Sunday, August 3rd to Saturday, August 9th: 34.8 miles run, 29.3 miles bike

I ran 4 times last week:

Mon: 6.2 miles, easy, 75F, sunny, calm, 1 stop, 7:46 pace
Wed: 6.2 miles, easy, 70F, sunny, a little windy, 1 stop for traffic, 7:41 pace
Thu: 6.2 miles, easy, 70F, sunny, a little windy, no stops, 7:40 pace
Sat: 16.2 miles, easy, 62F, sunny, 55:17 no stops @ 7, 106:00 @ 13.1, 8:14 pace

The first long run since signing up the Rochester Marathon went well. It was 62F, cloudy, with little humidity. I had an Expresso Love Gu before I headed out. I ran the first 7 miles with no stops in 55:00, 7:51 pace. I stopped about 2 minutes for more gu and water and headed back out. I ran out to 13.1 miles before stopping again, approximately 106:00, 8:06 pace, unofficial PR by 5 minutes. Then I stopped every mile or so until I stopped. I am satisfied ... I was cranking out a 8:05 to 8:15 mile pace between miles 7 and 13.1, then slowed with some run, walk miles. Only ten more miles make a marathon. I think given good (read that as cool, not warm) conditions I could crank out a sub 4 hour marathon. But ... there is the whole "wall" that I have heard about that could throw all that out the window. Next weekend ... maybe 18 miles and the weekend after that 21 miles will help give more experience with the "wall". Oh ... I need to apply Body Glide next time ... trust me. I am a bit sore right now but nothing a good night of sleep won't cure.

I am thinking of running the Oak Tree half marathon down in Geneseo on Labor Day weekend as a training run. I ran it two years ago.

I biked once last week:

Tue: 29.3 miles, ride out to Canandaigua Rd in Macedon, easy, 75F, sunny, a little wind

I wanted another bike ride on Friday but it rained practically all day. A four hour soaking in the morning, then it would clear up, rain again and repeat. There was a waterspout on the lake off Webster in the morning. Newark had about 1.5 inches of rain according to Channel 10 news.

Nothing else going on. Some emails with a couple of women, no dates ... hopefully I haven't sunk into "friend" status. No job, no interviews. Only exercise keeps me sane ... thinking positive thoughts.

Michael quit his job at Ultralife on Tuesday. He is now busy practicing his trumpet upstairs while I am typing this. He will be going back to Ithaca College in a couple of weeks. The children living with my ex; Karen will be going back to Houghton College the week after and David hopefully will be going to Finger Lakes Community College.

The Beijing 2008 Olympics started last night. The opening ceremonies were quite impressive. I have been watching NBC coverage today while I rest from my long run. I plan on watching some online coverage from www.nbcolympics.com tonight.

Keeping active, Doug