Dave

The views look like they'd be worth the pain.

Must have been those super cute pigtails.

Finish on the sand. Add that to my list of reasons I'll never do a tri. I know you don't do any of this to impress me, but I will say it anyway - I'm seriously impressed.

You're a braver man than I racing a 10-miler in that soup.

Dunno if I'm more jealous of the gelato or the mountains.

I'll sing tenor. Zero reading matches this month. 402!

Not yet. I'd be tempted except for a couple of things. First is this knee. Not the left that had the meniscus repair three years ago. That would be the left side that's been giving me all sorts of trouble from the Achilles to the hip for half of this year. Nope, this is the right side that's sometimes given me problems when the left side has acted up, maybe making me over-compensate and give it extra stress. This is also the side with the old basketball injury. Normally it gets better the more I run, but this time it's not doing that, and my inner Eeyore is sure there's a problem just waiting to rear its ugly head. Keeping a close eye on it, which at this point is about all I can do. Then there's Saturday's long run. That turned out to be just so-so. Warm and humid, of course because August. It was 68 when I left the house - nice and steamy for early morning. 90-ish on the humidity scale. The first 5-1/2 miles were pretty good. But 5-1/2 miles out of 8 means another 2-1/2 to get home after I ran out of gas. Better than nothing, but a sharp Gibbs-slap on my blithe "I'm ready for another marathon" attitude. I know I'll feel a ton better in a few weeks with a few more miles on the legs and a turn (hopefully) towards fall weather. Speaking of fall, that's exactly what I did on Saturday. I'd just turned into the neighborhood with about a quarter mile to go when I dragged a tired toe on the sidewalk - don't think it was even a crack - and took a spill. One shoulder and both hands onto the concrete, then a practiced roll that landed me on the grass thanks to a little turn of the walk at that point. And as luck would have it, the guy in the house there just happened to be on his porch having a Saturday morning cup of Joe at the time, and so witnessed my less than graceful pause. I thanked him for the soft landing place and finished up. No blood, but the heels of my hands stung for a couple of days. Another sign that maybe I wasn't quite ready for 8 miles yet. Not that it would have stopped me from giving it a try, like tomorrow when I'm going for the first double digit run since ... January! And it's going to be warm and humid. Normally I go 10 without bringing hydration, but I think I may plan this like I'm running 15. Carry some G and a couple of Hammer Gels, just in case. Going through the park in the last mile I saw the ParkRun-ers. This group has gotten pretty large over the past couple of years. My head thought about joining them for their 5K, but my legs out-voted him 2-1. Right after the election one guy invited me to come along, but I told him I was already toast for the day. Maybe in another week or 2 or 3 when it's not bloody hot and I feel like a semi-hard 5K. T-Rex took and PASSED her certification exam this week. Just got to get her a job now. Her birthday is today. Our anniversary is tomorrow. 39 years. How did that happen?

26 miles last week. On schedule for 28 this week. The 4 milers are all going well. No issues with the calf, hamstring or Achilles on the left. Looks as though that little nagger is behind me for now. Being better about my stretching and doing a little leg work during those exciting work meetings a few times a week. Baby steps. The old tendinosis below the right knee hurts some, but gets better as I go along. It's more of a little sting than anything and rest does it no good, so... Sunrise is creeping towards 7:00 am, so it's been twilight for the last couple of weeks when I start. Soon I'll be switching back to afternoon so I can see where I'm going. I'll miss startling the neighborhood deer. There's usually a few out foraging just before dawn. Last weekend was a six mile Saturday. First one of those in about 6 weeks. The last time I ran 8 miles was on the treadmill in early February. Even better, I'm actually looking forward to it. In the spring, while I was building a little mileage, none of the runs felt good and I was just ready to be done every single time. Lately I've been working but staying within my self-imposed limits. Sure, tired at the end of the runs, but not beat up, and feeling like I had another mile or even two left if I wanted. The Saturday six was a stretch, but I was probably going a little too fast. Like always. Now I can start talking about a 2021 marathon again. Have to see where a slow mileage ramp puts me. And of course see what covid's doing in the fall. Most of the big races are on, but I'm not planning a big city race. But with 30 states to choose from, I ought to be able to find something. But first, tomorrow. Eight miles is long enough for a story, so maybe I'll be able to think of something interesting to say about it. A few years ago my oldest son recommended I watch The Office. At the time I wasn't interested in adding another show to my regular list. Ran into some reruns on Comedy Central and decided to watch it all from the first episode. I'm sort of hooked into a binge on it. The "cringe humor" is purposefully terrible, but it's like a freeway accident. I can't stop watching.

Haze from all those fires is sad to see, but the views - wow. Any day in the mountains is a great day.

I was really looking forward to last weekend. The calf was behaving reasonably well and my 3 milers were all going OK. Each one a little better than the previous one in fact. A few of the days I even forgot to stretch it beforehand and it was still OK. My plan was to go 5 on Saturday. At this point I remind myself that 5 miles when I'm not in very good shape is likely to wipe me out for the rest of the day. The would no doubt be a nap sometime Saturday afternoon. Not a bad thing, really. Waking up Friday morning I felt a little something just to the left of center in my back. Weird. But fine, another 3 miles coming up. Except, just a few dozen yards down the street it suddenly increased intensity. It quickly became painful, then really painful, then hurt so badly I had to stop, gasping for breath, unable to tell whether leaning forward or arching back made it any less painful. Mrs. Dave was a work, so as soon as I could hobble home I texted and asked her what a slipped/ruptured spinal disk felt like. Did some googling while I waited for her to reply, and kept trying to find a position that didn't result in excruciating pain. Several agonizing minutes later, she recommended ibuprofen and ice (duh!) and see if things got better in an hour or two. Which it did, to a small degree. Enough to get me through the work day at least. Hardly comfortable. Throughout the day, I changed my diagnosis (thank you, Dr. Dave) from slipped disk to a simple muscle spasm. Of course, since my life is running I spent much time wondering if I could come back from having back surgery and run another marathon. Was I going to be in a wheelchair? Several months laid up in bed? The usual questions a normal person asks themselves, right? So, no 5 miler on Saturday. Between the ice and ibuprofen and laying on a racquetball, though, I was able to move about and run a few errands with Mrs. Dave. Not actual running, but the figurative, moving around without dying sort of activity. No way there'd be any actual running that day, much less 5 miles. Switched to heat on Sunday. Oh so slowly, the trouble spot seemed to loosen up. I could still feel it, but the pain had dropped from an 8 to a 2 most of the time. At that point I started to think about running again on Monday. Nice and easy, nice and slow. Ready to pull the plug in an instant if it seized up again. Monday. 4 miles. 9:40, 8:53, 8:43, 8:28. They have a POP behind the Catholic church's softball field. Why have I never noticed this before? Really came in handy that day I can tell you. Couple of twinges from the calf like it wanted to tighten up, but no disaster. The back was OK. Tuesday. 4 miles. 9:21, 8:54, 8:58, 8:42. Humidity has been rising the last couple of days, making the same run seem longer and harder. Much preferable to having a back spasm or a calf strain, so I'm not complaining. Wednesday. 4 miles. 9:21, 8:50, 8:43, 8:28. Extra soupy this morning. Rain was forecast for last night and all this morning, but it didn't come. Radar shows it going to the south through Toledo. Maybe later. Anyway, looks like the back disaster has been averted. 6 miles Saturday.

Are two left legs better than none? Guess we could relay a marathon - each doing a half.

First decent run in I don't know how long. Suppose I could look back in the running log, but I'm too lazy for that. It was certainly before the Achilles and hamstring stretch this spring/early summer. (yes, I wrote "stretch" on purpose) Might have even been last summer before the knee when whack. In the interest of full disclosure, it was only 3 miles, and I did make a pit stop at the POP next to the softball field behind St. Colette's Catholic Church. (just short of mile 2). And, yeah, my pace isn't what I'd like it to be. But I felt good and there were no issues before, during, or after with the seemingly cursed left leg. Calf stayed loose, hammy didn't hurt, Achilles was quiet. Perhaps just as important was that I actually felt good. Aside from the aches and pains, that hasn't happened in nearly a year. I'll wait a few more days or weeks before I get too excited, though. At least I didn't spend most of the run wondering if it was time to hang up the HOKA's for good - a thought that's been creeping into my head frequently this year. Funny smell from the dishwasher on Saturday. After I cleaned out the build up of gunk I ran a test cycle, where I discovered water where it didn't belong. The gunk had apparently been acting as a sealant where the actual seal at the bottom of the door had deteriorated. Got rid of the gunk and the seal at the same time. Thanks to Amazon I had a new seal come the next day and only had to do a few dishes by hand. Water stays where it belongs now. One thing I'm not good at (among many) is lawncare. I can mow that grass but not much more. I have a service do the fertilizing, but still have issues with getting the watering right. Always too much or too little, often both in different areas at the same time. Right now I'm trying to fill in a few bare spots from some fungus damage. Not confidant.

Loved The Martian, not so much The Alchemist.

I have plenty of memories of races like this, so I can relate. Such a frustrating feeling. Still, silver is nothing to be ashamed of.

Holy smokes. You can be on my relay team any time.