They all can't be "easy" runs.

1.5 mile RUNFAIL! Okay, there are several possible reasons things fell apart, in no particular order: Easter food is horrible for runners. Seriously, what "athlete" eats ham with spicy mustard, hard boiled eggs, Jello eggs, Reeses Peanut butter eggs, Peeps, and bread and butter pickles? Also, we ate this meal at the beach (79 degrees, and 80+% humidity). Sitting in the sun for a couple of hours, eating this "Easter goodness", about a half hour prior to running is not the smartest thing I've done. Also, there was a little bit of sleep deprivation thrown in there. Anyhow, given the conditions leading up to the run, I am amazed I made it as far as I did. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 34:57. 7:36 pace. In the words of Joe Namath, I was

STRUG-GULL-LING!

I better get used to these new weather conditions soon.  Oh yeah, good diet today, no sweets. I feel like I'm wasting the investment I've made to the  girls scouts of america, but what are you gonna do? 

At the track. 1.5 mile warm up. 4 minutes rest. 1 mile @ 6:03. 4 minutes rest. 1 mile @ 6:15. 4 minutes rest. 1 mile @ 6:17. 8 minutes rest. 1 mile cool down. 

The goal was to get 6:20 pace miles. I came out too fast on the first one. I think I need something that paces me, as I am getting into a new pace range. If you ask me to go run a 7:30 or an 8:00 minute mile, I know what that "feels" like, and I can be close. If you ask me to run a 6:20 mile, all I know is that it is much faster than I normally run. I need to find a way of knowing what 6:20 "feels" like. I guess the short answer is: I need to do this more often than once every 4 months, or so.

Also, I am stunned at the 6:03. I know that for a lot of people around here, 6:03 ain't that fast. In my world, that is pretty fast. In high school, I remember they timed us for a mile after soccer practice a couple of times. I think my best mile was @5:53. I've slowed 10 seconds in 25 years? Really?

5.2 miles. Ringling Bridge. 38:30. 7:24 pace. 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 34:52. 7:35 pace. It rained all day and all night, except for the 1 hour I had to go running. I'd like to think that the clouds parted, and the sun came out, BECAUSE I was going to run. Still a little stiff from the Tuesday milers, but it felt like my feet were hitting the ground differently. It's weird, but it felt like my toes were contributing more to the cause, than they normally do. Or I was more aware of the work they were doing, or something. Good Job, Toes! The strides felt more like "pulling back" than "pushing down." It's hard to explain. 

Yesterday at lunch, I was entertained by watching a man cut down an Oak tree in chunks. Usually, this is no big deal. But this guy was running a chainsaw 20-25' off the ground, using ropes, spikes on his feet, over a roof, next to power lines, IN THE POURING RAIN! I guess some local folks were more concerned than I was. The city arborist received a TON of phone calls. So he came out to the site, to see what was going on. The lunatic with the chainsaw climbed out of the tree, pulled his tree removal permit and licensing credentials out of his truck, and screamed red-faced at the city arborist, in the rain, for a good 15 minutes, then he went back to work. I considered giving the tree removal guy $10 for the show I just witnessed, but then I thought maybe approaching an angry, crazy person with a chainsaw wasn't such a hot idea.

5.2 miles. Ringling Bridge. 39:22. 7:34 pace. Windy. I don't usually run on Fridays. I have found that it messes up my Saturday long runs. So today is an experiment, to see if that is still the case. There is such a perfect window of time on Friday afternoons to run, that I hate to waste it by not running. I was trying to go slow today. 7:34 pace is a little quicker than I was shooting for. We'll see how this plays out tomorrow.

12.9 miles Legacy Trail to Venice Avenue. RUNFAIL. Untimed. But I don't blame Friday's run for this. The results of the experiment are still inconclusive. Getting warm.