Monday -Weather is forcast to head to Highs in the 90’s and 100’s this week, but it was pleasantly cool for my “recovery run” .  Good Fast run, with no soreness from the trail running last weekend.  5 miles in 40 minutes as usual. 

Tuesday- Uh-oh it’s definately getting warmer.   I really had to work to .keep my pace and I seemed to have trouble getting my breath.   The evening heat didn’t help any.  Normally I can count on a evening breeze to keep me cool.  I ran my 6 miles in about an hour, but it wasn’t easy. 

 Thursday – in the words of my buddy Doug “DAYYYMN”, it was hot.  105 on the covered dock at work at 5 pm.  Since the rest of the family is off showing cows, I have to cover a few chores at home.  First a water hose break, then a bunch of heifers decide to try to escape.  By the time I look up, It’s 6:30 and I missed track practice.   Oh well…I got a long run on Sunday.

SUNDAY- Left Cloverdale, headed south to Geyserville on the frontage road.  It’s 9 miles to Geyserville, and we have a 4 hour run slated for today.  I made the first 10 miles in under 1:30.  I am Smokin’!  So is the pavement…The longer I’m out there the hotter it is getting!  I covered the next five miles at a steady jog, with the mantra of don’t stop, keep running as the sweat lays a trail a blind man could follow.

Historic Note:

Last year on this run I got sick and got picked up by the SAG wagon at mile 14.  Since then I have had this monkey on my back that this run is tougher than me…I was determined to not wave a white flag.

I was good…I drank water at all the support stops, I did a Wilderness Athlete BLAST! gel at miles 5 and 10 and 15.  But my quads were screaming…and I had to walk…

From mile 14 to mile 17  I WALKED.  Now granted I was able to keep a 4MPH pace walking ( I run a pretty regular 6mph pace).  Each time I would try to break into a shuffle or a run, my stomach would slosh, and I could feel my calves twitch ready to cramp….So I walked…

At mile 17 I saw our starting point in the distance and I utterered a string of epithets that is still hanging in the air over Asti, and I made my self run the last mile. (This is called the BITE ME! mind set. Any distance runner can tell you about the bite me zone) My coach ran it in with me praising me like a well behaved dog.  I ran up the steps of the Cloverdale Transit depot and did my Rocky Marciano dance, before a leg cramp convinced me to take a salt tablet, drink some water, and find some shade…

After about 1/2 a gallon of water and a handful of pretzels I was feeling back to my old self.  I made a note to pack salt tablets for any run I do without my Wilderness Athlete Hydrate and Recover drink mix.  The lack of Sodium and Pottasium  had slowed my water uptake, and my profuse sweating had me dangerously close to dehydration .  At the end of the day I ran/walked 18 miles in 3:45. (about 30 minutes longer that I should be running…)   Sources assure me that I won’t encounter hot weather like that in San Diego in two weeks. (Average start temp 60 deg F avg finish temp of 70 deg F)

Later I found out it was 87 degrees in the shade, and I saw runner after runner brought back in the SAG wagon, and I was thankful that I had beaten the Geyserville Run Monkey off my back. I gave him a good kick as I swaggered to my car and had a recovery meal of a Nauvoo Blue Cheese burger and a Blue Moon Ale at Mike’s At the Crossroads.
Weekly mileage 28 miles
2 weeks to race day!