For Whom the Dogs Bark

57F at start, 81F at finish (low humidity and 7 mph wind from the west).  I almost gave up today because of the heat.  I seriously considered running it as a training run, but I'm glad I didn't.  I got a 9-minute PR but don't know how I placed in my age group or overall.  All I know, from a paper posting at the finish line, is that it took about 3:15 to place in the top 10 in the 55-59 group.  Totally amazes me how many fast runners enter this race.  Other than professional elites, this race has some of the fastest runners around.  For my own humble effort, after carefully considering the coming heat, I decided to shoot for a 3:30 finish (close to an 8 minute flat pace), which turned out to be about right.

My brother and I stayed at a hotel that had its own shuttle, so we walked to the office at 5:00 and got on.  This happy situation was worth almost two extra hours of sleep, I got 6 hours overall, which was badly needed due to some very busy work and travel this week.  I got up at 4:00, did my doo-ty, ate a bagel (no orange juice, big mistake last race) and got on the bus.  At the start line we went through the PoP lines twice, finishing the second time just at the gun.  I crowded in at what looked like the right spot and we were off.

Splits are as follows (as usual, no HR information until about mile 4):

1.  8:28 -- very crowded at the start, nothing to do but wait it out, but the spot I had was about right so I didn't lose much time.  In fact, this is probably the pace I would have picked to warm up up anyway.

2.  8:05 -- starting to thin out a little.  I felt good and was taking advantage of the early downhill.

3.  7:31 -- taking a little too much advantage.  Don't cheat this course or you will pay.  Took a drink at the end of the split.  I walked through every aid station that I didn't bypass and I never noticed much of an effect on my overall splits for a particular mile.  My strategy on aid stations was to walk at every other one and take a big drink.  I stopped more often in the last 10K, and at Veyo I stopped at both mile 7 and mile 9.

4.  7:44 (161) -- heart rate a little higher than I wanted.  This was the story all day, but I decided to stick with my plan.  I relaxed whenever I could and still maintain my pace, but I didn't worry too much if it went high.  Felt like I needed to make one more potty stop, but from UVM experience I knew it was best to wait until later in the race when facilities are more available.  Today it turned out to be a non-issue, never had to stop.  I heard they were encouraging (ordering?) runners of both genders to stay out of the bushes.  Apparently the tarantulas are mating.  I missed doing my part for reducing the local population when I narrowly missed stepping on one in the middle of the road.  Unfortunately, though, I was unable to contribute to the no bushes decision, and it was widely ignored anyway, at least by the male side of things.

5.  8:04 (160) -- a little bit of uphill here but no worries.  Heart rate seems under control.  Took my first swig of EFS.  Yuck, that stuff has got to go.

6.  7:45 (160) -- Nice downhill for a couple of miles here.  Still feeling so good that I toyed briefly with reducing my goal to a 7:45 pace, but had the good sense to stick with my plan.  Experience is a wonderful thing.

7.  7:43 (159) -- Last of the early downhill.  Veyo looming large in the foreground.

8.  9:00 (164) -- At least I kept my heart rate in range, but this one stunk.  This long hill to the half mark was where my heart rate got away from me.

9.  8:37 (165) -- More uphill.  Veyo ends but the course keeps going up at a more moderate grade.

10.  8:19 (164) -- I decided to push the pace some even though it was uphill.  Started to get the timing back down.

11.  8:26 (168) -- A steeper uphill, just kept trudging up the hill, I knew it would end soon.  Really helpful to have run this course once before.

12.  8:08 (167) -- Finally leveling out a little, but by now my overall pace was 8:07 or so.  3:30 wasn't looking too good, even though I knew there was a reason for the slower times.  Would have been nice if my heart rate was under 165.

13.  7:58 (165) -- Forgot to look, but extrapolating to the split for the half, looks like it came in right at 1:47 (3:34 pace), but the uphill was over other than a couple of minor hills. 

14.  7:51 (168) -- I had been pushing the pace since about mile 11 and from this point until late in the race I was able to take advantage of the downhill, ignore the pain and get some good splits..

15.  7:29 (168) -- Best split since early on, I think this is where the 6% downhill grade was, according to the yellow sign.

16.  7:10 (166) -- More steep downhill.  I knew it would cost me after the race, maybe before, but I kept going hard.  Missed a mister somewhere in here, you had to pick between misting or tangents.  I did the right thing.

17.  7:28 (173) -- Leveled out some but I kept the gas pedal down.  Paid for it with a high heart rate.  I was starting to realize that I wouldn't be able to maintain this pace until the end, but got the overall pace down to about 7:57 somewhere around here.

18.  7:34 (171) -- ditto, not too many fast splits after this one.

19.  8:12 (175) -- Last significant hill, I think.  Heart was protesting but kept beating.  The carnage on the road was starting to get pretty bad, even though the runners I was running with were all good runners.  From this point on I was battling the heat, but felt fortunate to be within a long 10K of the end, it seemed almost doable.

20.  7:50 (165) -- Last remaining steep downhill if my memory is correct.

21.  7:35 (165) -- Finishing up the downhill.  By now I am counting down the miles.  I am starting to calculate whether I can keep the pace up or whether I will have to give up on the 3:30.  After each mile I added not only the .22 but my Garmin overage (about .09) to calculate how much time I had. 

22.  8:27 (162) -- Decided to slow down so I could finish.  This probably cost me the 3:30 but I was happy that a slowdown didn't amount to any more than this.  I concentrated, tried not to think too far ahead.  Someone was wearing a t-shirt that quoted the Apostle Paul, saying to run the race patiently.  I found it inspiring and it kept me going.  No need to run too fast.

23.  8:14 (168) -- Got a little bit of focus back.  Hurting though, really hurting by now.  My stomach was starting to protest and I wondered if I would throw up.  By now I was stopping at all water stations and pouring as many cups on my head as they would give me.

24.  7:49 (169) -- I was very encouraged by this split, but I couldn't do the math well enough to see if I was on pace.  (See mile 21)

25.  8:21 (172) -- Not too bad, but I am heart-rate constrained at this point.  I remember many of these twists and turns from 2009, and I was glad I could keep going, even though it hurt.  The result today was quite different.  My pace wasn't very even at this point though.  I would speed up, get queasy, slow down, and repeat.

26.  8:22 (173) -- Almost done, but I remembered how long the finishing chute is.  Don't know if they changed it but when I turned the corner it didn't seem too bad.  I knew I was going to miss 3:30 by a little but I didn't care too much

26.2  8:10 (178) -- No finishing kick today, but the heart rate indicates I was working hard enough.  When I stopped I must have looked pretty bad.  Some extremely kind volunteers walked me through the mister, but took my word for it when I told them I would be OK.  I wasn't really but I knew there were a lot of other runners worse off than me.  I think it was funny that the map of the runners area shows the finish line sequence as timing mat, misters, medals and ambulance.  I made my way over to the fence inside the runners area and emptied my stomach.  Volume-wise it equated to about the last 3 water stops, meaning I probably didn't need to stop during the last few miles other than to pour water on my head.  Nobody even noticed my little moment.

I stumbled around, not feeling like eating anything, but I forced myself to eat part of a popsicle.  When I finally gained a little bit of lucidity I found my drop bag with the cell phone in it, looked up the temperature on the blackberry and sat down to put on my compression socks.  Took about 45 minutes between cramping and phone calls.  Was talking to my sister when a particularly bad one hit, I'm afraid I screamed in her ear.

I ran the very best race I could have run today.  The fatigue in the last 10K was deep and thorough, it is possible this one will be a lifetime PR for me.  I can feel the years creeping in.  If that turns out to be true I will have to decide what shape my running will take going forward, not sure I would want to keep running at this intensity if I am not improving.

As for the heat, I think the effect on runners is exponential depending on their capabilities.  Although I haven't seen any finishing times, I am guessing the fastest times aren't too far off historical averages.  I think it affects the elites the least because they are out there the shortest length of time, the temperature really hasn't climbed much by 9:15, at least not to dangerous levels -- plus the elites are the best atheletes of course and I think that superior conditions contributes to one's ability to withstand heat stress.  But the 4-hour runners I know seem to have bad days.  I was kind of on the cusp because I didn't have to deal with significant heat until the last 10K, which was almost manageable.  The second thing is that I was able to run today with an average heart rate of 168, which is 87% of my maxHR -- this is a new data point to think about and digest.  It is probably the statistic I am happiest about.

Although I had hoped to do better, I was happy to be able to manage today's circumstances and improve my time.  Congratulations to all who ran today in these difficult conditions, in particular the ones further back in the pack who had to deal with very high temperatures just as they reached their extremeties.

If it isn't too rude, I would like to add a personal note about this week.  I attended my uncle's funeral on Thursday in Spokane, Washington.  He lived a long and full life but was ready to exit it, by his own declaration.  The stake president (for Mormons, a stake is a broad general area comprised of several congregations, somewhat analagous to a Catholic diocese) spoke at the funeral.  He said that at funerals we tend to gloss over the failings of the deceased and emphasize the good, which is entirely appropriate.  But in this case there was no need -- with the possible exception of an incident involving a family of raccoons, a backyard tree and a 2x4 board, there was nothing to omit from my uncle's obituary.  His two younger brothers, one of whom is my father, were also in attendance.  It occurred to me that this trio of men are the finest I have known, I am honored to be a part of their family.

Sorry for the "marathon" race report.

55F, 94% and calm.  Too bad I am in recovery mode, pretty superior weather this morning and it won't last.  Ran 4.14 in 40:45, average pace 9:51, LHR.  I feel fine, but my legs are definitely in recovery mode, it was difficult to maintain a 10-minute average and keep my heart rate down.  I am going to pace Wade in a big 10-mile race this Saturday.  It might be difficult to keep up, he ran the last half of a long run at 7:50 pace on Saturday.  He has started running every day and thrives in the cooler temperatures.  Just another Wyoming guy.

Some post-marathon thoughts:

1.  I ran 19 miles at 7:56 per mile two weeks before the marathon, under more difficult conditions (73F, 93%) than the marathon (67F to 81F, low humidity), 8:02 per mile.  I can only conclude that for a sea-level runner, going to altitude creates enough extra stress on body systems to more than compensate for the significant net downhill.

2.  I understand that there are statistics showing SGM is 5 minutes faster than a flat sea-level marathon, i.e., it is an "aided" course.  I think they are probably pretty good statistics.  But I also believe that a sea-level runner going to altitude gives up a lot, more than an altitude runner gains by going to sea level.  Having now run 3 non-disaster marathons at altitude and 4 at sea level (in addition to 1 disaster marathon at altitude and 2 at sea level), I think my own experience bears that theory out.

3.  Can't say enough about the organization and friendliness of the SGM volunteers.  The folks who helped me at the finish line were angels, and very competent ones at that.  I will always remember their kindness.

4.  No more whining about being old.  Sorry about that.  I am now mentally refreshed and ready to keep chasing my 7:30/min GMP.

5.  Wish I had taken out that tarantula.

65F, 93%, E 3 mph.  Warming up, probably be 70F by the weekend, but we are on the tail end of this stuff.  I had to get done by 5:50 in order to get the seminary run started on time, so I ran faster, 8:44 average pace, HR 145-150, last split 8:13.  Overall 6.11 miles in 53:20.  8 tomorrow and 10 on Saturday, but traveling next week so I don't know how fast I can ramp up.  Thinking of doing Richmond again this year, just to test out my low altitude theory, ya know?

75F, 93%, E 7 mph.  Got up very early to get my run in before taking kids to seminary.  Ran 8.11 LHR miles in 1:22:15, 10:09 per mile.  Legs seem to be recovering OK, but still quite weak, like I am in the middle of a training cycle. 

Met my armadillo friend again at mile 5.1.  Suddenly he was running alongside and he stuck with me for a pretty good stretch.  Checked him on the Garmin, 9:45 pace, I think he was 10 flat the last time we met, so he has been getting out.  I'm thinking of entering him in the next pet race, but see that's the thing:  we are just friends, nobody has brought up the P word yet.

71F, 93% E 7 mph.  I paced Wade at the 10 for Texas race in The Woodlands this morning.  It was a big race, over 2500 runners, they actually sold out, which doesn't usually happen around here except for the bigger marathons.  Wade had some good days in the cooler weather earlier in the week, but he had ratcheted his expectations down to 8:15 pace because of the return to summer temperatures.  Probably 75F by the time the race started and close to 80F by the finish.  (Something about that finishing temperature seems vaguely familiar.)  I picked up Wade and Linda, another friend, at his house at 5:30 and we drove out there, arriving way too early, the race didn't start until 7:30.  So we toured the PoP, which had lights, running water, Kleenex box and dried flower arrangements.  Only in Texas.

Linda had a friend, Annette, who had registered then couldn't race.  The race was full when I tried to register, so I took Annette's number.  I took the tag off the bib, not wanting to be a Boy Named Sue. 

We ran 0.47 warmup, then met up with a bunch of people from CypressFit, our running club, they were out in force.  The organizers made a major effort to get people lined up according to goal paces, so even though the early stages of the race were on pretty narrow roads the first-mile jostling issues were minimized.  Our first mile came in at 7:54.  After that it got progressively slower until by mile 5 our overall average crept over 8, and we finished at 8:11 per mile (1:22:24 for 10.07 miles), which was fine for today.  Wade's slowest mile was mile 8, 8:29, but he dug deeper and got 8:19 and 8:12 for the last two, so he finished strong in the heat.  If he had made his original 8 flat goal I might not have been able to keep up on my recovering legs.  Afterwards we hung around for some good food and conversation. 

5:40 per mile won it.  8:13 per mile won Annette's age group, so it was a good decision to take the tag off.

Happy weekend all.

67F, 98%, NW 4 mph.  Slightly cooler but very humid.  We got our best rain of the year yesterday, rained most of the day, but the aftermath is very heavy air that has rain in it even though there are no clouds.  This is the only place I have seen it.

Felt pretty good this morning.  Since I am almost ready to pull the trigger on a followup marathon in Richmond, I thought I would go ahead and start on my next training cycle, but ease into it.  Started out with 5 LHR at a 10:08 pace, really not as good as I would expect.  Then ran 5 x 1K, 7:17 (160), 7:34 (161), 7:07 (165), 7:05 (168), 7:08 (172), recovery by finishing out the mile, maxHR 179.  These were easier than I expected, perceived effort for splits 3, 4 and 5 was about the same as for split #2.  I really need to start running these faster and do more of them.  Probably 7 or 8 at 6:50 pace would be about right if I can sustain it through the cycle.

I tried to put my foot down right under my body and push off, and get good leverage with my arms.  I think that helped some.  Need to really crank it up on maintaining good form, it's more a mental thing.

Overall 10.12 miles in 1:32:40, average pace 9:09 per mile.  I have some travel to Asia later in the week, so it is going to be yet another low-mileage week.

66F, 94%, NNW 2 mph.  About the same as yesterday, but ran harder today.  Warmed up 3 at 10:00 per mile, LHR.  Then 7 x 1000 at tempo pace:  7:13 (158), 7:05 (163), 6:52 (166), 6:55 (171), 6:58 (173), 6:44 (175) and 6:56 (176), average 6:58 pace.  Sub-7s are getting toward my limit, not really comfortable at those speeds.  The goal is to be able to do these consistently at 6:50, so today was a step in the right direction but not there yet -- today's run is currently not repeatable except once or twice a week.  Total 10.08 miles in 1:25:55, average overall 8:32 per mile, maxHR 181. 

Indoors. Ran 10.07 on the treadmill at the hotel in Beijing on Friday night local time. This week has been stupid busy, and it takes a full day to fly here, so this is the only running I have been able to manage. Was hoping to get out this morning (Saturday morning) because it is a rare clear-air day here and there is a river only one block from the hotel with a running path on it. Temps are cool and dry as well. No such luck, up all night working because U..S. was still doing their Friday thing. I was lucky to get in the run that I did, finished up about midnight.

So last March when I ran a half marathon in Beaumont I met a guy who was my nephew's father-in-law (still is, in fact). He is almost the same age as me and almost beat me. That same nephew sent a link to both of us yesterday about a 31-year old runner in England who hopped a bus for the last 10K of a marathon and snatched third place before his dark deed was discovered. I had wanted to initiate a dialogue with this Mike guy, so I replied back to him that I thought that was an awful thing for a young guy to do, but it was probably OK for guys our age and since he is local, do they have buses along the half marathon route in Beaumont? He was not amused. He wrote back, "They do not operate along the course during the race. I wouldn't dream of taking a bus. Only cheaters and quiters do that. I would rather be slow but do my thing the best I can than hop on a bus. Why waste the time to train, the cost to enter if you are going to cheat? Hope your running is going well Mark."

Oops.

I asked my wife about it and she said the report through the back channels is that he is used to winning the geezer division and didn't take kindly to me coming in from out of town and edging him out, especially since I am a semi-relative. Apparently his family has been giving him a hard time about it. I wanted to go back and do this race next year as a tune-up for Boston, but I am looking for alternatives now, this is not good and I want none of it. Besides, he would probably tell the bus driver to not let me on, or at least charge me extra.

66F, 100%, calm and fogged in. 

Last week was a "quick" trip to China, there is no such thing, ate up 4 days for a one-day meeting, and got only one run in while I was there.  Wanted to go on a long run Saturday morning before leaving for the airport to come home, as there is a long, paved trail along a river by the hotel, but I was up all night working so there was no way.  My colleague in our Beijing office told me that there are kidnapping problems in China, which are not being reported due to media control by the government, so it was probably just as well that I didn't go out for a long run by myself.  So basically last week was a running disaster.  But if there has to be a week like that, two weeks on the back side of a marathon is as good a time as any.  Leaving for Ecuador this afternoon, but I think I'll be able to at least do treadmill workouts at the hotel. 

So out the door at 4:00 a.m. so I could get this one in before the seminary trip.  Ran 5 LHR miles at a 9:54 pace, then 7 at what I hoped was going to be a 7:30 pace.  It ended up being a 7:46 average, and splits were all over the map.  My legs are jet-lagged or I gained weight or I am out of shape or something.  If I ever had an important race (not that I ever would), I would make sure I was at least 48 hours off the plane before the race, more if significant time zone differences are involved.  Long plane travel is not condusive to running.  Overall I ran 12.16 miles in 1:45:25, average pace 8:40 per mile, maxHR 184 bpm.  This run is duly recorded and I am moving on with my life.

Treadmill, no weather report. Got on the treadmill last night at the hotel and slogged out some miles, just me and 4 or 5 staff people waiting to clean the place up. Quito is at 9500 feet elevation according to one source I consulted, so I wasn't sure how this would work out. I didn't take a heart rate monitor down to the gym, but probably should have. I ran these at easy pace, but it didn't feel that easy. But I am in survival mode right now with work being so busy, just trying to get my miles in, no illusion that I can maintain low heart rate at this altitude. This workout was excruciatingly boring, can't believe I made it through.

More importantly, the treadmill was measuring in kilometers per hour. I noticed that when I set it on 6 and was practically walking. So I cranked it up to 10 kph and that seemed about the same as my normal 10-minute pace (actually, it is, 6.2 mph now that I have a chance to calculate it). So at 45 minutes the machine shuts down and the staff hanging around for me to finish looked up hopefully. I got on the next treadmill and set it on 10, almost ended my running career right there, since it was measuring in mph, i.e., 6-minute pace. I don't run that fast. Once I got the speed back down I looked pointedly at the staff to make sure they weren't laughing -- they quickly glanced away. After 40 minutes that one died, so I got back on the kilometer machine which had re-set and finished another 5 minutes. Adding everything up, 9.3 miles in 1:30. I am pretty sure the staff was commenting about my odor as I walked past. But in addition to not running 6-minute miles, I don't speak Spanish either. Not sure what I am doing here.

Treadmill at the hotel in Quito again. Got there a little earlier tonight, so the staff wasn't worrying about how much sleep they would get.  Did the mph machine first until it quit at 40 minutes.  Then got on the kph machine after doing a quick calculation on my phone.  7 mph = 11.2 kph, just sharing because I know this is an important number for everybody.  40 more minutes, then almost 10 more minutes on the mph machine to get a total of 10 miles, 2 at 10-minute pace and 8 at 8:34 pace.  At this altitude I was pretty beat, in fact I was sweating like a pig.  I rode the elevator to my room from the basement and found out my soaked room card wouldn't open the door.  Back down to the lobby in full odor.  They were having a black-tie reception there, but they made plenty of room as I walked to the desk to get a new room card, no problem.

Up very early this morning and back to Houston, which has been cool all week but is now pretty warm, just in time for a half that Wade, Linda and I are planning in the morning.  I think 7 mph sounds about right.

60F, 90% humidity, some wind from a generally southerly direction, didn't write it down.  I wasn't really prepared for this race, kind of did it on a whim and my time shows it, more than 5 minutes slower than my PR, which is quite a bit for this distance.  The last one I ran in Beaumont had identical temperatures as today and more wind, so not a good day.  I will say, though, this course was very hilly.  A couple of 100 to 150-foot ascents which were steeper than Veyo in St. George, as well as some gradual ascents.  (All this in Texas, no lie.)  Plus the placement of the hills was bad.  First big hill right at the start leaving us winded a quarter mile into the race, second long one at mile 5, then did it all again because it was a two-loop course.  I am chalking it up to too much time in an airplane, too little sleep and too little running.  I don't think there was any SGM effect, but it is possible I guess.

Wade, Linda and I left at 6, got to Huntsville about 7, race started at 8.  I brought along a course elevation map and after discussing it I suggested that we go to McDonalds instead.  For a minute I thought they were going to take me up on it.  Linda was running her first half and was nervous.  My splits, were 7:35, 6:53, 7:23, 7:20 (175), 7:30 (177), 8:00 (177), 7:58 (175), 8:03 (175), 7:34 (172), 7:51 (176), 7:54 (178), 8:13 (180), 8:25 (180) and 7:10 (181) for the final 0.22.  My gimpy right ankle started giving out on me a few times in the last 3 miles, making me hobble, but I don't think it affected my time much.  The erractic splits were generally due to the uphill/downhill nature of the course, but I also ran out of gas, I have a conditioning issue it appears.  Average pace on the first half was about 7:27 per mile, second time around the same loop was about 8:01 per mile.  Course was about a minute long, they almost always are.  Average overall pace 7:44, average heart rate 177 (92% of HRmax), overall official time 1:42:19.

The hills were probably worth about 2 minutes -- and temperature doesn't explain the rest of the difference. I took third in my age group, got beat by two 59-year old guys, one of whom I beat pretty easily in a 5K earlier this year; actually I was surprised when I found out I placed.  If I had matched my PR I would have won my age group.  1:20 won the whole thing, so even though there were some good runners, the course took its toll.  Wade finished 4 minutes behind me, when he got done we looked at each other and started laughing about the course.  He has been running every day and is rapidly closing the gap.  Linda did fine as well and probably could have run faster, she went out conservatively. 

Trying to wrap my brain around the high heart rate, 8 bpm higher than St. George.  Using up most of my heart rate reserve like that, it is clear that I was maxed out, although I didn't get nauseous.  I am curious as to why I could run this distance at that heart rate, maybe my HRmax is higher than 193?  Doesn't make sense though -- according to the rule of thumb formula my HRmax should be 164, a number which is significantly lower than my average half marathon rate today.  But I had a great time hanging out with Wade and Linda and just soaking up the race atmosphere -- I really don't feel badly, race day is always fun (almost always).  I am reconsidering Richmond in three weeks, though.  Doesn't seem like I am adequately prepared at the moment, especially whiffing on workouts the last two weeks.  It might be a good idea to go into a 12-week base-building cycle then shoot for a good time on an easy course like Boston.

59F, 100% and calm.  Good temperature out there but didn't run that well, legs still weak from Saturday most likely.  Ran 6.07 LHR miles before seminary, average pace 10:19 per mile, then got busy with work and didn't finish the run.  Came home after work and ran 8 more on the TM at a flat 10-minute pace.  Didn't hurt that Monday Night Football and the World Series were both playing.  It was almost painless.  Everything this week is going to be long and slow, possibly for the remainder of the year.  My legs are feeling the need to build up endurance, and I can feel the strength coming back when I run long and slow.  It feels good; time to start piling up the slow ones.

64F, 100% and calm.  Another foggy morning.  Did my run in two segments, interrupted by seminary routine.  Altogether 14.26 miles in 2:28:11, average pace 10:24 per mile.  Legs were pretty beat after doing 8 on the TM late last night, but at least I am back on schedule and now there is a full day to recover before the next one.

67F, 97%, SSE 5 mph.  A little warmer today but it didn't feel like it.  More of the same, this is my life now.  14.47 miles in 2:26:03, average pace 10:07 per mile, considerably better than yesterday, so that is encouraging.  I must be recovering from SGM and the half I ran on Saturday.

Only thing interesting was at mile 8, another front door opened and a large dog came at me.  I yelled at him.  The owner called him back and told me he was harmless.  I said "OK, no problem." and went on my way, even ran by the same house again on mile 12.  So progress.  Didn't apologize for yelling, though.  That is for later, I am only at Step 2 right now.

65F, 100%, calm and slightly foggy (kind of like me).  No dogs today, boring.  Did the same run as yesterday and it measured almost the same.  I knocked some more time off --  2:22:19, average LHR pace 9:51 per mile.  I had the cumulative average down to 9:43 at one point, but slowed at the end.  I did manage to stay under 10 minutes all the way through mile 12, though, and the last two were below 10:10, so it was a good day.  Legs definitely feeling it afterwards, but won't know until tomorrow if that means anything.

I'm going to do this same run a couple of more times to test my view that Garmins are pretty accurate.  Any particular measurement might be off, but they average out or it wouldn't measure the same course the same every time.  Stated differently, if the Garmin says a course is long, I think that means it is long.  A few tangents don't add up to a tenth of a mile -- maybe if you are running the outside lane on a 10K at the track, but not for most of the courses we run.

55F, 89%, NNW 13-18 mph.  The new running season has finally arrived, but I was already missing summer when I stepped out into the chilly breeze.  Hard to make me happy.  Woke up before the alarm and ran a slightly different route due to the seminary break being at mile 7 instead of mile 6.  I always feel less sleepy all day when I wake up ahead of the alarm.  There is apparently an iPhone app that senses your body movements in bed and the alarm is flexible; within a certain window it goes off when you are the peak of a sleep cycle, when you are almost awake anyway.  But I don't have an iPhone, too poor after buying them for my kids.  I wouldn't take one to bed anyway, too weird.  However, if I could rig it so that my kids' iPhones go off instead of mine, I might consider buying the phone and the app. 

More LHR miles, from now to eternity.  14.51 miles in 2:20:10, average pace 9:40, all under 10 except for the warmup miles.  Got a 9:18, which isn't a LHR PR but not that far away, and I improved every day this week from Tuesday on, with a big assist from the weather today.  Off to Temple to see my granddaughters for the weekend.  Sweet dreams.

66F.  Ran in Temple, Texas this afternoon.  The humidity felt low but by the end of the run I was pretty spent, quite a bit of wind and some respectable hills.  Ran 19.07 miles in 2:57:12, average pace 9:18 per mile.  Average heart rate 142, was unable to maintain LHR under these conditions unless I ran so slow I would never finish.  Ran the first lap with my daughter, right at 10K.  She was showing me the route, which included a mile or two against highway traffic.  That was a new experience seeing automobiles coming at me full speed, but I got used to it after a while.  We turned off the highway and at about mile 4 I tripped and fell down on a perfectly flat sidewalk.  I have some ugly knuckle abrasions that are a source of morbid fascination for my granddaughters on this Halloween weekend.  But no permanent damage.  It is my fifth fall, I remember each one.  One of these days I will fall the wrong way and that will be it.

After dropping my daughter off at her house, getting a drink and cleaning myself up I went out for another lap.  I knew I wasn't going to make it out for a third lap so I started looking for detours.  I headed on down the highway instead of turning onto the sidewalk, but that ended after a mile when three large canines of uncertain heritage and poor grooming headed my way.  I figured I was done for but they were across the busy highway and didn't press the issue after I turned around.  Then through a neighborhood which was uneventful.  Then I found a disc golf course which had a couple of miles of trails in it.  By now I was diligently searching for water.  I finally found a park with a drinking fountain and solved that problem.  Turns out the park had three miles of trails in it, very pretty.  Then I slogged it home, was hitting 9:30s about this point.

Following up on last week's half marathon in Huntsville, I got this picture from some friends.  The lady on the left, Shannon, is the daughter of some friends of ours -- we didn't know she is a runner and we found her at the race by accident.  She was running her first race ever and was the fourth woman finisher.  She beat me by 6 minutes.  She is ridiculously humble; some people just don't know how fast they are.  The other two are Wade and Linda.  Also Shannon's daughter.  We had a good time, even though I didn't get a good time.

47F, 97% and calm.  Picture perfect running weather.  Running in the dark and early dawn is more comfortable for me than running mid-day like I did on Saturday.  It fits my body rhythms better and I run better.  I ran 16.05 LHR miles in 2:37:52, average pace 9:50 per mile.  Not great but good enough for Monday.  I peeked ahead and it looks like we will have reasonable weather all week.  The biggest advantage to cooler weather is that I can hold the LHR pace a lot longer.  Other than the warmup miles, I didn't break the 10-minute barrier until the last mile this morning.  On the other hand, these paces need to get down into the low 9s, just have to be patient about that.  Fat-burning capacity takes a long time to develop.