Betty, Molly, and Isis

Yes, it is very hot again, and running is not the smartest activity for mid-day. Plus it's against my rules for hot weather running to run mid-day, but I did it anyway!
I went down the easement. That is a gravel road next to my house that peters out in the forest about 4/10ths of a mile down the hill. It's a drop in elevation of 263 feet. Coming back up my calves started feeling it...very steep terrain!? I thought how this would be a good workout, down and up 10 times would make eight miles?!
Then I hit the road to make a three miler out of the day. Recovery pace only. It was hard to run that slow.
Coming back home I stopped and introduced myself to one of my neighbors. She was getting her mail. Her name is Betty. She's 81 yrs old and going strong! Her yard is beautiful and well kept. Her dog is Molly. We became friends. Earlier Molly had chased me!!:) Then I met the kitty, Isis...Betty says she was dumped. We have a lot of that out here. This cat was beautiful, and Betty says she's smart. I'm glad I ran today! I'm up to 29+ miles for the week with speed work tomorrow. Peace!

"W" South roller coaster ride!

"W" South is one of very few different runs I have considering my location. Today I decided to count the hills one way. There are 14 of them! I didn't count the short rises (3) to keep this an honest assessment. So over the course of 7.35 miles I had 28 hills! That's 3.8 hills per mile! Basically this is a roller coaster ride! I am pleased with the results today. Here are my splits 10:17, 9:23, 9:10, 9:33, 9:45, 9:49, 10:17. I was wondering what it would be like to run on some flat land? I have been developing and working on my hill running technique. The Garmin showed that my fastest pace speed was 10.3 mph! Gettin' better on the downs! I held pretty good on the ups until the last mile when I was toast.

The old bones are holding up good. I hope to do an easy recovery run Thursday then my Fartlek run on "W" north Friday. "W" North is a bit flatter. The hill intensity eases up some but they are still there!! This is the Ozarks and I'm lovin' it!

Looking for a race to run but only a bunch of 5ks. Need something longer....

On another note- Remember all the trees I planted? As expected there has been attrition but the ones living are doing well! My neighbor came by when I wasn't home to help me out...he mowed some of my yard...yep, you guessed it..he mowed down a row of trees that were growing very well. I saw his wife yesterday, she asked if he might have done that, I can't lie? I said yeah, he mowed down about seven of em. I said "Don't worry about it, they're only trees." She said

"Oh, I'm not worried about it." Huh, I thought. Then she said "well I didn't think they'd live anyway with this heat and all..." I guess she hadn't seen me watering my little trees! I motioned her over to take a look at how this one row was doing! I'm a proud Papa! Peace!

( I'm ordering more trees!)

Rest??

I have not been able to get back into a rhythm it seems. I am willing to take some time off from running?? This week it has been an every other day event. I really am needing to get these trees in the ground before they are no good. You have a two week deadline with seedlings, etc and I've one week down. Today, in the 80+ degree sunshine I put 54 in the ground!!!
I hope to run tomorrow, perhaps a longer one...yet I still have 201 trees to plant. Talked to a neighbor today. Really nice young man, four kids, is a nurse in the burn unit. His wife is a nurse, too, but she is currently a stay at home Mom. Good for her!!
Later! Peace!