They all can't be "easy" runs.

5.5 with the boys on their bikes. Legacy Trail. Laurel to Venice Avenue and back. 3:30 pm start. 89 deg., 70% hum., 78 d.p. "Feels Like" 102! I can't even come up with a good "it was so hot..." joke.

The boys are entered in a promotion through their school and the Friends of The Legacy Trail, where they are to log miles on the trail this summer. This was trip #1. I asked the guy running it how many miles it was going to take to win this thing. He said they don't work it that way. As long as each kid does the minimal amount of miles, he/she will be entered in a drawing to win prizes. "Sure," I said. "You wouldn't want to reward anybody for hard work, right?"

I may have just guaranteed that my boys win nothing.

10 miles. 5:40 am start. Legacy Trail with Johnny on his bike. Started at Venice Avenue, to just south of the Circus Bridge, back north to Laurel Road, back south to Venice Avenue. We saw heat lightning, a yellow moon, a kingfisher eating a frog, a possum, some cool colors and clouds with the sunrise over the bays. Johnny thinks he saw a Gator. My favorite part: Johnny singing Weezer's Pork and Beans as we went by the lumber yard.

We're going to try the same thing tomorrow with Tommy.

10 miles. Legacy Trail. Same route as yesterday. Much hotter / humid today. I had Tommy on his bike - whistling. Constantly. I'm going to try for 3 days in a row. Johnny is going tomorrow.

5:40 am. 10 miles on the Legacy trail with Johnny on his bike. He really pushed me today. "Dad, let's race to the next bridge", etc. About 8 miles into it, he got a bug in his eye, and was out of sorts for a bit. I thought he was blowing things out of proportion until:

6:00 pm: Celery Mound. 1.5 up, (5) x 0.1 mile hill spints with jog down, 1.5 down. The gnats were everywhere. I was so coated with bugs at the end of this run, people in the parking lot were pointing at me. I had to run most of the time with my chin on my chest, in the hopes that the bill of my hat would prevent the bugs from hitting my face. I had to breath through my nose. I have a pretty full beard, and it was loaded with gnats. The good news is that all of the rain has caused some washout areas on the paths. If I wasn't running with my chin on my chest, I could have twisted something. < that's the best positive spin I can come up with.

I have complained about bugs before, but this is the new standard by which all other buggy runs will be judged.

4.5 miles on the legacy trail with Tommy. 5:40 am start. We had an early morning appointment, so we cut it short. He's going again tomorrow, because both kids have to have the same mileage. So we'll get 5.5 tomorrow, and then I don't know after that. They start football conditioning next week. Doing this with me is going to make them too tired for foosball, so this might be the end of it. It was a good week, though.

5.5 miles. 5:40 am start. Legacy Trail with Tommy on his bike. This morning he rode with an mp3 player. He was belting out Livin' on a Prayer and More than a Feeling. It was awesome. At one point, he screamed "That's the guy that never says good morning!" Awkward! Son, you are going to have to learn to control the volume of your voice. He had to stop and take in the sunrise over Roberts Bay. It was ridicuous sky-on-fire, choirs-of-angels-singing stuff. This has been a great week for me and the boys. I will miss this later.

Running-wise, a good week, as well. More miles, and faster paces than usual.

5.5 miles. Hood route. No kids. Sweaty Sweaty.