For Whom the Dogs Bark

76F, 97% humidity, wind NE 1 mph, clear.  Good running weather this morning.  Ran 10.08 miles in 1:36:20, average pace 9:36/mile, regular shoes.  Went to bed with a low grade fever last night and woke up with a sore throat.  I think it affected my endurance, but the run seemed to flush the flu out of my system and I felt mostly OK today.  Ran three warmup miles, then 5 miles at marathon pace, 8:38, 8:21, 8:36, 8:45 and 8:37 then cooled down with two more.  My heart rate was up to 176 on the MP miles, so I had a little bit left in the tank but didn't want to push it, and I am plenty tired tonight anyway.  Warmed up and cooled down very gently, nursing my groin, it seemed to hold up pretty well during the faster miles.  It has felt stiff today but with a night's rest it should be good to go again in the morning.  Looks like the weather is going to let up a little bit again this weekend, back down to low 70s, but not sure of humidity.

76F, 95% humidity, wind E 1 mph.  Clear and calm, nice weather.  Ran 7.73 miles in 1:08:53, average overall pace 8:55/mile, regular shoes.  Warmed up 1 mile then ran 6 at marathon pace, 8:30 (150), 8:23 (160), 8:23 (167), 8:33 (169), 8:18 (175), 8:13 (180), maximum heart rate 184, so 1 mile further than yesterday and faster average pace (8:24) in about the same conditions.  Ran about 3/4 mile cooldown, had to quit early because of schedule issues.  I have been sitting in conference rooms all day long without much chance to move around, makes me very stiff.  I woke up this morning with a sore back, could hardly move.  Went through my stretching sequence for my back and realized in the process that my groin was still improving despite running fast yesterday.  Actually felt better running than walking around, so I ran fast again today and have been sore all day.

My client walked in today with a cup that had brown foam on the top.  I asked him if it was a root beer float.  He said no, it was frappa-whappa something or other.  That was embarrassing, but I really wanted a float.  We are done with  the meetings now and everybody is happy, hoping for an easy day tomorrow, easing into a long weekend.

77F, 97% humidity, wind calm, partly cloudy, rain moving in, will be cooler in the morning.  Perfect running weather out there this morning.  Ran 11.22 miles in 2:00:15, average pace 10:43 per mile, low heart rate and flat shoes.  Ran hard yesterday and again tomorrow, so this morning was a chance to get some miles on my flat shoes.  It worked pretty well, feet, ankles and calves tired but doing fine.  Pretty happy with a 10:43 average in these conditions.  The main after-effect of running hard is cramping.  I got a mega-cramp yesterday sitting in a conference room, taking comments on a construction contract and entering them on my laptop.  It wasn't really a situation where it was appropriate to scream, even though the other side made me want to vocalize for other reasons.  So I just smiled, calmly offered a couple of constructive comments, typed away and slowly died inside from the pain.  It was a long one too, took a couple of minutes for my hamstring to relax, what a relief when it finally did.

My wife was awake when I got up this morning.  She said our daughter came in late last night, a day early.  She goes to college in San Marcos and turns 21 on Monday.  This girl has had a lot of ups and downs, she makes me mad pretty often, but my heart goes out to her more than any other kid.  So vulnerable and sweet, so unsteady.  Looking forward to a nice holiday weekend with the family, hope y'all are too.

73F, 91% humidity at start, 74F, 87% humidity at end, wind calm then N 5 mph.  Wonderful running weather, although admittedly we were planning on high 60s with low humidity.  That system is still trying to move in but it didn't arrive in time for our run.  But we were warriors and gutted it out. 

Ran 2 miles to my friend Wade's house then drove to the Y to run with the early, early group.  They started at 4:45 and were doing 20 but Wade only wanted to do 15, which I was fine with me because I wanted to run the first half MP + 1 and the second half closer to MP, wasn't sure I could pull that off for a full 20.  We ran about 9:30 for the first half and 8:30 to 9:00 for the second half.  We averaged 9:05 for the 15 miles, faster than our 9:19 last week in cooler air.  Then drove back to Wade's house and I ran back home plus another mile.  Very stiff to start from his house but loosened up and ran the last mile in 8:30, didn't know I could do that.  I think running a lot at MP this past week has helped, I feel stronger.  Overall I ran 20.03 miles in 3:03:49, average pace 9:13 per mile, regular shoes.  All systems are go, no lurking injuries that I know about.  I have two more long runs before starting my taper.

Not a 70-mile week, but a miracle to get this many hard miles this week considering where I was on Monday.  My son called me "Wolverine".  He said that is the guy on Ninja Turtles who transforms himself out of every injury, or something like that.  I don't know this stuff.  I seem to get hurt a lot, I think it is a function of age or wimpiness, but happy to be able to recover quickly, I'll take what I can get.

74F, 91% humidity, calm.  Beautiful morning for running, a sliver of moon peeking through some morning cloud cover just ahead of the rising sun.  Today is a holiday, so met at the YMCA again with Wade for 10.  Went 10.02 miles in 1:29:25, average pace 8:56 per mile, flat shoes.  Most interesting thing was my heart rate, which never broke 160 despite our running 10 seconds faster than Saturday, even more interesting because Wade was getting close to 170 and he was 10 beats lower than me on Saturday.  The only explanation is the flat shoes, definitely gonna run Hartford in these.  I estimate they are about 20 seconds per mile faster than regular shoes and this run seemed to confirm that.  Good stuff, but mainly I am thankful to be running without injury.  Happy Labor Day.

79F, 84% humidity, wind ESE 6 mph.  Great running out there, the sky was getting ugly with the outer bands of Hermine reaching all the way up here.  It has been raining hard all day, I ran very early and it turned out to be the only time today it wasn't raining, also turned out to be the hottest part of the day.  Ran 10.01 miles in 1:49:01, average pace 10:54 per mile, regular shoes.  I felt some weakness in my ankle so decided to go slow today as a precaution.  I needed it anyway, as my legs felt a little tired, and combined with the heavier shoes and higher temperatures it was a slow day.   I was down to 11:30 on my 9th low heart rate mile, so I bagged it and ran the last one in at marathon pace, no point to it but it felt good anyway.  It felt a little fast at first, but at least my heart rate topped out at about 164 so not too bad for the end of the run.  Hopefully I can get in some fast ones tomorrow.

Coming around the bend on my second mile there was an officer sitting there with his window down.  He didn't return my "hey" and I grew alarmed, hurried back into the house to leave a note warning my daughter to tell her ride to be careful -- this guy meant business, very unfriendly.  He wasn't there ten minutes later though, guess there wasn't enough going on in our leafy suburb to keep him busy.  Wouldn't have minded seeing him on Saturday morning at 4:00 a.m. when a teenager coming in from a night of partying accelerated through a stop sign and almost ran me over.  That's all for today from crime central.

77F, 94% humidity, wind ESE 10-20 mph.  Last remains of Hermine blew through last night, outer bands only, lots of rain but no real wind.  There were a few stars showing early, mid-summer night's weather, with apologies to Bill S.  I ran 10.13 miles in 1:29:11, average pace 8:48 per mile, flat shoes.  Warmed up for 2 (10:57 and 10:05), then ran 7 at marathon pace (8:37, 8:26, 8:25, 8:20, 8:23, 8:38, 8:20, heart rate climed from 149 to 171, 8:27 average for this part, 10 seconds below MP), then the last one at 10K pace (7:37, 181 bpm, max 185 bpm) followed by a very short cool down then iced my right groin.  Happy that I did not have to run to failure to do this run, and the groin seems fine so far.  My legs remind me they are there every time I try to slip in a little speed.  Depending on how things go today I might try the same thing tomorrow in regular shoes, which get heavy with sweat toward the end of the run.  It will be a good test.

76F, 97% humidity, calm and clear, beautiful morning outside, glad to be out and moving around.  My legs felt heavy at first, meaning I will need to back off soon, but not today.  Ran 12.54 miles in 1:52:05, average pace 8:56/mile, regular shoes.  Warmed up for 2, 11:04 and 10:03 then ran 10 miles at marathon pace (8:37), actually averaged 8:31 for the 10, slowest mile 8:41 and last full mile at 8:17, then slogged it in for .54 to finish the run.  I didn't run all the way to failure, but I did lose my appetite, worked pretty hard on this one, felt a little woozy at the end when I stopped but was happy to make my goal in soggy shoes and in full summer heat.  Iced my right groin down and everything seems fine, although it appears I have a cold coming on, so don't know what the rest of the week will bring.  I assumed my heart rate in heavy shoes would be about 10 bpm higher than yesterday, but it was actually one or two beats lower for most of the miles.  I don't think I got that much better in one day?  My fast miles were 4 seconds per mile slower than yesterday, but that doesn't really explain it.  Just one of those mysteries.

I got curious about my maximum heart rate and went on the internet to poke around.  That was a mistake.  It is apparently a religion that HRmax is 220 minus your age, which puts me at 165, meaning I was at or above my "max" for the last 6.5 miles of my run today.  It gets so bad that they have bloggers worried about what happens if they run faster than their max, which is exactly the same as asking what happens if I run faster than I can run.  One thing that has me a little worried, though, is that there are a lot of people who are convinced that you can damage your heart by running at max, like red-lining your engine.  I am pretty sure that is questionable as well, but I am looking for reliable science.  No one is more aware of the benefits of low heart rate training than me, but I also know that the faster I run the better I feel, not sure where the damage is.

UPDATE:  Here is some reliable information from my brother-in-law's blog.  He is a smart cardiologist in Omaha and a 3:00 marathoner.  He says don't worry about HRmax, so I won't.  A couple of the comments are interesting as well:  http://www.blogalegent.com/Cardiology-Maximum-Heart-Rate

75F, 94% humidity, calm and clear, another beautiful summer morning.  Got out dark and early and ran 14.00 miles in 2:28:05, average pace 10:35 per mile, flat shoes and low heart rate.  Good run but very fatigued, in a different way than on fast days.  Must mean it is doing some good.  Still up in the air what I am going to do tomorrow, but feet and legs feel fine other than being tired.  I weighed 165 at the start of the run and 159 after, and drank 1/2 liter on the run, so sweat a total of 7 pounds, lovely.

Just to illustrate the effects of our humidity, I had to get a new cell phone this week.  My old one shorted out from getting wet in my pocket, in a plastic bag.  We get soaked every day, and a sandwich baggie is insufficient protection for electronics.  I think that is similar to what happened to my Garmin earlier this summer, even though it is supposed to be somewhat water resistant.  I bought a waterproof phone, very old-fashioned looking and heavier, but hopefully it will last longer.  Running is turning into an expensive habit.

78F, 93%, wind SSW 3 mph, clear.  Nice morning for running, but I didn't feel too good.  I went to bed with a fever last night and turned off my alarm, figured I would make a decision in the morning what to do.  Woke up right on schedule at 4:30, still hot, got up and puttered around, almost went back to bed but then decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if I went out for a few easy miles.  I have been running pretty hard and didn't need to go hard again today anyway.  Wade is out of town this weekend, but I ran down to the Y to see if I could find anybody, about 7 miles from my house, about a 9:35 pace other than the first mile, so it was a legitimate MP+1 long run pace.  I was very hot and soaked to the skin by the time I got to the Y.  The other groups had mostly left for their run, so I rested a bit, filled up on water and caught another group just as they were leaving.  My neighbor Kathy was in the group, so ran with her for 3 miles to the group's turnaround point and then ran the rest of the way home solo, probably about a 9:45 pace but just a guess because I forgot to turn on my watch for the first part of the return.  Came home the long way to make it 15.5 for the day.  Very tired but surprisingly my heart rate behaved, never went over 161, just proves you can get really tired without pumping up your heart.

My nephew Brian from Orem is visiting for medical school interviews and he is out running now, this weather must be a shock but he hasn't complained.  He is running TOU next week with his dad, who blogs on here as Stephen.  It will be a first marathon for both of them, I think they will do well.  Brian is pretty quiet and modest, but after questioning him closely it appears that he plans to beat his dad pretty easily.

75F, 97% humidity, clear and calm.  Gorgeous morning after a lot of rain yesterday.  Houston is beautiful and green if you can get past the heat and the best way to do that is get right out in it.  Ran 11.18 miles in 1:36:12, average pace 8:36 per mile in flat shoes, including 10:16 warmup first mile, 8:26 per mile after taking out the warmup mile, 11 seconds under BQ pace.  Most interesting thing was my low heart rate compared to a similar run last week, on Thursday (76F/97%, conditions almost identical).  Bpm comparisons after throwing out the warmup miles:  144 (149); 147 (154); 152 (158);155 (163); 156 (165); 157 (168); 157 (169); 157 (171); 160 (174); and 161 (178).  That run was in regular shoes, but it was the same heart rate as flat shoes the day before.  Interesting that the bpm spread went from 5 in the first mile to 17 in the last mile, I think it shows I am getting some conditioning in that heart rate range.  Plus my speed was 5 seconds per mile faster today, felt like I could have completed a marathon, which is a good thing because that is exactly what I am going to have to do in less than 4 weeks.  Another encouraging development was Wade's 20 miler last weekend, which he ran in Utah.  Despite the altitude, unlit road (he took a spill) and a lot of hills, he flew in the cool air and low humidity.  Gives me hope. 

73F, 97% humidity, calm and clear with ground fog.  I didn't know you could have fog at this temperature, but definitely a great morning for running.  Went long and slow, 11.01 miles in 1:56:58, average pace 10:37 pe rmile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  Woke up at 2:30 and couldn't go back to sleep.  Finally got up at 5:00 and hit the road at 5:30, back just in time to take my daughter to school.  I am going to be sleepy today, already am, but it didn't seem to affect my speed, this was a good pace for regular shoes.

So last Saturday my son went to homecoming at his girlfriend's high school and the group and their parents came to our house for pictures.  Two strange things.  First was that the group of 13 kids was 9 girls and 4 boys, there were 5 girls without dates.  That is new to me, nothing wrong with it but when I was a kid you took a date to a big dance or stayed home or did something else.  Second thing was of a very different nature.  Two of the girls were mothers of 3-month infants, who were included in some of the pictures.  Both of the mothers had dates, one was the father and the other was not.  When I realized what the situation was, I just sat in the corner in shock while everybody chattered away.  I am not ignorant about teenage parenting, but I naively thought that if you had a kid the party was over.  Apparently not.  Still trying to sort this one out in my head, but I am pretty sure these kids don't understand the full extent of the price they will be paying for their decisions.

70F, 100% humidity, calm and clear.  The air felt a little fresher this morning, but I think the humidity is the main limiting factor.  Until the humidity goes down my pace isn't really going to pick up that much.  I had to quit early to take my daughter to school for tutoring.  I ran 8.01 miles in 1:09:07, average pace 8:38, regular shoes.  Average pace for the fast miles was 8:25, slightly faster than Monday -- heart rate today was slightly lower on the front end, a little higher at the end, so a good run.  Felt like I was working pretty hard despite a pretty normal heart rate.  The legs really need to get used to marathon pace, not really there yet.  I was very fatigued yesterday after waking up so early then putting in a long day, including taking clients to the Astros game.  Slept well though and didn't feel like there was much residual effect this morning.  I might try to go faster tomorrow if I am feeling decent.

66F, 94% humidity, clear and calm.  Beautiful morning outside, the weather broke last night and I wasn't aware until I stepped outside to catch a satellite with my Garmin.  I was considering skipping this run altogether, because I was up until past midnight due to a daughter's car accident.  (She is OK, ran over a tire on a freeway in Louisiana, don't ask why she was in Louisiana, I'm still not sure.)  But I woke up pretty much on schedule.  I had planned a half-marathon run in an overconfident moment earlier in the week, but it was daunting to get up this morning and actually have to do it.  But I put on my flats and went out the door on autopilot and warmed up for a mile (9:59) then took off.  The goal was to do 13 at 8 flat and I succeeded.  Splits for the 13 were 8:00 (148); 8:01 (153); 7:59 (155); 8:03 (159); 7:50 (161); 7:58 (163); 7:58 (163); 8:04 (165); 8:00 (166); 7:52 (168); 8:12 (168); 7:51 (172); and 7:45 (175), average pace for the 13 was 7:58, overall average was 8:06, total time 1:53:28 and 1:43:30 for the 13, which projects to 1:44:18 for a full half marathon, which is about an 8-1/2 minute PR for me for that distance, not that I have run it much.  I got an assist from the weather, not sure what would have happened at 76F but probably wouldn't have made it.  Gotta go, big day at work today.  Happy running everybody.

75F, 94% humidity, calm and clear.  Nice running weather out there.  I had a smile on my face when I woke up after 7-1/2 hours of sleep, no fast miles today.  Got some tomorrow, then a very welcome three weeks of taper.  Ran 11.10 miles in 2:01:41, 10:58 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  The slow miles felt relaxed for a while, then I was laboring to finish -- my average pace climbed from 10:50 to 10:58 in the last 4 miles.  Not out of breath, just fatigued.  A lot of residual fatigue left from yesterday's frolic.  I think I am OK, though.  Ideally I would get a nap today, but it ain't happenin'.

I had an interesting dream last night, variation on the old one where I forget to go to class for a whole semester then wonder how I am going to pass the final, or even figure out where it is.  I still have that dream even though I finished my last degree well over 20 years ago.  In last night's version I was running my "BQ" marathon and got distracted.  About 20 miles in I realized I was right on pace for a 4:30 marathon, no wonder I felt so good.  I had stopped to help paint lines in the road, not sure why that was so important.  Another reason I was happy to wake up this morning with a BQ possibility still alive.

76F, 94% humidity, wind NE 3 mph.  Another beautiful scorcher of a morning.  Went with Wade to the same neighborhood group we ran with a few weeks ago.  They have great trails out there and some faster runners.  The plan for me was to do two 9.5 mile loops, but Wade is on his SGM taper already so he was only out for 15.  Ran 20.04 in 3:07:02, average pace 9:20 per mile, regular shoes.  On the second loop, was almost to marathon pace when Wade peeled off to run back.  His race is shaping up nicely, bpm already lower than mine at the same speed.  I sped up to marathon pace and managed to hold it for 4.5 miles.  Came into an aid station (this group is very organized) and I was done, heart rate was up to 177.  Rehydrated, ate a little bit and felt queasy.  When I started back in the best pace I could manage was 10:00 to 10:15 but I held it the rest of the way, including an extra mile at the end to get a full 20.  Very different run than Thursday, but it was fine.  I didn't feel pressure to perform because I already got my confidence run on Thursday.  So when I was done I was done.  No unusual aches and pains so far this morning, but very much looking forward to a taper.

Came upon a sad scene on the second loop.  A lot of runners were on the trail by this time.  A kid was standing alongside holding a big sign that said "I lied to my Dad".  I'm sure he was hoping he didn't see anybody he knew.  He was probably about 15.  I certainly sympathize with the dad, some of the stuff that teenagers throw at us starts to get really old after awhile.  But he may not realize that this might be the last time he can make his kid to do anything, or close to it.   I know I have had my share of situations where I would welcome a do-over.

72F, 87% humidity, calm and partly cloudy.  Felt really good out there this morning.  I ran 9.10 miles in 1:28:00, average pace 9:40 per mile.  Ran the first 7 at low heart rate and flat shoes, average pace 10:11, a new low heart rate PR for me by 13 seconds per mile.  I got 3 miles under 10, which is the first time that has happened.  The heat was off a little today, but it was still warmer than any of my fast low heart rate runs that I have tracked, so this is good progress.  Feels good to be in a taper mode, felt good to take a day of rest yesterday, I can feel the strength coming back into my legs.  I ran the last two slightly below marathon pace, 8:17 and 7:57, that felt good too.

This is going to be a good week.  Congrats again to all the great racers over the weekend.

73F, 94% humidity, wind WSW 8 mph, raining.  Gorgeous morning for running, rained most of the time.  I can't figure out why the humidity isn't 100% when it rains.  Ran 2 miles warmup, then 2 miles at 5K speed, 7:14 and 7:05, then relaxed for a mile and ran 10 x 200 basically as fast as I could with 200 cooldowns in between.  I can't measure 200 exactly on my Garmin, I'm sure there is a way, but I just run 0.12 or 0.13 and then hit the lap button.  Pacing for the splits ranged from 6:46 to 6:04 on a mile basis, mostly around 6:30.  Not very fast for a flat-out sprint, but a little faster than it was when I ran similar intervals earlier in the summer.  It really wasn't very hard, didn't want to risk an injury, funny thing is that form seemed to make more difference on speed than effort.

Spent a good part of the morning figuring out plane tickets to Hartford for me and my wife, should have done it weeks ago.  I finally had a eureka moment when I was all done and checked out prices to Newark.  About half, even with the extra cost of the rental car.  So back on the phone to change everything around.  Done now, but wasted too much time.

88F, 55% humidity, wind WSW 15-20 mph.  Have been buried under work all day and didn't get out until late afternoon.  Put on sunscreen, have never risked burning my skin in the moonlight, this was a new experience.  Started out as a blustery afternoon then gradually calmed into a very pleasant run.  Ran 9.25 miles in 1:42:01, average pace 11:01, regular shoes and low heart rate.  I don't have enough experience running at this temperature to know if my time was good for this heart rate zone or not, but it was a relaxing run.  At times my heart rate climbed out of the target zone as a result of the heat, but this run was about the legs, the heart is going to be fine.

About 6.5 miles in I stopped to get a drink at a golf course just as the sun was going down and saw this magical father/son moment:

74F, 94% humidity, wind E 5mph.  Pretty morning, partly cloudy with the full moon setting.  Ran 9.11 in 1:37:35, 10:48 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  Was up very late last night and did not want to do this run, legs still sore from running last night.  It was a little bit of going through the motions, but this was the right run at the right speed and I got it in.  If I had known it would be exactly 9.11 miles I might have passed, not that I am superstitious.  I have an early flight tomorrow on a business trip that just came up, should be interesting getting my run in before the flight.  This taper isn't all that relaxing, at least the first week of it.

70F, 100% humidity, calm and clear.  A gorgeous morning out there, supposed to get cool in the next 24-48 hours so this might be the last hot run of the year.  Missed my run yesterday because at the last minute I had to catch a 7:30 plane to Dallas on a work matter and didn't get home until 10 p.m., a very long day and too tired to run at the end of it.

So this morning I drove down to the Y, they were doing 10 at 6 so I got there an hour early and did 6, average pace 8:39.  The almost-full moon lit up the deserted trail so I had no problems seeing.  Then the group arrived and we did 10 more.  My pace was all over the charts as I ran and chatted with different runners.  A lot of women in the group are doing San Francisco in 3 weeks, Wade is doing St. George in a week and I am doing Hartford in 2 weeks.  Then Wade and a friend from his work started talking shop, and after three acronyms I had had enough.  Took off and did the last three in 8:01, 7:55 and 7:57, felt good to air it out.  Wade said they discussed trying to catch me when I went around the final turn with two miles to go but decided it was hopeless.  These are the guys I run with. 

Total 16.0 miles in 2:17:29, overall average pace 8:35 per mile, flat shoes.  Heart rate all over the place as well, but got high at the end, 184 max.  Funny thing was, even with a high heart rate I felt pretty good.  The taper always makes me lose confidence so it was good to do a long run at marathon pace.

I got a shirt from the running club, my first singlet.  It is traffic-cone orange, you could get a job on the airport tarmac in that thing.  I won't wear it in the race because it makes me look sleek and trim, not my image, plus I'll get my pale bony shoulders sunburned.  BaldnSpicy will ultimately have to decide if I am fast enough yet to wear a singlet, even if I wanted to.  My guess is he will make me wait one more year, but it's in the washing machine right now to soften it up, just in case he says yes.

60F, 84% humidity, wind N 4 mph.  The cool air came in and it was wondrous out there.  Only problem is that I have some severe leftover stiffness from Saturday, very surprising since I didn't think I ran that hard.  My legs are definitely lagging my heart in the fitness area.  Actually ran with an altered gait for much of the run trying to get comfortable.  It evened out some but not a good run.  Went 7.10 miles in 58:56, average pace 8:18 per mile in regular shoes, actually 8:12 per mile if I throw out the first warmup mile.  Harder than it should have been but I got it in.

My daughter does early morning seminary, this is her first year, and friends have been driving her in order to accommodate my running schedule.  This week and next I am returning the favor since I only have to run an hour now that I am tapering.  This morning was tough, though.  I ran at 4:30, did the seminary run at 5:45 and somehow made it downtown for jury duty at 8:00 a.m.  The things we do.

56F, 86% humidity, calm and clear.  Beautiful out there.  I am not yet getting the cool weather pop I had hoped for.  Ankle still feels weak when I land on it, but I stubbornly went out there anyway, it was actually a little better today.  Ran 7.13 in 1:00:36, average pace 8:30 per mile, 8:12 per mile after taking out the warmup lap, regular shoes.

Jury duty yesterday was something else.  My strategy for not getting picked is to go in dressed to the max, makes me look educated which is not a good quality in a juror.  Lawyers are not exempt in Texas like in some states, but we almost never get picked.  Would have been a personal scheduling disaster if I had been.  I got on a panel for a murder trial for a teenager who spoke no English, juror No. 1 in a panel of 64.  Right out of the box the Assistant DA asked somebody what they would think if juror No. 1 shot juror No. 2 just because I didn't like him.  I chimed in that I was just putting him out of his misery so he wouldn't have to do jury duty.  Everybody laughed except for the DA. It went downhill from there, but I didn't get picked, so something worked.  I was worried, though.  Most of the men on the panel either wanted to fry the kid or set him free, all without knowing any facts about the case whatsoever.  I thought they might have to pick me out of desperation, but they ended up picking 10 women and 2 men.  They had to go all the way to the back row to get their 12 but I think they somehow came up with a good jury.

63F, 75% humidity, wind NW 5 mph.  Beautiful day to be out there running.   Went 7.11 miles in 1:12:22, average pace 10:11 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  That is a good pace for regular shoes, although 10 days ago I did a low heart rate run at 10:06 per mile.  That run was in flat shoes but at 72F and high humidity.  I noticed my blog entry for that day says I ran at 10:11 per mile but I re-calculated and it was 10:06, so that was a very good day.  Maybe the next time I strap on the flats I will get under 10.  That used to be a fantasy goal but now it is realistic, gotta love progress.

Trying to get the fatigue out of my legs, and trying to hone in on a goal for Hartford.  Obviously a minimum is 3:45 but some of my times on shorter runs are indicating a possibility for a faster race.  I want to be (1) realistic, (2) ambitious and (3) not blow my BQ chances by going out too hard.  I have noticed that running is like money -- never quite enough.

60F, 83% humidity, calm.  Thank goodness it warmed up a little bit!  Ran 7.05 in 1:07:29, low heart rate except for 2 and regular shoes.  The two fast miles were 7:11, 1 mile cooldown, then 7:05.  Tried to run smoothly but don't know how well I did.  Would like to be able to run a 6:30 mile but that isn't in the cards yet.  I am running a 5K with my kids on Saturday, probably a little late in the taper but it is important and it is still 7 days out.  I think I will target about 7:15, which would put me under 22:30, a nice PR if I can pull it off.

I have been riding my friend Wade about the heat he is going to get in St. George, but I am actually a little worried, especially for my friends at the back of the pack.  They are going to be roasting if it doesn't let up a little.  The National Guard (or whoever those guys were) is going to have its hands full.