They all can't be "easy" runs.

7.5 miles. Hood route.5:30 am start.

About last week: the fever that I got on Tuesday night came and went until Friday. It was part of a stomach bug, that forced me to live in close proximity to a restroom. So I decided to run yesterday. I got a very short distance down the road, and had to turn around. I had enough. I went to the doc, got some meds, and i think I'm back on track. Between that backstory, and the slightly cooler temps this morning, stepping out was nice this morning.

16.25 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail to Circus Bridge and back. 5:45 am start. Great sunrise over Dona Bay and Roberts Bay. 78 deg., 85% hum., 73 d.p. - my endless summer.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 9 pm start. People had their fireplaces going. We got up to 85 today. We are willing colder weather to happen.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6 am start. 70 deg., 87% hum., 66 d.p. I may have to start wearing a shirt.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 6 am start. I wore a shirt. It's still too hot to wear a shirt. Track stuff later. I'm thinking 800s?

6:30 pm at track. Traffic jam. Late start. Football practices early stop. So I got 1 up in 7 minutes. 1600 (6:07). 800 (2:57). 400 (1:24). .25 down.

Maybe getting sick for a week didn't destroy everything I worked for all summer, after all. This gives me some hope.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. They were spraying the orange groves this morning, so I had to breathe in that goodness for about a half mile. Also, i must have got really used to running shirtless, because my shirts feel like burlap right now. Or if a cheese grater were made of fabric, that's what it feels like.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6 a.m. start. Annie Lennox 's waiting in vain stuck in my head this morning. I'm going to go for 20+ for the next two Saturdays. It's like cramming for a test!

6 am. 1.5 miles. 12:20. 8:13 pace.

home.

then 20.75 miles. Hood route to legacy trail, over circus bridge to caspersen beach and back. 3:06:12. 8:58 pace. I saw lots of runners out, ospreys, and some other cool stuff.

then since there's no football this weekend, i took the boys to the beach. Dolphins everywhere. It was great. Now i'm at a nerf gun birthday party. Unarmed.

10.2 miles hood route to Legacy Trail to Colonia and back. 7:15 pm start.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 a.m. start. I went out slow, but then was surprised by a man hacking up the trees and shrubs on the side of his house,... with a machete, ... in the dark. Pace picked up after that. If he were wearing a hockey mask, i might have broke world records. People are crazy.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. Machete guy had a little bonfire going. He watched me run by. I was on the other side of the street today.

temps and humidity are still high- 75+ and 75%+. But the dew point is below 70. That changes everything. It's nice. track stuff later.

6 pm. At track. 2 up. 1600 @ 6:04. 800 @ 3:02. 400 @ 1:23. 2 down. I talked to a guy on the cool down that is running N.Y. marathon. He is pretty psyched.

5.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. 1st mile was rough, but then thongs got rolling after that.

Playoff football with the kids this weekend is going to make it very difficult to manage a long run. Might be saturday night.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6 a.m. start. Effortless gliding? Close.

pm: I started the planning of 2016 races. Tentatively, Jackson, Mississippi in January, Brookings SD, in May, and Las Vegas in Nov.

5 pm start. Set out to do 20.75. I realised very early that i was extremely dehydrated. I spent the morning in Cape Coral, for Tommy's playoff game. They lost, so his season ended today. Johnny's bowl game is tomorrow, so that's the end for him.

Anyhow, By mile 3 i could feel the gritty-ness of my sweat. Camel back was empty by mile 12, which i refilled at mile 13, and was again empty by mile 18. I would have/ could have finished, but spouse and the kids were on their way out and yelled to me from the car. They asked me if i wanted a ride home. I figured that continuing running would do me more harm than good, so i took it.

I really wanted this run to go well, but you can't spend the morning in 85 degree full sun and then expect greatness. 2 weeks until race day. As per my S.O.P., i'm not going into this with a lot of confidence. I would have liked a short race in the last month, but footbal would not allow that. I might get anything between a PR and 4 hour finish and not be surprised.

But sometimes magic happens.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6:30 pm start. It was a long day in cape coral / fort Myers beach. Johnny 's team won their bowl game. I was on the chain gang again. The beach in fort Myers was great. White flour sand, sand dollars bigger than your hand, just really cool stuff. I got some sunburn. But the really important news is: FOOTBALL IS DONE!

7.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. Summer running.

5.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. In da Drizzle fo Shizzle.

6 pm start. At track. Lanes 1 & 2 flooded.

5.5 miles. 40:00. 7:16 pace. 6:30 pm start. 80 deg. 69% hum. 70 d.p.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 6 am start. Foggy. But the summer goes on. Surprisingly smooth.

P.s. race day weather forecast- 63 deg., 100% hum., 63 d.p. So, like, 5 degrees cooler than what I run every day.

6:30 am start. .4 up. 10.2 in 1:15:28. 7:24 pace. .4 down. 73 deg. 68% hum., 68 d.p.

being that i ran my last 5 marathons in the 7:20 -7:30 pace range, I feel pretty good about this effort. I feel like i ran this fairly even split, but i have no real evidence of that. There is a reason i normally run this distance with water, though. I was really feeling it at the end. So:

Good luck philly runners! We're all counting on you!

Happy Halloween! Happy blogiversary to me!

And, Go Gators!