Getting back to Boston

First 10-miler since Boston, now that the rain finally let up. Once I loosened up, it went pretty well. Negative split, 9:06 average. But I had to go and make it interesting. Caught my toe on the sidewalk just past St. Ed's on Rogers and splatted. No face plant, but scraped up my left elbow pretty well, somehow; also left knee and left hand. Right side unscathed. Also seemed to land on left ribcage, somehow; maybe that landed on top of the elbow, not sure. Anyway, a decent run. I'll get in some track work tomorrow night and then coast into the 10K Saturday.

Last night's date postponed; Vicky had family issues of some sort. Somehow this does not surprise me. Still think there are possibilities there, but it's disappointing. Suffice it to say, to no one's surprise, my love life is in disarray, to put it mildly.

Going to Bryant this afternoon, I guess. Get the parental visit out of the way. Probably will go to baseball game Thursday night, then back up there Saturday for the race. Lot of traveling this week at $3.79 a gallon, but whatcha gonna do?

Was gonna try to run some intervals tonight to get ready for the 10K. Uh, no. Legs not loose, ribs still hurt from my little tumble. Did a lap and a half at something approaching 10K pace, then did 6 strides at the end. Probably at this point my legs just need rest after 10 yesterday.

Easy, easy 3 down Burnham and up 66th, with hills X 6 toward the end. Ribs still hurt quite a bit. May have to ice them this afternoon. Otherwise run went well. Very warm and sunny this afternoon, so thankful I didn't have to go any farther. Now we'll see how the legs feel at 8 a.m. in Bentonville. No expectations whatsoever; just go out at 7:20 and see how long I can hold it. If, by some miracle, I can hold it comfortably, I'll think about pushing on the return leg.

Ran the Battle for Hope 10K. Good news is I won my age group and 8th overall. Bad news is I ran five miles plus with a pulled hammy to do it. Strongly considered shutting it down, but I still would have had to get myself back to the finish line, so just decided to keep running. I actually passed two people in the last four miles, so they were sucking even worse than I was. Official time was 50:47, which stinks until you consider I was running on one leg. Managed to maintain something resembling marathon pace anyway. Now I'm on the DL for a while. Good thing didn't have anything important scheduled soon.

Easy progression tonight at SHS. Hammy felt tight, but no pain. Left one was just as tight, actually. But encouraging nonetheless.

Another easy run today, after work and weather intervened for the last few days. Again, zero problems with the hammy. I made no effort to push the pace in any way, although the last 1.5 miles was close to 9:00 pace.

Strug-gle. Man, this was a hard 14. I feel like I've lost so much fitness (and my new scale suggests as much; I'm up to 162). Got through it at 9:20 average, but it was HARD.

An "easy" 10K at the track after work. Didn't feel easy. It was 81 and humid at 9:00, for one thing. Not a dry thread on me after this one. Was able to pick up the pace throughout, sorta, but still took 57 minutes. Oh well, have to remember I'm supposed to slow down anyway when it's hot and/or humid, and it definitely is. There will be a lot of runs like this over the summer, unless I'm doing most of my runs at Altman. Which I might be. I'm getting closer to joining, especially since T will be here this summer; I want him to have some place to work out, swim, etc.

I knew the bad weather was coming in tonight. Didn't know when, or how much, but decided to try to get in my run after work. As I drove to SHS, I could see distant lightning. Decided to start out and keep going until the lightning was within three miles, as defined by the five-second rule. Didn't take too long; I was on my seventh lap. Went ahead and finished two miles, even though it wasn't raining yet. That didn't take too long either; as I was getting into the car, the rain started. And then the radio blared the announcement of a tornado watch for my area until 4 a.m. I already knew Joplin, Mo., about 140 miles north of here, had been hit by a big tornado this evening, so I didn't take too much convincing.

Five miles at SHS. They're set up for tomorrow night's graduation, so it was a little strange running past the stage and the chairs set up on the football field. Progression (slightly) to a 9:00 average. I think we're about to lose our last vestige of cool spring weather, so glad I got this one in.

Severe motivational issues for the past week. Work didn't help, but I just couldn't get myself out the door. Going to work was hard enough. This morning, finally got out the door before it got TOO much over 80 degrees. Decided to finally weigh myself before and after a run to see how much fluid I lost. The total: 3.7 pounds, or 1.7 liters. And that was running at 9:40 pace; what if I'd pushed it harder? Distance was 6.3 in just over an hour. Tried to stay in the shade as much as I could, which wasn't all that much.

I think the plan for the foreseeable future, other than joining the fitness center, is to try to do short runs consistently rather than a long weekend run followed by three days off. We'll see how that works. We'll also see how Tyler's summer job works; he starts training in two weeks. Got him moved down from Fedvul yesterday with Pupe's assistance. Wasn't bad, actually, even though it was 90-plus.

Out on the roads tonight for 6.55. Track is out of commission for a few weeks; they're putting artificial turf down in the stadium and have a dirt ramp over the track to protect it from the heavy equipment. So unless I want to climb over am 18-inch mound every lap, no track. I guess I could go to Northside, unless their plastic grass is also going in now too. Averaged 9:45, which is about right given the adjustment for the heat.

Summer is definitely here. It says 79 outside right now, so it was probably 83 or so when I started tonight's run, and it's humid enough to make a difference too. Wasn't a dry thread on me when I got home. But I guess I have to suck it up, or I'll put on another 15 pounds. I'm going to go sign up at Altman tomorrow, too. Need indoor and cross-training options.

Last night's run, with high heat and high humidity, was the last straw. I drove over to Altman today and signed us up for a six-month membership (prepaid). Then Tyler and I went back over there later and worked out. He reported 30 minutes of pool walking and lunges. I did (about) 80 laps of the indoor track, which works out to 6.04 miles if my count was accidentally accurate. I gotta get a click counter; no way I can keep count of laps accurately when I'm clicking off one every 40-45 seconds for an hour. Didn't wear a watch, so only have a rough estimate of pace (~9:00), but it felt like I was really pushing hard. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact it had been only 18 hours since my last run.

I'll still do some outside runs; I think I'd go bonkers doing what I did today day after day, and the dreadmill will only offer limited variety. But it gives me more cross training options, and I can run there if there are thunderstorms and other assorted nastiness (and ice and snow in the winter). Plus I can also run right after (or during) work.