miles. Hood route in 42:13. 7:40 pace. 0.8 down. Decent weather -65 deg. 66% hum. 66 d.p. 

5.5 miles. hood route. 50 degrees and 47 dew point. I have never known weather so running-perfect! 

https://youtu.be/JSwq0n7MZyY

6 pm at track. 4.5 miles. including (2) 1200s at 4:46, 4:48.

3.5 miles. hood route. slow. I think the Kinvaras have gone flat. I am getting aches in my shins that lead me to believe that these shoes are done. I got them on Valentine's day. Anyway, it's far enough from race day that I can get new ones. I can't believe the short life span of these shoes. 525 miles? I got 1,000+ out of my Hokas last year.

Or maybe it's my work shoes that are causing me leg pain that I only realize while running.

Or maybe its getting close to race day, and my fitness isn't where it should be, so I am blowing slight aches and pains out of proportion.

Or maybe everything was clicking about a month ago, and I peaked in this training cycle too early. 

Or maybe I'm playing too much basketball and soccer with the boys these days. 

Or maybe, Or maybe....

6:15 am start. 0.4 up. 20.75 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Circus bridge to Caspersen Beach and back. 2:54:48. 8:25 pace. 1st half 1:30:08. 8:41 pace. 2nd half 1:24:40. 8:10 pace. Last 5 in 39:23. 7:53 pace. 73 degrees. 81% humidity. 67 dew point. Still running in the old shoes. 3 weeks to race day. 

10.2 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back 6:15 a.m. start very hot and humid this morning. New shoes running!

5:50 am start. 0.8 up. 7.5 miles. Hood Route in 58:17. 7:46 pace. 0.4 down. Kind of warm.  It really took a lot to get rolling this morning. The first mile was 8 minutes plus, but I was smooth sailing by the end. 

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6 am start. No track stuff tonight - the Pinewood derby races are tonight. Last year, boy #1 Dad got 1st place, and boy #2 Dad got 3rd place. No, I'm just kidding. My boys were more involved than that. 

Looking ahead - Boy #1 has two soccer games Saturday, and 1, maybe 2, on Sunday. The first one Saturday is at 8 am. Even though that is 2 weeks from race day, I was still shooting for @ 16 miles. It is going to be tough to fit in this weekend. 

6:45 pm start. 0.4 up. 16.25 miles in 2:05:24. 7:43 pace. 1st half in 1:01:45. 7:36 pace. 0.4 down. Hood route to legacy trail to circus bridge and back. 78 degrres at start. Killer sunset over the bays. I wouldn`t say "majestic" but it was still cool.

10.2 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to colonia and back. 7 am start. Slow. Last soccer game of the year is this morning. They plan on practicing until the end of May.