Yeah I'm used to it taking a while to find a rythm during those 5 a.m. runs. I'm going from my lowest heart rate of the day to my highest in sometimes less than 30 minutes. Everything is generally at least 10-15 secs per mile slower in the early morning than it would be in the afternoon. This one was more sluggish than normal. I did a 3 mile warmup and was 2 miles into the tempo, so 5 miles iont the run before things felt okay. The first 2 miles of the tempo run were at 6:30, the last two were under 6:10 and felt easier. Partly I was probably still a bit stiff from Sunday's 800's.

Looks like I'm racing a 10K on Sunday. Time to get this party started. This should be interesting. On the other hand it looks like I'm NOT racing a 5K on the 6th as planned so now I need to find a 5K that I can fit into my sched.

Good going Mikey. Way to work it out and do the loooong run. Hills in Boston? j/k where did you run to?

Holy moly Mikey that's a beautiful run! Where in Western Mass? My mommy is from Springfield. Grandma stayed there too. I hope your situation gets better. Glad to hear that your life is in priority mode. That makes me feel good to see that your family is #1. Virtual hugs... the quixotic quest will continue, this is just part of it. there is no "off plan" there is only life. we just keep learning.

Muse, my wife grew up in Longmeadow. My FIL is from Springfield and MIL from Chicopee--all her cousins aunts, uncles etc are still out there. Her parents downsized from their house in Longmeadow to a condo in Wilbraham a few years ago and that's where they live now. My MIL is at Mercy Hosp. in Springfield right now... "there is no off plan, there is only life..." I like that, thanks! Steve, I know the Fells well. Have biked and run in there a ton especially when I lived in Cambridge and then Winchester. I'll hit that when it dries out a bit. MTA: that 4-mile race was the Breakheart classic 6k. I ran that once. Brutal little race.

She seems to be doing better. A lot is stull unexplained but she is probably going home today--my wife is on her way home or already home to tag in and take over her fulltime job of taking care of 4 kids, I got the oldest 2 to school and left my mom with the li'l 2...(phew!) Thanks muse!

Hey Jen, still kicking...barely. Thanks! I've had a crap week. MIL is home and doing well--looks like a drug interaction was causing her to lose consciousness, which caused her two falls, which caused her two concussions etc. All the tests for every other possible scenario came back negative. She's home, seems to be doing fine. She can't be left alone for a while but she's good. No more episodes in over a week now. I'm another story. That cold/flu whatever I was battling last weekend seems to have won. This was a long, crazy, hectic week with my wife gone for 2 days and me being Mr. Mom and oh by the way working a pretty stressful job and interviewing for another...I reached Friday on fumes. After reading my 4 y.o. a story on Friday night, my body just shut down on me. I went to bed a 7:30 and didn't wake up until 8 on Saturday. Bad head cold, headache, body aches, no energy. Took a 2 hour nap on Sat when my wife--bless her soul--took the kids for a walk. Went to bed early again last night and feel much better today, though not 100%. Still have a nasty cough. I may go out for a short run later just to clean the pipes out but this has basically been a lost week. Alas.

I need to peek at your log to see how you are doing. I am fighting off the beginnings of a cold. I need about 13 hours of sleep. I want to run today.... bah How is the MIL doing hun?