With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

Took a different route today. Out and back to a road that connects to the lilly pad pond run. Went off on a side road to run through a new subdivision being built.  Too much traffic from the big trucks and machinery on the road.  I won't take that side route again. 

But now I'm thinking of how I can connect the two runs for a longer run.  New routes are fun to try.

nice weather- very overcast with a breeze that I'd almost call cool.  great for running.

avg pace 9:22.  I like this pace and think I might try and make it my goal pace for the marathon.  Somewhere between 9:20 and 9:30.

road kill tally for the morning was pretty small.  One rabbit and one bird. 

well, it's time to make the donuts.... 

I felt so rested when I woke up this morning before my alarm clock went off.  Only to find that it had never been turned on, and it was already 8 am.  oops.

it looked overcast outside and the tv said it was still in the 70's, so I figured I'd try and run anyway.

It was warm and muggy but the cloud cover kept the sun at bay the first 3 miles.  Then out popped the sun, and I swear it felt like I was going to melt into the road.  Like a big gummy bear that gets so hot it loses it's shape and just slumps into a pile of stickyness.  Only my pile of sticky would be sitting atop my running shoes and wearing a garmin.

I went on an out and back down a road I haven't been on for a while.  My run today ended at a bridge that goes over the interstate, so I had one good hill in there.  The rest is flat.

tempo run for the first 4 miles.  The avg pace for those 4 miles was 8:58.  The last 2 miles I had to slow down considerably since I was turning into a gummy bear blob.  I did a 1 minute walk, 9 minute run those last 2.4 miles.  The avg pace for the entire 6.4 miles was 9:22.   splits were: 9:14, 9"10, 9:05, 8:17, 9:50, 9:58, 10:56 (last .4).

When I got home, I turned the hose on and put my head under the water.  it felt so good!  gummy bear re-shaping back into human form.  then I got a big bowl of cold watermelon and ate it all.  good stuff!

Only one dead bird today, but I was treated to a host of butterflies that were in the grasses on the side of the road.  Little yellow ones.   It's nice when nature gives us gifts like butterflies. 

Kind of hate not having #'s to put in the running part, but had a fabulous bike ride today with Wyatt.

We went all over- hit 3 counties, and a dog (not intentionally- he was just running with us for a while, then decided to come to a dead stop in front of my tire).

32 miles +/- since I stopped my garmin once and forgot to start it again.  I'm pretty sure we're only off by .5 mile either way.

Not much road kill, a couple of birds, a raccoon, and a snake that had been hit on the back 1/2, so he was still alive and trying to slither off the road.  Just a black rat snake, no copperheads.

Sit on place is a little sore from being on the bike so long (about 4 hours).  We had to call Wyatt's man a couple of times to make sure we were heading on a road that wouldn't take us too far from home.  Pit stop at McDonalds for a bathroom break.  We went really slow and easy, which made the distance seem like a piece of cake.

Beautiful mental pictures of the soy, cotton & corn fields, with cypress trees in the background, and birds flying overhead from out of the fields.  It's a place I'll go back and visit when I'm stuck in a boring meeting and need to escape.

I planned to connect my two runs from monday and tuesday.  turning the two out and backs into a loop.  I thought the distance connecting them was a lot more than it actually turned out to be, so my plan for 11-12 miles was cut short.  It was pretty humid & warming up,  so I didn't mind being finished when I got home.

Ran by this cypress swamp with lilly pads.  Really pretty.  The lilly pads are in the back of the swamp. 

Saw more dead snakes than I would have liked to have seen.  Most were really run over, but this guy was a pretty fresh kill.

And he's not a rat snake.  Not sure what kind he really is. Any guesses? 

Then of course there was the dead bird I'd already seen on Monday, and something in the middle of the road with a long tail.  Could have been a rat or little opossum...too much traffic for me to get a good look at him.

Avg pace was 9:22 again.  79 degrees & 80% humidity the entire run.  Thank my lucky stars that the cloud godess was smiling on me and it was overcast almost the whole time.

Now I'm off to make french toast for breakfast since I don't have anyone to take me out to eat after they weed my yard.

tried a fartlek today.  long run tomorrow.

I did a one mile warm up before I started "fartlek-ing."  Then every cul-de-sac I would run fast, and just tried to keep up a good tempo when I wasn't in the fartlek-ing mode.

It was about 5 degrees cooler this morning on my run and a nicer breeze today too.

kept it in the 'hood, so no roadkill to report from my run. sorry folks.

avg pace 9:47.  beautiful run, wonderful company.

and......a trail kill.  dead mole on the middle of the trail. maybe hit by a bike, or dropped by a hawk- not sure.  you know I took a pix.  Will post later.

here's a photo of Terri and I on the trail run today... this sign is right off the running/bike path....it's just a photo op waiting to happen!

stay tuned for the mole...oh, here he is...

you're welcome :-)