Getting back to Boston

Still DOMS in the quads, but got in an easy 3 in the drizzle around noon, and the quads feel better afterward. Will try to do 4 or 5 later. I think the Sunday doubles are going to be the way to go. Get in the miles, get the kinks out, and recover from Saturday's pounding. Ended up doing 4.82 later, total of 7.85. Legs did feel pretty good, considering.

It still feels weird not living in Central Arkansas any more. I've been there so much of my life (82-85, 87-92, and 06-09). By comparison, not nearly so much time in NWA, but a whole lot of time wishing I WAS here. Now I am, and it's taking some adjustment. 

Last night was an unscheduled day off; weather was miserable and I was ready to crash after dinner. So I did. Decide to do a double today to make up for it. Got up at 5:30 and went out for an easy 7. Finished just as the SHS cross country team was assmebling for a predawn workout -- and just before the skies opened up; it was quite a thunderstorm. Finished in 1:09, just under 10:00 pace.

After dinner tonight, went back to the park for just about the same thing, only quite a bit quicker, and with hill sprints thrown in on the way back home. Wound up with 7.02 in 1:05, even considering the jogged recoveries between sprints. Legs fdeel amazingly good as I sit here, although I may pay for this tomorrow -- and I'm supposed to do a fartlek tomorrow. A good pasta dinner won't hurt my recovery, either.

Found out Scott is entered in the half in Memphis, Which introduces a new complication -- what if the boss doesn't want to let both of us be out of town on the same weekend? Scott has seniority and first dibs if there's a conflict. But I may not have hospital privileges yet by then, so I can't cover the hospitals anyway if that's the case.

The parentals are supposed to come up this weekend to see the new Casa Spiderpig -- or are they? Dad has a reunion of his freshman football team from 50-plus years ago up here. Mom's supposed to accompany him. But Mom is being treated for H1N1, fairly symptomatic, and isn't sure she's coming. And since they've been joined at the hip for 50 years now, Dad isn't sure he's coming if she doesn't. So I don't know if they'll be here or not. I do know Mom is really not interested in hanging around while they trade old football stories all weekend, so she'll probably hang out with Pam if she does come.

Fartlek tonight, in the rain. Didn't figure tomorrow morning would be any better weatherwise, so decided to get it over with tonight, and as it turned out, rain slacked off and I was able to ditch the rain jacket for most of the run. Main issues were a loose, loudly barking dog that seemed to chase me every other lap, and one nagging toenail (already black, probably soon absent).

I meant to run eight two-minute surges, ended up running nine (lost count, I guess), but pace was remarkably consistent, if a little faster than I had intended. By the Garmin, I ran either 0.27 or 0.28 miles on every single surge, mostly 0.28, and pace ranged from 7:08 to 7:24. It was dark and I couldn't see the pace on the Garmin, so it was pretty much by feel. I would have wanted to run about 7:25 if I'd set the workout feature to tell me how fast to run, but a little quicker than that didn't seem to be a problem. Told my wife I'd be gone an hour and a half; I was back nine minutes early.

Maybe 10 slow miles, but not easy. Very difficult to get myself to run that far. Took me almost two hours. Then, as soon as I finished, we were placed under a tornado warning and spent a few minues in an interior bathroom. I'm gonna chalk up the bad run to the humidity and an empty tank after last night's fartlek.

The parents arrived at Casa Spiderpig this afternoon. So did the cold and wind. Got out in it regardless and got in a good 6-miler, with at least the last 1.1 miles at MP or below. Cold wind felt pretty good, actually, after last night's stifling humidity. Still worked up a sweat (I'd sweat in a blizzard, I think), but was quite comfortable. Particularly surprising considering I didn't sleep well at all, probably less than 4 hours.

Won't have time to do the full LR tomorrow because of the early starting football game, but will get in some miles early, I think, before going to the stadium to sit with Pupe. Then I'll do a long run Sunday.

Mileage is an estimate due to forgetting to charge the Garmin, but it's pretty close. Three small loops and one big loop at JBH, plus the 0.7 mile there and back. Legs were kinda stiff this morning, but good running weather. Took about 55 minutes.

Pupe's coming by in about an hour, and we're going to the game together, picking up T along the way. Pam's not gonna go, because she gave up her ticket to T's roommate thinking Mumber wouldn't go, and she's not real happy about it...