They all can't be "easy" runs.

7.75 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail over the SWOM bridge and back. 8 am start. It's just like summer out there.

A half hour later, 4 on the trails with Tommy, with a fast finish.

A half hour after that, 1.25 hours basketball with Johnny. Weather for basketball: 81 degrees, 76 % hum., 71 d.p. Like I said, summer. 

7.5 Miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail and back. 5:45 am start. great weather, decent running this morning. 

While I was out of town for Thanksgiving, I turned off my alarm. I thought I had forgotten to turn it back on and then over slept Monday. Not the case. When I overslept Tuesday's run, I was kind of ticked that I missed two days of good weather running for no good reason. So last night I focused on what was wrong with the alarm. Somehow I had inadvertantly unchecked the box that says "alarm in silent mode." Which means that whatever the volume of my phone ringer is, that will bethe volume of my alarm. Since I live with my phone on vibrate, there was no alarm. I checked the box, and we're back in business today. I wish I had a better story for missing running the last 2 days. 

In other news, I waited until Cyber Monday to officially sign up for the Publix Fort Lauderdale Half. I had an Active.com 25% off discount code. There was no discount, and Active.com is the biggest scam ever. To sign up for most races, you need them. They default you to signing up for their membership on every page, which you have to be looking for to get out of. Then if you accidentally miss one, 30 days after you sign up for your race, they surprise extract $100 from your account (This would be after your 30 day "trial membership" that you unknowingly signed up for.) These people should be sued.

Beaten first, then sued. 

5.5 miles. hood route. 5:45 am start.

Johnny's Laurel Nokomis Middle School Basketball team won their first game in 3 years last night. The boy was grinning from ear to ear all night. 

7.75 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail over the SWOM bridge and back. 7:30 am start.

5.5 miles. Hood route. 7 am start.

Then church.

Then 1.5 hours of basketball with John. We spent a lot of time on footwork today, pivoting, etc.

Then 4 miles on the trails with Tommy. 80+ degrees.

5.5 miles. Hood Route. Heavy Fog. 6 am.  

9.75 miles. Hood route. 0.75 miles in a heavy downpour, then the rain just stopped. So for the rest of the run I was singing Cracker's Another Song About The Rain. So I ran to the corner of Laurel and Edmondson, then back to McDonald's to use the bathroom then back to legacy trail over the SWOM bridge and back home.

Another bad week of running. Sometimes life gets in the way.

Johnny, AKA boy #2, turns 13 today. So for his birthday, he wanted to spend the day at the skateboard park on his scooter. So that's where I am typing this. it rained this morning, but I squeegeed the skatepark, and now it's 74 and sunny. Good day.

7.75 miles. hood route to legacy trail over the SWOM Bridge and back. my endless summer. 

then church. 

then the track with Tommy. I don't know. I chickened out / was too tired / whatever I guess. He ran and I timed him. He needs volume. I need speed. someday we'll figure this out and run great. 

7.75 miles. Hood route to legacy trail over the SWOM Bridge and back. High of 81 today. 

3.5 miles. hood route. 

5.5 miles of is it raining? or just super misty? 6 am start. by the time I got to work, it has become 10 degrees cooler. weather is super confusing, yo. 

7.5 miles. hood route. 5:45 am start. cooler and breezy. At the turn around, homeless guy was awake earlier than usual, and he said good morning.  

For some reason, I had Van Halen's "Could this be Magic?" stuck in my head for the whole run. So on my morning commute it was a Van Halen medley. - little guitars, you really got me, beautiful girls, top jimmy, and so on. 

7.5 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail and back. 7 am start. Windy.

7.5 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail and back. First half faster. I didn't realize I was running with the wind timed the second half 31:00. Started off heavy rain light wind. Finished heavy wind light rain.

12.9 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail to Venice Ave. and back. 7 am start. Longest run in a while. Warm and sunny today.

9.75 Miles. Hood route to the legacy trail over the SWOM bridge and back with an extra 2 miles thrown in because of bathroom stops. Then 2 hours of soccer with neighborhood kids. It's been a while since I've played soccer. So now I'm sore.

Merry Christmas, FRBers! I have a long night of eating traditional Polish Christmas Eve food. Fish, pierogi, and a ton of other stuff that I love.

7 miles on the trails. 2 pm. 70+ degrees. Merry Christmas.

10.2 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail to Colonia and back. 8 am start. The Sweat burns the eyes today. It's got to cool down someday, right?

Also. Is "brick" by Ben Folds Five the only song about December 26th? It certainly has to be the most famous.

I was planning on running today. But I think I have a good excuse this time. 

This is my brother's last day in town, and his birthday is tomorrow. At a young age, he took up golf, influenced by my Uncle Joe. Because of many hours on the golf course together, he has a great friendship with my Uncle. So, he really wanted to be that guy for my sons. So he set it up that the five of us, Me, Andy, Uncle Joe, Tommy, and Johnny would do 9 holes at Lake Venice Golf at 8 am. It's not too long until my boys are learning to drive. The Floridian learns to drive by first recklessly driving a golf cart. Later, you can advance to the roads and do some real damage. So, that was part of my motivation for this. How did I play? I haven't played in 4 years. But, for 5 holes, I was awesome. I was putting for bird or par. Then the wheels came off. I shanked 2 into the woods. On the same hole, I hit 2 separate trees on different shots, both times sending my ball backwards on the course. After you have a double digit score on a hole, it is tough to keep competative. But my brother's goal, about influencing my kids into golf was, I think, accomplished. After, I spent about an hour on the driving range with my sons. 

Then Johnny spent the day at the skatepark. Then we saw the new Star Wars. Big day.

12.9 miles. Hood route to legacy trail to Venice Avenue and back. Slow, but steady. 8 am start. Stupid hot. 75 degrees. 85 % hum. 71 dew point. Really crowded out there today.

At the base of the US41 bridge, a lady passed me on her bike. Then she slowed up because of the incline. So I said "Come on!, You aren't about to get passed by a runner, are you?" Then she had to explain to whoever she was talking to in her earpeice, what was happening. And she was pretty embarrassed about it. So I yelled back "I'm sure you'll catch me on the downhill!"

She didn't. When I crossed the line where the overpass ends, she was still coming up behind me. I threw my arms in the air and yelled Woo Hoo as loud as I could so that her phone call friend could hear.

BTW, this talking to people while you exercise thing is getting really commonplace. I used to be self conscious about having arguments with myself while I'm sorting out life's problems while running. Now everybody is talking to someone. And who is on the other end of the line? Do I want to listen to you huff and puff while describing what happened last night? Not this guy. I don't get it. 

5.5 miles. Hood route. 7 am start. Comedic levels of heat and humidity. Also, I've developed something of a cough lately. I hope that goes away soon.

Pm. Surprise second run! 5:30 pm. 2 on the trails then I ran out of light, then 5.5 miles. Hood route. I ate a swarm of gnats!

10.2 miles. Hood route to the legacy trail to Colonia and back. 6 am start. Really hot and humid. Song of the run- when I grow up by NF.

I woke up coughing and sneezing. No fever, so I should have ran, I guess. I just didn't feel it. No, this is not from watching my Gators stink up the Orange Bowl and still win last night. Just your regular head cold. Maybe I'll write a year-end thing later. 

Happy New Year, all.