Can't think of a snappy title today.

Being a recovery week, I slept in on Friday. This morning was an easy 14 from Barton Springs. Ruth Anne and I are heading out to the Austin Greenliving Expo. I hope there are some good ideas. Sometimes these shows are pretty lame. We are getting ready to undertake a complete landscaping endeavor and hoping to find some good ideas. I've been talking to Larry about how to install your own sprinkler system by incorporating ditch digging into the marathon training program. Seems to have worked out well for him at CALI...

Steady as she goes II

Felt pretty good this morning. Knowing the route ahead of time I felt more confident going out a little quicker than 2 weeks ago. I still managed to miss one turn and logged 6.82 instead of 7 for the steady portion. The benefit of missing that turn was suddenly finding myself 1/2 a block behind Steve and Ken. Mike was right behind me and together we tried to maintain or even close the gap on them. They were clearly not going full speed and I had trouble maintaining the pace on the climbs BUT we held the gap steady and I logged an overall pace of 6:37, 11 seconds per mile faster than 2 weeks ago for the same run.

After the run I met with Ruth to get my Coaching Evaluation for the 09 Austin Marathon coaching. The bribery scheme must have worked as I received good reviews from my participants. As a coach you have no control over who signs up and I had a great group of runners to work with this year. I'm looking forward to some of the additional coaching education that Rogue is planning for next season. As always, what I learn as a coach helps me as a runner, and I need all the help I can get!

Cranky Start Cranking Finish

With Eileen sick this week, everything is out of whack. We slept a little late and as I was just about to get coffee, Ruth Anne reminded me she had to be on the road to her workout by 8:30. I barely had enough time to get dressed and get my run in. I need to get some workout clothes in the wash since I was down to a bright red tank and bright orange shorts. Even I got a headache just looking at the clash of colors. I headed out the door and as I started out, I nearly bagged it. My calves, quads and hips were just cranky. At the half mile point I again considered turning around but decided to run at least 4 no matter what. I reached my 1 mile mark at an 8:26 pace and had a hard time finding the motivation to keep going. Crossing Hwy 183 I watched 5 cars in a row run the red light while I stood on the curb waiting to go. That must have gotten the blood flowing since I ran right past the 2 mile mark without noticing. The next thing I knew I had reached the 4 mile mark and was beginning to have a good pace. Hit the 5 mile mark at 38:06 for an acceptable 7:37 pace. Turned around and found myself mentally running the Boston course. The first 6 miles just blow by with the crowd and big downhills. A few rollers in the next 6 miles as you approach Welsley. Now all the mental energy is preparing for the Newton hills. Hold the pace on each of the climbs, recover on the flats then the final push up heartbreak hill. Now the reward of a mile of screaming downhill leading to the flat final miles in downtown. I hit my watch expecting to see 2:59:xx but it reads 34:53. Oh yeah, 5 miles back to the house at a 6:58 pace. Whew, a cranky start and a cranking finish. Best of all, its the first run in nearly 6 months with POSITIVE visualization. I don't think I realized how much I've missed it.

I Feel a Rant Coming

Running with a group can be a motivating, invigorating and challenging experience. Or it can be the most frustrating couple of hours outside of talking to your teenage kids. This morning was a little of both. We are in a recovery week so our normal 16 mile MLR (medium long run) was shortened to 14. Our normal 20+ miler on Saturday will be cut to 14 also. Normally recovery week means backing off the paces just a bit too, but this morning the group was pushing the pace from the outset. I finished up the run with an average pace of 7:29 when I would have been happy to run 7:45 or slower for a recovery week run. What frustrated me most this morning was the front of the pack having NO regard for traffic lights or stop signs even as rush hour traffic was building. At least 3 times the front of the pack called clear and went when cars were close enough to be a problem for the rear of the pack. I wonder if these guys ever stop to think what the driver sees. Its dark, your late for work, your trying to finish your coffee and muffin, maybe finishing up a shave or putting eye liner on, pushing to make the green light up ahead when suddenly 17 runners come out of nowhere crossing against the light right in front of you. You have no idea if there are more runners so you slow down or stop even though the light is green. Anyway, I ended up stopping 3 times, apparently confusing drivers even more. I've seen pissed off drivers swerve into runners after getting pissed at a previous group. I'll be running my own thing if the group continues to run as confrontational as this morning.....

Insurance and Lost Clothes

Chaos at the Collins' home. Everything was going good. Ruth Anne and I were up, coffee was made, dogs were fed and I was logging yesterday's run in my book when: "Daddy, mom say's I'm running a fever". Uh oh. I need a run, we have a meeting at 10, need to get Elizabeth's car in for a repair estimate, can't find my running jacket, can't find my keys, it's cold (explains why I'm looking for my running jacket), the horse needs to get fed and her pen mucked out. We managed to get everything worked out, oldest daughter came to stay with Eileen, I got my 10 miles in, made our meeting, dropped off the car, had lunch at Progress and picked up my running jacket and running pants with keys in pocket from Ruth at Rogue. Except for the insurance thing. I have been calling every 30 minutes or so for several hours now and I get a busy signal or an anwering machine every time I call. The repair shop said this is a hard company to deal with so I am already prepared for a fight and the longer it takes to get my claim in the madder I'm going to get when they start dragging their feet or trying to put me off.

Anyway, enough of that crap. Last week's mileage 77.15 year-to-date 451.2. I'm trying to figure out what to make of the scheduled mileage cutback prescribed in the macro I received from Ruth. I have been on the 90 MPW schedule BUT have averaged just under 80MPW for the past 6 weeks. Do I cut back 20% from the 90 MPW schedule I've been following or from the actual mileage I've been actually running? Are there office hours this week? Inquiring minds want to know.

Ooo Rah

Met up with Team Rogue at Steve and Ruth's place this morning for a 10 miler. I felt good and stayed with the lead pack. With about 2 miles to go, I felt Steve, Ken, Damon and Sean start to pick up the pace. I started to let them go but changed my mind and pushed on with them. Felt good to stretch things out a bit. While we were running, Ruth and a few volunteers (including Ruth Anne) made up a huge breakfast spread of tacos, waffles, fruit and yogurt. Coffee and Mimosas topped everything off. We ate then discussed our thoughts on a fall race. No "decision" was made but some strong indicators appeared to emerge. I have changed my mind about 20 times in the past 3 weeks over my Fall marathon plans. If things continue to play out as they are currently, Ruth Anne and I will be able to train with the team but run our race a week later. If things change toward the team doing CALI again, I will defintely run it. I would love to whipe up the mess I left on that course with a great run. Overall, I would have to say I am in a great place right now. I am running injury free, Ruth Anne is training for the Zooma Half with plans to run a fall marathon. With an afternoon offering, we might both be able to train with Team Rogue and run our first marathon together in nearly 3 years. So, it Ooo Rah to Steve and Ruth for a great run and breakfast off to bed and 10 tomorrow.

Soul Busted and Heartbreak for Elizabeth

First the good news, Elizabeth and Keith are fine after getting rear ended south of San Antonio. We had the car towed back to S. Austin where we met up with them. After about 15 minutes, we had pulled all of the plastic and metal loose that had jammed up against the rear wheel. I test drove the car a bit and decided that it could be driven home. It had a few noises but made the drive home without incident. Now we just wait to see if the other driver's insurance covers the full cost of towing and repairs.

As for the run, IS THAT ALL YOU GOT? Austin has a few hills you might recognize: Mt. Bonnell, Mountain Villa, Mountainclimb, Cross Valley, Sumac and Knollwood. We ran them all today. 16 miles of non stop climbing or screaming descents. Then, on to the track at Murchison for 4 miles at MGP. As I mentioned, I am using the 2:59:00 marathon paces for training purposes. That works out to a 6:51 minute per mile pace. My 4 miles on the track were: 6:55, 6:51, 6:47 and 6:39! My legs were burning and I wanted to puke BUT I held it and cranked it up for the final mile. Whooo Hooo. Thanks Mike, on the money MY ASS.

Oh Yeah, Happy Birthday Julia. I loved you rockin' a soal buster to celebrate the big Hawaii 5-0.

Contemplative 10

Tomorrow is Soul Buster I. 16 miles up and down some of the baddest hills in Austin followed by 4 miles on the track at MGP. Doesn't sound like the hardest SB the team has undertaken BUT it may be the most relevant to Boston. Boston is 14 miles of mostly down hill running followed by 5 miles of climbing ending with 6 miles of relative flat. For me, it will be the first soul buster that I will be undertaking healthy. We are far enough out that I am not too concerned if I struggle some AND I am not sitting here saying I'll be fine if only my (fill in the blank injury) doesn't get worse.

Kamran posted some of his initial thoughts on formulating a race plan for Boston. It has gotten me thinking about what my goal is for Boston. I have stated my goal of running a 3 hour marathon. I recently told Steve that I was not certain I could stand at the start of ANY marathon and not have that goal in mind. I am going to have to find a way to deal with the possibility that I get to Boston able to run 3:05 or 3:10 but not ready to go for <3:00. I'm not sure I want to run another 4:00 Boston and I KNOW I don't want another DNF. So for right now, my TRAINING paces are based on a 2:59:00 marathon goal. I will evaluate how the training goes and talk to Steve about my goal at some future date. In any case, there are no pace leaders at Boston and I will likely have no one to pace off of so I will be responsible for implementing my race plan. Scary thought.

Tempo Thursday

After my exuberant run yesterday, I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to maintain pace today. I have decided to use the 3 hour paces and see if I'm able to hang. I don't yet know if that is the goal at Boston. Steve instructed us to run the 4 mile tempo section at 1/2 marathon pace. Based on the Rogue pace calculator that would be a 6:31 pace. I was all over the map (6:38 6:27 6:50 6:10) but it averaged out to exactly a 6:31 pace. Then we headed to the track for 4x200 @ 5k pace. Since we didn't know what pace before we arrived I guessed at a 6:00 pace and hit that exactly. The calculator tells me it should have been 5:58 but I'm not going to sweat that little difference.

Overall I felt pretty good. Keith was right on my heels during the Enfield rollers and I would probably have slowed more without him breathing down my neck. That reinforces the importance of running with the group on the hard workouts.

My email to John Kelso

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/17/0217kelso.html

Mr. Kelso:

I have read and enjoyed your column for many years. Whether I’ve agreed or disagreed with your positions, the humor and good natured poking of fun has clearly shone in your pieces. Maybe I am just too close to this subject and am not seeing the humor, but your suggestion that the Austin Marathon and the thousands of Austin runners who run regularly should be prevented from their chosen recreation because of the occasional inconvenience to drivers is hurtful, shameful and exposes a true bias.

It is your right to chose not to exercise, to dine on outstanding Texas Bar-B-Q 4 nights a week and smoke a pack of cigarettes daily. It is your right to drive your gas guzzling car to every destination beyond your mailbox. It is your right to find the occasional closing of your normal driving route irritating.

But make no mistake, I too pay my Federal, State and Local taxes. I have the same right as the hundreds of thousands of commuters who clog the roads 5 days a week twice a day for hours to use the roads of this town whether in my car, on my bike or god forbid on my Nike running shoes. Have you ever tried to get to Pflugerville from downtown on OU weekend Friday? Those damned Texas football fans bring this town to a standstill for an entire day making their way to Dallas for nothing more than a silly game. And don’t even get me started about SXSW. You can’t get anywhere near downtown for weeks and forget finding a hotel for friends wanting to come to town for a visit.

When I hear people like you bellyache about the inconvenience of our once a year marathon or our illustrious council member Leffingwell making claims that Austin has just gotten too big to allow street closures for these types of activities I get angry. I ask you to look at cities that have embraced their running community and gotten behind their marathons. Cities like New York, Chicago and Boston take great community pride in these events. Hundreds of thousands of residents come out to cheer the participants. Churches involve their congregations to staff aid stations or open their doors as shelter to spectators in adverse weather. The shortsighted and mean spirited assault on clean healthy events like the marathon by our political and editorial leaders dooms Austin to second class status.

As you have pointed out in many a column, Austin is loosing its identity. Our laid back tolerant reputation is no longer a reality. I hope that you will look again at your recent column to see if perhaps you have lost your own way. Is your irritation at finding your preferred route to a speaking engagement really cause to use your considerable public voice to attack the very lifestyle of many of Austin’s best and brightest not to mention fittest citizens?

Respectfully yours,

Charles "Geezer" Collins
Marathoner, Marathon Coach, Native Austinite

Being Geezer

There are times when being Geezer is a blast, even when you know that being Geezer may not be exactly the best way to reach your goals. Last night my Austin Marathon group held our "Final Workout" at Serrano's. To celebrate our accomplishments and camaraderie I indulged in 2 margaritas and a Pollo Chiplotle dinner. Not my normal fare. Let me tell you, this group of runners was a blast to coach and a joy to get to know. I am most proud of the fact that I only lost one participant during the 6 months of training and every remaining runner started and finished the Austin Marathon. There were some spectacular successes: Jeff 27 minute PR and Boston qualifier; Andy 35 minute PR and sub 3:30 time. In all, 5 of the 13 qualified for Boston and I think 8 of 13 PRd. Not bad.

Back to being Geezer. This morning I headed out for my daily 10 miler. At the 1/2 mile point I noticed I was slightly faster than a 7:30 pace. Normally I am around 8 minute pace for the first mile or two. The moment I saw that pace, the Geezer in me wanted to see what we had today. I clocked a 36:16 for the uphill 5, 7:15 pace and 33:52 return for 6:46 pace. Overall 1:10:08 or 7:00 pace. On top of yesterday's run I feel GREAT. I hope I have enough left for tomorrow's tempo run and Saturday's Soul Buster. I find myself telling me to heed the advice I give to my runners about running smart and avoiding injury. I hope I can maintain this level of success through Boston and beyond. If so, I will get that 3 hour marathon.

Rainy 16

How do you second a team workout? Wait until everyone else runs a marathon two days before a 16 mile run! I was rested and revved up from cheering this weekend while most of the team was feeling the pain of 20-26 miles of the brutal Austin Marathon course. Kevin was back today and ran off the front but Ken, Sean, Mark and I pushed the pace from mile 3 on. The South Austin Ramble climbs 500 feet over the 8 miles out but we held a 7:25 pace. Coming back we averaged a 7:06 pace for an overall average of 7:17. I was leading the charge back in the final 2 miles when a construction worker tried to tackle me. I thought he was there to divert traffic from going west on 2nd street but he stopped Ken and Sean. Back at Rogue, Ken told me a crane had a huge sheet of steel hanging over the sidewalk I was running. I checked every direction but up I guess. Anyway, I felt good the whole way. It was the first rainy run in my Piranha shoes and I felt like I was running on ice the whole time. I will take sand paper with me to Boston to roughen up the sole if it looks like it might be wet.

Glad It Wasn't a Race

I mapped out a route. Laid out my running clothes. Made arrangements to meet Ruth Anne and Eileen for breakfast. Then went to bed. Without setting my alarm. Woke up about 10 minutes after I needed to be out the door. So, I will drive downtown to send off my runners then go cheer on the course as planned. If the day and my legs aren't shot I will try to get my 24 miler in at noon. Damn I'm glad this wasn't a race. I'll probably have nightmares about missing my race for a month.

How Was Your Day?

Maybe you noticed. Maybe you didn't. But, yesterday was a beautiful day! After my fun filled 10 mile run with Team Rogue, I decided it was too great a day to waste. So, I invited Ruth Anne to lunch. We went to Whole Foods downtown, ran into an old classmate of Ruth Anne and Todd from my Austin Marathon group then ate out on the patio. We had an hour or so to kill so I took her shopping for a couple of outfits at Anthropolgie. I got caught up on my emails while she tried on outfits and she finally emerged with a couple of items she liked. We had just enough time to get to Eileen's school for the 1st grade Valentine's Day party. The kids each decorated a heart cookie and traded valentines. It was all pretty relaxed until the sugar started to kick in then we witnessed 22 Tasmanian Devils trying to get leftover cookies and a bag of valentines into backpacks. Had just enough time at home to get Eileen changed for dance class then dropped her off. With an hour and a half to kill and still wanting to enjoy the day, Ruth Anne and I headed over to the Domain for a cocktail. North was offering Pomegranate Margaritas and we had shared a salad and an order of Zucca Chips. I can't remember the last time we just sat on a patio sharing a drink but we'll have to repeat on a regular basis. After picking Eileen up we stopped at the pet store for dog food and a new doggie bed for Ellie (NOT Eileen). At home, I made up a supper of a few leftovers and we watched a really stoopid movie called Burn After Reading. That was my day.

Today was easy 10 on my DKR route. Easy 7:48 pace. Started checking out the weather forecast for Sunday. It looks like mid 50s with NNW breezes. If that holds up it will be the best weather we've had for a couple of years. I've got my fingers crossed for the marathoners.

Steady As She Goes

Today was 7 mile steady with 2 up and 1 down. Steve's instructions were to run comfortably hard rather than aiming for a specific pace. The route was the South Austin area of Bluebonnet and Rabb so it was rolling the whole distance. As the group headed out, I was unable to stick with the lead group but I stayed ahead of the 2nd group. Braymen was just ahead for most of the steady and Chris E. was on my tail the whole way. With about 1/2 mile left, we caught Sean and Chris and I finished together with a 6:48 average pace for the 7 miles steady. Overall, the 10 mile run was a 7:10 pace. I am about 10 seconds per mile off the desired paces BUT I am finally running consistently fast enough to feel that my 3 hour goal has not been lost for good. Shaping up to be a 90 mile week. According to the macro sent out this week, we will be cutting back our mileage by 15% starting next week so this may be my biggest week for awhile.

On a sad note, Kamran, formerly known as the human metronome, purchased a Garmin 405 yesterday. I am totally devastated by this news as his legendary ability to run the 26.2 miles with less than a 3 second variation per mile was truly inspirational. It just goes to show that you can never really know someone.

The Wednesday 10

Boy did I feel the results of yesterday's run starting out today. I could barely mustard an 8:02 pace picante sauce out to my 5 mile apple turn over. After the over easy, I felt much butter and got on a cinnamon roll. I knocked more than a 3 minute egg off the flipped pancake averaging 7:10 home. I don't know about you but I'm hungry!

Another Birthday and Planning a Run

It didn't occur to me that Facebook would publish my Birthday so I was surprised to find the first of many birthday wishes in my inbox yesterday. As much as I don't like the fuss, it helped to make it a great day. Topping it all off, Ruth Anne and Eileen took me to the new Flemming's in the Domain and I had a perfectly prepared Fillet with grilled asparagus and a salad. Not the best meal to eat before a 16 mile run but worth every bite!

In my last post, I mentioned that this week marks 5 years since I took up running. Team Rogue is running the marathon as a training run this year. As a coach, I feel that I should be on the course offering encouragement to my runners so I'm not running the marathon again this year. In fact, I enjoyed cheering so much last year that I have been looking forward to cheering again this year. But, I do need to get in my long run this week and I have to keep up with the team SO, I am planning a 24 mile run starting at 4am Sunday morning on my own to reflect on how marathoning has changed my life. My plan is to run from my house hooking up to the RunTex 2 RunTex route at Gateway, then jumping onto the Marathon course (backward) at Bull Creek to Enfield then cutting over to Rogue Equipment by 6am to meet up with my runners. Then accompanying the group to the marathon start before heading out Congress/Speedway and back on the course at 46th over to the Thunderbird Coffee House to meet up with Ruth Anne and Eileen for breakfast. Then we will find a spot somewhere around IMF to cheer for the runners. I am looking forward to being out on the course early watching the crews setting up water stops and putting out cones and barriers. I am really looking forward to the energy I'll get back from cheering for everyone racing.

Now I'm going for my 16 miler with hills. UPDATE: Whoo Hooo! I rocked it today! Heading out the door, I decided to run the route so that Raincreek and Floral Park came near the end (like Boston). After 2 miles of warming up, I began to push the pace and clocked 8 miles at 6:55 pace! Cruised through the Raincreek and Floral Park hills and finished 15.8 miles in 1:58:54 for 7:31 average pace. There were 2 runners going up Raincreek and I blew by them like they were standing still. Better yet, I was able to get back to a 7:10 pace for the final 3 mile stretch. While running, I finalized my plans for marathon day cheering. If you are running the Austin Marathon this Sunday YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT!

Its Raining!

I'm preparing to go for my Monday 10. It's raining. The only change I will make is to wear my oldest pair of active shoes. And wear a hat. I'm hoping to have a good run like last Friday. I will update this post when I finish. Good run. Ran into a friend of Ruth Anne's who we've seen running in the hood. I slowed down to her pace to tell her I have noticed how much her running has improved since she started running. I think I made her day! I guess I ran 3/4 mile with her then picked up the pace to finish out my run. It took quite awhile to get into a comfort zone but once I did I was doing 7:15-7:20s. I loved the rain!

I attended the Rogue Pep Rally for the Austin Marathon last night. For me the best moment was when Steve asked to see the hands of first time marathoners. He also raised his hand. Like most of the old timers around Rogue, I have been pushing and pulling on him to run a marathon for some time. I don't know of a single person who has run the marathon that hasn't been changed in some profound ways. I very much look forward to seeing what changes are in store for Steve.

This week will mark the 5 year aniversary of Ruth Anne's first marathon and the day of my first run toward my first marathon. It marks the 4th year since my first marathon. Running my first easily rank among the 5 top Life Changing events of my life. Getting married, the birth of my kids and running a marathon. The top 5.

That was easy

I was prepared for 20-24 miles this morning only to discover that the big boys were going 14. I checked my log and 14 still gets me to 80 miles this week, so I jumped in with the group and hoped I could stick. Most of the group is running all or part of the Austin Marathon next week and took it easy. I will be cheering again this year so I'll need to plan a 24 mile run on Saturday. Anyway, I started out at an easy 7:30ish pace with Bruce and the main group. Ken was running off the front. At the first water stop, I left with Ken and decided to see how well I could hang at his 6:50-7:00 pace through the big hills. I fell behind by 4-5 strides on a few hills but managed to stay with him for 4 miles or so. I knew he would plan to close the final 4 miles faster than I could hope to maintain so I let him go. I then tried to maintain sub 7:00s the rest of the way in and did so easily. With about a mile to go, Derrick tried to blow by me. I had some gas left and decided to see if he had it today. It took about 3 surges to finally drop him for good. Even though this was a short run and the big boys were taking it easy, it was a huge boost to have a good solid run with plenty of gas left for a foot race at the end. I'm going to start timing my 10 milers and looking to get back to my 7:20 average pace or better.

On the subject of feet, I experienced some 2nd toe joint pain during my long run last Sunday that reminded me of my Boston experience. That was the first long run in my new Hyper Speed 3 shoes and very disappointing since I've grown to really like that shoe. In an effort to see if the problem was my feet or the shoes, I took out the Piranhas that I'd given up on for long running and tried them out on Monday. I ended up running all week in them and my feet really responded well. I love these shoes. I run without socks and just slipping these bad boys on before a run gives me goose bumps. I've now had runs of 14 and 16 miles in them with no blisters and no foot pain. I'll keep going in them next week and see how they feel on a 20+ mile run. My evolution toward minimal footwear continues. Maybe next I'll just brush on some rubber cement and go barefoot. (I'm still a tender foot off the grass).

A Little Taste of MOJO

My "tempo" run yesterday was pretty dismal. I did a 3 mile warmup then attempted 4 miles of tempo pace and a 3 mile cool down. I never got into a rhythm and didn't get a single mile even close to my 6:35 goal pace. This morning, I was feeling a little sore but right off the bat I felt comfortable. I did my out and back route and clocked a 35:58 outbound or 7:11 pace. Feeling even better I cranked it up a notch and averaged a 6:43 pace for the inbound 5. I didn't create mile splits but glancing at my watch I clocked a 6:30 mile and a 6:22 mile. I will probably regret it on tomorrow's run, but I needed a good run like this.

The January Comeback

I started my current comeback on January 6 with a six mile run. I missed 4 days of running due to life getting in the way. Finished January with 236.9 miles in 22 days averaging 10.8 miles per day. I still have no goal for Boston other than finishing. My running plan consists of running 10 miles on my own 4 days per week and whatever mileage the team is running on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. From what I've seen of the schedule so far, that will put me at 90 MPW give or take.

Today, I ran my usual 10 mile run. I actually remembered to charge the Garmin yesterday and took it on its maiden voyage today. Finally figured out how to put average pace on the screen instead of instantaneous pace. The mileage didn't agree with my mapping so I don't really know my pace. I'll play around with it over the next couple of weeks and see if I want to re-incorporate Garmin into my training.

A Good Run

Saturday got away. Ruth Anne was running her first long run in nearly 2 years so I kept Eileen while I manned my water stop. Later, Ruth Anne was showing lake properties to clients so I had Eileen for the day. Made the best of it though. Eileen and I put up a barn for storing hay and my little tractor. Had a little trouble getting Eileen to put away her Gameboy but once she did, she was a big help. She handed me nuts and bolts and even held the corners of the cover as I pulled it over the frame. The cover must weigh 100# and I nearly pulled her off the ground a few times but she held on! Once the barn was up, I moved all of the hay inside. By the time I went to bed, my back and legs were complaining. I was glad my Sunday run was scheduled to start at 7am instead of 5 or 5:30. I had heard that Steve and Kristen were planning a 24 mile run. I asked if they would mind me tagging along. I've been hearing how fast she is running right now and was a little concerned that I would get toasted before we even got going. Anyway, Kamran and Jason showed up to run 10-12. I was a little pissed when all 4 of them tried to pull some intervention at mile 5 and get me to turn around, or take a water, or take some gels. Whatever. Jason and Kamran turned around and I had to keep pace with Steve and Kristen as much as possible. I kept them in sight to Carmen's house where they refilled water bottles and tried again to get me to drink. Steve tried to explain the route back but it was a few turns more than I could retain with streets I wasn't familiar with. I asked them to hold back until we got to Westgate and promised I could find my way back from that point. That worked and they dropped me at that point. I stopped twice to re lace my shoe, but other than that I pushed it home. I ended up cutting off a bit and ended with 22.6 miles in 2:47:52 or a 7:25 overall pace. That ranks as my best long run since August of last year. Ended the week at 78.8 miles. I'm charging my Garmin and plan to start incorporating it into some of my weekly runs. It'd be nice to capitalize on this good run and get back a little of the ground I've given up to the group.