OK. Let me be the one to start a new month.

Today turned into a rest day because of getting a call for work at 7:00 AM. Which was fine as I had planned an easy 3 mile run. Maybe I'll go for a walk after dinner.

Chantilly - Hope you're feeling better soon!

Rich - That heel has been troubling. Sounds like the heel and the TM are in cahoots...

Art - Thanks for getting the new month started! Do the walk!  Definitely, walks are a good change of pace.

Az - Time to switch months  Bunch of us missed it on the 1st   Nice 9 miles there and you'll do well in the 1/2 - that'll feel good!

Dan - Hope DW is all better! Sounds like the trip is going well. Good to get the 4 miler in!  Nice investment in the park pass! We just purchased our yearly pass when we visited Pinnacles on the 25th. Got to see some condors and some nice wild flower blooms and hopefully will get several more uses out of the NP Pass.

Altair - Hope your training is going well.  I liked the pics!  Nice!  Streams around here had been fairly sedate, but this year - more like your picture! A nice change...

Epic fail on getting my 17-20 miles in this weekend and managed just over 11 (6 & 5). Saturday and Sunday were near 80F here and Sunday's run on the TM had to cut short - just too damn wet a dripping everywhere - Gross!

Monday wasn't feeling it and legs were grumpy so URD.

Tuesday, run at lunch - I can no longer count my miles and another run where I've was off by a mile, 6.8 miles outside in mid 70's weather.

Hopefully, I'll get in a 2nd run at home tonight.

Hello everyone! I've got two weeks of posts to catch up on, just seem to have been very busy lately. Monday the 20th I ran a new course, every now and then I map out something different. Like my favorite courses it goes gently uphill for the first half and then downhill. It was about ten and a half miles with a elevation increase of over 300 feet. I counted ten wild turkeys I saw in a field! The next day I did 7 and then almost 8. Friday, the 24th, I had planned to do a long run of 16, but mistakenly took a shorter road. This was after just doing a long hill and my legs were tired. Maybe it was a senior moment, low blood sugar or just my subconscious choosing not to have to climb another 100 feet and run an additional 3 mile loop. So I just did 12 3/4 miles and planned to make up mileage on Sunday to reach my 40 mile goal, but instead worked on cleaning up where a tree service had cut down a large dead tree on Wednesday. So 38.24 was my mileage for the week. Last week I did 10 1/2 Monday, 6 Tuesday, almost 8 Wednesday, and 5 Friday in some light rain. The streams were very full and fields had large flooded areas from the steady rain. I finished with a long run on April 2nd of over 17 miles. This run had a break midway where my run passed a convenience store and I stopped and purchased a sports beverage which I drank outside at a table.I saw many soaring turkey vultures and passed by that tree lined gully that I took the snow pictures at a few weeks ago. Now most days have been in the upper 40s to low 50s and with some rain, so I was surprised to see there along the gully walls some unmelted patches of snow. This took my weekly mileage up to 46.45! However, my pace was very slow at the end and I think I may be better backing off a bit. This week more rain or wet snow is expected and I might take more rest days to make an easy recovery week. I also am rethinking my strategy and rather that running the increasing really long run each week, instead try to balance my daily distances more and work more on the hills. I think that will help when I start to do more with speed-work.

Rich - Glad you got to see the owl. Looks like you made some progress in being able to take off the walking boot and try some walking and jogging. If easy walks are better for you right now then best not to push your recovery and further injure the heel. Too bad about the treadmill, hope you get the problem fixed. Good luck with the new tryke, extra gears should make it easier. Your still having some heavy snowfalls, bet you're looking forward to warmer weather!

AZ= I'm surprised that you have so much snow in AZ. Sounds like you had a great trip, the Grand Canyon is one of the natural wonders of the world! Could you post some scenic photos? The 7.2 trail run must have been great to see snow covered mountains in the distance. Congratulations on your 9 mile run! Looks like you have mostly recovered from your calf injury. Hope you will be ready to run those Cedio Peak forest trails in your HM later this month.

Dan - I hope DW's cold feels better. Glad you had a good visit to Tucson and got to visit some cool places.

Ray - I'm not doing much high intensity stuff yet, mostly doing a lot of mileage. As you advised Mark the 40 mile weeks should help improve my time. I also plan to do a half a month before my full. I will bear in mind your predicting formula of doubling the HM time and adding 10 minutes, but my HM has some hills and therefore a slower course than the more flat FM. Impressive mileage you had for March! As far as led runs go, I've never participated in one, but pace would be something I would think about. If it was much greater than my typical pace I would not want to do it. I hope your stiff calf improves by Boston.

ART - Sounds like a nice new bike path! It will be great to ride on paths all the way to Tempe when it is finished. You had a nice trip also. It mast have been fun to run to the Observatory, to see those animals in Bearizona and to do the obstacle course with the grandchildren. I often see people fly fishing in local streams, but the smaller ones may become just a trickle or dry up in the summer. I've not seen the one in the photo dry up, but I've not seen people fishing there either. I would love to see a photo of the cactus blooms. When I lived on Long Island NY I saw prickly pear cactus in the wild, I think that is the only one that grows outdoors in New York.

Chantilly - Hope your cold feels better and you can get back to your usual mix of walks and runs. I most likely will just concentrate on doing the FM this year and not do the 50k. Almost all my runs are on roads, not trails. The tall photo was taken on a dirt road. The stream photo is of one that goes under the road through a culvert, I climbed down the embankment and held my camera low to the ground to get the photo. I do have the Greenway trail I sometimes run on, but it is flat and surrounded by dense green woods, not much to see. There is a stream nearby and in the summer that can mean flys and mosquitoes. So it is not a favored run for me.

Mark - Hope you enjoyed the cruise in Key West and Mexico. My mileage is impressive, but my paces are much, much slower than your 8 minute pace. As Ray said doing 40 mile weeks should help me improve. 45 would be better for a full marathon and perhaps more than that for a Boston qualifier. If you were disappointed that you stopped short on some of your runs just remember to look at your overall progress and try to keep up with a consistent weekly exertion.

Altair5 I didn't see your post till after I was done. Sounds like you are on track for your race! Your mileage is awesome. Maybe you should carry a sugared drink? That is some good mileage. I don't like to give others advice about running/ultras because I have some chronic health problems (arthritis and auto-immune disease) which impact my running, but can sometimes just be ignored.

az2mntrail You really like to run up and down! Apr. 22 isn't far away. Isn't it kinda late for snow in Flag?

Friday, 4/7... the last few days have been different variations of 2 mile walks, the treadmill and the railtrail.   Today was on the railtrail where there's still plenty of snow and ice, but warm enough that it's all turning to slush with a few short stretches of bare earth.   I jogged the dirt sections, not because I'm doing any better, just bored with walking...lol  Precor, the people who made my treadmill, say it's probably "on its last leg".   I've ordered wax for the belt as a last ditch effort to get a few more miles out of it, but if that doesn't work, it's headed for the scrap pile.

Ray... Boston's getting close, eh?!   That botched long run probably bodes well for race day, a little extra rest for your legs.   I see Galen Rupp's running this year, I'd love to see him win, but that's a tough field up front.

Art... I let the treadmill run for a little over an hour yesterday with no-one on it and it ran fine.   There's probably a 50 - 50 chance applying belt wax will make things slippery enough that it'll run with a load, so we'll see.   The wax doesn't cost much, so I figured it's worth a try.

Altair5... training seems to be going well, eh?   Are you familiar with what's called a 'cut-back' week?    Every third week of training you cut your mileage to about 70% of the previous 2 weeks.   Training effort stays the same, just reduce the mileage.   Might be something for you to try...

Chantilly...my workouts are going ok, but not where I'd hoped to be so close to Spring.    I'll probably make an appt. to see my primary care soon if things don't improve.    In the meantime, the guy who's supposed to weld the new Tryke is still distracted making maple syrup, so Isabelle's still in pieces...lol   I hope you feel better and get back to training soon, that 24 hour race will be here before you know it...

Ayala Cove Race Report

Ayala Cove is located on Angel Island out in the middle of San Francisco Bay and you need to take a ferry to get to it. The ferry leaves at 9AM and so, even tho the race doesn't start 'til after 10AM, gotta be in Tiburon before 9. The drive up is mostly uneventful, except it is raining off and on.  Near Daly City I see a flash, I think it was lightening, but I could be mistaken. Driving through SF, I'm starting to fret that I'll miss the ferry. Finally get to Tiburon around 8:35AM, find parking, pay the all day fee and jog the 4 blocks to the ferry station. 8:45 I get my number and ferry ticket, so lots of time... Ferry actually leaves on time, but I'm near the end of the line to board. Help carry racing paraphernalia to the start and head for some shelter out of the rain. Nancy Ditz is there and I say "hello". She's doing the 10 miler (I'm doing the 5) and she's there with her group of running friends. She says in her previous running career she ran alone and it is much better running with a group. She heads off to meet with her crew.

I watch as the 15 mile race starts, then the 10 mile race, pack my drop bag and head over to the start line. The rain has stopped and you can see some blue skies coming, cool! There are bunch of older women and young boys in the front already and I squeeze in the second line. I recognize a father daughter pair who are fairly fast and talk a bit about the course with them. Race starts and I try to briskly move out to get out in front before we hit the single track trails. I believe there are about 10 people in front of me as we hit the hill. About a 1/3 of a mile in a 20-something guy goes by, followed by the daughter mentioned earlier, closely followed by another woman. There going at a good clip, so I latch on a follow closely behind.  We then hit the single track and they all slow down just a bit. The woman seems to be laboring a bit so I pass her. The daughter and the 20ish guy speed up just a tad, but they're not maintaining pace. I mention that there slowing down a bit and I see another 20ish guy ahead of them who they seem to be pacing off of and he's slowed too. After about a 1/4 mile of this I figure I need to speed up if I'm going to get my time and after a couple of down trees finally say "on your left" and go by first the daughter and then the 1st 20ish guy. We dodging a fair number of "obstacles" when we hit a large tree right over the trail. I can see people have gone around it to the left and some have gone through the middle, I opt for going through and have to walk and climb parts. Shortly I catch 2nd 20ish guy and go by him.  Now as we hit first "vista" point I catch up to some of the 10 mile stragglers taking selfies with SF in the background across the bay.  Then as we hit some switch backs, I notice a guy who looks a bit older, so I try to pick up my pace. After a couple more "obstacles" and lots of puddles we hit the 5/10 mile split. I'm not sure, but I think I can just catch a glimpse of the next runners ahead of me.  Check my watch and we're about a mile and half in and enter a chaparral zone. Ok, I can see a young teenager with a slightly older runner with him. I catch them and pass them.  Now I can see next runner, first place woman, up ahead. I can tell I'm gaining, but haven't caught her as we hit the "spur" up to the top of Mt. Livemore. This section is probably the steepest part of the course and I can see her walk a bit, then she notices me and runs a bit more. Finally, I catch her as she starts to walk a gain and go by. I'm getting close to the top and I haven't seen any runners coming back...There's the first one, give him a five as he goes by.  Can see the next runner in front of me now and then 2nd place guy.  I get to the top and the guy who was in front and another runner are looking for the rubber bands we're supposed to retrieve.  I see them next to the sign that says "Turn around" - grab it, yell to the other two that they're here and start busting down. Both runners catch up quickly and pass me.  We're now seeing  bombing down and seeing the runners going up. I'm maintaining contact with the two runners ahead of me.  I'm still tracking the two guys, but they're starting to put a bit more space between us. We join back up with the 10 mile runners and ducking under a few trees across the trail. Around mile 4 there's a sudden "hole" in the trail and I have to swing a bit to the left of it as it's just too big to jump. We're passing a more a more runners and I can't see the runners ahead anymore. We exit the hill and have to cross a road as we hit stairs going down. I always have problems on the stairs, but the 10 milers are slower and I'm passing a bunch and having to slow a bit, but they're very gracious and let me go by. As we exit the stairs it's a 200 - 400 yard sprint around the cove to the finish line. I can see a couple of runners finishing. I'm trying to sprint and I think I'm maintaining a good pace, but it's hard to tell and I'm not looking behind and certainly don't want anyone to catch me.  Not to worry, as I cross in 44:14.  I see 5 runners already in, but one is saying he missed the spur and that the RD is going to add 5 minutes to his time. The first place woman comes in shortly after with the guy that she seemed to be tracking. A little after that the 2 teenagers I passed in the chaparral.  Then as daughter and guy she tracked are sprinting in, the guy who finished in the lead says first woman is coming  in and "look at her go!".  I point out that the first woman is standing next the finish line and he says "oh!"  I go grab some food and get some clothes on, 'cuz I'm getting cold and the RD posts some preliminary results and I'm 4th overall?!  Cool!  Grabbed my medal for age group finish and then caught the ferry back to the mainland...

Sunday morning did the new canal route run again. 10.6 miles on a cool sunny morning. Strangely didn't really see anyone until I got off the packed dirt trail and onto the multi-use concrete path. The only bad part of this route is crossing McKellips when it is 6 lanes of traffic. Always seems to be busy. There are no lights or signs at this spot. At least on the multi-use path when you come to a street there are lights you can activate that stop traffic if need be.

Art - Looks like this was a good weekend for running! Time for more bagels?

Chantilly  Hope the sciatica is better.  You should be back at it soon?

Rich - Hope the heels eases up a bit and gets better.

Altair - Sounds like your training is going well. Building base is important, I would worry too much about speed yet. Maintain effort and the speed will come in time.

Art & Rich - The angel island run is one of the prettier runs and I highly recommend the 15 miler just because you moving a little slower and can take your time to enjoy the views a bit more. The 360 view at the top is well worth the climb! So the guy who was at the top looking around I don't think was entered in the race and was running sort of with the brothers that finished 2nd and 3rd. I'm pretty sure now that he was taking in the view at the top and not worried about the race. So, the DQ for missing the "spur" and the bandit account for the 5 runners who finished ahead of me and a 4th place.

I'm about as ready as I'll ever be for Boston Monday. Did 7.3 miles progressive run yesterday finishing at sub 7:30 pace and 8:08/mile for the entire run. 5.4 this afternoon at an easy 8:40/mile pace.