They all can't be "easy" runs.

7.5 miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail and back. 1:02:18. 8:18 pace. 5:30 am start. 62 deg., 85% hum., 65 d.p.

6:15 pm. At track. 2 up. Left Achilles felt not good. Went home and iced it.

Dona Bay was great this morning.

http://youtu.be/4KDnzvGWYCA

7.5 miles easy. Hood route to Legacy Trail. I'm still testing out the Achilles. On Sunday, there was some swelling, so I took a couple of days off, and did some icing, stretching, etc.. Things felt smooth this morning. There was a really cool halo effect around the moon this morning. It was good to be back out there! 54 deg. 

1.5 miles. Hood route achilles test run. 5:45 am start. 43 degrees. 

Ankle is still not fixed. I still plan on finishing the 5k Friday. I just doubt I'll be "racing" for 3rd place overall in the 3 race series. I have contacted a Dr. to see if this is anything more serious than an inflammation. I need this fixed, like, a week ago. 

In happier news, we took the kids to Disney this weekend for Boy #2's 8th birthday. It went great. Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain...He couldn't get enough. We staged a picture on Splash Mountain to make it look like he was punching me in the face. The people standing around at the end of the ride, reviewing the pictures were cracking up. The lady at the counter could/would not sell me the picture because it "depicted violence." My argument was that it "depicted comedy." I do not have the picture, but it was pretty funny. Boy #1 had the best time on Tom Sawyer's Island, running through the caves. That was always one of my favorite places to go, too. Great weekend, but not great for rehab-ing a bum ankle. 

3.5 miles. Hood route. 6:30 pm start. 67 deg., 94% hum., 57 d.p. Test run with achilles brace, heel pads, and race shoes. Then I did another .5 with a different set-up, and no brace. Achilles felt tight after 2.5 miles. I was fully aware of the brace while running. Stride and breathing felt great. I might have pushed the pace a little bit, but, 1. I can't really tell if that is true at this point (as in 9 minute miles may have felt like 7:30's), and 2. I needed to really test the brace and set up, and get some quicker turnover, if I plan on racing Friday. I feel good enough to race, not good enough to PR, and hopefully wise enough to not allow this 5k to sabotage my Birmingham goals.

So much wacky stuff about this race!  The official results are not posted yet. I am pleased that I could get this time on a bum ankle and very limited training.

Spouse and the kids came with me to the race. I took them to eat in lakewood ranch. Then, we met Robyn and her kids there. They had 2 bounce house slides to keep the kids busy while we warmed up. Also, there were "snow" machines everywhere. Not like Disney snow, that puts out ice shavings. It was suds. Kids everywhere were soaking wet with suds. I'm pretty sure the back seat of my car is destroyed. It was upper 60's/ low 70's at the race start. I did a longer warm up, to make sure my achilles was good and loose. 2,000 runners and walkers. They had to release us in waves. At the start, there were a lot of kids. I thought I was going to be tripping over them. But they went out and held their pace, and, well, BEAT me! I was pretty impressed! I did a lot of looking around before the race. I did not see the guy that was second place in the 3 race series. Sweet! I also did not see Helmet Guy. So, I felt good enough to go out quick. I felt smooth, and I could hold it until @2 miles in. The lack of training caught up with me though. At half way, the tunraround, the course was so dark, I could not see the road for about a quarter mile. Coming down to the finish, I was trading places with a younger-ish woman. We turned the last corner and she outkicked me. I went to use the POP, then I saw Robyn finish with a 1.5 minute PR from just last month! By the time we got to the results board, it was a mob scene. It was directly in front of the stage, where the band was playing really loud. It was really uncomfortable. I fought my way to the front, and did not see my name. I had to go to 3 tents to get this straightened out. Apparently, They had me as a 30 year old woman! I said, well, how did SHE do? Not good. So I got a tile/coaster for 2nd place in my age group.

I don't know how I finished in the 3 race series. The 2nd place guy, it turns out, WAS there, and beat me again. Helmet Guy did not run. But there was a guy who was within 10 seconds behind me that, I think, beat me by more than 10 seconds. This is going to come up really close.

So, as far as my pre-race goals: I do not think I sabotaged my Birmingham goals with this race. I gave it my best shot, and I am glad I saw this race series through.

Time to build it back up, and log some miles.

7.5 miles. Hood route. 8 am start. 57:23. 7:39 pace. Really warm out. Achilles pain has migrated north to my calf, for the most part, so I'll be foam rolling later.

Oh yeah, Christmas song stuck in my head: http://youtu.be/Gu6fkjjAKog

nice.

7.5 miles. hood route to legacy trail and back. untimed. 5:30 pm start. super hot! super fog! first run back without the ankle brace or heel lift gels. I hope I don't need those things any more. This last month has got me pretty out of shape, and I've been slow to post because I am trying to not be a debbie downer. On the upside, I had this stuck in my head while running: http://youtu.be/rACM0Sw2Fl4

5. 5 miles. Hood Route. 7 am start. Fog has not left. I came home soaked. 67 degrees. 93% hum.

7.5 miles. hood route to legacy trail and back. untimed. 6:30 am start. 65 deg. 89% hum. 62 d.p. Shirtless new year's eve run. Go figure.

I went back to the heel lifts gels, but no brace. Yesterday left me a bit sore. I can already feel a difference in the achilles. So, the takeaway is that all of my running shoes are shot and I need new shoes with an elevated heel. Or, I can keep going with the heel inserts in the old shoes.

2014 was pretty good to me, running wise. I didn't PR in everything. But PRs in the marathon, and total miles are pretty satisfying.

Best wishes to y'all in 2015.