8 miles, slow but not very easy. Still feeling the effects of that last long run.

5 miles. Feeling pretty good.

27 miles in 4:10:00. Last long run before the marathon. Time to taper!

8 miles this morning, after 6 yesterday and 8 on Tuesday. A day off tomorrow before my last LONG run on Saturday (27 miles!), until the marathon October 18. Not sure about such a long taper, but also not sure about doing another longish run next weekend, just two weeks before the BIG ONE. Maybe I'll seek some expert advice.

CVS 5K Year 6

Ran the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K today. Not bad. This is the only race I've run every year since I started running in 2004. Here are my results over the years:

2004: 25:48, 870th place

2005: 23:13, 432nd place

2006: 22:27, 397th place

2007: 20:14, 253rd place

2008: 19:52, 225th place

2009: 20:29, 314th place

I'll take it, though it was a very frustrating race. There were so many runners that there was little running room for the first mile. After the marathon in October I think I'll do some speed training for the next month then see what I can do at a Turkey Day 5K.

Jack, age 10, had a fine 5th grade race, finishing the 800m in 3:44 as the 16th out of 39 boys.

13 miles in 1:42:55 (mile 13 in 6:55).  Running the CVS Downtown 5K tomorrow, but for the first year since I started running it in 2004 I am not expecting to, nor I am trying to, set a PR.  Just haven't been doing the speed training this year (not to mention that I just ran 13 miles today!). Funny, though, looking back at that link and seeing that I thought I might be able to go under 19:00 in this year's CVS 5K.  Goals change, as I decided on preparing for a marathon instead.

8 miles in 57:56 (mile 8 in 6:52). Good, hard run today. Missed my run yesterday. Maybe I'll make it up tomorrow.

6 miles in 45:00 (mile 6 in 6:48), in the dark on Worden Pond and Tuckertown Roads.

5 miles in 38:27 (mile 5 in 6:54). Feeling good after the long run yesterday. Going to try some speed work this week, with no real long run coming up for a while.

24 miles in 3:37:30 (mile 24 in 7:54). Whew. First time I've ever run 50 miles in a week. What am I going to do to recover? Go camping with cub scouts of course!

7 miles, again on campus in the dark. Stayed on my feet this time, though. And I found the rock that tripped me and gave it what for.

6 miles, from the office, around the East Side and India Point Park, where I'd never been before. It's nice.

Running in the Dark?

I hate it. But after failing to get out of bed early enough this morning to run before work, and after being in a bad mood this evening because I had missed my run, I had little choice but to run after the kids went to bed tonight. I just wasn't going to be happy until I did. So I drove up the road to URI to run on the brightly-lit campus. The campus also has good sidewalks, almost everywhere. What happened? On one short stretch where I had to run on a poorly-lit dirt path, I tripped over something (maybe a root) and went sprawling on the ground. Getting up filthy and a little bloody, though, I was motivated to run harder and had a great finish to my 8-mile run. Maybe I should run in the dark more often. Or maybe not.

5 miles in 35:37 (mile 5 in 6:42). What a difference a day makes; felt great. In hindsight, I probably felt terrible during yesterday morning's run because I had given blood Friday afternoon, shortly after my 10-miler.

13 miles in 1:52:49 (mile 13 in 8:19). Felt sluggish and fatigued today. Need to take it easy tomorrow and Monday, because lots of miles scheduled Tuesday through Saturday.

10 miles in 1:21:54 (mile 10 in 7:54).

5 miles in 38:07 (mile 5 in 6:30).

8 miles in 1:01:11 (mile 8 in 6:37). Leg was fine, like it hadn't been bothering me at all.