They all can't be "easy" runs.

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6 am start. It is my parents' 53rd anniversary today.  

Hood route.

6 am start.

I saw a shooting star.

And a dead armadillo.

These items are not equal.

7.75 miles. hood route to Legacy Trail over SWOM bridge and back. 6 am start. 

then church, then 1 hour of basketball with boy #2, then track stuff with boy #1. 

track stuff:

1.125 up. (5) x 400m, w/ 400m AR, 1.125 down.

then swimming, where I got a big cramp in my calf. 

7.5 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail and back. No SWOM Bridge today. Stupid hot and humid. 

hood route. 6 am start. hot and foggy. 

6:30 pm. 1 hour of basketball with John. The kid was on fire, knocking down shots from everywhere. The teenagers on the other end of the court noticed. 

Also, if you are into underdog stories, you need to root for the Rays. It doesn't matter if you have a connection to Tampa / St. Pete. With the lowest payroll in all of baseball, it's amazing that they win ANY games. Imagine a Red Sox fan, who's team is paying out 4x what the Rays pay, just so their Sawx can NOT go to the playoffs!

Besides, it's crazy entertaining! The play at the plate tonight was awesome! Adames gunned him down!

7.5 miles. hood route to legacy trail and back. no SWOM bridge today. 5:30 am start. It's down to 73 degrees. But with 100% humidity, and a 73 dew point, miles 2 &3 were just miserable. When Dew point = temp, we get fog. Anyhow, I've been wondering if there is some sort of cumulative discomfort from always running in a dishwasher. Nothing ever dries. Ever. I don't expect Autumn weather for another 3 weeks. Yeah, I know, I choose to live here. But I think I'm ready for this "crisp" air I've heard about. Yes, I seem to remember that once. As I recall, it was pleasant. 

7.5 miles. hood route to Legacy Trail and back. No SWOM Bridge. Again, miles 2 and 3 were really slow because of the insane humidity. Much smoother running overall today, though. 

Go Rays! 

12.9 miles. hood route to legacy trail to venice avenue and back. 9:45ish on the way out. 9:15ish on the way back. felt strong. still hot though. 

3.5 miles. Hood route. 7 am start. Last night's gator game had a negative impact on today's run. 8pm kickoffs are just wrong. 16 15 weeks until A1A half.

2:30 after watching my sons and the neighborhood kids go nuts at what appears to be the end of fortnite, track stuff with boy #1. Assorted slow and fast stuff. All in 2.5 miles. I had 2 dill pickles at lunch. That was an exceptionally poor choice. 

7.75 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail. Over SWOM Bridge and back. Pit stop at McDonalds with 2 miles togo. 6:15 am start. Very hot and Humid. Hamstrings were oddly tight this morning. 

I'm okay with the late start because I didn't have to drop boy #2 off at school today because it's columbo day canadian thanksgiving day indigenous peoples day national dessert day. 

7.5 Miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail and Back. 5:30 am start. Hot and Humid again. POP stop on construction site north of Laurel Road. 

7:30 pm. 4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge Run! Like the old days. I had a chance to run with Tommy tonight, so I thought we should do something cool. It is a much longer drive than it is worth, but still was fun. I'm glad I took advantage of this when I worked downtown. Anyway, the run was still warm, the views were great, and the kid kept my pace honest. 

7.5 miles. hood route to legacy trail and back. 5:30 am start. started slow, but then got into a good groove. I'm starting to feel some fitness come back. There's a point where you reach the "sore, but good" feeling. that's where I am right now. I need increase the base, and do more speed work. But i feel like i am progressing towards that at the right pace. I don't want to do too much too soon. Oh, and most importantly, no emergency bathroom stops this morning. 

5.5 miles. Hood route. 5:45 am start. First shirtless run in a while. 75 deg. 88% hum. 71 d.p. 

7.5 miles. Hood route to legacy trail and back. 5:45 am start. Ever so slightly cooler this morning. 

1 pm: at track. They were having a chili cook off at work, and I wasn't interested, so I bounced out early. Good news / bad news. Good news: I did a legit track workout today. The Fanken5k! (or, if you like, 5kenstein!)

1 up. 1600M, 400M recovery, 1200M, 400M recovery, 800M, 400M recovery, 400 M, 200M recovery, 400 M, 200M recovery, 400 M, 200M recovery, 200 M, 200M recovery. 1 down.

This might be pushing it for me right now, with my present level of fitness. But I needed to know where I stand. I didn't want to go on in the dreamworld, thinking I was still at 2012 levels of fitness.  So I'm going to feel this one later, for sure. But well worth it, I think.

Now the bad news: 6:31, 5:08, 3:23, 1:36, 1:35, 1:40, 0:42, for a grand total of 20:35. 6:38 pace. So this is the start. No where to go but up from here!

7.75 miles. 9 am start. hood route to legacy trail over SWOM Bridge and back. rain, wind. felt very smooth and a bit quicker than usual. Because I ran fast yesterday, and that has a tendancy to straighten out my stride? because the rain has the temps down? because the wind was occasionally at my back?

5 miles. On the trails. 11 am start. First three with Tommy. Very hot.

5.5 tough miles. Hood route 5:45 am start. 79 deg. 96% hum. 78 dew point.

I am having a hard time remembering a run in this miserable, abusive weather conditions. When you get to the point at the end of a race, when things have fallen apart, and you are just focusing on bringing the next foot forward, and nothing else - it was kind of like that. I imagined as I ran leaving a wake of humid air. It was carving my way through soup running.  

7.5 miles. hood route. 5:45 am start. Even hotter and humid-er than yesterday, so rough sledding today. I just forced the issue and finished the run. I might have been faster than yesterday. 

Also, I have been obsessed lately with Vitamin String Quartet. I'm sure they have re-done your favorite song. 

7.5 miles. Hood route to Legacy Trail and back. 5:40 am start. What a difference a day makes! Temps in the 70s, Humidity below 70%, dew point below 70! Woo-hoo! I had to be a minute per mile faster today. 

We're scheduled to resume the usual steam room conditions tomorrow, but today was great!

12.9 miles hood route to legacy trail to Venice Avenue and back. 6:45 am start. 77 deg. 92% hum. 75 d.p. 1st half 57:17. 8:53 pace. 

1st run in new shoes. Hokas. The last pair (Kinvaras) really lasted way too long. At first I thought that I bought a half size too small, because the toes were really tight. Then things loosened up by mile 3, and I was rolling along. You get some weird pains along the way when you transition in shoes. At one point my hip hurt, then later my knee, then later, my ankle, then my big toe. At the time, all of those felt like "Oh no! Bad shoe" moments. I feel fine now though. 

Life really got in the way of running the last 2 days. 

7.75 miles. hood route to legacy trail over SWOM bridge and back. 7 am start. slog. hot humid, etc. I'm sore, but I don't think its from the new shoes. I spent the day working on a boat trailer with boy #1. there was a lot of lifting and such.

7.5 miles. hood route to legacy trail and back. 5:45 am start. hot, humid, blah, blah, blah. The big difference today is that I timed the run. 32:31 1st half - 8:40 pace. 31:24 2nd half - 8:23 pace. All in 1:03:55 - 8:31 pace. okay. 

6:30 pm. 0.5 up, (1) x 0.15 mile hill (bridge, we don't have hills here) sprints, jog down. 0.5 down. I ran the first 2 too fast. Most of them @ 56 seconds. 6:13 pace. 

Then an hour and a half of basketball with Johnny. He was really knocking the shots down. It's really cool to watch your kid improve. His confidence is building. 

5.5 miles. Hood Route. 5:50 am start. 75 deg. 97% hum. 76 d.p. Left Quad is still beat up from basketball last night.  We were going after a rebound. Johnny's knee went straight into the outside of my thigh.

3.5 miles. hood route. did not feel well this morning. many bathroom visits before heading out. also, my job has been trying to keep me from running the last couple of weeks. so, physically and mentally out of it this morning. I still ran it, so, that's..... something?