Congratulations on the Maniacs Lou!  I've never ran one in truly crappy weather.  I've struggled through 80's and rising temps but no wind driven rain and cold. 

Bugs:  Nice trail 1/2.  It's tough to stay close to road pace on trials.  The single track here slows me down by a couple of minutes per mile.  Last week there were sections I walked down as well as up.  One runner face planted and needed twelve stiches below his lip. I had to watch out for slick leaves on rocks this morning.

Two days in a row without rain.  Ran 11 on trials this morning and tried out some more new gear.  Think I have what I'll pack planned out.  Now it will come down to the weather as to what ends up in which drop bag.  Three weeks to go.

Not sure I would've done that one.  Hot sucks but that is unreal.

Well done, Lou. A marathon is a marathon anyway but struggling through those conditions makes you some kind of maniac!   I ran my first in wind and rain but not in northern temps. Kudos to your resilience and speed--logging a 3:48, only 6 minutes off, is amazing. Those winds must have been mentally and physically draining. I remember how I felt so stiff and cold and mentally drained after running for hours into that wind . . . though it was also my first. Anyway, congrats on your race and on being officially crazy.

Erika, you're probably right. I've been running easy after all my long runs this year and this is the first one I've taken off. Duh. First cool day of the year, too. No sense, huh? Rookie mistake, I guess.

Getting close, huh, Pace?

Bugs, trust me, your coolness quotient is way up there.

Yasso's 800s today. Turns out for me they're really just half-mile repeats at 10k pace. Who knew? Felt great to run them in 55 degrees though, after running all last week in mid9-80s. Fall, fall, glorious fall!