They all can't be "easy" runs.

3.5 miles. hood route. 7 am start. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge Run with Tommy at 5 pm. Didn't have the magic sunset like Monday. There were big winds, with white caps on the bay. But I ran with my kid, which is awsome. He makes me run faster than I want to, and I make him run longer than he wants to. Since the whole state is on a stay at home order for the next month, I'm glad we had this time. 

7.75 miles. Hood route to legacy trail over the SWOM Bridge and back. 7:30 am start. Then I did some work. then I pressure washed my dad's other fence. Then I went back to work. It was a remarkably productive day for a guy under a stay at home order. 

3.5 miles. hood route. 7:15 am start. a bit cooler out. 

10.7 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail, over the SWOM Bridge, to Colonia and back the same way. LOTS of people walking, running, cycling on the trail this morning. With everything else closed, it is the only game in town for exercise. The variety of songs that popped into my head was crazy - Motley Crue Kickstart my heart, The Go-Gos Our lips are sealed, Led Zep Fool in the rain, Ben Folds Still fighting it, Smashing Pumpkins Geek USA, Weezer Only in Dreams, and a bunch more I can't remember right now. I really need to organize my mental playlist. 

So, this is now my biggest week of mileage this year. So that's something. 

8 on the trails on a fantastic overcast morning. I did a ton of yardwork yesterday. 

yikes. 

10.2 Miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. 7 am start. Decent weather. 

7:15 am start. 1.9 up - hood route + around the block. Then pit stop with home field advantage. Then (5) x 400M repeats, with 0.15 mile active recovery (around the block repeats) 1:27, 1:31, 1:29, 1:31, 1:30. Then 3.5 down. Hood route.

I used to have this measured as quarter mile repeats. I have recently re-measured the route, and marked it clearly with 100M increments (which is cool, because I can now check my pace, as I go.). I plan on getting the neighborhood kids to race parts of this route someday. 

10.2 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. 7:15 am start. 80 degrees. I came home soaked. 

I spent the day listening to John Prine yesterday. What a loss. It never occurred to me how many of that man's songs were about his own mortality. I can't think of too many song writers that can make you laugh in one lyric and cry in the next. You see that from one song to next in other writers, but not usually in the same song. 

I was a big Cowboy Junkies fan in the early 90's. I saw them in concert in Tampa in 92? John Prine was the opening act. They did "If You Were The Woman And I Was The Man" together. That song was our first dance when spouse and I got married in 1994. (also, mickey and mallory's song in the movie natural born killers, but it was ours first.)

So, kind of a solemn day yesterday. Stupid Virus. 

4 on the trails. low humidity, which makes it wonderful.

10.2 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to colonia and back. Hot and windy. This was work.

I had an old guy (never seen this guy before) on a bike following @ 20 yards behind me for the last quarter mile. When I finished the run and rounded the corner to walk home, he said "the concrete's bad for your knees." I said "what?" He said "Running on concrete's really bad for your knees. I've had both of my knees replaced." I said "Getting hit by a car is worse for your knees, so I'm going to stay on the sidewalk." He just shook his left hand in the air in a 'whatever' kind of movement.

Disclaimers: 1. I think it's super ironic that he was riding on the concrete sidewalk, and not the asphalt bike lane. 2. My response would have been nothing if my kids were present. I live in a town of old people, and I'm not teaching them to be disrespectful to the olds, even the ones that give the unsolicited advice. 

5.5 miles hood route. hot + humid bonus gravity like summer. I lost my house key somewhere out there. I went back to look for it with spouse for about 30 miinutes. no dice. whoever finds it is going to have to guess what house it belongs to, if they want in. The tiny little key pocket in the running shorts - it had a hole in the bottom of it. That makes it not a pocket, but a useless flap of dryfit material really. 

4 on the trails. 9:45am start. I have had a little stomach bug for the last day or so. 

7.5 miles. Hood route to legacy trail and back. 8:15 am start. The weather was great. My eyes were just a bit itchy from the pollen.

My head was filled with worry of raising teenage boys with so much time on their hands. School work now gets finished in less than 3 hours. I'm hoping I can get them to do something productive with their time. In hindsight, I now wonder if the outrageous schedule we were ruled by was doing more to keep my kids out of trouble, than excellent parenting. 

1 on the trails, then much later, to the track. 0.5 up. Then (8) x 200M w/ 200M AR. 46,46,44,44,43,43,42,42. Then 0.5 down. It rained this morning, so the steam heat coming up from the track was crippling. I wanted to see how many of these I could do at this pace, but I was with a friend that wanted to workout with me. He's way younger and faster than me, but he can do like one rep. I could tell he was getting bored, so I packed it up, even though I was showing no signs of slowing. 

10.2 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. Pretty smooth stuff. There was the heat and humidty. I could feel the weight of my shirt after 2 miles.

There are rumblings that the local beaches may reopen soon. When that happens, I may spend an entire day there, and come home with record setting sunburn. I really miss the beach. 

2 on the trails. 

10.2 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. Late start. slow but steady running. 

For the majority of the "hood route" I am running on a 4' wide sidewalk. There is a drainage ditch on one side. On the other side, there is a 4' wide grass strip, a curb and gutter, a 4' wide bike lane, then the 40 m.p.h. 2 coming 2 going divided roadways. I run on the same sidewalk both ways, so I'm 50% with traffic, 50% against traffic. Laurel Road runs east-west, so for 2 miles, given the time of day I usually run, I am looking into the sometimes blinding sunrise (and so are the cars and bikes travelling that way).

I tell you all of this to tell you that social distancing in this context is very dangerous. Many times this morning, I was running towards someone on the sidewalk. While I was still @50 yards away, that person then decided to avoid me by leaving the sidewalk, crossing the grass strip, stepping down the curb into the bike lane, next to the 40 m.p.h. cars that were looking into the rising sun. This makes me wonder what I look like running, if folks would rather take their chances with a blinded driver, than pass within 2' of me for a split second on a sidewalk. Also, if they were struck by a car, does that count as a COVID 19 related death?

I know I have said this before, but I really need to get out earlier, before the people get out. Someone could die. 

5 pm start. 5.5 on the trails. Then, when no one was looking, (8) x 100 M+ grass sprints pn the soccer fields, with 100 M+ recoveries. Then 1.5 down on the trails. I didn't feel like running faster. I just felt like I should run something faster. So I did. 

7.75 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail, over the SWOM bridge and back. 7 am start. noticeably cooler this morning. I threw in a 7:29 mile on the 2nd to last mile for funsies. I got out earlier, but not early enough. I still had to deal with a few folks that would rather walk in the street than be within a 3' radius of me for a split second. 

Oh yeah, Sarasota County announced yesterday that the beaches will be open starting Monday. But they have rules, like, no beach blankets, or coolers. They want you to keep moving. Also, they are not opening up the parking lots next to the beaches. Just the beaches. 

I still plan on spending a good chunk of Monday there. 

5.5 miles. Hood route. 7:30 am start. I went out, came home, went out again, ran the first 2 miles in just awful heat and humidity, then I saw the storm coming, the skies grew darker, a cool breeze followed, but the rain never came. Given how I felt at the beginning of this, I can't believe 5.5 miles happened. 

10.2 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to colonia and back. hot and humid. Massive amounts of rain last night. I got a late start. My mom called me to let me know that there is a big picture of spouse in the Venice Gondolier newspaper. There is a charity fundraiser going on right now. Spouse volunteers for meals on wheels. I had to run out and get a newspaper. 

Also, because of all the rain last night, the drainage ditches on either side of the legacy trail were loaded with water this morning. I guess that brought the frogs out. The frogs were croaking crazy loud for parts of the trail this morning. It was like going through a scream tunnel. Not the usual calm introspective running moment I am used to out there. 

Finally, on my way home, 2 small propeller planes flew overhead. They were so close together that, at a distance, they appeared to be one plane. Well, that's different. 

It has already been an eventful morning. 

11 am start. hot and sticky. 1 up on the trails. (5) x 400m around the block, with 0.15 mile AR, 3.5 down. 

No run. I went to the beach with the boys. A bit windy, but it was good to be back. This is about Englewood beach, just south of us....

https://www.nbc-2.com/clip/15054886/dozens-flock-to-englewood-beach-shortly-after-it-reopens

DOZENS AND DOZENS FLOCK?! Well, okay. Simmer down, there, hype machine. 

Okay. That's in Charlotte County. Up here in Sarasota County, the bathrooms are locked, you can't have a chair, blanket, or cooler on the beach, and the parking lots are roped off.

https://youtu.be/XyIi-Iyg-n4

It's good that the cops lectured that lady. She looked like trouble. Her cooler was filled with Toxic Death, to be sure!

The "beach open - but parking lots closed" thing is really stupid. It must have been thought up by the same folks that think docks kill manatees. Furthermore, we ALL pay the taxes for the beach. If only the people that live within walkable distance of the beach can go, that just feels ... not right. 

I parked about 2 blocks away, legally, on a street, BTW. 

3 on the trails. 

5.5 miles. hood route. I had a morning meeting, so I had to get out by 7 to run.

I used to run most days at 5:30 am? That seems impossible now!

10.2 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and Back. 10 am start. Intermittent rain - I passed no one. It was some super smooth miles.

They opened up the beach handicap parking, and it got me to thinking about my first college roommate at UCF. He got a handicap parking pass because he had a very minor form of dyslexia. He had difficulty telling the difference between "who" and "how." He would come home, and I'd say "Who are you?" and he'd say "Oh, I'm fine, thanks. How are you?" And I'd say "It's me, Tom. I'm your roommate. Now let me borrow your car, so I can get that sweet parking spot!" 

Most of that story is true.