Getting back to Boston

Slow and easy for the first run of the new year. Worked up quite a sweat in the bright sunshine, even though it's in the low 40s. But I'm now 5.65 miles ahead of where I was at this time last year. Run early tomorrow with the Crackheads before we go to the bowl game in Memphis (I think, pending what the sister-in-law wants to do).

Joined the Crackheads this morning for a very cold run from ADEQ near Cook's Landing. Wound up going 10-plus at a pretty good clip; it was too cold to run slow. Then went home, showered, changed and left for the bowl game in Memphis, which was even colder. Brrr. But at least we won.

Took the last two days off due to snow and exhaustion, in that order. Both are still present, but decided to go out for a late tromp through the white stuff. There were places I was running the JBH trails by memory because I couldn't see them through the snow. Slipping was pretty minimal, fortuantely, mostly crunching down enough to where the footing was pretty good. Took me 51 and change to do 5.27, including a brief pitstop along the trail (at 16 degrees and 9:30 at night, NO ONE else is out there, trust me). Fortunately there was no wind, so the wind chill was also 16. In 48 hours, the ambient temp is going to be in single digits and the WC will have a hyphen attached.

Decided to get one more run in before we maybe get iced in for 2-3 days. Except I was kind of iced in tonight. Streets/paths were already very slick from freezing drizzle, so much so that it was preferable to run off the path in the snow than on the path. Then it started snowing on top of that. So now there will be a layer of glaze in the morning layered with snow. Yuck. Getting to work will be SO much fun. Regardless, I did 5.38 at 10:24 pace, not having the benefit of snowshoes, Yaktrax or anything else for traction. No bust busts, however/

I'm definitely a believer in the therapeutic value of running after today.

Finally got back out after 10 days off for illness and weather. Didn't feel completely back to normal physically, but I needed to get out. I needed endorphins. I was really down, blah, pretty much depressed this morning. Having thoughts I really don't want to be having. So around noon I laced 'em up and went out. It's warm enough, in the 40s anyway, that the cold air was not a problem. I think I coughed once in the run. Legs felt a little sluggish, which I expected after 10 days on the shelf, but got through at a reasonable pace. I wore the heart rate monitor out of curiosity, just to see what the HR was after so much inactivity. Looks like it was in the 130s early, got up into the 150s later on as the miles and a few hills went by. Not great, but not too surprising.

I'm still not really "up" after the run, but I'm better. I feel somewhat human again. I think I needed this run bigtime.

Legs sore from last night, so started slowly -- very slowly, like > 11:00. Gradually sped up, but overall pace didn't dip below 10:00 until the last mile. Ran three big loops around JBH, then went out the back and down Cheyenne and Camino Real to get home. Soreness still there, a bit, but not like when I started. AHR tonight 138, which is more what I had in mind for easy runs, that being less than 70% of my estimated HRR. Coughed more today, and after the run ended, but not a single cough for nearly 69 minutes during the run itself.

As things continue to deteriorate around me, I find I need to run. Not that it helps me deal with the crumbling situation, but it's an outlet. I usually come back angrier than I left, because running gives me time to think, and when I think about what's happening, I get angry because I'm so powerless to do anything about it. Tonight was a perfect metaphor -- 5.6 miles in the cold rain. Cold when I left, steaming when I got back.

Minus the Garmin, I'm estimating the distance and sorta estimating the pace (looked at my cellphone clock at beginning and end). Not estimating the effort -- I PUSHED this baby. Hardest run since Memphis, I'm pretty sure, and got harder as I went along. Started at 8:49, finished at 9:28. That is mostly likely 39:xx for what I estimate at 4.55.

Things a little brighter on the domestic front. We met with John and have a battle plan now. It may not give me what I want, but I think I'll be better equipped to move on no matter how things turn out.

Let's see, 48 degrees, raining, windy, I got up at 5:30 a.m. to go to work, and I feel like garbage. So what do I do this afternoon? I go for my longest run since Memphis -- 12.4 miles.

Started out slowly, picked up the pace as I got going and the rain came down harder. Stopped in the middle for Powerade and to get rid of the cotton t-shirt I stupidly put on under my tech shirt, then went back out. My pace before the break was 9:19. After the break must have been sub-9, because I finished at 9:06 overall. Even better I discovered that the track pants I thought were waterproof aren't, so I was carrying around a little extra weight for the last 3-4 miles. Now I'm REALLY beat.

 Still very sore after the hard 12 in the rain yesterday. Kept it low and slow today, although picked up to a 9:27 average by the end. It was colder and windier than yesterday, but bright sunshine. A guy was out running accompanied by his young son on a bicycle. The pair of them seemed to be going a little faster than I was; I met them three times in my first two laps before they went home. I just kept going. Now some stretching and football, not necessarily in that order.

One of those nights where it's too darn cold to run slow; windchill in the low 20s and falling. So I didn't. Started quick, progressed, last mile at MP or even a little quicker. Felt kinda good, actually. Worked hard on my breathing, basically making sure I EXHALED fully. Seems like when I focus on exhaling, the inhalation works better. Which makes sense; out with more bad air, room for more good air. Better get my running in while I can; looks like more wintry crap coming later in the week. Might even try to get some intervals in, with the 5K coming up on the 13th of February.

I have a theory I'm going to test over the next six months. I believe that somewhere inside this 49-year-old body, some of the speed I had as a 15-year-old is still locked up. I've unlocked some of it; that's why I'll be in Hopkinton in 2011. But I think there's more in the vault. How I propose to bring it out is to pile up a lot of miles at paces faster than what I've been normally reaching in training. Not intervals or VO2 max or tempo paces, just pushing the ordinary GA runs a little harder. For Memphis, my "base" pace -- or my recovery run pace -- was around 9:45. If I can get that down to say 9:15 before I start my next marathon cycle, that's a stronger platform to try to get down to 3:20 or below for St. George or Chicago or Boston.

So tonight I set out on another step of that plan. Started the run at 9:28 pace, then 9:11 for two miles, t hen 9:05, then 8:49, then 8:36, than the last 0.93 at 7:44 -- almost my GMP for St. George. Total time 1:02 for nearly seven miles, an 8:58 average. I think Tim Noakes calls this resetting the central governor. Get strong enough that 9:15 becomes easy, then see if the upper boundary changes from 8:05 to 7:37 -- or better.

Also better get some miles in before the ice and snow hits. I think I need to go to Lowes and get some sheet metal screws to make my own ice training shoes. I may need them this weekend -- to get to work as well as to train. Pam is going to a class this weekend in Little Rock, so I'll be batchin' it. More training time, I guess.

Tried to go easy tonight, just making sure I get some miles in before the icy stuff hits tomorrow. Wound up with 6.13 at 9:19 average. Not trying to push the pace at all; gravity accelerated me on the homeward 0.7, otherwise just tried to maintain.

Went to buy some hex sheet metal screws tonight to convert an old pair of shoes into ice shoes, which I may need tomorrow and apparently will need Friday and Saturday. Looking at those screws, it's hard to imagine that the head part will afford me much grip, but that's what I'm told. I guess we may find out Friday afternoon or so.

Pam headed for LR tonight to attend a meeting tomorrow and Friday. They're going to get the same junk down there as we do here, apparently, only less of it. She's got the 4WD, I don't. But I wouldn't have gotten to drive the 4WD even if she'd stayed up here, so I don't guess it matters.

Raining and 32 on my departure. Raining and 30 on my return. Bottom of my windshirt frozen on my return. Oh yeah, and windchill in the teens to boot. Got in my 5.53 anyway. Might not get to run for several more days. Might not have electricity for several days either. Northwest Arkansas is going to turn into a glacier tonight.

Call this one Slow in the Snow. Half-inch of ice last night, then the snow started around 8 a.m. And it's still coming. At least three inches so far, and enough wind to sting when it blows snowflakes into your grill. But I had the screw-equipped shoes to try out, so out I went. Shoes did fine, although I'm not sure a couple of screws aren't drilled just a tad too far into the soles. No slipping. But I needed a cap to keep the snow from stinging my eyes; it wasn't a blizzard, but I got a taste of what fast-blowing snow is like. And running in that stuff is like running barefoot up a sand dune. You feel like you sink in two inches on every stride, and a lot of them you DO sink in two inches. Anyway, struggled out 5.26 at 10:45 average pace, but the hams and quads will feel like I've gone much farther/faster.

Back out on the icy streets this evening, from the guy shoveling his driveway who asked if there was nothing good on TV (there wasn't) to the polar bear attack at mile 2.5, to the screws coming dangerously close to perforating my feet thanks to putting them in overly worn soles. In spite of all that, though, it was a good run. Legs felt good, was able to pick up the pace late in the run, although the overall pace, counting bear assault, was 10:18 per mile. Today put me over 40 miles for the week and 100 miles for the month, not bad for missing 12 days due to weather and illness. Would have missed three more days with weather if not for the screw shoes, but I've already switched the screws over to the Asics with much thicker soles. I don't think I'll have to worry about perforated feet for the remainder of this little Ice Age.

Course went out the back, down my mini-Heartbreak hill, up to Shiloh, then back on Pump Station to Silent Grove. Starting pace was 10:23, then 10:10, then 11:43 as the bear arrived on the scene, 10:24, 9:40 with a little downhill, and 9:23 on dead flat past the sewage plant. Assuming I lost 1:15 for the bear, which seems reasonable, overall pace would have been right around 10:00, which is not bad on icy streets.

Back out on the ice today. For some reason, despite temps remaining in the mid-20s and no sunshine to speak of, there was considerable melting going on. There were also plenty of iceballs and ruts to step on and twist ankles. How my ankles are not the size of basketballs right now is beyond me. Must have twisted the right one 20 times, and that estimate may be low.

Moved the screws into the Asics today and traction continued to be pretty good, with the possible exception of the downhill out of the park and sheer, wet ice (and the wet part may be the key; that melting again). Felt like I was on skis, but no falls again. I will be happy when I can retire the screw shoes, though. Maybe this melting will continue and I can run on clear trails tomorrow.

Total mileage today 9.04, which puts me over 110 for the month. I'm fairly happy with that, given that I missed half the moth with the gunk and the weather took out a few more days. And with the snow, many of the miles I put in this month were harder than the average bear, like running in mud or loose sand. I think my glutes and quads will be strengthened accordingly by this work, if I ver get a chance to supercompensate.

Pushed it a little tonight, perhaps because I was excited to actually be running on real pavement again. Well, almost, there were still slushy patches here and there, but certainly I didn't need the screw shoes. Started out at 9:43 pace and bumped it up some. Didn't get to MP; legs are still a little heavy from negotiating snow and ice for a week, but it felt pretty good to at least put it in second gear for a change. Finished with 6.03 at 9:07 average.

More slip-sliding tonight. The stuff that melted this afternoon is refreezing, very thinly, and you can't see it. Don't know how I avoided busting tail. In spite of that, a good run, 9:27 average for 5-plus, including three laps around the lake and three decent uphill sections. More freezing fog expected tonight, so tomorrow's drive oughta be loads of fun.

Progression run in the rain tonight, once a cramp in my left foot eased out. Took four miles to warm up/uncramp, then put the hammer down. Mile 5 in 8:08, mile 6 in 7:48. I'd pretty much take a 7:48 average at St. George or Boston right now, but we're a long way from that. One of those runs that just left me with a better outlook on life. I seem to get those more when I push the pace a bit, but I can't push the pace on every run or I'll get hurt. But this was one of the more therapeutic runs lately, left me feeling better about things, even those that have been weighing on my mind at lot.

Jeez, I just can't do a whole run without speeding up. Because I get bored and want to finish? Because I want to get off a busy street before I become road pizza? Because I tend to route myself so that I have a downhill run near the end? All of the above? At any event, started off at 10:00 pace and wound up at MP for the last 0.33, albeit sharply downhill. Good run. Three loops around JBH, then out the back, down West End, down Backus all the way to Silent Grove, then down the steep hill to Cimmaron and back home. Definitely hustled on Backus, which was BUSY.

Doing something long tomorrow, just not sure where or when. Basketball game starts at 12:40, so have to finish before 11 or start after 3. Given those choices, think I'll do an early run, shower, change and pick up T. Maybe the trail in Fayetteville. Probably not the north-south loop on 40th and Carley.

Twelve and a half today. Not sure why it was difficult, but it was. Maybe I'm just not used to doing 12 right  now. That will change over the next few months as I add LRs back into the program. The course wasn't particularly hard; rolling but no Sherpa climbs. Went Overo to Backus to Gutensohn to Carley to Tyson Parkway. Right on Tyson to 40th. Back up 40th all the way to Falcon, with a detour over to the convenience store to get a Gatorade and energy bar (which ended up costing me $15, but that's another story). Right on Falcon to Silent Grove, through JBH and out the back, down Pump Station back to Silent Grove, and back to the house. A $10 bill in change fell out of my pocket twice; I somehow found it the first time, not the second, which is what that bar and Gatorade wound up costing $15. Anyway, hammies feel really drained right now, and I'm supposed to leave for the basketball game momentarily. Wound up with 45 plus for the week, which is the most since before Thanksgiving. Today's run was exactly twice as long as yesterday's, and took me 59:40 longer (yesterday was 58:25).

Had originally planned an easy 5 today. Then I looked at the weather forecast -- another winter storm tonight and tomorrow. Runs might be limited for a couple of days. So I decided to get more miles in today before the storm hits. So I wound up doing 9.6, including the last 0.4 or so at sub-MP. Felt pretty good for the last four miles or so (amazing how it takes me five miles now to warm up). Weather was mid-30s, overcast, not much wind. Felt pretty good except for the drainage.

Snowing here all day and into tonight, but I needed a big dose of endorphins in the worst way. So I set out on a six-mile dash through the flakes. It was kinda fun, since I didn't have to worry about busting tail on the ice (yet) and the flakes were falling straight down instead of whipping into my eyes like a week or so back. Just tried to keep a steady pace until the inevitable late-run surge; I guess I just get ready to get these runs over with at some point, and the quickest way to do that is to speed up. Wound up with a 9:29 average, which is pretty much where I want my GA runs to be right now.

Trying to decide how to approach the 5K Saturday, assuming they even have it because of the weather. This slop has not been conducive to any kind of speed training. I may try to do some 400s tomorrow if conditions permit, but that's as close to a race as I want to do any speedwork. Probably just try to set out at an even pace and see how long I can hold it. A big variable, of course, is what the course is going to be. I expect hills, being on the UA campus, but which hills and at what point of the course? That's going to affect the tactics more than anything except possibly the weather.

Things are discouraging on the domestic front, which is why I needed the endorphins. Certainly no cause for optimism. I just hope John's instincts are right, but even if they are, it may be too late. If so, I'll just have to accept it and get on with the rest of my life. Which would be a lousy way to start my 50s.

Took the last two days off -- one for exhaustion and bad weather, one because we went car shopping last night (a truly frustrating experience). So I figured I needed to get back out there tonight to wake the legs up, with the 5K only about 38 h ours away. Warmed up for three miles, then put the hammer down for the last mile and a half. Wound up at MP or slightly below, which felt a lot harder than that. Maybe the exhaustion isn't quite gone.

Not quite sure how to approach the 5K. My only speedwork has been progression runs, and none of that has approached 5K pace for very long. Don't know exactly what the course will be either. It occurs to me I might get an AG award by default. I think I'll just do what I usually do for 5Ks -- try to go out at 7:00 pace or thereabouts and hold it as long as I can, and hope they do what I think they will with the course and bring it downhill on Razorback Road to the finish. That will help me put on a finishing "kick". Having said that, a PR would be a fluke, or a miracle, given the state of my training. But then I did almost no speed work before I got the PR last September. I credit that to pure guts; I just refused to give in to the pain and fatigue. Saturday might be more of the same.

Working out the kinks before tomorrow's 5K. Slow 3 around the park. Not sure how slow because the Garmin needed recharging, but slow enough. I think I'll need some stretching tonight and before the race. Again, no great expectations, but just hope to get in a good run. If nothing else, a tempo run.

Not sure what you'd call a 2.95 mile race, but I ran one this morning. So I guess it was a PR for that distance. Race was billed as a 5K, but I was correctly advised before the start by a woman named Abrena who ran it last year (and was wearing her 2009 Boston Marathon tech shirt) that it was a tad short. She, however, also said that because of the hills, my time would likely be about equal to a full 5K.

Race started at the UA Gardens and went up Razorback Road past the stadium to the Pit. Right on Maple, down Sorority Row to Arkansas Avenue. Right on Arkansas past Old Main, then right on Dickson to Brough Commons. Left on Garland, then down the hill to Pomfret, past BWA and the softball field to Lot 56, then through 56, back into the Gardens and finish at the starting line. So you have an uphill on Razorback, two uphills on Maple, Arkansas is slightly downhill, two BIG hills on Dickson, steep downhill to Pomfret, slight downhill past BWA, slight up/down into 56, and flat to the finish.

First mile, being largely uphill, was quite slow, 7:54 pace. Second mile, steep up/down, 7:23. Third (almost) mile, mostly downhill, 6:48 pace. Official time, 21:18. They had a kind of chip timing I had not seen before. The chip looked like a keyring and they attached it to a wristband. When you got to the chute, a woman quickly scanned it with a handheld device. So it's conceivable that my real time was actually a few seconds quicker than 21:18, but not more than 3-4 seconds faster, so I'll go with 21:18 for my "5K". Turns out, nearly a month later, that I finished 13th overall.

I'd warmed up with a jog and strides, a little over 2.5 (warming up was important, as it was 29 degrees). Then the race, then after getting something to eat and drink I ran the course again with a detour around the perimeter of Lot 56 to cool down. So total run was approaching 9 miles. On the cooldown, I was still passing people who were running the "10K" part of the race (which was just two laps of the 5K course).

Pretty pleased with the run, especially with the steep uphills. My hill training seems to be paying off. I was catching people going up Dickson toward Brough, including Abrena in her Boston shirt (neon yellow and easy to spot). Didn't pass her, but I made up ground. Nice race for my first competition of the new decade.

I asked Abrena if she'd be in Boston in 2011. She said she's qualified for 2010 and will run then, but won't run in 2011 because her husband has had enough of marathon trips. I can kinda relate.

Forgot the Garmin today, so mileage is based on markings on the Fayetteville trails and time by the clock on my cellphone. Started out at 12:58 and decided to run 13 or so. Got to the approximate turnaround point, looked down at the cellphone and it had been one hour. So I decided to convert it into the old hour-out run, which I haven't done in a while -- run out for one hour at a decent clip, try to run back faster than I ran out. It worked, too. Got back to the car at 2:55. My guesstimate on the mileage is 13.3, but it could be a tenth or so either way. That works out roughly to 8:48 pace, not bad a day after a hard, hilly 5K.

One thing I know -- it was COLD and got colder. Current windchill as I type this is 17. That may be a little bit warm. It was cold and the wind was HOWLING. Fortunately not too much of it was dead into the wind, mostly the first two miles, when I was cold anyway because I hadn't gotten the old heat engine going yet. Mostly was a crosswind as I ran north-south on the trails.

After a night off for Domestic Turmoil, The Sequel, back on the road tonight. Decided to do speedwork the no-muss no-fuss no-thought way: Fartlek. Warmed up for a mile and a half then started doing surges intended to be about two minutes. Worked pretty well. Ended up doing six surges totaling 1.75 miles, all in the low 7 or high 6-minute ranges, somewhere around where I hope my 5K pace gets to eventually. Totalled 7-plus miles in an hour-2. Good run. Feel like I'm getting some speed back, not in time for my 4.75K on Saturday, although that could be basically considered a hilly tempo run.

About to decide to do the Bentonville Half, if I can scrounge up the entry fee in between fixing the truck. Good thing I'm getting a tax refund (and even better that that annual hassle is done, along with the FAFSA for T's financial aid). I'll decide about Hogeye probably after Bentonville. Maybe the full, maybe the half, maybe the 5K, maybe nothing.

Left on my run tonight at 10:10 P.M. after the basketball game (we won). Decided to do an easy run, which I thought it was, but darn if I didn't average 9:12. If that really becomes my easy run pace, I might just be able to do a 3:19. This reminded me of one of those old treadmill runs in NLR when I swear I was running while asleep. Not sure the eyes were open more than half the time. Also don't think I've done a run this late since I was training that summer in Tulsa after I'd get off work at 10:30 or 11. Anyway, knocked this run out OK. Trying to get to about 45 or so for the week, maybe even push 50.

Another semi-easy night at JBH. Think I slept through some of this one too, but got in 6.22, just about a 10K in 58 minutes, which is faster than I ran my first 10K rqace in October 2007 (how things have changed).

John and I talked this afternoon and one of the things we discussed was how to put the lessons of marathoning, and particularly marathon training, into use in other aspects of my life. Taking a systematic approach to those things just as I took a systematic approach to build my endurance and my speed to qualify for Boston. Makes sense. Now if I can just find a Pfitz or a Hudson to guide me through THAT...

Since I was very pointedly not invited to join Pam and Tyler for dinner tonight, I decided to put the time to use with a run. Didn't have the Garmin, but I think it was about 7.25 in about 67  minutes. Decent run and a decent, if not exhausting, pace. Almost could describe it as easy. If I put in 10 tomorrow, that will give me my first 50-mile week of the new decade.

Finally got Pam's car out of the shop today; nearly $2000. Plus paid $250 to get the old car title, since I never paid sales tax on it anywhere. Yuck. Anyway, that's out of the way. Finally. Now just have to get the Kia taken care of somehow. Guess that's where the tax refund will go.

Think Pam and I will go to the baseball game tomorrow. I think she's more open to doing things wth me at the moment, even if her overall feelings haven't changed. Oh well. Take positive signs where I can find them, no matter how small.

Amazing how warm 55 degrees feels when I've spent much of the last two months running in sub-freezing weather. Wouldn't say I was overheated, but I was sweating a bunch despite running in shorts and a tech shirt. Ran the old Shiloh loop with a tweak, diverting over to Wagon Wheel on the way back. Ran in the construction-to-be zone on WW once the sidewalk ended to stay out of traffic, which worked fine; it's graded gravel and smooth and probably actually preferable to running on the concrete, either road or sidewalk.

Run went pretty well until the last two miles, when I started to run out of gas. Tells me, as if I didn't know, that my diet has been lacking. I had thought about looping through JBH to get the run up to 15 miles, but the dead legs took that idea out of play. Just decided to get through the second loop and get into the icebath, which I did. Still wound up with a 53-mile week despite missing Monday night.

Ran instead of going to the baseball game, although I might go to tomorrow's game with T if it doesn't rain.

Cold, wet day in the Ozarks. In spite of that, got in a baseball game and a run. Rain stopped about 20 minutes before first pitch and held off until the 8th inning. Took T back to the dorm (with the baseball he got from a Hog player during the game), came home and did a really slow 6.1. Legs are quite stiff and sore from yesterday's run, so there was no temptation to pick up the pace much at all. Still managed to average 9:31, though.

Also signed up for Bentonville this morning. It'll be good to get in a half this spring. Have no idea if I'll be in any kind of shape to run it, like, fast, but we'll see how it goes. Course looks fairly favorable for a fast time, better than the course I set my half PR on a year and a half ago. I'll probably see how that goes, or at least how further training is going, before I decide whether to sign up for Hogeye. At least I know I won't be on call that weekend.

Tried to do mile repeats tonight. Tried being the operative word. Plan was to do four, maybe 5 repeats at 10K pace. Of course, my 10K pace is purely a guess right now, and my guess was 7:20 or thereabouts. Warmed up for two miles, ran a mile. 7:23, not great, not terrible. Jogged for three minutes, tried again: 7:12. Maybe a touch fast, but more like it. Started jogging again. Then the brown bear arrived, and he wasn't happy. Took care of that, jogged some more, started repeat #3. Quads then forcefully reminded me that they hadn't yet recovered from the weekend. Got less than a quarter mile at 7:23 pace before they more or less shutdown. Took a long jog in between, tried again. Nope. About the same distance, 7:15 pace, no more. Jogged the last two miles to return home.

Probably should have waited until tomorrow to try this run, but I felt I needed some speed work before the half in Bentonville. I still do. Other thing I should have done, since I have done no speedwork in several months, is cut the intervals back from a mile to .8, or one lap of the park. That, I think, would have been more manageable, and I probably could have done at least four full reps, maybe five. Remember, dunderhead, you're 49 now, not 29.

Now two days of recovery and maybe try something else quick on Thursday.

No plan for tonight -- just started the watch and ran, never checked pace. Only looked at the watch once to check distance because I wasn't sure I hadn't zoned out and lost count of my laps at the park (I hadn't). Felt like I was running a little faster than usual, but that perceived effort has fooled me before. The wind started to pick up as the run progressed, and I was pretty sure I bumped up my effort to counter the wind, but again I wasn't sure.

Got home, stopped the watch and looked. Less than an hour for 6.88. Every mile faster than the one before. The last 0.88 was at sub-8 pace, roughly GMP. The kind of run I seem to be good at. Now if I could just get myself to run negative splits in a race, I'd have something. Anyway, a nice way to rebound from last night's dead legs.

Went out for 6 easy tonight. Ended up not so easy, but that's OK. Still less painful than watching the basketball game, in which a bad Arkansas team rolled over and died against a worse LSU team. Yuck. Again ran every mile faster than the one before it. If I can do that in Bentonville -- or St. George or Boston -- I've got something.

Nice. Three days after I crashed and burned on mile repeats, I pulled off an even tougher tempo run -- 2 X 15 minutes at essentially the same pace, which worked out to four miles. Average pace for those four miles: 7:29.5 -- just about exactly what I was shooting for Probably my best tempo run ever as far as hitting a target. A couple more of those and I might start to think I can run a decent half at Bentonville.

Went to the baseball game today, then got in a run, the Shiloh-Wagon Wheel loop. Finished it in five seconds less than an hour for 6.56. I'll take that. As I always seem to do, it got faster and faster, although I ran two straight 9:10 miles so it wasn't a case of every mile faster than the one before it. Plus the last .56 slowed all the way down to 8:39 pace, possibly because I had to run most of it on the grass due to all the traffic on Silent Grove. Especially the so-and-so who intentionally put on his highbeams right in my eyes... Anyway, good run. Set up for another 50-mile week if I can get in 9 or so tomorrow, in spite of work and another ball game. Think I may take my running stuff and run the trail from the south end right after the game.

After three days off -- two for physical exhaustion, one for domestic turmoil -- back in the saddle tonight. Legs felt good after all that rest, so decided to try a good tempo run. Warmed up for 20 minutes, then decided to do 30 minutes of tempo, mainly by feel -- not check pace on the Garmin, just run. As usual on such runs, my pace was a tad erratic. First mile was 7:48, then 7:31, then 7:40, then the last seven minutes cover 0.95 miles, a 7:24 pace. Thus 3.95 in 30:00, a 7:35 pace overall. If I can run 7:35 avberage in Bentonville, I'll be more than pleased. I'll also be well under 1:40.

Easy run around JBH tonight. Legs still a bit stiff after last night's hard tempo run. so no temptation to crank it up. They loosened up some, but still never got below a 9:00 pace even with the downhill on the way home. Just a solid, routine run.

Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of my first marathon, and of Adam Nichol's death. Learned only yesterday that the winners' wreaths given to Leah and to the men's winner last year were made by Adam's mom. I thought that was really nice on her part. She could have blamed Little Rock for her son's death, but she didn't go there. And how things have changed. Struggled to finish in less than five hours then. Blasted four miles in 30 minutes last night with plenty left, and have a BQ to boot. Oh, and I'm probably 25 pounds lighter too. Weighed this afternoon in the office after everyone left; got down to skivvies and socks to do it. Weight 154. I want to take off 5-8 pounds in the next 13 months before Boston. I suspect I will, if I do the kind of mileage I expect to do.

Interval time tonight. Turned out I ran them at 10K pace or better, which is a little faster than I intended. However, I had teh good sense to listen to my GI tract and cut off the last planned rep-plus, which probably kept me from being REALLY sore tomorrow (we'll see if that's wishful thinking).

Warmed up for 2, stretched a bit, then took off. First rep turned out to be 7:12 pace for one loop of the park (.79 miles). As usual for my nighttime tempo runs, it's too hard to track my pace on the Garmin, so I don't. Jogged for three minutes or so, then another rep: 7:15 pace. Another 3-minute jog, than rep 3: 7:15 again. Three more minutes, then rep 4: 7:14 until the bear intervened. Quickly determined the bear was not going away quickly and scrubbed the rest of the reps. I was able to finish the run at a slower pace, ending up with 8.34. If I'd done all five planned reps, it woulda been 9-ish. Good run, though, even with the bear.

Really slow tonight, and worked to keep it that way. Six laps of LBH. Took 58 minutes, which is just about what I wanted. Planning 12 tomorrow, which would give me 42 miles in five days of running this week. That would probably be a smarter way to train at my age -- two days of rest, five harder days -- but I'm not that smart yet. Or I'm too OCD for that yet.

Bleah. Really lousy run this morning. Legs felt bad, rest of me felt worse. Nauseated, etc. Wish I could have barfed and gotten it over with, but slogged it around. The original plan for 12 went by the wayside, but I may still get in another 6 later in the day if I feel better.

Very happy with today's run. Dawdled around and didn't leave for the trails until nearly 10, started around 10:15. Didn't have the Garmin again (but at least it turned on this morning; I was already looking for a replacement on eBay last night), but the new watch did what I needed given that the trail has distance markers. Felt like I started reallllllly sllooooowww, but it couldn't have been that slow. Before long I was clipping off 9:00 miles, and felt really comfortable doing it. Got a little confused on the outward section and ran an extra loop of maybe 0.1 mile, so I added about 30 seconds before the turnaround to make the inner and outward halves about equal.

The original plan was to run a comfortable pace for the first 9.5 or so and then pick it up for the last 20 minutes. Didn't work out that way. Felt so comfortable that I picked it up immediately on the turnaround. That last 6.05, according to the $9 Walmart watch, took 48:18. That, folks, is GMP for me. I was sucking wind pretty good for the last mile or so, but kept going at a pretty good clip. I'd bet I was well under GMP for the first five miles after the turnaround. Definitely a confidence builder for the half marathon in six days.

Runnin' in the rain tonight. Pam looked at me like I was crazy when I was getting ready. She's probably right. Wind blowing rain right into my face. My allegedly water-repellant pants aren't. Trail still doesn't drain worth a darn, even with all the undulations and a bridge over a creek (where the biggest puddle lies). Felt really reasy, but I averaged just over 9:00. Maybe I have reset my governor to where 9:00 is easy and 7:30ish is doable. I guess I may find that out Saturday morning. Little tempo run tomorrow night, thunderstorms permitting, then back it down for the rest of the week. Needed to run tonight anyway after last night's emotional trauma. This ain't getting any easier as the weeks go on, y'all.

Very encouraging tempo run tonight. If this holds up, I should be blastin' Saturday morning. Warmed up for a mile and a half, then set up at what I hoped would be slightly faster than HMP speed. Five laps around the park. First lap at 7:29 pace. Close to what I wanted, but felt pretty good, so picked it up a bit more. Second lap 7:18, although I didn't know that exactly. Decided to try to maintain that one. Slipped just a tad on lap 3, to 7:21, although didn't know that exactly either. Lap 4, picked it up to 7:18. It occurred to me that I might be threatening my 5K PR on a tempo run! Decided to let 'er rip on the last lap, and ran it at 7:11 pace, then added another tenth of a mile for good measure. Wound up with 29:52 for 4.09 miles at pace, a 7:17 average. And laps 2-5 combined, which were slightly more than a 5K, worked out to about 22:40 for the 5K, only 43 seconds over my PR. If I'd been running an all-out 5K tonight, I think I would have gotten the PR. Finished the entire 7 mile run, warmup and cooldown included, in 57 and change.

Noticed something weird last night, in looking at a VDOT chart, which I haven't done in a while. Every single one of my PR times, 5K through marathon, falls between 44 and 45 on the VDOT. I'd say I'm pretty consistent there. Now to find a way to get them all into the 46-47 range. That would be something like 21:20 for the 5K, 44:00 for the 10K, 1:37:30 for the half, and 3:22 for the marathon.

Four and a quarter. Very easy. Delayed by thunderstorm. About all that need be said.

Oh, finally remembered to go back and look up the results of the Freezing 5K. Turns out I finished 13th overall! No ages listed, but I betcha if there'd been AG awards, I'd have won one. No such luck, however. Figures. I finally win AG (maybe) and there's no AG to win.

Had to fight to stay awake all afternoon at work (partly lack of sleep, partly boredom, possibly partly due to sugar crash after cookies with lunch). Even took a nap when I got home, then got up at 7 to jog 3 miles. I'm feeling really confident about Saturday, which probably will come back to bite me. But I'll take a crack at a good time anyway.

One last easy jog to shake out the kinks before the rac. I'm on the h ill up to the park, and Brooks pulls up beside me. He was taking a shortcut through the park to Shiloh, apparently. Weird. Run was slow. Legs a little tight, but I can stretch tonight, Gonna head for the expo in  Bentonville soon, then to the pasta feed.

Score another one for the old man. I don't think I'm getting any (or much) faster, but I'm getting tougher.

Raw, blustery day on the Bentonville square, with occasional misting rain and more wind than I'd prefer. Took a warmup jog, but didn't stretch as much as I should. Race began, and I soon discovered what I needed to be stretching was the glutes. They just were not loosening up.

My goal was to put down 7:30 miles. Did that -- for one mile. Then 7:42, 7:26 (better), 7:36, 7:47, 7:41. Hit the 10K in 47:22, I think, which was so-so. Glutes still hurt. I decided to forget about the 7:30s and just try to maintain over the second half of the course. Little did I know what that meant.

Mile 7 was 7:36, then 7:30. More like it. I started locking in on people ahead of me to catch and pass, and gradually succeeded. Then 7:35, 7:24. Mile 11 had a HUGE downhill in it; I half expected Lindsey Vonn to go by me in her tuck. Ran that mile in 7:04. At that point, the legs felt dead. I'm just telling myself to maintain. Fortunately, there was a couple of miles of flat to recover. Ran those is 7:48, 7:47. Then we got to a mega-climb. I talked to a woman I know afterward who ran Boston last year. She said this climb makes Heartbreak look like a pimple. Ran mile 13 in 7:56, but man, I was PASSING some people on that hill, including the last of the people I locked on to several miles back. Then we popped out on to Main Street less than a quarter mile from the finish and I hauled some serious butt with what little I had left.

Official time (gun) 1:39:36, (chip) 1:39:30, PR by 59 seconds. Think I might have left a little bit of my race out on that tempo run Tuesday night, but I can't complain about a 59-second PR. And a top-10-percent finish (83rd out of 888) doesn't hurt either.

BTW, for a brand-new race, I thought this one was run pretty well. Traffic control was very good, the expo was nice, they had stuff to keep you entertained in the Square before and after the race. I might have to run it again next year as my last tuneup for The Boston.

I'll get in a recovery run a little later. Just wanted to get a couple of things down this morning.

I'm really happy with my run yesterday. It would have been easy to say in the first 5K that my glutes hurt, it's cold, it's windy, let's shut it down and just get through this race with minimal discomfort. Instead, as Coach Hutchins would have said, I competed. I set my goal on passing people rather than running a certain pace, and lo and behold, by passing people I got a good enough pace for a 59-second PR.

Looking back 30-plus years, there were two things I did (or didn't do) that doomed my running career at the time. I didn't know how to train, and I didn't know how to compete. I went to track practice four or five days a week, but I didn't build a base for all those 440 reps. I should have figured out something from those early morning workouts in 10th grade, which allowed me to get better. But when Jimmy quit going, I quit going too, and my progress was halted. Maybe I would have figured it out later if I'd been able to resume running after the surgery. Or maybe not. I never quite understood that there was a price to pay for being good. I had some talent, I think, but I never gave myself a chance to excel.

Competing was another issue. My races were essentially time trials. I can only remember one time that I actually was focused on passing people -- that 880 in eighth grade where I stumbled trying to pass the kid on the final stretch. Why I didn't learn from that, I dunno. I remember that being exhilarating, actually competing and having a chance to win, but I never replicated that afternoon. Until now.

I'm not fast enough any more, if I ever was, to win races, or even win AG unless I luck into a really weak field (like the "5K"). I'm not gonna run a 5K in 18 minutes, or a 40:00 10K, or a 1:30 half, or a 3:10 marathon. But I can compete. I can pick out that guy ahead of me, and reel him in, and pass him. I can keep that woman behind me from passing me, or pass her back, as I did yesterday. And the other thing I can do is put in the work. The long runs, the tempos, the intervals, the hill sprints, the fartlek. That way, when I want to reel in the guy in the Think Teal t-shirt, I have the training base so that I can. When others are lagging up the Crystal Springs Trail, I can go by them. When the woman passes me on the downhill, I go back in front on the flat.

And now I have another little goal. Someone on the local running scene I want to beat. She doesn't know she's my target, but she is. She's 21 years younger than me and a lot faster, but I don't think she really knows how to train or to race. Her splits tell me she doesn't pace properly. If she did, I couldn't beat her. But just maybe I can keep working and beat her once before she figures it out. I figured out her splits from yesterday. After the 10K mark, she averaged 7:57 miles. I averaged 7:33, which is a negative split. But she'd built up too much lead in the first 6 miles for me to catch her.

OK, scratch that. I now know that I HAVE beaten her. I beat her at Memphis in 2008. Same thing. She was ahead of me for the first half and slowed down, while I maintained my pace better. She's gotten a lot faster, but her pacing is still bad. OK, I still want to beat her now that she's gotten faster.

One more thing: the new VDOT number is 45.39, according to the calculator at attackpoint.org. First time I've pulled it over 45. Which corresponds with 21:39 5K, 44:53 10K, and 3:26:46 marathon on their tables. McMillan correlates it to 3:29:51. Merv says 3:28:53. Runworks says 3:26:44. Runner's World says 3:27:27. Can't get runbayou to work today, for some reason. Now I have to work on getting the rest of my PRs into the 45s (or 46s).

On the road today: 7.01, low and slow. Originally planned 5, then 6, ended up doing 7. Legs felt pretty good considering. Could have gone further, but nah. If I do what I plan to do this week, I'll be up near 60 miles anyway.

Not quite sure how to characterize tonight's run. Started out as just a GA. Then I felt pretty good and decided to push it, and got faster and faster and faster. By mile 5 I was approaching marathon pace. In mile 6 I was sub-MP. In mile 7 I was running as fast as I ran the half Saturday. And in the final tenth of a mile I was at sub-5K pace. Wound up with 7.09 in less than an hour.

Marked St. Patrick's Eve with a low and slow 6 miles at JBH. Noteworthy aspects: started after work and finished before sundown; and ran quite comfortably in singlet and shorts. Both of which are welcome changes after a winter of running after dark, on ice and snow and subfreezing temps, or raw blustery days like Saturday and Sunday.

I'm about to talk myself into entering Hogeye, if I can scrape up $75. That may be the real challenge. It may also have to wait until payday on April 2. But I think a spring marathon would be good experience, even if I'm not out for BQ/PR.

OK, this ought to be interesting. Literally just walked in the door from my first set of ladders. Know times and approximate paces, don't know what mileage that translated into. Lost track of laps in the park, focusing solely on minutes and pace. Let's check the Garmin and see.

Warmed up for 2.02 miles, 19 minutes. Ran a minute at 3K pace (or faster). Jogged a minute. Ran 2 minutes at 5K pace, jogged two minutes. Ran 3 minutes at 10K pace, jogged three minutes. Two more minutes at 5K, jog 2. One more minute at 3K pace, jog 1. Two more at 5K, jog 2. Finish with 3 at 10K pace. Then about 1.7 cooldown to get home.

That adds up to 2.03 miles at pace, 2.02 warmup, 1.72 cooldown, and 1.17 miles of recovery. Total 6.94 miles. Average pace 8:31 even with all the jogging. Finished in less than an hour. Efficient, but painful. A man was out walking his dogs and I jogged by him (the first time) during one of my recovery intervals. His comment was, "That looks like work." All I could muster was, "Yep." I'm thinking, you got that right, mister, it is work. Ladders are a BEAR. Hopefully a productive bear in terms of making me faster, but a bear nonetheless.

I tripped on a stump and did a faceplant about 8 miles into tonight's 9.45 miler. So what? That face plant was about the least painful thing that happened tonight.

An emergency session for Pam and I with John today. I've had about all the emotions I can handle, but there's no end in sight. Just have to keep going and keep coping, somehow. Work actually helps; it's a distraction. Got in 5.15 this afternoon. Legs very heavy. Not sure if that's from increased mileage or decreased sleep; could be both. Gonna try to do 20 tomorrow, then I'll decide about Hogeye.

It will be spring in a few days, but I'm sitting here watching the sleet accumulate in the grass in my front yard. A half hour ago, I was running in that sleet. Twenty two miles, to be exact. Mapped out a new course this morning and set out just before noon. It was just raining then; the sleet came much later, but temp was in the mid-30s and falling. Ran past my office, then down Turner St. all the way down to Lake Fayetteville, then down the hill to the Fayetteville trail system, and turned around at the fence of the UA cross country course. Funny thing -- the Garmin said 11.01 miles at the turnaround and 22.09 when I got home, and I ran exactly the same course.

One thing I can say, I'm not ready for a marathon right now, at least based on this run. This run may have been a HTFU, but it was also kinda dumb on my part. I haven't run more than 14.5 miles in one day since Memphis (and that was last Saturday) and here I add another 7.5 miles to that. Not smart. I finished, but not smart. And given the weather, fairly dangerous. I could easily imagine hypothermia on a run like today. And I probably wasn't far from it. Took a hot shower to warm up when I got home, then a lukewarm "ice bath." Have my feet propped up now as I type and listen to Hog baseball (we're winning). Unless I bounce back very quickly from this, I don't think I'm gonna run Hogeye.

I'm pretty sure this is the heaviest snowfall I've ever seen -- and I still got out and ran in it. Nine inches on the ground and it's not anywhere near letting up, much less stopping. Twenty-mph wind doesn't help either. In spite of all that, got in 3.77, which felt more like 8 with all the high knee lifting required to negotiate deep snow.

In place of running Hogeye (full, half or 5K), I believe I will run Iron Pig instead, which is, among other things, a 5K on the runway at Drake Field. There is also a duathlon (run-bike-run) and a couple of other events, but since I don't own a bike, the duathlon is out. But a 5K on a flat runway would seem to offer a good chance to get a nice fast time/PR. Then I'll aim for Toad Suck for the third straight year. Ten-Ks are hard to find around here and I know it's a manageable course, so maybe if we don't get another frog-strangling thunderstorm I can get another PR.

Guessing at time and distance. Took the Garmin but it died after a mile. I'd hoped to check my AHR on an easy run. With the Garmin dead, couldn't check pace either, so I just tried to keep it where there was no temptation to breathe hard. Got the Garmin to come back on for a few seconds a couple of times just for HR readings; it gave me 137, which is about 70% of my HRR. I think. Legs remained very heavy for the first half of the run, better in the last half. Then I did hill sprints in front of the house, which felt weird, since I haven't done them since before Memphis.

Another tough run tonight when I really didn't feel like running tough. Run turned into a progression, which wound up at sub-MP. Wasn't that I was sore or stiff; just felt blah. Thought I might feel a little better if I picked up t he pace, and I did -- a little. Just decided to keep pushing the pace. HRM showed average heart race of 141, which I thought wasn't bad for as hard as I pushed it. It also showed a max heart rate of 173, which I don't think my heart will go that fast any more; I  suspect that was in the first mile before the strap got sealed in properly. The last .7 mile, which was run at about my GMP for the next year, came it at 149 bpm. That would be workable if I could maintain that pace for three hours plus at that HR. Average pace was 8:49. Ab muscle was a little sore but not enough to slow me in any way; it hurt probably a little more going slow than going fast.

Took the night off. Had some soreness in my right foot, about where the 4th metatarsal meets the cuboid. I've had pain in that area before and run through it, but I decided that, with a race in 10 days and nothing else really on the horizon, why risk it? Take a night off and see if it improves. So I did, and just spent the night listening to Hog baseball. If it's better tomorrow, I'll do the planned tempo run from tonight.

Me and my screwed up pacing. Right foot felt better after last night's URD, although not completely pain-free, and I decided to go do the threshold run I skipped last night. Plan was for 2 X 10 minutes at something between HMP and 10K pace. HMP, as you may recall, was 7:36 at Bentonville. The 10K pace based on that VDOT level, according to attackpoint.org's calculator, is 7:13. So I planned to run something in the 7:25-7:30 range. Uh, no.

First problem is that I didn't take the Garmin off autolap. Obviously 10 minutes at that pace is going to be more than a mile, so autolap will click after the first mile, and then restart the lap pace. So if I look at my watch in the last 2.5 minutes of the run, it will reflect my pace for that last segment, but not reflect the first mile of the interval. All of which led me to run a 7:17 pace for the first 10 minutes. Of course, I didn't know that until I got home and did the math. After a 2-minute recovery walk/jog, started the second 10 minutes. I thought I was being more conservative on that one than the first one. Evidently not. I ran that first mile in 7:15 and then got even faster in the last 2:45 of the segment, to come out with a 7:12 average -- faster than 10K pace at 45.4 VDOT. That pace would be a 22:32 5K, which is only 35 seconds over my PR.

Oh well. I got the intervals done, even if they were faster than planned, jogged home to finish 7.16, and the foot doesn't feel too bad. I think I'll survive.

Easy 7.2 at JBH/lake today. Had to really focus to keep it that slow, in fact. Really wanted to keep the HR down. Managed to keep the average below 140, so I guess I succeeded. It's 60 degrees out there, but unless the wind is blowing, it feels a lot warmer than that. Had to wear the hat to prevent sunburning the noggin, which in turn led to a bit of a headache because the cap is a teeny bit tight. Need to find an older/larger cap, I guess.

Today's plan was 12 miles at sub-9 pace or UIB (until I bonk). Ended up being a UIB. At about 9.8 I realized the tank was quite empty and cut off the big JBH loop to head home. Still managed to average 8:43 for the 10.27 and finished in less than an hour and a half. I don't think the missing 1.73 is gonna hurt anything. I'm in semi-taper mode for Iron Pig anyway.

Easy, slow and stiff. Did 5.64 today at JBH and legs did not want to go there. Took really four miles to loosen up any at all, and never did really get loose. Wind at 25 didn't help either, but HTFU and got through it. Full taper mode for Iron Pig now.

Hudson had intervals on the schedule for me today (the high-mileage 5K plan). At first I was gonna bag them tonight and do them tomorrow. Then I got out there and the legs felt pretty good and it was nice and cool, and I decided to go ahead and do the intervals anyway. Called for 1200m at HMP, then 6 X 400 at something faster like 5K pace or slightly under, sort of a VO2 max run. Well, it was almost 6X400; more like 4 X 400 and 2 X something else, since I couldn't see my Garmin distance or pace very well. Pace turned out OK, two of the intervals turned out .16 and .21 instead of .25. So I did 1.37 miles of 400s instead of 1.50. Oh well. Pace was a little spread out, from 6:37 to 7:08 for the quarters (6:49 would be pure I pace for me). The 1200 came out just about as planned. I'm starting to get an inkling that there is still more speed in there if I can dig it out. Then I have to learn how to sustain it on race day, or sustain enough of it to get where I want to go, like 3:19:xx.

4.5 slow, followed by hill sprints. Actually felt like I was sprinting. Garmin says I got up to 15 mph, which sounds good except that that really means only a 60-second 400. I could run a 60 when I was 14 -- and did. But at least this was uphill; maybe I could get to 16 or 17 on level ground. What's more encouraging is the pulse rate on the recovery run. Once the monitor strap got sealed in after about a mile, my AHR was never over 127 bpm, which is only 73% of HRmax. Maybe I am actually getting in shape. So two more easy runs, and then try to get a nice PR Saturday morning.

Ran a little farther than last night, same course, slightly slower speed. Main difference was it was about 10 degrees warmer. Wanted to see what that did to my heart rate. Answer is, not much. Averaged 130 for the 5.18, which I ran at 9:50 average. Off tomorrow night, slow 3 Fridaty, then bust open a big can of PR.

Showed up for the monthly Friday happy hour fun run, but no one else did. Not sure if that was weather-related or if there just wasn't one this time. Went ahead and did a nice easy 3 anyway, AHR 126 even with that last uphill on Frisco Trail to get to Maple.

Absolutely beautiful morning in Northwest Arkansas after last night's rain. Once the early morning fog burned off, not a cloud in the sky. Temp in the low 50s. I arrived at Drake Field shortly before 8 a.m. for the Iron Pig duathlon and 5K. I figured the main deal was the duathlon and the 5K was just kinda tacked on, and that appeared to be the case once I arrived. Lot of white bibs, bike shorts and people writing their bib number on their calves with a Magic Marker. Not too many pink bibs for 5K people. So I'm starting to think I might have a chance for a decent finish.

The duathletes went off first, men, women, then relay teams. Then the 5K crew lined up. Less than 40 of us, not many appeared to be 40-plus. One appeared to be a football player -- tall, really muscular. Turned out he was, back in the day, by the name of Michael Snowden, who played for the Hogs from '96-'00, got an NFL tryout as a wide receiver with the Titans, and still looks like he could go over the middle at age 32.

We had chips on ankle straps for this one; no mat at the start but one at the finish. I'm not used to that setup yet, but I guess it works. PA announcer counted us down and off we went. Pretty quickly I figure out that I can see everyone in front of me, which makes sense on a wide-open airport property with no trees. There's a guy in a blue shirt, a guy in a white shirt and cap, a couple of young women, a couple of prepubescent kids motoring along at a pretty good pace, the football guy, and me. So I'm in eighth place. We get out onto the main runway, 6000 feet long, and I set myself on catch-and-pass mode. Pass one young woman, then four people all at once, including Mr. Snowden and the kids. Now there's Blue Shirt, White Shirt, and me. By the end of the runway, I've reeled in White Shirt and I'm in second. Blue Shirt has already turned onto the taxiway and disappeared behind some stragglers from the family fun run, but I know I'm in second. Goal is to stay there, and maybe reel in Blue Shirt if he hits the wall.

I'd planned to run sub-7 miles, but at this point I'm just cruising. Not horribly tired, not straining, it was cool enough and windless, so weather was zero factor, and I even remembered to wear sunglasses this time. I'm not looking at my watch, I'm just trying to maintain pace and pick it up when I pass stragglers. Turn off the taxiway, through the tarmac, back around the hangars, and suddenly there's the finish, not much more than 100 yards away. Just tried to stay smooth, heard the announcer call out my name, and crossed the line. Second place. Then I looked at the Garmin: 2.76 miles. Not only not a 5K, not even close. Rats, or other words to that effect. I really felt strong, and I would have obliterated my 5K PR if it had been a full 5K. But I was on the podium for the first time in my life.

Sure enough, there actually was a podium ceremony. Blue Shirt beat me by 1:16, and I finished six seconds ahead of White Shirt. We had our photo taken together. No hardware yet; that will be mailed to me. No age group award, I suspect, even though I was first masters finisher and first (and only) male 45-49. But that's OK. I will now have hardware that's more than just a finisher's medal. Michael Snowden finished fifth, won his age group, but I beat him by 1:40. He looked like he was just jogging when I passed him. He was probably still just jogging when he finished. And a 9-year-old kid finished sixth.

I hope I'm just being overly cautious here, but better to be overly cautious at this point, I think. Went out for a planned 12-miler this afternoon after the baseball game (which Hogs won 17-16 on a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth). It was warm, windy and humid. Didn't push the pace real hard, but didn't just jog either. Ran one loop to Shiloh, came back to the houe to get a drink, make a pitstop and change shirts, and was setting out to duplicate the same loop. On Camino Real, though, sensed trouble. I had a new pain in my right foot, really the right heel, that I've never had before. Didn't feel right. Don't remember twisting the ankle or anything, although the last mile of the first loop I had to run in the grass a lot due to heavy traffic on Silent Grove. Anyway, tried to see if I could walk it out, and it did stop hurting after 100 yards or so. Tried to run again, and the discomfort soon returned. I wouldn't even call it a pain, really, just a niggle that didn't feel right. So I shut it down and walked back through JBH to the house. I'll go soak it shortly and elevate it just to make sure.

Went out to test the heel/foot tonight. It passed the test nicely; no twinges. Hammies weren't quite so kind, but they eventually loosened up as well. ITB took a little longer. But eventually the main limiting factor on tonight's run was the failure to wear a headband. I found myself largely blinded very quickly, in spite of a nice breeze. Fortunately no rocks/sticks littering the trail to trip me up. Tried to run at about Daniels E pace. It was easy enough on the legs, but the HR was a little above recommended  Averaged 138, peaked into the 140s. Garmin called that zone 3. That's probably about right. I could blame it on the temp, which is still in the high 60s even at 9:30. Anyway, think I may take another easy run tomorrow and postpone intervals until Wednesday, blaming aftereffects of Saturday's race. Or maybe not. I may not decide until about two miles into tomorrow's run.

I'm not a happy camper tonight, but it has nothing to do with the home turmoil. I learned today that my online friend and mentor, Jim Fortner, known on RWOL as Jim2, lost his battle with cancer last Thursday at age 69. Jim had forgotten more about marathoning than most marathoners ever know, but he was never overbearing with his information or ideas. It was there, in his posts and his extremely informative website, and he helped me immensely. He's the one, for instance, that suggested I do a "spring training" of speedwork and training for short races instead of focusing on marathon training all the time. That, in fact, is what I'm doing right now, and my speed and confidence are immensely improved because of it. He also gave me confidence that I might actually be figuring this running thing out when he agreed with some ideas I posted on the MRT forum in the early days.

So, after learning of Jim's passing when I arrived home and logged on to RWOL, I liiked at Hudson's schedule. He had an extremely difficult "specific endurance" run tonight which I had never done before -- 8 X 1K at or near 10K pace with only brief recoveries. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I decided if Jim could be as brave as he was fighting cancer, I could HTFU and do a hard interval run. So off to JBH I went.

Warmed up for two laps, stretched some, then set out of the first interval. As usual, took me a bit to get my pacing bearings. Started out too quick on some, too slow on others. Paces for the intervals were 7:21, 7:21, 7:17, 7:23, 7:08, 7:21, 7:16 and 7:09. The range I had been shooting for was 7:15 to 7:25, so did a pretty good job of hitting those marks, and actually had to back off late on the 7:08 and 7:09 reps to get that slow. Then jogged home, which felt like I was crawling, except that it was low-9 pace.

I guess you could call this the Jim Fortner Memorial Tempo Run. Thanks, Jim. You helped me a ton, and you are already missed in our little corner of the virtual running world.

Kind of a scary run tonight. Left leg was bothering me at work some, but I took some ibuprofen and got through work OK. No problems this evening either, until I started the run. Then the bottom of my left foot went numb within the first mile and a half. Stopped, stretched, it eased off some, but then came back With the burning down the back of the left calf, I know exactly what it is -- S1 radiculopathy. Did I tweak it on that interval run last night? Maybe. Stumbled through three laps at the park, then decided that it was reaching the point of being stupid to continue and headed home. Still got in 4 and change.

Twelve this evening when I definitely didn't want to run. Or do anything else, except maybe drink heavily. I'll be living alone in a few days, and it feels like I already am. Got the official word last night, and I think I'm still dehydrated from crying. Not sure what made me get out and run, except maybe force of habit. Probably should have done just a quick 3-4, but nooooo, I had to do 12. Got it done, somehow. Felt terrible, but got it done.

Having to get back into sweating mode quick. It seems to have jumped from winter to darn near summer -- 75 degrees plus today, no clouds and not much wind. Made a conscious effort to keep it slow. Legs tight eaerly, loosened later. Ended up tacking about 1.7 miles onto the original plan, but still kept it slow. Just a tiny smidge over an hour for 6.4. AHR was 140, which I attribute to the temperature, and more uphills than usual for a recovery run. Got through it OK, though. Now I need to stretch some tonight; there's no reason the legs are as tight as they've been this weekend, because I'm not asking that much out of them.

Specific endurance intervals again. This time 4 X 1 mile with about 400 meters jog in between (I stretched that out just a tad). Wasn't sure I could do this tonight, had just felt blah all day after a enourmously stressful weekend, and legs weren't too lively anyway. But decided to HTFU and see if I could get 'er done.

First interval was not too spry, 7:30 pace. Didn't stretch beforehand though. After the first one, stretched during the recovery jog, which ended up at 0.27. Second interval was 7:01, which was really faster than I wanted. Jogged 0.28, including a pitstop. Third interval 7:04, jogged 0.30, then last interval was 7:11, which is really about the pace I wanted. Then jogged home about 2.5. Other than the usual bad pacing, mission accomplished. Got the legs to do what I wanted when they didn't want to do it.

Did the run tonight I should have done Saturday -- 12 miles with progression at the end. Didn't have the energy then to do it. Wasn't sure I had it tonight, but felt pretty good as the run progressed. I had thought I might only do 8 tonight thanks to stiffness after last night's interals, but that loosened up, the weather was not bad (upper 60s, not humid, bit of a breeze) and I decided to do 12. Then I tried to hammer the last three miles, and did. Marathon pace for the last mile and change to boot. Overall, very satisfying run. AHR of 134, not bad for 12 miles with progression.

My marathoning nightmare is that my legs feel like they did tonight when I line up for a peak 26.2. Heavy, tight, dead, you name it. Really never loosened up until the last mile. managed to squeeze out 8 at 10:00 pace anyway, but it was not easy. AHR was 125, so not a cardiovascular strain, but the legs were not cooperating.

The day I've been dreading for months finally arrived. It was zero fun, but I got through it better than I could have hoped.

My wife left me today. Not for anyone else, just left me because she doesn't want to be married any more. It was not a surprise at all; I've been expecting this since December. The only good thing is that that gave me time to prepare myself emotionally. If she had actually left in December, I'm not sure what I would have done. This way, I've trained for it, just as I train for a marathon. I'm not marathon-ready, psychologically, but I'm probably 10K ready. And that's allowing me to survive.

My strategy at this point is to fight the temptation to crawl back in my cave. Running is going to be a major portion of that. So, at 6:00 tonight, an hour after talking to my therapist, I was at the Fleet Feet store for the Thursday night fun run.  And darn if one of the four (yes, four) other runners was the guy who beat me two weeks ago in the Iron Pig. Nice guy, too. He invited me for speed work on Tuesdays and hills on Fridays. Might take him up on it later in the summer. The run wasn't bad; still upper 70s but a bit of a breeze. Should have done the headband and didn't, so I paid for that. It was 4.8, one major downhill/uphill, otherwise flat. Another one of the runners tonight ran Boston in '09, qualified for this year but didn't get entered in time, and will be up there with me in '11.

Pupe wants me to avoid making any major decisions. That's fine. Not interested in major decisions at this point. They're too much effort. Just interested in survival. Talked to T tonight. He's pretty upset too, trying to distract himself so he doesn't think about his parents separating. That makes two of us that are pretty upset. Maybe three, but I'm not ready to go quite that far on the speculation.

Really felt lousy Friday, physically and emotionally, so wasn't a hard decision to bag the run and spend time with my son instead. Got back out t his afternoon. it was cool and drizzly, really pretty good running weather, but the bear intervened. Twice. After the second one, decided to cut my losses and get home. Wound up doing 10 and change instead of the planned 12-14, so still got most of it done. Week was 51-plus.

Easy run this afternoon with 10 hill sprints after that. Loosened up as the run went on, which is good. Sprints didn't feel very fast, but I was still a bit stiff in the glutes. Adquate, I'd say.

Today is Patriots Day. Which means friends of mine, real and virtual, lined up in Hopkinton this morning and set out on the journey into Boston.

I'm kinda wistful about that. I wish I'd been there. I know I'll be there in 52 weeks, unless I screw up the registration or they change the qualification standards, but still. Boston has been my goal, but in the past I haven't known people who were running, with the exception of Bill last year (and he crashed and burned). This time, I have a lot of friends up there. RWOLites, fellow Crackheads, even someone who trains in J.B. Hunt Park too (she DNFd, crashed and burned in the last mile or so).

Next year, it's me toeing the line. My training put to the test. I have 363 days to get ready without getting hurt.

Easy run tonight, 5 or so. Intervals tomorrow at FHS with Jason after work, as I sharpen for Toad Suck. Which I am now officially registered to run.

Intervals at the FHS track tonight. Wasn't quite sure how this was going to work. Turns out that a local triathlon coach was running the thing; he assigned us to do 4 X 800, negative split -- second 400 faster than the first. Since my schedule for tonight was 4 X 1200, it wasn't that much less, and the intensity of this was actually better; the 4X12 was to be at 10K pace, and this was faster. Probably the first 400 was at 10K pace, the second one closer to 5K pace. Did that, warmed down for about 2 miles, then decided to do another 800 at GMP, which worked out pretty well. Only did 5.5 total, but I think it was a good efficient workout.

Fun run from Fleet Feet to Lake Fayetteville and back. Enough hills to make it interesting. Also snagged a free singlet upon my return to the store, which is nice. Tomorrow, another fun run from Clubhaus Fitness, with some beer involved afterward.

Fun run from Clubhaus Fitness on Dickson to and around Wilson Park. Hilly. Kept the pace pretty brisk, running with one of the guys from the Fleet Feet store. Average pace 8:45, with 8:22 for the last mile, so I'd call that a moderate pace. Couple of beers from Hoghaus afterward. Haven't had a brew in a long time, certainly not since the split. Tasted good.

As hard a non-interval training run as I've done in a while. Pushed the last 2.22 to MP and beyond, a bit. Still feel weak and exhausted, probably emotionally more than physically, but HTFU and pushed it anyway. Ran 10 in less than 1:25, which ain't bad for old and exhausted. Winding down toward Toad Suck (and the second half of the 12-day workweek).

Amazing what a good night's sleep can do -- and how long I've been operating without proper rest. Got, I think, about 8.5, maybe more, and had plenty of energy for a long day at work and then a 6 miler tonight. Even taking it slow, wound up averaging 9:10 per mile -- just about Daniels E pace. Which is encouraging with my last race of the spring coming up.

Tomorrow, intervals, probably at FHS, although I won't run the intervals the rest of the FF crew runs. I'll do 2 mile warmup, one mile at 7:00 pace, 4 minutes jog, then 8X400 at about 6:40 pace with one-min recoveries, then warm down for 2 miles. That will make a good final speedwork before Toad Suck.

Interesting. Tonight was interval night at Harmon Playfield. Although the Fleet Feet group was gonna be there at 6, I went there straight from work and started at 5:30 because I figured my workout would take a lot longer than theirs (which it did). Warmed up with eight laps, then a mile at 10K pace, then a four-minute (1.5 lap) jog, then 8 X 400 at 3K pace with a minute-ish (200m) recovery, more or less, in between, all followed by two miles of cooldown. That adds up to 33 laps of a 400-meter track. Since 400 meters is like .246 miles, that should have been 8.20 miles. But the Garmin says 8.02, and to get even that I had to run most of it in lanes 2 and 3. Is that track short, or is my Garmin 5% off (or at least 5% off today)? Dunno. But 33 laps is 33 laps, and that's what I ran on a certified track, so I'm gonna go with the track, not the Garmin. Might have even run more than that due to going on the outer lanes.

Anyway, the pace it gave me for that first mile (or 0.97 anyway) was 7:14, but I ran the four laps in sub-7:00 total, which is about what I wanted. Then the 400s were 1:32, 1:38, 1:38, 1:36, 1:36, 1:37, 1:37 and 1:35. Darn near perfect, since my goal was to run them at about 6:40 mile pace.

Take it easy for the rest of the week, then open up a huge can of PR Saturday morning in Conway. That's the plan. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of last year's toad-strangling thunderstorm (pun intended), although a 40% chance of rain is in the forecast.

Tonight reminds me why recovery runs are a good idea as opposed to resting. The legs were incredibly stiff when I started; felt like I was running in molasses. Took at least 3 miles to loosen up a little. Then by the time I finished they were loose enough to run decent hill sprints.

Plan to do 4 tomorrow unless I wind up mowing -- which is quite possible. Leave early Friday afternoon so that I get to Conway after 4 so I can pick up my packet and not have to drive up early on Saturday. But to do that, I have to mow Thursday night. And to do that, i have to pick up the mower before 5 Thursday. Would also like to have dinner with Pam Thursday, but that's gonna depend on when the paycheck arrives and how long the mowing takes.

Very easy run at JBH. Off to Bryant tomorrow and hopefully a big 10K in Conway Saturday.

No run tonight. Got to Bryant at 5, went to dinner with Mumb and Pupe and Scott and Tammy and Shannon. By the time we got back from that, the foul weather was rolling in, and boy, was it foul. Tornado sirens all over the place. Not running in that, no sir. Maybe the extra rest will help at Conway.

Bleah. Just couldn't get it done at Toad Suck. Managed to run the 5th mile at a decent pace (7:07), but not any of the others, with the possible exception of the first. Missed PR by 31 seconds officially, 26 seconds on the Garmin. Missed goal by about two minutes. It wasn't last year's downpour, but it was 100% humidity; I was glad when it did start raining because it gave some relief. I wouldn't say I ran badly. I just didn't have any energy, with the exception of that fifth mile, only a small part of which was downhill. But I finished higher in the overall standings than I did last year with a faster time in a thunderstorm (????)

I haven't been sleeping well. My mental outlook really stinks right now, which is probably partially because of the sleep deprivation and partially the CAUSE of the sleep deprivation. That didn't help my performance today, then last night there were about seven tornado sirens in Bryant which kept me up much of the night. And I'm already sleep deprived as it is...

Let's face it, I am not handling solo life very well. Coming home to an empty house every night rips my heart out. Then tonight I saw Pam for the first time since she left, and it was agonizingly awkward, at least for me. Hoping that I'll get some more time with T once his finals end Thursday; that will help the empty house syndrome, maybe.

Routine, easy run at JBH. Legs felt like they had alittle more snap, although how they would ahve felt at 10K pace is anyone's guess. Anyway, waiting to hear on St. George efore deciding how to proceed. Looking at a mileage cutback for the rest of May, most likely, in any event while I get my act together psychologically (and give myself a much-needed break).

Intervals tonight at FHS. Scott the PA was there. As I expected, he's a lot faster than me. We did a warmup jog, then some drills (skipping, high knees, butt kicks, and kinda of a sidweays jumping jack), then ran 10 X 200. At least I think I ran 10. Have to check the Garmin to be sure... Yep, did 10, at speed ranging from 42 to 47 seconds. At least I didn't go over 50, and 46, as it turns out, is my recommended R pace under Daniels at my current VDOT level. Did not feel very fast tonight, and those things wore me out. I haven't had sprint drills like that since high school. I remember running one similar workout at NLR East, but I don't think I ran 10 200s, not did I run them quite this fast. Warmed down with five jogged laps.

I'm not sure what tonight's workout is going to do for me. I guess it may improve my economy and speed; it's not gonna do much for my VO2 max or anything. But that's what I get for doing a workout from a triathlon coach...

VERY sore in the glutes after last night's intervals. Started out very slow on tonight's RR, gradually accelerated as I loosened up. By the end, I was actually running decenlty, but I started so slow that the overall average remained 10:10. Think I'll do some good stretching now.

Eighty-six degrees tonight at 6 p.m. as we set out from Fleet Feet for the fun run. I think I'm really about to start missing my treadmill... The same 6-7 people show up -- four young guys in front, then me, then two women. Except that I got tired of looking at the back of the young guys and decided to catch them. Even Jason. Finally reeled them in with about half a mile to go on the last uphill, and actually beat Robbie and Jason. Nice. The pace wasn't horrible, 8:48 overall, but I'm still paying for Tuesday night's 200s, so it was tough to get loose. Basically that took two miles, then I decided to catch them. Last 1.9 miles were more like 8:34 pace.

Debbie came in at work and handed me a "PA Day" present from WB (never mind that PA Day is actually in October; Nurses Day is this week, and he thought he had to give the PAs something too). It was a $50 gift card to Fleet Feet! Nice! And timely, given that the Adizeros are just about shot and I have to get some shoes pretty soon. That card may get me about a shoe and a quarter free, and I'll swing the rest.

Easy today with a bit of a progression. Have to work this weekend, so not sure how much running will be done. A lot cooler today than yesterday for sure.

Good run today. New course for me, and I like it; I'll have to use it again. I've done the Shiloh/Wagon Wheel loop before, but instead of coming back down Silent Grove off Wagon Wheel, I stayed on WW all the way to 40th Street, then came back down 40th. Which in that area is not really a street, it's a winding country road with very little traffic. Some undulation, but nothing too difficult, and it was a pleasant afternoon for a run -- about 60, bit of a breeze, and overcast, so no squinting required. Turned off 40th on to Falcon at Smith School, then south on White to Elm Springs, wound around to Gutensohn, back up to Silent Grove, past the house, up the park driveway and cut through back to the house. Wound up 10.26. Felt so good that I ran the last mile and change at MP. Good way to get back in the saddle after taking yesterday off for physical and mental fatigue.

Ran under a tornado warning tonight, sorta. our county is under one, but it's the far southern edge of the county; I'm so far north I almost went out of the county on tonight's 5-miler. Ran the first 4.5 easy and kinda pushed the last 0.7, mainly because I was ready to finish and get out of the rain. Last segment was at roughly MP, the rest was at mid-9ish. Legs felt pretty good after yesterday's Beast.

Progression run tonight. Considerably warmer and muggier than last night, so plenty of sweating. Every mile was faster than the one before. Overall average 9:25 per mile.

Trying to figure out a running plan for NYC. Think I may take the subway Friday afternoon to Central Park, run around the park, then run back to the hotel, which is about five miles south down Sixth Avenue. That might work. Or it might not. Gotta to that before dark, that's for sure. Full Central Park loop plus back to the hotel would be about 11 miles.

Easy but humid 5.4 tonight at JBH and the lake. Kept the HR in the mid-130s despite the heat. Probably was even lower than that, since I suspect I got some flase pulse readings early until I got the monitor belt sweaty enough.

Think I've come up with a running plan for NYC. Go over to the Hudson, run up the Hudson River Greenway, work over to Central Park when I get far enough north, loop the southern half of the park including the reservoir, then back to the hotel. Should be a nice 10-miler or so. That'll be a good run for me, if I can get there and get started in time to finish before dark..

Kind of a nondescript run with the Fleet Feet crew, except that the guy who thought he knew where we were going, didn't. Even when we got back to Old Wire Road, we weren't sure where on that road we were. Until I remembered the mapping feature on the Garmin. Checked the virtual breadcrumbs, and sure enough we were headed in the right direction, and in a quarter mile we were back on track. Our little detours took a 3.5 mile run up to 5-plus. But that's OK. And that feature may come in handy tomorrow in NYC, unless the tall buildings block out my satellites. Average pace tonight 9:12, and that included a stop for Jason and Christian to be goofy and try to do some pullups. Otherwise, probably sub-9 overall. That's probably a good pace for me to shoot for in NYC, in between dodging taxis.

Purely guessing on the run. The Garmin took forever to lock in on the satellite, maybe a mile. Then it cut out in Central Park; not sure if I accidentally turned it off or what. Total run took just about two hours, and the first 4 or so, coming up the Hudson River Greenway, were well under 9:00 pace, so I guesstimated 12 miles this morning. I'll see if I can map it on mapmyrun tomorrow and get a better number, although I'm still not sure what pace I ran in the park what with going up and down steps, twisting and turning, stuff like that. Ran back down 6th Ave. to my hotel, which was an interesting exercise in dodging pedestrians and taxis. Glad I got to do the run though; I can scratch Central Park off my running bucket list.

Easy progression after I took T to the baseball game. He wanted to hang around after the game and get autographs from the team. I got a kick out of seeing this 6-5 kid standing among the four-footers in the line. He got Andy Wilkins to sign his ball and Brett Eibner, Collin Kuhn and somebody else I can't recall to sign his bucket hat. But he got a kick out of it, and so did I. One of the things I've liked about him is as he's grown up, he hasn't lost all of the child in him. Sometimes he's 19 going on 30, sometimes he's 19 going on 7. And he's just fine with that. So am I.

Anyway, back to the run. It was a good one. Legs felt pretty good, despite a bit of sleep deprivation.

Intervals at FHS tonight. With Ron not there, we decided to do 800s at 5K pace in my instance, with 200m recoveries. Warmed up for a mile, did all my reps at 3:30 or below, capped by 3:14 in the last one, then warmed down for 5.5 laps to total 24 laps. Garmin quit in the middle of the warmdown, but I got all the reps timed. Again, the Garmin thinks the FHS track is less than 400m. Whatever. Reps were 3:29, 3:30, 3:25, 3:20, 3:21 and 3:14.

Slow recovery run at JBH. Kept the pulse in the 130s, which is what I wanted.

Stress reduction run after a very bad day. My job is hanging by a thread and may not be there after tomorrow. Got out and did 5 at JBH at 9:26 pace. Try and get some sleep, get up and go to work tomorrow and hope I still have a job when the day is over.

Back in the ranks of the unemployed. Long story, but Cliff's Notes version: I deserved it this time. Which didn't make it any less traumatic. Have a few early leads on something new already, which is nice, and something that wasn't the case last time I went through this in '04. And I have five weeks' pay to cushion me.

Anyway, I came down to Bryant to decompress at the folks'. Didn't run Friday, didn't run Saturday, decided to get in a slow 5 tonight. It was still 85 degrees at 8 p.m. when I started, and the humidity wasn't much below that. So I roasted. Doesn't take much to remind me how much I hate running in hot weather. I'm fully reminded now.

Home now and out on the Wagon Wheel/40th St loop for a HTFU run. Moderate pace, but high temps and high humidity. Wound up with 9:09 average; pushed harder after I got on to 40th. Went pretty well, even running on an unlit road with no sidewalk and no shoulder. Only had a couple of minor scares with traffic. I figured that road would have very little traffic and that was just about right. Then the cat claws the crap out of my wrist while I'm typing this. That's what kind of month this has been...

Tomorrow, have to make myself start applying for jobs and doing other similar stuff. Wish I had enough money to retire. Hah! Don't have enough to go to McDonald's without worrying about it.

Got in a very warm 6.2 this evening before the baseball game starts 8-ish. Sunglasses, headband, didn't matter, I was still blinded by the sweat. Very uncomfortable. Legs were OK, rest of me wasn't. But I gutted it out, maintained a good pace, averaging 9:25.

 Some good news on the job front. Got a nibble on the clinical/risk management job in LR, at least from the recruiter. I'll call her back tomorrow if I haven't heard from her. Also signed up for UI, not that I expect to see a cent from that, but maybe I'll luck out. hopefully something will work out soon and I won't have to stretch out that five weeks of pay. Also might be able to rent a house in LR at a reasonable rate. Keeping fingers and toes crossed...

Looks like I may be on the DL for a while. Left hammy painful during tonight's 7-miler on the Fayetteville trails, and didn't loosen up as the run went on; instead, it got worse. Went into walk/jog mode to finish the run. Now, two hours later, still painful. Hey, it's May. Take the time off and let it heal, if it is more than just a cramp. Probably just a bit of a strain.

Nice humid run in Bryant. Temps not bad, about 70, but megahumid. Forgot the Garmin, so estimating distance based on a mapmyrun map. Basically the same run I did last Sunday as a 5-miler, extended a bit on each end. Took just a smidge over an hour, so pace was OK. Hammy loosened up as the run went on, which was good. Right glute was a tiny bit of an issue. I think I need some more hill sprints to fix that.

Good news on the job front! Contacted this afternoon by two recruiters within 15 minutes. One job in Little Rock with clinical/risk management duties, which sounds intriguing but might be boring as heck, and one as a hospitalist in Fort Smith. They're calling me tomorrow morning for a phone interview for the LR job, and I've already done some preliminary paperwork for the other one. Keeping appendages crossed. If this comes through quickly, I might even come out ahead financially, but I'm not gonna get that lucky. Settle for no eviction notices or disconnected utilities at this point.

Anyway, that lifted my mood considerably. Felt up to a fartlek run tonight to mark National Running Day. Did 6.82 with five 2-minute surges at roughly I pace on Daniels. Tough, especially given that it's still 82 degrees and humid, but did it without too much problem. Teenager went running past me just as I started the fourth rep; darn near caught him.

Nice and slow tonight around JBH. Legs not too bad after hard fartlek last night, but it did take a full two miles tonight to really get loose. Maybe I'm adjusting to the heat a little better, or maybe it was just 3-4 degrees cooler tonight, but I seemed to handle it better. Still don't like it, but got through it better.

Two job interviews today by phone. Both seemed to go well. May get full interviews out of both. I hope so. Not sure which one I'd take if I had to choose. Of course, I don't know what one of them would pay. The other one, I know.

Midnight Beast tonight. Took Tyler to the regional at Baum (we won), came home, decided to go run. Started around 11:40, maybe later. Had planned to go 6-7, ended up making it into a Beast. A fairly slow (beast (9:44 avg.), but a Beast nonetheless. Managed not to walk despite the fact the temp was still near 80. As I type this at 1:30 a.m., it's still 74. All in all, a pretty good run considering. Only four runs this week, totaling almost 29 miles.I've got to get a little more diligent, or learn to tolerate the heat better, or both. Not having the distraction of unemployment/job hunting wouldn't hurt either.

Easy run tonight; actually turned into kind of a progression run as I worked out the kinks from last night's midnight 10. Worked down to 8:42 for the last full mile, 9:32 averaqge overall. It was 3-4 degrees cooler tonight, and I could tell the difference. A couple was sitting in the dark on a park bench the whole time, which was sort of unnerving. I need to get more consistent in my training and get the strength back in my legs, so an easy 10 doesn't hurt as much as last night's did. Also mowed most of the back yard this afternoon, which I dunno if it made the legs better or worse. Didn't seem to make much difference, actuall; hurt before, hurt after.

Intervals at FHS. Got there early before the Fleet Feet crew (just in case Scott decided to show up; rather not deal with him right now). Warmed up for six laps, streched, then did 6 X 40 at a smidge under 5K pace. HRM showed I was in the 160s, which may not be true I pace, but is close enough. It was 90 degrees, but on the black track around a fake grass field, I bet it was more like 110. My cheeks felt like I'd been scorched. But I thought the intervals went pretty well given my lack of recent speed work and sporadic training in general.

Easy 5 at JBH, before I go for my interview tomorrow.

Up at dawn today to go to Fort Smith for interview. Get back, go run with the Fleet Feet wackos (who suddenly doubled in quantity this week to everyone's surprise), come home to find my Iron Pig runnerup medal finally arrived, two months after the fact.

First, the interview. Went well. I think an offer will be forthcoming. Not totally sold on the job, but in the absence of other options... Nice group of people, which helps.  I think the docs will be supportive, unless a few situations I've found myself in. Still waiting to hear from the people in San Antonio about the LR job, so maybe there will be an option. Not thrilled about commuting for a couple of months either. That might force me to do something sooner than I had planned.

Run was tough. It poured on me on the way home, and apparently also rained in Fayetteville, so it was very humid, although not quite as warm as it has been. The FF gang runs faster than I normally do, and trying to keep up was difficult. Can't say I succeeded, but even with a douple of short Galloway intervals, I averaged 9:14. The running part was well under 9:00. I wish I knew why my legs feel so dead. Probably dehydration, poor sleep, so-so nutrition -- or all of the above plus a couple of other factors I'm missing.

Got the job offer today. Looks OK; trying to get a couple of things clarified. Unless something changes drastically, I'll take it. That's a load off my mind.

Went for a run at dusk. Found JBH to be chock full of softball players. Big tournament, lookes like maybe 12-year-old girls. Big hot-pink trailers to haul team gear. I saw at least four different states represented. I'm dodging cars, softballs, bicycles, players, spectators and who knows what else to get my 4.3 in, but I got it done.

Sparks has a fitness center. I may have to take advantage of that, particularly for the rest of the summer.

Really didn't feel like running this morning. Stayed up until; 2 a.m., didn't sleep well, up at 8, felt exhausted, weak, blah, whatever. Decided to try to run anyway before it got any hotter than it already is (which is 84 with HI of 90 at 9:45). Lot of walking. Considered bailing out, but managed to finish the Shiloh loop. On the way back, made two-minute bargains with myself "just run two more minutes," then reset at the end of two minutes. That lasted 18 minutes, or Shiloh to the swere plant. I think the smell is what got me there. But got through 6.2 when I really didn't want to do any.

Tonight was what Pfitz would call a GA run -- a little faster than easy, but not really pushing the pace. Felt much better than yesterday; decent sleep and 12 degrees cooler might have had something to do with that, and then it started raining late in the run, which I liked even better. Then did hill sprints X 8. Only really went what I thought was decently fast on two of the eight, but whatever. Haven't done them in quite a while anyway. Total of 5.75, less than half a mile less than yesterday, but much, much less trauma.

Speaking of trauma, accepted the job today. Not sure yet when work and paychecks will begin, but nice to have that worry alleviated.

Reps at FHS tonight -- 3 X 800 at 10K pace (Ron said something else, which sounded faster than I wanted to run, so I did my own workout). Too darn hot; would have been nice to do it yesterday when it was 10 degrees cooler and overcast, but I got through. Also had nice talk with Scott out there, who offered his help and support. Main thing is, got out and ran.

Progression run tonight. Once the glute loosened up a little, I felt pretty good, and the afternoon rain knocked the temp down about 10 degrees, so I let the progression go. The last 0.7 was at roughly MP, not GMP but what I actually ran at Memphis. Wound up running 5.3 in 48 minutes.

T's in Oklahoma visiting his roommate today, so I've been solo. Didn't leave the house until the run, but got some things accomplished. Employer got my paperwork; they're going to set up my trip to Phoenix for training at some point in the  near future (I hope I get paid for that).

It's abig load off my mind to have the job situation settled. I'm still really strapped financially, of course, and the marital situation is no better, but at least there is foreseeable income. Maybe I'll luck out and UI will come through.

Good hard 6-miler tonight. Most of it was at sub-9 pace, some was at MP or below. Extremely humid, not much breeze. Taking off my shirt helped very, very little. Couldn't fight off the walkmonster for a brief stretch on Stutlz, but then ran the last three-plus. Used the old two-minute bargain trick again for the last two miles, and it worked. I was afraid I'd turned my ankle on Silent Grove; not sure exactly how I misstepped, but it stung for a while. Seems  OK now, although that may not be the case tomorrow. Also my first 5-day running streak since the NYC trip, which was five weeks ago now. Seems like five years.

Would have been an easy 5 miles, except for the wall of humidity and the wall of bugs. I felt like insects were bouncing off me every 15 feet. I don't think I've ever had an experience quite like that, even in mosquito-infested Arkadelphia. But then mosquitoes aren't as dense as these critters that were bouncing off me. Anyway. routine run, took 48 minutes.

Did a Beast tonight. Or it did me. Power went out at the house at 8 p.m.. When it wasn't back on an hour later, started my run even though I wasn't quite recovered from dinner. GI did OK, but hydration was major issue even thought it was relatively cool and breezy. Thunderstorms skirted the area, which brought temps down and breeze up, but I was still having hard time. Had to stop twice to get water and kept cottonmouth the whole way. But I got through.

Father's Day tomorrow. Somehow I don't think it will be too festive for me. But I could be wrong. Just some recognition would suffice; a card would be wonderful.

Last day of spring is the hottest day of the year so far. It was 95 or 96 here (HI 100+), 101 or so in Bryant and Camden. Obviously, I waited until dark to run, not that it was that much cooler. Says it's 80 now, HI of 84. That had to have dropped a few degrees in the 40 minutes it took for my 4.2.

Intervals today at FHS; 10 X 200 at something approximating 1500m pace. That is, if it weren't too darn hot to run 1500 at any kind of speed. I thought I was going to pass out a couple of times. Just about maxed out the HR, too, although I'm not entirely sure if that was real HR or the belt bouncing around on my chest a bit. Cut down on the warmup/cooldown because of the heat. It was at least 95, HI had to be over 100, plus the black track and the artificial turf on the infield.

Progression run tonight. It was 86 degrees when I started just before 9 p.m. and darn near that warm when I finished 58 minutes later, and I don't think much evaporation at all happened in between. What few threads I was wearing were completely dripping soaked. In spite, plugged through 6.12, and had enough left to push the pace on the homeward leg at marathon pace or so. Spent most of the run thinking about the soccer game, which the US won in injury time on a fastbreak goal by Landon Donovan. Anyone who says soccer is boring after that just wasn't paying attention or can't appreciate a nailbiter in any sport. Anyway, we're on to the knockout stages and I'm on to finish up my credentialing paperwork in the morning and get it off to Apogee. Hope they can handle the rest very quickly.

Mini-tornado outside the Fleet Feet about 30 minutes before I arrived for tonight's run. Knocked a big limb off the tree outside, almost threw it through the window. Left 100% humidity behind, I'll guarantee you that. Turns out there were two runs tonight -- the regular 6 p.m. run, and a "chug run", run a mile, drink a beer, run another mile, drink another beer. Which sounded really good, but it probably would have put me under the table. Plus I'd already suffered through 4.26, I wasn't gonna run another 3 even for beer.

Nice and humid; nice and slow. Just get the miles in.

Weather gave me a break tonight; it's low-70s and drizzly instead of 86 and humid like its been for the past month. So I left on a 10-miler just after 9 p.m. Decided to do 11 laps of the park so it would be easy rto bail out and head home if the weather got too bad. I saw plenty of lightning off in the distance, and it rained the whole time, but it was never too close, so kept going. Managed to do the 10 in sub-9:00 pace, which is not bad for me given my current fitness level (and also suggests how much the heat has been slowing me down). Took just an hour and a half to finish.

Easy 5 with hill sprints at the end. Did 10 seconds X 8 on Silent Grove instead of 8 X 8 on Cimmaron this time. Not sure it made that much difference; maybe slightly steeper on SG, but not much, and there was much more traffic consideration. But it was worth a try. Run went well. Legs felt good after 10 last night. I think I went over 900 miles for the year today. I fully expect to do a lot more than that in the second half of 2010, job permitting, since I hopefully will be training for a December marathon.

Hard progression run tonight. Took last night off due to emotional turmoil; the divorce papers arrived in yesterday's mail. Talked to attorney and to Pam today and feel a little better, plus there's light at the end of the tunnel occupationally. They called and asked if I wanted to start Aug. 1, thinking I might be wanting to wait. I said "can't we start a little quicker than that," and she said she thought we could but would check.

Anyway, got out running at a moderate pace, like 9:20-isj, then put the hammer down the last mile and a half, playing one of my silly games -- trying to run a mile and a half in less than 14 minutes so as to finish under an hour. Turned out I ran a mile and a half in 11 and change and finish 6.41 in 57:59. So I won that silly little game.

Ran 133 this month, slightly more than May, less than April. If I'm gonna do 20 weeks for Sacramento, that would start July 18, but I hope I'm starting something else then -- a job. But we'll see how the job and the weather go, and adjust the start of training accordingly. Going to Bryant tomorrow; hope to get in a track workout there to replace the one I skipped last night, plus I'm planning to meet the Crackheads Saturday morning at the Capitol. No Firecracker 5K for me this year.

Drove over to Bryant High this morning to run at the track. It was open, but I found a construction crew putting down the foundation for what I assume to be a new artificial turf football field. Which would not have been too much of an issue, except that they had built a dirt ramp over the track at one corner for dump trucks to drive across, and the dirt was at least a foot thick. Not exactly conducive to running intervals. Plus my glutes were still really sore; I can only assume it was from the drive down, since I didn't run at all yesterday and I had no discomfort in that area after Wednesday's run.

Anyway, between the glutes and the obstruction on the track, decided 400s were not gonna work. So I decided to do a moderate run of about three miles then do some strides and drills at the end. That plan worked pretty well; did 8 strides, two side-shuffles, two butt kicks and two high-knee drills. All of that worked out to 3.6 miles, which was 14 laps in lane 5 due to construction obstruction. Glutes felt better after I finished than when I started, and I got back in time for the soccer game at 9.

Planned to go run with the Crackheads this morning, but couldn't find them. Finally gave up and ran at River Trail, except that the legs were not cooperating at all. Slogged through a slow, painful 8 with lots of walking. Weather was fine, about 70, but just no snap in the legs.

No runs for the past three days, mainly due to zero motivation. Finally got out at 6:30 this morning for a very uninspired 3.7. It was cool, around 70, and not too sticky, but that didn't help the motivation anyway. Got it done though.

Really tried to take it easy tonight, but the HR was considerably higher than I would like. Guess that's due to heat, humidity and really going downhill on my fitness due to lack of motivation/effort. AHR was 147; it should have been in the high 130s at this pace. On the other hand, this is the first time I can recall in a while that I ran for an hour without ever stopping, to walk, take a leak or get a drink. So I've got that going for me.

Try to get in 8 or so tomorrow after the World Cup game some time. Hopefully the humidity will subside a little.

Crash and burn tonight. Or crash, anyway. Stepped off into a ditch alongside 40th Street trying to avoid a truck who didn't want to give me any room. Of course, I couldn't see the ditch because of the truck's headlights, which didn't help, and the edge of the ditch coincided exactly with the edge of the pavement. Three inches too lar to the left, and down I went. Couple of feet deep too; lucky it wasn't full of water, or broken glass, or any number of t hings. Just skinned my left hand and right knee. The run had not been going very well anyway; it was still in the 80s and a nice breeze when I started had subsided, so I was dragging. But I sucked it up and got through at a 10:20 average, including all the walk/fall-down breaks.

I'd actually felt pretty good all day. Let myself sleep in for the first time in quite a while. All the way to 9:30 (ooooh). Kinda gave me an idea how sleep-deprived I've been. I think I'll make a point of getting caught up between now and whenever I start work.

Hill repeats. Ninety degrees. Not a good combination. But I tried anyway. Got through five of them. We were locked out of the track, so Ron had to improvise. Also locked out at Springdale before I drove down there. Legs really stiff after Sunday night's run, so struggled a bit.

One item of interest: A very attractive blonde, right age range. There with her teenaged son, which is no big deal (kinda comes with the age range thing). Also there with her wedding ring. A big deal. Rats.

Another Thursday "fun run" in high heat and humidity. HI was at least 105 this afternoon, and forecast/promised scattered showers didn't arrive. Miserable. All of us struggled, even the triathlete drones.

Might go out later, if the rain ever arrives, and get in a couple more miles. Legs are fine; it's just the the heat sapped me. We were dripping all over the floor at FF; good thing it's still bare firehouse concrete on the floors.

Morning run today, starting at 8ish. It was a little cooler, but not much easier. Bright, bright sun, and I over heated very quickly. It wasn't too awful running into the wind, but if not, it felt just like running on a dreadmill without a fan. No cooling whatsoever. To make it worse, I was getting nauseated or reflux or something. Struggled through with several walk breaks. It just doesn't seem like I'm acclimating to the heat at all. I guess I need to run only in the rain.

Tomoirrow is 20 weeks to CIM. I guess I will begin a training plan, either the Hudson masters plan or the regular Hudson program.

Decided to start training for CIM tonight, using the Hudson masters plan, at least for now. First workout was 6 easy. Actually set the Garmin to show HR, which I'v never done before, and tried to keep it in the 130s. For the most part, I succeeded, and the AHR was 138. At this level of fitness and temperature (mid-80s at the start), 130s equaled ~10:00 pace, and that's what I ran. Turned out to be a lot better run than yesterday's 5, maybe because I kept the pace slower, even though it was a lot warmer tonight than at 8 a.m. yesterday.

Day off tomorrow, except for core work, than an easy run on Tuesday. Hopefully I also get some word on start date of the job tomorrow; I'm getting antsy/bored/depressed as well as broke.

Stilll not planning to run tonight, as the schedule calls for core work, but wanted to get some stuff off my chest, so to speak.

Yesterday was a bad day for me psychologically, as bad as I've had in a while. Tyler has been staying with his mom for several days, and I'm not really sure if or when he's coming back. I think his presence has been a crutch for me, and without him I have to face some issues. I can't blame him for wanting some time with  his mom; I'm surprised that he hasn't spent more time down there this summer.  He came back for an hour or so yesterday, but only to pick up some things, and I took that hard. So here I was this weekend, alone, bored, depressed, too broke to do anything, no focus to my life, and I was really miserable.

I know I have to get used to being without Tyler, because he'll be back in school in five weeks anyway, and I'll be moving to Fort Smith at some point. The job will start soon; with any luck, next week, if not on the 1st. I go to Phoenix on the 26th anyway, so I'll have that. And it just so happened that yesterday marked 20 weeks to CIM, so the start of my 20-week training gives me something to focus on other than my plight. I really do feel a lot better about things this morning than I did over the weekend. And if I get word that I can start work next week, so much the better; that will ease a lot of other worries. Hopefully I can get together with Pam and her attorney this week and get the divorce agreement settled, which will take another load off my mind.

I think, though, a lot of my improved mood has to do with starting training last night. I now have a goal, a distraction, something to focus on. The job isn't a goal; I know it's going to happen, I'm just impatient for it to start. Now I have the goal of Sacramento. I still have to get through the summer heat, starting the job, the trip to AZ, finding a place to live and moving, and training will have to be fit in around those things, but I can handle that.

Day 3 of the plan. Four easy miles with hill sprints, which I did today on the hill on Fleming going up into the park. Again watched my HR which was lower than Sunday night, even though I was running a little faster. Probably because it was about 10 degrees cooler today than Sunday night, but also could be because I was well-rested and much less stressed out. Mebbe a little of both. I'll continue to watch and compare that.

Did my core work yesterday. Except for a little torture session called "staff," which is holding the pushup position with your elbow bent alongide the torso and chest just off the ground, nothing I hadn't done before. Staff killed my deltoids, which I don't think is what it's designed to work, but I could be wrong.

I'm doing a little online coaching for an RWOL forumite named Janie, who IIRC is getting back into running after time off to have a baby. Not sure why she needs help, since she's run a sub-1:30 half and I believe has run Boston before. She had hired a coach but fired him because he wasn't giving her the feedback she wanted. I told her I'd help, and it'd be worth what she pays for it -- nothing. She's also planning to run CIM, so I'll get a chance to see firsthand if my coaching did any good.

Fartlek run this morning, 6 X 30 seconds at what was supposed to be 10K-3K pace out of a 5-mile run. I think actually I went a little faster than that. Paces for the surges were 6:23, 5:56, 6:39, 5:56, 6:03, 5:43. Totaled a half-mile for the six surges, so that tells you it was right at a 6:00 average. My VDOT numbers would suggest about a 6:42 pace for 3K. Then I came home and took a good long nap. Feeling pretty good right now. I might even do a double this afternoon.

No double on Thursday. No run on Friday either. So I got up at dawn today and did 6, up Stultz and Robbins to Wagon Wheel, then back down Silent Grove. The pump station was particularly pungent. The early start meant I had shade, even though there were zero clouds, so that was good, and it was in the high 70s. I didn't have a whole lot of energy (shoulda had those Pop-tarts), but I persisted and wound up with a 9:44 average. AHR was 140, pretty close to goal. I'd call it on OK run, not great. I don't think there are any great runs in July.

Trying to decide my schedule for next week, what with the trip to Arizona. I'll plan to get back on Hudson's schedule tomorrow and do 7. Probably a short run Monday morning before going to the airport. Have some free time Tuesday, so I'll run along the canal in Phoenix at dawn. Might skip Wednesday due to early start of class, or maybe run on the dreadmill in the evening, then run Thursday night after I get back. I'm porbably too OCD to stick with the three-day Hudson schedule, even as the mileage for the three starts to build. I feel like I need more mileage than that, although I'll plan for more rest days than I have done in prior cycles.

Meant to get up and run at dawn. Didn't. Finally got on the trail at 9:30 a.m. Bad move. Should have done dawn, then gone back to bed. Plan was to do somewhere between 4.2 and 7 miles, depending on how I felt. Ended up doing 5, and that was really pushing it. I think I skipped dinner last night, and I could tell, even though I'd had some breakfast this morning. But mainly it was just the sun beating down on me. I will not be surprised if I have a sunburn this afternoon. The temp was not all that bad (high 70s rising into the 80s as I ran), but no wind, little shade, and lots of humidity (67% now, higher earlier, I think). Sweatband could not keep up with the perspiration, so I ran semi-blind. Oh well. HTFU and got it done anyway.

Little bit of a progression run this morning. Got out early enough that it was still relatively cool, and felt up to pushing the pace just a bit, then pushed it some more. Wound up with a 9:21 average overall. Now a nap, then off to the airport for the trip to Phoenix. Not quite sure how this plan to run on the canal tomorrow morning is gonna work; it may be 90 degrees at dawn. But we'll see. I may go out, jog a half mile, turn around and head for the dreadmill.

Hit and runb today, since I don't have much computer time. Got up at 5:20 a.m. in Phoenix to hit the road before it got hot. It was still 87 degrees when I started. But it really wasn't that bad, particularly on the return run when I got the benefit of a bit of breeze. Even kept the singlet on for the whole run.

Pretty sure I negative-splitted the run with the help of that cooling breeze, although haven't gone back to confirm on the Garmin readout. Walked 0.41 miles while the GPS locked in, then ran 7.12, for total of 7.53. I took it fairly easy to keep the HR down, coming in just under 10:00 pace. I'm still kinda sore from the run, which was on a nice gravel path alongside the canal near my hotel. But the soreness could be as much from sitting in class all day for Apogee training. Which I have for another 6 hours tomorrow.

Back on familiar ground tonight for a fartlek run, 6 X 40 second surges. Temperature almost exactly the same as Tuesday morning in Phoenix -- but humidity wasn't. Shorts were dripping by the time I finished, although the surges might have had something to do with that. Did a better job of keeping the pace of the surges where I wanted it, while running a better pace before, during and after. Last week's run averaged barely under 10:00; tonight's was 9:10.

More Garmin weirdness. I know that sometimes the Garmin takes a while to recombobulate when you travel. It weirded out in NYC and Phoenix, but not in Chatham or Chicago or Wisconsin. Go figure. Sometimes it weirds out without going anywhere, but that's usually because I'm too far inside the house when I turn it on. No weirdness tonight on the return home, even though that was 1000 miles away from its last use too.

I'm planning to get in a short run tomorrow, then do 8 on Sunday. Since I still don't know the work schedule next week, I may front-load the week's running to have as little conflict as possible with the commute, if and when it starts.

Slow, sweat-soaked, miserable miles tonight. It was 95 this afternoon when I mowed the yard, and didn't feel a whole lot cooler at 8:30 when I started the run. Tried to keep the HR below 140 and couldn't do it. Anything remotely resembling a run or jog took the rate over 140. I wound up with 138 average, but that was due to it being dragged down in the first half mile; once I headed up the hill on Fleming, the HR zoomed. Oh well. That's what HI of 93+ will do.

Finished July with 87 miles and change, and the YTD is at 997. Should go over 1000 tomorrow if I can drag myself out for the planned 8. Goal for August is at least 125, even following the modified Hudson slacker plan. Need to start running at dawn, in part because it's so darn hot and in part to get used to the early wake-up the new job will require.

If that which does not kill us makes us stronger, than I ought to be stronger after tonight's 7.8, cause it darn near killed me. Rained while I was mowing the yard this afternoon, which was great while it lasted, but then it was not much cooler and a lot more humid. The run was a pure slog, especially the first 4.5 miles. Once it got dark, it cooled off just a touch, enough that I could maintain a decent pace for most of it. Felt very weak, though.

Up at dawn today, when it was only 76, for an easy 5 with hill sprints. Felt better/cooler this morning, although I definitely worked up a sweat. Also was out earrly enough that the sun beating down on me was not a factor; barely got any sunlight at all and the sun crept above the horizon. Averaged about 9:30 for the running, which was a lot better than I've been doing. I guess I'll be running early for a while, at least when I'm not on the overnight shift at Sparks (whenever that starts). It's supposed to be at or above 100 for most of this week, after 99 yesterday.

Busy day for being unemployed. Spent the morning trying to find out about Tyler's change from the dorm to apartments because there are too many incoming freshmen. I think that will be OK. Cheaper than the dorm, lots more space, not too far from campus, and he'll probably get to room with his friend Alex.

In the afternoon, T and I drove down to look at the apartments and talk to a leasing agent. Couldn't take a tour, though. Then we went to the stadium for the first day of football practice for the newcomers. That was kinda fun, and T and I got interviewed by KNWA news, which aired on the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news shows. Left practice a little after 4 and went home, then drove back to Fleet Feet to run with the gang. I was due for a fartlek run on the schedule, and decided to do that within the framework of the fun run. Did 8 X 40 second surges within a 6-mile run. The surges went fine, the rest of the run was rough. Somebody said I looked really bad when I got back to the store. I can believe it. Then got dinner , went home, ate, took a lukewarm soak, and went to bed. Which is why I'm a little late with this blog update.

Hopefully I find out today that I get to start work Monday (fingers crossed). I don't mind not working, but I do mind not having any money. Eleven weeks on my glutes is quite enough, thank you.

Planned to do a recovery run at dawn but woke up with a splitting headache, which finally subsided around 8:30. Then went for a slow run in the park. It was in the 70s with a bit of breeze, but that still didn't stop me from pouring out the sweat. Took about 2 miles for the glutes to loosen up from last night's fartlek. Pretty sure I did negative-split as a result, but haven't looked yet... Yep, I did. Every mile faster than the one before. Stopped once for water and voiding, otherwise chugged right along. Somebody had a charcoal grill fired up before 9 a.m. Guess they're doing a big noontime cookout.

Hope to do a small run tomorrow, then 6 or 7 Sunday. Next week is a scheduled cutback anyway, which will work well if I start work. If I don't, then I may push back the cutback. The work schedule may also determine which marathon I enter. If I start Monday, then I wuld be scheduled to work the weekend of CIM, but not Tucson/Rocket City the next weekend. If I wait another week, CIM would work.

Yuck. Really, really bad run. Felt weak, nauseated, maybe a little reflux. It was in the 70s, but felt a lot warmer due to the bright sunshine. I had planned to do 5, but shut it down early. No sense taking any extra risks, given that I don't have health insurance for another three weeks... Finished the week with 5 runs for 29 miles. I just think I'll be doing a lot better once this heat wave subsides.

Thinking about my training once I ramp it up. Hudson stresses HMP and MP running. Which is fine. I think what I'm going to do is base MP on my VDOT number, instead of on the 3:30 goal. My VDOT says I can go sub-3:25, which means about 7:48 pace. I will try to use that pace when the schedule calls for MP.

Six miles at 10:00 pace should not be HTFU material, but it was tonight. Of course, still being almost 90 degrees at 9:00 when I started didn't help either (that's 9 PM). Stopped twice for water, but did not succumb to the walk monster, and actually picked te pace up after the last water break, with the last full mile in 9:04. I'm probably making it more difficult on myself by running so slow, but the heat... Anyway, hope to find out tomorrow that I can start work Tuesday or Wednesday. That would be nice. So would a paycheck.

Up at 5:45 for four slow miles (although I didn't go out until 6:30, to let it get light). Reasonably cool, although humid. Then did four hill sprints at the end. Not sure yet if I'll run tomorrow. Also not sure if I'll work tomorrow, although I doubt it.

I ran. Sort of. End of story.

Hill reps up Pump Station, four times up the hill at what was supposed to be 3K pace. I was dyin'. Then jogged home and ran Hudson hills in front of the house.

Oh yeah, started work yesterday. First day of work in 85 days.

That 3.36 I recorded on the 15th (last night), I actually ran tonight. Not that it matters, but just for the record...

I think I put last week's workout on the wrong day. It was Monday, not Sunday. Oh well. When you only run once in a week, it really doesn't matter which day it was.

Back on the road again at the end of my first day off in nine days, since starting the new job (which is promising, although it will be a challenge). Got out at JBH and actually felt pretty good. The hip flexors wer sore, as they were at work last night for some reason, but it wasn't too warm or humid and I felt pretty good from the knees down and the waist up. Shut it down after 8 just because I didn't want to overdo it and limp around for several days. I need to run pretty consistently on my off weeks to make up for what I miss during the work weeks. But it was a pretty good 8, averaging under 10 despite the soreness and plenty of hills (four times around the big loop at JBH).

Great morning for a run -- temps in the 60s, pleasant. Just wish the legs had cooperated. Did not want to run those hill reps, which I did up the hill past Hunt School. Flexors didn't want to go, then the outside of the right knee started hurting. So I shut it down after three of the scheduled four reps. They were supposed to be at 3K effort. Dunno about effort, but as far as pace goes, they were barely under GMP. Well, maybe the last one was decent pace (7:36 according to the Garmin).

Keeping my fingers crossed that this cooler weather is a trend, not a blip. It's supposed to get into the 50s tonight. Shortly off to Fort Smith to look for a place to live.

Finally a good run! Temps in the 50s and the body and legs both cooperated, once some early-morning GI issues cleared. Plan was for a hard progression run. Warmed up with 4 slow (four laps at JBH), which felt good and I found myself slowly accelerating. Then accelerated. Did the first mile at 7:53, which is roughly GMP, then pushed it harder the second mile, 7:27. That left about a quarter-mile recovery jog back to the house. Also left me feeling much better about my fitness. I've been in shape, it's just my body has not been able to overcome this heat. Take away the heat, and I can run well, I guess.

Going back to Fort Smith, hopefully to wrap up the househunting. have a couple of duplexes to go see. I'd be happy with the place on White Oak, but want to see a couple of others just to make sure. If White Oak is the choice, I'll go ahead and call Charles and put in the app and the (postdated) deposit. Then I can work on utilities and stuff next week.

Twelve miles this morning. With surges. In August. I'm a little surprised I managed it. Started out just after 6 as it was barely light enough to see. Maintained good strong pace for the first 7.6 miles, which got me back to the house for a gel and some Gatorade. Would have thought that would have helped. It didn't. Within about 15 minutes of restarting, I was bonking. Struggled on, threw in a surge to see if that helped (nope), struggled some more, another surge (nope again), more struggles, then just sucked it up and pushed it on home. By this time the sun was up and warm enough to be an issue when I was out of the shade, although it probably wasn't over 70 degrees.

Plan after I finish logging and blogging is to take a nap, go get some boxes, do some packing. I think I'll be able to avoid some commuting this week by taking my memory foam pad down and sleeping on that a couple of nights. Which will make my life much easier.

Progression run tonight after four nights off due to work. Legs felt pretty fresh, although the adductors were barking for some reason, so pushed the pace a little (temps in the 60s didn't hurt either). Ran a tad over 9:00 pace for the first four miles, then accelerated. Actually managed well under 7:00 pace for the last 150 yards, once the adductors had almost loosened up (must be from walking around the hospital so much).

Shower, bed, up before dawn for my last commute down the mountain. Staying there tomorrow night, working Sunday, coming back to pack. Next time I come back up the mountain after Sunday night will probably be in October for a football game, unless I decide to go visit T some time. Which I might.

Back on the road after 10 days for work, packing, moving and football. Garmin didn't want to recharge, so had to go back and measure by car to get tonight's run. although my guess was pretty close.

New place is near Free Ferry Road, which is a pretty busy street that lacks sidewalks. Went up Burnham to Free Ferry, then looped it around to 74th, down to and across Rogers to Phoenix at the airport entrance. Simple route, but very, very hilly. Got to Phoenix in 31:45, and decided I'd try to negative-split it in spite of the fact the return route is net uphill. Managed to get the neg-split by 38 seconds. Distance turned out to be 6.50. That run also links to a 9.3 mile loop around the airport, so that will give me a 16.8 mile run that will be a doozy in terms of hills.

Fartlek run at Ben Geren with the new headlamp. Still stumbled on a rut in the trail anyway, but can't imagine trying this without a light. Five surges totaling 10 minutes in three laps around the trail, which is 4.65 miles. Legs felt pretty good considering I did that hilly run last night. 

Tried out the trail at Cross Park tonight -- nine laps around the lake in the dark. Trail is pretty well lit, but headlamp still helped. Also tried out the new handheld water bottle, which was nice. I cannot believe it was 85 degrees at 8:15 p.m. in late September. Bleah. I would have thought the legs would be fairly fresh after six days off. Nope. Never did really loosen. Somehow kept a 9:50ish pace anyway, in spite of the heat and the legs.

Went to try out the airport loop this morning. Several problems immediately became apparent; some I could fix, some I couldn't:

* Still summerish on the first full day of fall. Temps in low 70s and rising; felt warmer with full, bright sunshine.

* Left my water bottle in the car; realized it after two miles -- too late to turn around and go get it.

* Legs refused to loosen up. It's like they're on strike until fall weather actually shows up.

* And, worst of all, I discovered that the bulk of this loop is on Zero, which has no sidewalks and no shoulders. So it was either get run over or semi-trail run through the unmowed grass and hope I didn't break an ankle in an unseen hole. Wound up walking most of this just to protect my ankle.

Wound up taking about an hour-40 to run/walk what I estimated at 8.75 miles. The loop as laid out on mapmyrun.com was 9.3, but I cut off some stuff on the other side of the freeway and just turned back onto Phoenix at the first opportunity. Also stopped the watch for a while on Massard when I meant to hit the lap button, so probably 6-7 tenths went unrecorded.

You may now initiate autumnal cooling. That is all.

Still don't know what to do about CIM. The financially prudent course would be to skip it, save my money for Boston, and just re-establish my training base through the fall after the turmoil of the summer. But then I have a good run like I did tonight and I start thinking about doing a marathon somewhere, if not necessarily Sacramento.

Ben Geren tonight, progression run around the tennis court loop, each lap faster. First one 14:17, second 13:59, third 13:25. Then a cooldown jog of about 6 minutes. Total 5.18 in 47:31. Weather was mid-60s, not quite as cool as I'd like it but a heckuva lot better than most of what I've been running in for the last five months.

Think I will bag CIM. There are halfs around here I can run -- two in Fort Smith, or Fayetteville, or Bentonville -- to get ready for Boston. Save my money, and my frequent flyer miles for Beantown (Boston registration is three weeks from today).

Back to Cross Park tonight for a late run (start at 9:10). At first I planned seven laps, ore a little over four miles, but felt pretty good so kept going. Ended up doing 11 becaue that's what it was going to take to run for an hour. Ran for an hour and 14 seconds, 6.30 miles. Last 0.30 was at MP, probably more than that, but at least that much. Scared the heck out of one woman walking with her male companion firest time around. By the fifth or sicth time I passed them, they were both sitting still and used to me, but she screamed big time the first time around.

Ran with my new radio. Who needs a playlist? I had classic rock -- Genesis, Zep, The Who, Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks, Tom Petty, Jethro Tull, Jefferson Airplane and probably a couple more I'm forgetting. I couldn't come up with a much better list than that. And only two commercials in the whole hour. Sweet.

Tonight got me over 50 miles -- for the month. Further reason not to try to run CIM. I'm getting back into the swim, but I'm not gonna be ready to run 26.2 fast in nine weeks.

Man, am I out of shape. Have to face facts. Weather was wonderful this morning; about 50, hint of a breeze Great morning to run. And I still slogged out three. Could have forced the issue and done more, but I think my better course at this point is doing three every day instead of 6 one day and then take three days off. I just have to make myself do it, particularly during work weeks.

Have to go to LR tomorrow to appear before the state board, so will probably go stay with Mumb and Pupe tonight.

Went to Little Rock today to get my ASMB visit taken care of (actually went yesterday and stayed at the parentals). Then drove back, did dinner and went for a run. House to Cross Park, one loop around the lake, then back home. The return trip is a mother with those hills. Actually, the out trip isn't much easier, still plenty of uphill despite the net downhill. Ran it at 9:19 pace, though, which ain't back for my level of deconditioning/fatitude. Just gotta make myself do this kind of run to get ready for Boston training.

Wow, running three days in a row. Been a while since I've done that. Still pretty stiff from last night's hill run. Went to Cross Park for seven loops around the lake. First loop or two pretty painful, then loosened up and got a bit quicker. Managed to take a tumble as a couple of strollers didn't understand "on your left". When I got off the path to go around them, my foot hit something uneven and down I went. Not sure itf it was a hole or the edge of the path. Doesn't really matter. Landed on the grass and immediately back up.

Set up a Boston program today, which will start at the end of November. Took the work schedule into account, with harder/easier weeks corresponding to off/on work. I actually asked Brad Hudson for a suggestion on FB; he responded with a minimal one, then a pitch to pay him $150 a ,month for a schedule. No thanks, I can take your suggestion and your book and do my own schedule -- and I did. It'll need tweaking, of course, and I won't come anywhere near complete compliance. But it includes all Hudson's favorites -- reps, intervals, hill sprints, MP runs, and enough mileage to do the job if I come anywhere close to following the plan. One of the tweaks may be to insert some races. Only thing plugged in now is the FS half marathon in December. LR would be an option, but I'll have to juggle work some to do that. But then I'll have to juggle things to do FS too.

Just working out the kinks tonight at Ben Geren. Progression for two laps, then drills and strides for a cooldown. Wanted to get in a little bit of MP time, and got at least 150 yards worth. So the legs will still go that fast. Now I just need to multiply that distance by about 275... If I can get in 5-plus tomorrow, which I think I can, that will be a 5-day/20-mile week. Haven't had one of those since late July.

Posted the miles with the new Droid, but couldn't do the comments. Oh well. Skipped yesterday to spend the day with Tyler, so went out early today while T slept in. The legs are just not there. Struggled through 8.25 down around the airport, although I have learned not to try to run along Zero with no shoulders and no sidewalk. Temps were OK, maybe the low 60s by the time I finished, but just no life in the legs. I'm hoping that's due to the unaccustomed four straight days before taking Saturday off. Try to get in a short 3 or so tomorrow and then see where we go for the rest of the week.

Enjoyed the time with Tyler for sure. Reminds me I'm not completely in this alone. He's such a good kid, better than I deserve. I guess I did something right bringing him up, though.

Recovery run tonight. Tried a new course -- Duncan to Waldron to UAFS (discovered Kincaid stops at the freeway and there's no way out), then Park across the freeway to 66th to Free Ferry and back home. If I'd skipped Kincaid, it probably would have been the 3+ miles I wanted. Since I didn't, it wound up 4.08. That's OK. Managed it fine in spite of the hills and the mid-70s temps. Loosened up from yesterday in a mile or so.

Interesting. Got off work tonight early due to empty ER, felt pretty good and decided to run. I arrived home about 10:10, changed clothes, started a load of laundry and headed to the park, arriving at 10:30. I knew the park officially closes at 11 p.m., but I figured my planned 4 miles wouldn't push much past that and I'd be outta there before anybody with a siren noticed. And I didn't want to run on the streets that late.

Uh, no. On my last lap at Cross Park I see a car near mine and somebody steps out with a flashlight. I said uh oh and cut the lap as short as I could given that there's a lake in the middle of it. Sure enough, it's a policeman. He reaches in his pocket, but pulls out a notebook, not a ticket pad. He reminded me that the park closed at 11, asked me when I'd be through, to which I responded I was through. He asked my name and date of birth, wrote it down in his notebook, wished me a good night and left. Kinda the non-warning warning. I think I can safely assume next time I do that, there'll be a ticket attached.

Oh yeah, the run. Felt good enough that I decided to push it. Ran six laps plu at sub-8:40, then jogged the last lap (if I'd pushed the last lap, maybe I finish before the cop arrives). Overall average still well below 9:00. Closest thing to a tempo run I've done in a while, and legs felt pretty good. Suspect I'll be sore in the morning, though.

After getting pummeled the last four days at work, have not felt like running at any time -- morning, midnight, didn't matter. Woke up in the morning and felt just as tired as when I went to bed the night before. Maybe I can get some good runs in during my off week because...

After 30 minutes of frustration with the BAA website, and clicking "submit" infinitely, it seemed, it finally accepted my registration for the 2011 Boston Marathon this morning. And put two charges on my debit card statement; let's hope they're not gonna charge me $260 to run. Fortunately, dcv2002 on the RWOL Boston forum posted a link that got me around the "submit" endless loop, and I got in on the first try through that link. Thanks, man.

But now I'm committed. Which seems to be what it takes to get me off my, uh, couch and going. I have exactly six months to get ready. (Also have to get plane tickets and a place to stay, which I'll hold off on until I find out that my entry has been officially accepted).

Need to go to NLR/Bryant today to take care of some things, mostly financial, but hope to get a run in tonight after I return.

Update, two days later: I did get in that run after I got back from Centark, 4.5 around the Ben Geren loop at sub-9:30 pace. I was sore afterward, but that's what I'm doing for the next six weeks, getting the legs back in the swing.

Turns out that Boston filled up in EIGHT HOURS. Filled up. Last year, nine weeks. Year before, five months. Year before, it didn't fill at all. EIGHT HOURS. Many many people POd/shocked that they're shut out. If you paid any attention at all since last November, you saw this coming. People got shut out last year and freaked; they weren't gonna get caught again. I didn't get shut out, but I knew going to Memphis that I couldn't get in for 2010. Once I qualified, I was NOT going to get shut out for 2011.

Had a nice pre-birthday dinner with the folks while I was in Centark.

Tried out a new course tonight -- down Duncan, around the mall, up Waldron to Park, out Park across the freeway to 66th, down to Free Ferry, and back home. I think it's 3.90, although the Garmin did not cooperate entirely. One thing I don't need the Garmin to tell me -- that puppy is HILLY. I was pretty stiff from last night, so not very fast, but all in all, the run went well. Temps in the 60s helped.

Went looking for places to buy running shoes. You'd think there would be a running store in the commercial center of a metro area of 165,000, but there isn't (maybe this is a hint for my entrepreneurial future). Shoe Carnival and Academy carry the discount lines of Nike and Saucony and adidas and NB and so on; you can't buy a pair of Lunarglide, but you can buy a pair of Lunarrun. Foot Locker? Forget it. I'm not gonna pay mall prices to buy a pair of shoes from someone who doesn't know fartlek from Pampers. Anyway, didn't buy anything, but may go back later in the week. The current pairs of training shoes are both completely worn out.

In one week, I'll be 50. It's funny. By anyone's definition, I'm middle-aged, if not completely over the hill, but I still don't think of myself as Mr. Necessary. I hear that, I still mentally look around for my dad. Even my patients who don't understand that I'm not a physician generally call me Dr. Jeff. Yet I'm unquestionably in the second half of my life. Hey, I was only young once, but I can be immature all my life...

Intervals this evening -- 5 X 400 at Ben Geren, with 400 jog intervals, one lap warmup, about 1.2 cooldown. Total 5.00. Warmer than I would have liked, and the glare was brutal even with my sunglasses, but managed not to run over anyone, trip on the rocks in the trail, or get heat-stressed. Paces were wide ranging, from 7:24 to 7:55, but at least they were all sub-MP. Point was to get my legs to go semi-fast, and I guess I semi-succeeded.

Ten laps plus around the lake at Cross Park tonight. Once I loosened up, it wasn't too bad. Even considered going farther, but no, restraint is the key. An extra lap that keeps me from running tomorrow defeats the plan. Pretty steady around 9:50 pace. A few joggers out there, including one rather shapely brunette. Wish I were up for the chase... Continuing the plan to get to 100 miles by the end of the month. I'm pretty sure that will require me to run every day for the rest of the month, unless I can bump up the daily average a bit.

In Fayetteville with Tyler tonight. Dinner at OG, a little shopping, went to the Red-White hoops, then four miles in the vicinity of his apartment. Up to MLK on Razorback, down Razorback past 15th, double back to 15th, back past his complex, full length of the little trail behind the complex and back, then a lap around the complex itself. Total 4.11. Warmer than I'd like, but nice and breezy. It's supposed to rain tonight. Hopefully the rain will be over before the game starts at 11:21. Then maybe get in a dreadmill run in his fitness center before the drive back to FS.

Interesting day, not including any running. T and I went to the Hog game, which took nearly five hours thanks to not one, but two prolonged weather delays. We finally on, then the rain really settled in. Decided not to try to run in it; dribing back to Fort Smith in it was bad enough. I'll plan on doing a double tomorrow, maybe 4 and 6 or something.

Well, whaddya know? I got that double in after all. Strangely enough, the temps were mirror images -- it was 73 warming up to 79 this morning, 79 cooling off to 73 tonight -- but without the sun beating down on me, tonight was much more comfortable, and I ran much better. Just steady 10:00 pace, what I wanted, and not any undue strain. Even stretched the run out another two laps because I felt OK.

This morning was warm, humid, sunny (which made it feel even warmer). Just the kind of day I hate to run. Got 6 in, though. After all, it could be this warm in Boston next April, although I darn sure hope not. Bleah. Thirty-five miles this week. To get to my goal of 100 for thee month, need 34 next week. Should be doable if I can get out of bed, or get in some 10 p.m. runs. 

Got a run in before work -- because I didn't know I was supposed to be at work at 7. Turns out, however, that the work schedule shakes out better if I'm on 12-12, which is what I thought I was on anyway. So now I'm on 12-12 for the rest of the week. OK by me.

Anyway, got out while it was still cool (but humid) and ran over to Cross Park. Two laps around the lake, then back home, total of exactly 5.00. Lots of hills on that run, of course, but that's what I need getting ready for Boston. Ran negative split in spite of net uphill coming back, which is good, with overall average of about 9:30. Very good run. Need 29 miles the rest of the week to get to 100 for the month. If I don't get lazy or really sore, I should be able to handle that.

Now if the BAA will just confirm my entry, I'll be good. Hotel, check. Flights available, will arrange after entry confirmed. Just need that entry. Confirmation on my birthday would be good.

Well, I'm 50 now. I've been bombarded by birthday wishes on FB, which is kinda overwhelming. I've gotten like 50 or so, and it's not even noon. My cellphone is detonating from the notifications. Mumber called too, right after my run.

Went to Ben Geren for the morning's run. Forgot the watch, which was just as well; just tried to keep a smooth, comfortable pace, then push it just a bit on the last lap. Looped around the parking lot twice for a little extra distance, so I'm estimating total at 5.02 (0.4 around the parking lot). I'm guessing the pace was in the 9:30ish range, a little faster on the last lap. Need 24 miles now for 100 for the month. Sounds more doable, even though it's just five a day, every day.

Not ideal having to work 12 hours on my birthday, but sitting down to check my e-mail this afternoon and finding that my entry to the Boston Marathon has been accepted makes up for a whole bunch of it. I've had to fight hard not to let myself go whole-hog for this; the nagging voice keeps saying something is going to go wrong. I wasn't going to qualify, they were gonna change the qualifying standards (they still might, but not for 2011 :) ), my entry wasn't going to be accepted, I wouldn't be able to afford the trip, blah blah blah. Well, I qualified, I'm in, I have an affordable room by central Boston standards, I can do frequent flyer miles for the flight, I can get time off from work (and I have a job to get time off from). There's still the chance of getting hurt, which I'll be extremely paranoid about since they're not taking deferments any more, but everything else has fallen into place. And how sweet is it to get the notification on my 50th birthday? Aww, man.

Progression run today at Cross Park, although not intentionally. I was really stiff when I started, but it seemed to feel better as I went a little faster. Then, toward the end, I found myself dissociating -- thinking about everything but running. And, as I did that, I went faster too. Did 7+ laps, 4.70 miles, average 9:33.

Thought today would be a URD after I slept until 10. Then the ER was extremely slow and I got to leave at 9:40. Got home, changed, and went for a run. Decided to do laps around the mall, because, while boring, it's very well lit and thus pretty safe for a late-night run. So I ran down the hill on Duncan, did five laps, came back up Duncan and looped out on Burnham long enough to give me a 7-miler. Went well; maybe the extra 12 hours rest helped. Averaged 9:20 for the whole run, including sub-9 for the last mile including the uphill. Couldn't ask for much better at this stage of my training.

Busy morning. Got up and went to the bank to deposit the money from the IRA. Unable to transfer it to Pam, as bank couldn't verify with issuing bank and thus put a hold on it. In one week, transfer money. Split the IRA, then end the marriage.  It's nearing an end. And I'm just numb to it. Want to get it over with, basically, and try to move on. There are plenty of cute nurses at work; maybe one of them would be interested.

Anyway, after that did my run. High 40s, sunny, no wind, very good running weather. Still quite stiff after last night's 7, but  hoped it would loosen. It did, some. Was able to maintain a decent clip anyway, and, as usual, a bit of a progression. Miles ranged from 9:58 to 9:28, although I was in no way pushing the pace. Run interrupted quite a bit by having to wait for crosswalk lights. Wait was never very long, but I must have had to wait 6-8 times. Run totaled 4.12. I think another 8 miles over the weekend gets me to 100 for the month.

Just getting in the miles. Two laps around the mall, down to Rogers on Waldron, back up to Gordon, up the hill and around. Right at 4 miles. Legs kida rubbery, but got it done.

Spent all morning on the phone to work before actually going to work, so no morning run. Wasn't sure I'd get one in, but I got off work at 11:40, rushed home, changed and was out of the house before midnight. So that counts as Sunday, and thus October. Of importance only because I wanted to get in 100 miles in October, and tonight's 4.5 did that. Three extended laps around the mall, going down to the Burger King twice. Thought about doing hill sprints on Duncan, then reminded myself it was nearly 1 a.m. Hill sprints can wait.

Read something today that quad/flexor stretching may fix the problem at the base of my right buttock. I'll give it a try, since nothing else has worked. Theory is that quad/flexor stretches allow the pelvis to tilt normally and thus relieve the strain posteriorly. I'm no ex phys, but it makes a little sense. I didn't get this problem when I stretched more regularly, which included quads as well as hammies.

A week off now, then I go on the overnight shift for four days. That oughta be fun (not).

I have to keep reminding myself that my body likes it better when I put some stress on it in training. Slow routine miles kick my butt. Running faster invigorates me. Tonight, warmed up for a mile and a half, then cranked it up to GMP and beyond. Ran 1.49 in 11:40, which is 7:50 pace -- just about my goal for Boston. The last .49 was at 7:34 pace. Then cooled down for two full laps at Ben Geren for total of 6.09. Ended up with some drills and one longish stride. Afterward, felt invigorated, not worn out.

Pushed the pace a bit at Cross Park -- not MP, but harder than usual, averaging 8:40. Last half-mile was almost at MP. Nice and cool, but humid enough that I still felt it. But this is the kind of run that's going to get me back in go-fast mode. Tonight felt like what I remember Memphis feeling like -- fast enough that I felt it, but also comfortable.

I'm making one change that I hope will make a difference. My weak link has been the calves; they've cramped to some degree in all four marathons. I hope that if I do some specific calf strengthening as part of a cross-training program, that will give me the extra 10-15% to get through 26.2 before they let go. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten below 3:30 in both of my last two without the cramps; the hips, quads, etc., were cooperating. It's simple -- get on the edge of a porch or stair and just do ankle extensions against my body weight. Crossing the fingers that this makes the difference.

Went out tonight intending to do 7 or 8. But as I got going, settled into a good stride and decided not to waste a good night. So instead of turning around on Phoenix and heading back to my car for an 7-miler, decided to go another mile or so, under the freeway to the entrance to the Pavilion. Then, when I got back to my car parked at the Harps on 74th, decided to keep going down to the light on Rogers, then back to the car. That got me over 10 miles.

Oh, also almost got run over. I was going back up Phoenix toward my car and came to an intersection with a red light. As most such intersections in Fort Smith do, it had a crosswalk light for pedestrians, and I had the light in my favor at that time. But goofball in a pickup truck, planning to turn right on red, was looking left at traffic and never looked right at all. When he started to pull out, I was within about 18 inches of his bumper. I immediately veered right and yelled, and he stopped. I would not look good splattered on an old pickup.

All in all, though, a very good run. This past two weeks of training has been very encouraging as I look ahead to Boston. I figured I'd come around when I finally got some favorable weather, and sure enough, that's what's happened.

Three easy laps at Ben Geren. No traffic concerns, but not without incident either. Tripped on a rock during the first lap; don't know how I kept from doing a faceplant, but somehow got the right leg under me as I tumbled forward and maintained balance. Otherwise pretty much slow and steady; kept the HR in the low 130s. Got in a couple of strides at the end. My thought as I looked at the HR on the Garmin was that, if I'd run 4.6 at this pace in July, the HR would have been about 150. Tonight, it was low 50s and breezy; barely even needed a headband. Garmin says the AHR was 137, but then for much of the first mile it was counting cadence, not HR, until the electrodes got sweaty.

Tried a new course today. Reason I hadn't tried it yet was basically hill avoidance -- it's got three or four monsters. They were monstrous, all right, but I slogged the thing at 9:30 pace, which I thought was pretty good considering my butt still hurt from Wednesday night's 10. Went up Burnham to FF to 74th, down to St. Ed, all the way up the hill on Rogers, under the freeway to Waldron, down to Gordon, up the hill to Burnham and back home. MMR says it was 177 feet of uphill and 177 of downhill, and two of the uphills were greater than 3% average. That's Heartbreak Hill territory, especially the one on Rogers.

Stopped in front of St. Ed's to wipe my eyes and take my sunglasses off, and I thought I heard someone yelling, but with the traffic noise I couldn't tell what was being yelled or by whom (or at whom), and couldn't see anyone without my glasses. Minute later I heard my phone buzz for a missed call. The call was from Liza, my boss. I guess she was the one yelling at me. She knows I'm training for Boston. I called and left her a message that I'd heard somebody yelling something but couldn't tell what, or by whom.

Made today's run up as I went along. Had no idea where I was going or how long I'd go. Went south on Burnham (first time), west on Euper (first time), lap and a half around the mall, up Waldron to Park, across the freeway to 66th, down to FF, back to Burnham, then six Hudson hills on Burnham before coming home. Worked out to 5.75 in all. Hills actually felt pretty good, after not doing them for many weeks.

Three easy laps around the mall. Finished off 40.69 for the training week. No muss, no fuss. Good weekend with Tyler, good training. Now back to work tomorrow night (boo). Not fond of the end of DST either; being dark at 6 p.m. is not my cup of tea. Maybe I'll get in an early AM run after getting off work at 5 a.m. Or maybe not.

Next 15 hours will be really interesting, as in, how will I handle working graveyard? I did a couple of graveyards in school 16 years ago, but this counts now. How much caffeine will I need? Will I get stupid tired, like I am late Sunday at the end of a full week of 12s? Guess we'll find out.

Before that, debated taking a URD just because I've run 20 out of the last 21 days, but decided to make it 21 out of 22. Got in 5.14 at Cross Park, meaning nine laps. Thought I saw Bhargav there, carrying a small child, but he should be at work now (unless he's on the overnight with me, which is possible). Thought about doing another lap or two, but nah. Decided to come home and rest for a couple of hours before work. I'll take that RD on Friday, when I only have seven hours between shifts (although there ain't no way I'll be back at work at noon after getting home at 5:15).

OK, I survived one night of graveyard. Wasn't very busy at all, which is good. I actually had the opportunity to try to take a nap, try being the operative word. No such luck. Gave up on the nap at 4 a.m. and just sat up bleary-eyed until it was time to go home.

I've done some calculation. Total US population is 310 million and change. In 2010, there were 22,674 American entries at Boston, or one for every 13,000 people in the U.S. With the population of Fort Smith being 80,000, there should be six runners at Boston from Fort Smith. Instead there is one: Me. The population of Arkansas is about 2.9 million, so there should be 210 entries. Instead, there are 61 -- and even that is better than last year. Fayetteville and Little Rock are well represented. Arkadelphia, my hometown, should have one entry; instead there are two. But Fort Smith only has one, and that's because I moved here from elsewhere. Not sure what that means, other than that the Fort Smith running community could stand some building.

Anyway, did my part for the FS running community by getting out and doing some this afternoon; 4.5 at about 9:25 pace. As usual, I got faster as I went along. If I could figure out how to do that for a full 26.2, I might be dangerous. Now off to the hospital soon.

Worked 12.5 hours tonight, having gotten called to go to the ER at 4:40 a.m., 20 miinutes before my scheduled departure. By the time I finished that, I was kinda wired. Decided I'd got for a run when I got home. Changed clothes, put a load of clothes in the dryer that had been sitting in the washer for 15 hours, and the sun is starting to peek over the horizon when I head out. Decided to run three laps around the mall, with the second one pushed. Well, I did that, but during the third lap, decided to add a fourth -- and pushed that one.

Wound up with 6.54 with about 3 at something resembling MP, finishing in just under an hour. After Wednesday's URD, good way to get back in the swing. Now I'll take a shower and finally go to bed.