Look Good & Smile

Even with a mid-month taper, I still had a record month of 140 miles.

As I finish out the month of Sept with today's 20 minute pre-marathon 2.2 mile run, I'm looking back over the past 3-months of training.

Overall it's been a great 3-months. 395 miles since July 1st. That about 4 1/4 miles per day. But I didn't run every day. I actually ran about every 3rd day. That bumps up the average miles per run to 10 miles. Wow, I hadn't realized this.

Only 12 hours until my 2nd marathon. I feel more prepared. I feel more prepared!

I'm still determining my race pace, but it will be somewhere between 9:00 & 9:15/mi. Significantly faster than my 1st marathon in January.

Stay on pace. Finish strong!


...look good & smile!! :)

Tic Toc

3 1/2 days until the marathon.

My Goofy Plan called for just 3-miles today. I went after work on a faster than marathon pace "short run". I wanted to run around a minute faster per mile than marathon pace just to get my legs moving. I was able to hold an 8:00/mi pace though I was 30 sec faster for the first mile so not an even pace.

My legs felt fine, but I was breathing hard. Pointed out the need for some track or speed workouts after the marathon. I'm slow because I haven't trained to be faster. I've focused my training on being able to run further at a steady pace. Not a bad thing at all, but some additional speed needs to be tweaked into the Goofy Plan after this marathon.

With the marathon on Sunday, I don't have any more runs scheduled until race time. I think I'll run 3 on Saturday just to keep the legs moving. I'd also like to roll past 140 miles for the month!

Warrior in Pink

Final long weekend run prior to the marathon. Ran 12-miles with Bill down along the lake.

Nice cool morning near the lake with only 14 miles in total last week. My legs were very rested. I felt great. FORGOT my GPS watch in the car. Bill's watch said it took us something around 1:43 to run the approximately 12-miles. That's 30-seconds a mile faster than I was planning to run, but it felt great.

Big surprise as we finished. A breast cancer cure walk/run was underway right where we were finishing. Had to run upstream for the last 1/4 mile.

It was nice that they supposed us with water and fashion!

Goofed

I goofed and missed my Wednesday run. I felt a bit like a turkey. (I got the hat in Turkey)

It's the first complete miss since starting the Goofy Plan in early July. Hopefully I picked a good time to miss. It's supposed to be taper time prior to next week's marathon.

Today I ran 7 miles run around the block. I wanted an easy 9:00/mi pace. It's in the fast range of my marathon path...or maybe in my dreams. Humidity was 95%. Started raining at the end of my run. Certainly not a hard run, but my legs felt tight. I'm was more warmed up after completing the run than when I was running.

Tomorrow is another day. Going to run the last 12-mile segement of the marathon course...or at least that's the plan.

Anything After Twenty

Some alterations to the Goofy Plan for this weekend.

Since I successfully completed 20 miles instead of 14 miles yesterday, I lowered today's miles to 7 miles (instead of 17). Doing anything the day following 20 miles is an accomplishment. Even walking. HA! On top of yesterday's workout the weather today is 80F with 62% humidity.

I decided to do my old 6.9 neighborhood loop. I haven't done this loop in a few months because of road work. With the weather being hot and yesterday's long run, I wanted just a nice solid run.

Wow, how soon I forget that it's much hard to run in hotter weather. I was still happy with my run. I felt good. My legs worked fine though they were tired. No knee, foot or ankle issues. Only thing that acted up with my GPS watch. It went in and out of sync a few times.

Completed the 6.9 miles in just under an hour.

Now that I'm thinking about it, that's pretty good! Just put myself in a better mood...And I was already in a fine mood!

Final Long

With a 5:55 AM start, I completed my final "long run" prior to my October marathon.

The Goofy Plan called for 14 miles today, but Bill invited me to run 20 miles with him. Since I had time in my morning schedule, I said "sure!"

We ran the bike trail north. Jeff and Paul showed up to run too.

I was able to keep a nice pace for the whole run though mile 16 to 17 seemed harder than the other miles.

At mile 18.5, I did a world famous iRun Podcast.

Completed the 20 miles in 3:05:00 for a 9:15/mi pace. For you treadmill folks that converts to 6.5 MPH for 20 miles.

Not sure that I could have maintained this pace for another 6.2 miles for a marathon, but it felt mostly good today.

Had some chocolate milk right after running. Mmmm.

Make Up

I missed my Goofy scheduled 12 miles on Wednesday, but was able to complete a make up run on Thursday after work.

Ran with Bill for the few 2-miles at an avg 8:11/mi pace. Bill was on a tempo run. I was headed out for my Goofy 12.

I slowed down with 30 second walk breaks for each the remaining miles. I think I skipped taking the last two breaks.

Completed the overall run with a 9:20/mi pace for 12 miles in 1:52:27. Finished out the last mile at a 8:45/mi pace. It felt good so I still had plenty left in me.

Tomorrow is my final long run before my next marathon!

Week 10 -- Long Run

The Goofy Plan called for a Sunday long run of 16 miles to start week #10.

Instead of 16 miles, I agreed to run with a group of marathon training friends that were doing 21 miles with the final task of climbing a "lookout" tower.

With a 6:15 AM start, we were off on our run. Temp was around 58F. Very overcast. Looked like it might rain at any moment.

Mile #1 was 9:07/mi pace
Mile #2 was 9:08/mi pace
Mile #3 was 8:43/mi pace
Mile #4 was 8:54/mi pace
Mile #5 was 8:45/mi pace
Mile #6 was 8:47/mi pace
Mile #7 was 10:27/mi pace (thought Bill might catch up)
Mile #8 was 9:23/mi pace
Mile #9 was 8:54/mi pace
Mile #10 was 9:16/mi pace
Mile #11 was 9:20/mi pace
Mile #12 was 9:06/mi pace
Mile #13 was 9:05/mi pace
Mile #14 was 9:17/mi pace
Mile #15 was 11:00/mi pace (refill water)
Mile #16 was 9:15/mi pace
Mile #17 was 9:09/mi pace
Mile #18 was 9:12/mi pace
Mile #19 was 9:55/mi pace (refill water)
Mile #20 was 9:03/mi pace
Mile #21 was 9:57/mi pace (big hill)
Mile #22 was 12:42/mi pace (bigger hill and tower climb)

Got to the very top of the tower 21.9 miles and 3:27:11 after starting. The final pace was 9:28/mi.

A very good training run. I felt good at the end. I was still "running" once I got up the big hill. I wasn't just shuffling along.

Nice cold chocolate milk at the end was fantastic!

Here We Go Again

Saturday morning, it's time for 14 miles.

Mid-50s and raining as I drive to the running trail -- I catch excuses (to not run) skipping through my brain. The task of 14 miles wins out over being a loser.

Since I'm scheduled for a much longer run tomorrow, I took it easy on this run. The first 7.1 miles took 1:07:45. Ran a negative split on the way back in 1:07:01. The total run took 2:14:47 which is ok for an easy 14.2 mile run.

For some reason I felt a bit achy. Maybe the perch I ate last night didn't provide me enough fuel. Maybe it's the 41 miles I've successful run this week!

I wrapped Goofy Week #9 up with a bow...and tied it. Done!

The world famous iRun Podcast is back today.

Goofy Twelve

My super duper Goofy Plan called for 12 miles today. I heard thunder and a down pour of rain 15 minutes prior to my pre-plan afterwork start time. Checked the radar and decided it was going to pass so the run was on!

Temp was in the lower 70s, but slightly humid since it had just rained.

Ran with Bill for the first 2 1/2 miles then continued on without him. Lots of wet spots on the trail, but kept my feet dry.

6 miles appeared on my GPS just after the new Taco Bell (it's not open yet). I ran another 1/10 of a mile for good health before turning around for my return run.

I did 30 second walk breaks every 5 1/2 minutes. Since I'm racking up some higher mileage, I think this extra precaution is a good idea. Though I was tired of running by mile 12, I was still in good shape. Was able to maintain a 9:09/mi pace to finish the 12.2 miles in 1:51:55.

I saw no other runners, just a few people walking dogs during the few hours I was out.

Kickin' In Week #9

After running a 20k (12.4 mile) race yesterday, I ran 15 miles this morning in the fog.

Most sane people would think it's unhealthy, dangerous or even insane for me to run this far after running 20k yesterday. It's common for people to make bold comments to me about how bad running is for my knees. The comments quickly turn inwards with them telling me how bad their knees are. I usually then ask, "Oh, you were a distance runner?" So far to date, not one single person that has commented to me about their knees was (or is) a runner. Go figure.

As part of my Goofy Plan, I had 15 miles on the schedule this morning. A nice cool (less than 60F) foggy morning. I was on the trail by 7:15 AM.

I was able to maintain a 9:10/mi pace for the first 7.1 miles even though I took a 40 second walk break every 5 1/2 minutes. I did this to help myself have a good workout without "over doing" it. I slowed down to a 9:40/mi pace coming back. Still doing the timed walk breaks. Amazingly I was faster today than last weekend even after running a race AND taking the timed walk breaks. I'm sure the cooler weather helped.

I tacked on 1 mile at the end of my run to get my 15 miles. Finished 15.2 miles in 2:23:01 which is about 9:25/mi overall.

The fog was so thick at times, my clothes were soaked as if I'd been running in the rain.

20k Race

I've rolled into September still on track!

Completed Week #8 of the Goofy Plan. I give myself an A for sticking with it. Today was a 14 mile Saturday, just like every Saturday in this plan.

Went to a 20k race in place of a training run. Mike, Bill, Jeff, Paul and me all showed up and ran. They were each faster than me, but I was still able to keep an 8:33/mi pace completing the 12.4 miles in 1:46:15 according to my watch. The 68F temp helped as did the volunteers manning the water stops. I walked through most of the water stops.

Tacked on a cool down run with Jeff afterwards to get in my full 14 miles. :)

129 August

Opps, I missed posting my Wednesday run, but fortunately I DID my Wednesday run as scheduled.

10 miles run were scheduled so I ran 10 miles in my brand spankin' new ASICS® GT 2110 shoes. Was a good afterwork run with cooler temps around 70 F.

Ran a 9:13/mi pace which meant I was done in an hour and 32 minutes.

Completed the month of August with my longest total distance of running mileage. 129 miles in the month!

I'm setting out to break this record in September with a marathon exactly one month from today.

14 x Two

Back to back 14 mile days. Wow!

I took my Jeep to the bike/running trail this morning. Got a 7:40 AM start. After running 14 miles yesterday, I was back at it this morning in preparation for the 2007 Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge.

Yet another morning with very high humidity around 90%, but the temp was about 70F.

As I started, I hadn't really developed a pace strategy, but as the run progress I decided to see if I could run a negative split...run the second half faster than the first 7.1 miles.

• The first 7.1 miles were at a 9:33/mi pace
• The second 7.1 miles were at a 9:17/mi pace

Success!

Yes, I'm still able to walk. I can feel it in my quads, but other wise I'm fine. I've now racked up 119 miles for the month with one more run on Wed.

Fourteen Saturday

When I setup the Goofy Plan in early July, I had a simple concept of running 14 miles every Saturday for the second half of 2006. It was very easy to type 14 miles into a spreadsheet...a little harder to execute the plan!

Well, today is Saturday so it's a...14 mile day.

This morning the temp was about 75F with humidity of 91% when I set off for my run at 8 AM. The first 7.1 miles were at a 9:25 min/mi pace. I drank 16 oz of orange Gatorade. Couldn't get the pace faster because of the humidity. Very interesting how much harder it is to breath when the humidity is high. The running felt good even though a bit slow.

Saw some people walking dogs, but only a few runners. I told myself they were only running 3 miles in total. :)

The sun didn't break through the clouds during the whole run. But I got hotter as the miles rolled by. Shirt came off at 7.5 miles. It was soaking wet. Hat and shorts were soaking wet. I kept them on. I couldn't sustain the same pace. Slowed to a 9:49 min/mile pace for the last 7.1 miles. Finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes.

For the month I'm now at 105 miles. My second 100+ mile month in a row. Goofy plan calls for 14 miles again tomorrow!

No a Resting

With the temp around 80F and the humidity around 70%, I went for a 9 mile run this evening after work. I was on the Goofy Plan.

As I stepped outside, I realized I was waterless. Well, it's "only" 9 miles so I should be fine. Amazing how the mind works. I remember running 2.2 miles 4 years ago without water. Thought I was going to die.

This evening I ran the first 4.5 miles at a 8:34 min/mi pace. Ran the second 4.5 miles at a 8:51 min/mi pace. If I'd had some water, I could have done the second section faster. I was getting pretty hot.

Took this lovely photo with my Treo 650 once I was done running. If I'd had the height measure behind me, I'd been all set!

Total time for my run was a bit under an hour and 19 minutes. I'm gettin' Goofy!

Back to Fourteen

I did a 14.4 mile run this morning a bit after 8 AM. Ran about a 9:38 min/mile pace. Nice run. Not too hard.

Yesterday I missed my 14 mile run. It was the first total day miss since starting the Goofy Plan in early July. It was likely good for my body to miss yesterday, but I'm a little bummed I allowed that to happen.

I'm back on track again.

Wednesday Eight

After two days of no running, it's time for eight miles.

The Goofy Plan has every Wednesday adding an additional mile each week. Since I did get up early this morning for the run, I did it after work. I figured it would take less than 80 minutes. It took 76 minutes. A nice 9:30 min/mile pace. It was still warm outside. I didn't have to work too hard, but it was still a good workout.

An added bonus of running from work is that I can easily hook up with the bike trail for a few miles of scenic running. Snapped a picture with my Treo 650 as I ran through a wooded section of the trail.

Depending upon my schedule, I might do a track work tomorrow! It would be a little added workout that's not on the Goofy Plan.

Sleepless in Seattle

The Goofy Plan called for 12 miles today. My alarm went off about 6x but I didn't get up. I missed some hours of sleep Friday night after a day of hiking to Camp Muir on Mt Rainier then flying home from Seattle the next morning. So the sleep felt fantastic, but I was sleeping instead of running this morning.

This afternoon I finally got busy on the 12 miles. Even worked in another iRun podcast!

When I was all done, my watch said 1:59:30 and 12.1 miles.

Mt. Rainier's Camp Muir

I think it's good to mix it up. Let's go hiking!

On Friday I substituted Saturday's scheduled 14 mile run with a 10 mile mountain hike to Mt. Rainier's Camp Muir (elevation 10,188 feet).

We park about 1/2 mile from where the trail starts. Elevation 5,000 feet. Put on hiking boots instead of running shoes. Pack our backpacks with food, water and clothes. Put on my trusty Garmin Forerunner watch. Eat a sandwich. And also pack my Treo 650 phone/camera.

From the trail it's 4.5 miles up to Camp Muir. The trail is paved then turns to nature trail. This stops after a few miles when we get to a creek. After crossing the Pebble Creek by stepping across rocks, the trail turns into a 45 degree climb in snow. It levels out some. Maybe only a 15% incline now, but continues in snow. There isn't a "trail" for the next 2.2 miles to Camp Muir. It's all snow. The incline is like a ski hill. It's fantastic.

The view is incredible once we're above the clouds at around 8000 ft. The air is thinner. I can hear my heart beating as if I'm running even though I'm only doing a .5 min/mi pace!

We make it to Camp Muir! Eat some more food. Take a look around then head back down.

After completing the hike, I checked out the Camp Muir website to learn more. I really didn't know much about this hike prior to put on the books.

"Although thousands of people hike to Camp Muir each year, it is not for the inexperienced or novice hiker. This hike is long, arduous and potentially hazardous if the weather turns nasty.

Mistakes in navigation when traveling to or from Camp Muir during storms or "white-outs" have resulted in lost climbers and hikers and occasional fatalities."

It was a great cross training workout and I didn't die!

Thanks to Dan for taking me.

Seattle

Got in a 3.5 mile run along the water in Seattle on Wednesday. I was scheduled for more miles, but didn't have the time alotted in my schedule.

SO, this was my first mini-miss in my Goofy Plan, but none the less I was out there getting in a workout as scheduled!

No Resting!

Two runs yesterday for 18 miles and now a 10-mile race this morning? Yep.

Race was scheduled for a 8 AM start along Lake Michigan. Very cloudy with thunder rumbling in the west. About 75 degrees. I'm not completely awake, but need to get registered and ready to run. There's an option for only 5 miles...hmmm. A daydream for a moment. Nope, I have 11 miles on my Goofy schedule so I can't do just 5. Bad enough I'm only racing 10 instead of 11!

Since my legs still feel connected and not too bad, I'm attempting a 9 min/mi pace. 10 miles in 90 minutes, that's the goal and a nice way to wrap up 28 miles in just over 24 hours.

My Treo 650 is on my desk at the office so I'm running without any photo ops. A few miles into the race, the sky opens. At least my phone isn't get soaked, but I sure am.

At 4.5 miles someone is breathing down my neck. HEAVY breathing and heavy running. Ah, he's only running 5 miles today. This is his push to the finish. We're running a loop. 1x for the five miles and 2x for the 10 miles. I'm feeling a since of eliteness for a moment as I don't enter the chute to finish at ONLY 5. The eliteness vanishes in the next breath as I hear high school girls chatting 10 yards behind me. They're also running 10, but certainly not having any difficulty. It's like they're out for a Sunday stroll. Which they are AND they of course pass me like I'm running backwards.

The rain continued. It's keeping the temp pretty nice. I'm keeping a 9 min/mi pace. I'm actually slightly below that. Cool!

I cross the finish line at 1 hour 28 minutes and 38 seconds.

4-Miler Race

After 14 miles in the morning, I did pull off running in the local 4 mile race through town last night. Still do not know my official time, but it was 32 minutes & something. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep my time under 36 minutes, but my legs felt pretty good considering the morning run.

It rained for the last mile of the race. It cleared for a few minutes of fireworks after the race. Listened to the band for 30 minutes. Talked to some friends. Had a nice time!

777

Hit the local bike trail at 7 AM for my 7 miles out and 7 more miles back. Now deemed the Lucky 7.

Last Saturday it wasn't a lucky 7 as I got over heated. This morning I did fine. I ran a 10:38 pace including the walk breaks. About a 2 1/2 hour workout. Slowed the pace down a bit. Set my Garmin Forerunner 201 to beep after each mile so that I could take a short walk break. I was very aware of not over working my body on the 14 miles today BECAUSE I'm running a 4 mile race tonight and then running a 10-miler race tomorrow morning. This will be my first "test" in my marathon and Goofy build up.

Next post I'll let you know how 4 miles went. It's a race through town at night. Fun run time!

Made Up Miss

I missed my scheduled 6-miles on Wednesday, but made up for it on Thursday with a 55 minute 6 mile treadmill run at home.

Goofy Week Four Begins

After a difficult 14 miles yesterday morning, I had no intention of another struggling run today. I did plan for a good healthy run.

My Goofy Plan calls for 10 miles today to kickoff week #4 of the plan. Yep, I'm showing up!

It's just as humid at 7 AM as yesterday, but the sky is hazy. The sun was trying to burn through, but not making much progress.

My Ascis were still wet this morning so I laced up my Nikes. I don't like them as much as the Ascis because I get a blister on my big left toe when I do long miles, but it's better than wearing wet shoes.

I'm carrying a liter of water with me. Same as yesterday, but 4-miles less to go today. My legs are in good shape this morning. I just have to mentally get into it. Showing up at the trail with my shoes on is 70% of the mental part.

Good run. I didn't struggle. Didn't get over heated. I took 30 second walk breaks at each mile after re-reading some Jeff Galloway stuff last night.

The humidity was strong. My 1 liter was gone by mile 8 so I refilled at the trusty "non-mirage" fountain I found yesterday. With 2-miles left I could hear thunder rumbling in the distrance. I was already completely soaked with sweat so I thought some rain would be ok. It didn't rain.

Finished 10-miles exactly according to my Garmin Forerunner 201. That makes a new month distance record of 125 miles!

Did an iRun podcast while I was out running too.

Hell Must be REALLY Hot

Even a 7 AM start didn't keep today's 14 miles from being incredibly hot and difficult. Hell must be REALLY hot!

Jumping into the middle of the story...I willed this water fountain to not be a mirage at mile 11. I was out of water and struggling from the heat. Almost naked, I was sweating so much my left shoe was squishy with sweat. Humidity must have been over 99% with a temperature of 120F! Ok, maybe it was only 80% with 85F, but I was really heated up.

I ran an out and back on a local bike trail this morning. Running south from one of my favorite starting spots. A nice 9 min/mi pace for the first 4 miles. Didn't need to drink any of my 32 oz of water I was carrying. A lot running in the shade though the humidity was high already. A lovely time up to this point.

As the miles added up, the sun got higher and I got hotter. Started drinking my water and getting sweat in my eyes. Still plenty of shade to find on the trail. At the turn around at 7 miles I was still feeling great. No problems.

My pace was getting slower as I ran in the sun with a 10:12 pace for mile 9 (or was that mile 10?) and my shirt came off. I was really getting hot. My legs were fine, but I couldn't get them to move very fast as it was hard to get a full breath. I was really sweating and out of water.

Water fountain wasn't a mirage! I refilled my bottle, rinsed by cap AND drank some water. The final few miles were a combo of running and walking and running and walking. I could run in the shade just fine, but the sun was over heating me.

In the end, I completed my scheduled 14 miles to finish successfully week #3 of my Goofy Plan.

I'm scheduled to kick off week #4 with a 10 miler tomorrow morning! Weather forecast is for hot weather. :)

6 in 5

Mid-week run this morning. Still in Northern Wisconsin running mostly on gravel roads early in the morning. It was humid, but only 70 degrees.

Goofy Plan called for 5 miles today, but I ran 6 because I wanted to see what was down this new drive/road. It was a dead end. Ha! Now I know.

GPS said I ran 5.8, but it was going in and out a little bit so I know I ran more. Legs felt great. I was fully recovered from my weekend runs.

Now I'm off from running until I do my 14 miles on Saturday.

Goofy Week Three

Today is the start of Week #3 of the Goofy Plan. If you check out the details of the plan, it has me running 14 miles on Saturday followed by an increasing amount of miles the very next day, Sunday. My hyposisis is that two days back to back of endurance running is better than one long run a week with lots of short runs. The plan is likely an intermediate plan since it has a 14 mile run RIGHT at the end of the first week.

Still in the north woods this morning. 7 AM run. Refilled my bottles from yesterday. No fuel belt in my luggage so I'll carry one of these bottles and leave the other one at the finish. The temp is about 70F.

The start of Week #3 has a 9 mile run on the schedule. After my 14+ yesterday, my legs feel a bit heavy going up the first hill which is at 1/10 of a mile into the run, but the beauty of this area doesn't allow me to think about my legs for too long. A doe with two little fawns scamper right in front of me as I complete the first mile.

The hills really slow me down, but it doesn't matter according to my Goofy Plan. I can run the weekend at any pace I feel like. I'm right about at 10 min/miles today. Some of these hill inclines are easily 15%.

I wasn't paying attention completely and ran out 4.8 miles. This is an out and back so I'll get to run 9.6 miles this morning.

A fantastic morning run! 93 minutes in the fresh northern air!

100% at 2-weeks. Goofy!

I'm way up in Northern Wisconsin this weekend, but I still gotta run.

According to the "Goofy Plan" I'm do for 14 miles today. It's easy to remember because the plan calls for 14-miles EVERY Saturday. Umm, yes I made up this Goofy Plan. Ha!

Woke up at 5:30 AM to do my 14-miler. Crows, squirrels, deer were awake, but saw no humans for the first hour of running. I guess it helped that I hadn't gotten to a paved road yet!

The route was extremely hilly. Snapped this picture of myself running downhill almost out of control...and yes, the glasses fell off right after the photo!

I don't mind a hilly course, but I don't typically get to run up and down and up and down hill after hill like this. Let alone for 14 miles! I just took it slowly. It was gorgeous as I ran along lakes and pines.

My GPS went in and out during the first hour of running. I lost some credit for mileage during this, but I don't know how much. When I finally got back to the cabin my GPS said I'd completed 14.3 miles, but I had run for 2 hours and 46 minutes. It was probably around 15 miles considering all the hills. The only stop I made was to pick up my sunglasses when they fell off coming down that hill.

Whatever the case, I'm 100% on track with the Goofy Plan after 2-weeks of training. Only 25 weeks to the Goofy Challenge!

A little side note to self: I strained the middle of my back flinging a suitcase on Friday. Great recovery to be able to run my 14 miles without hurting only a day later. :)

Fast Four

After 14 miles on Saturday and 8 miles on Sunday, I had two days off with no running.

Today's "Goofy Plan" called for a quick 4 miler. No farmland in this run. A quick loop even with traffic and a stop light!

Worked in another world famous iRun podcast as I was running in the humid heat. As I'm mid-week into #2 week of the Goofy Plan, I'm still at 100%.

Walt Disney World Marathon is less than 6-months away.

Goofy 8-Mile Hot Dog

With the forecast for 96F today, I did NOT get up early to run! No 5:30 AM start today. Instead I slept in, ate an egg sandwich breakfast with some coffee, read some of the Sunday paper and THEN decided to venture out at 9 AM into the humid 85F weather. Decided a white shirt was likely a good idea. I packed 16 oz of water. Set another 16 oz on my car in the garage for my return. Off I went!

A slow 9:30/mile pace for the first couple of miles. After completely 14 miles yesterday, I was satisfied that my legs weren't in too bad of shape. By 2.5 miles, I was sizzling like a fried egg on the hood of a junked pickup in the Louisiana sun. I started playing with this image. Decided it must become a country song some day.

Back to running --> my normal loop is 6.9 miles. Since I needed 8 miles today to fufill the days requirement for the GOOFY PLAN, I turned off for a 1/2 miles out and back into a subdivision I run past. That ended up being 7/10 of a mile out...which means it was a 1.4 mile detour. Onward I go.

I continued to tell myself to not get sloppy with my running form as my legs got heavy. I shorten my stride a bit which helped me feel cooler (temp wise). I was hot! I did an iRun podcast then got back to finishing.

It took me close to 90 minutes to complete 8.25 miles. It took me another 15 minutes to cool down.

Starting Week #2 of the GOOFY PLAN, I'm still 100% on track!