I was in Seattle last week for four days - temperatures in the 50's, cool breezes off the Sound ...but somehow I ran exactly zero miles, ate fried food everyday, bacon for breakfast. Felt fat. When I weighed myself in Austin on Saturday morning, I was nearly 159 lbs - the heaviest I'd been in 8? 10 years? Thankfully, it was raining this morning so it was cool enough to run two hours at 7:30 a.m., which was the earliest I could get up, read the sports page and check my e-mail. I'm guessing 15 miles in total. Wish I'd used more body glide - Painful shower! I'll run tomorrow and shoot for all five days during the coming week as well. I have some traveling on Tuesday/Wednesday, but ought to be okay assuming I can get out of bed. I miss my daughter. She's getting more and more involved with the church. Last night, they had a sleepover so I was solo at the house. I'm a bit conflicted as I only go to church about once a month myself. I hoping my God doesn't require regular attendance.

How do bloggers keep it up? I'm already getting tired of writing. It was a good week with 42 miles and three interval days. Surprisingly, I ran a 1600 in 5:21 on Wednesday. I'm encouraged but will have to keep it under control. I don't intend to get over 40 miles regularly until mid-Aug. On Thursday I got smoked by the Gazelle boys in a seven mile tempo run. I'm not sure of whether it was a lack of conditioning or a lack of heart.

It’s gotten hotter here in Texas which has made me sleepier, but fortunately not hungrier, so I’m at 150 pounds, a good running weight all things considered. I made reservations at the marathon headquarters hotel in NY for Nov. This managed to motivate me to get out and run and I did 34 miles in five days of running for the week. Four of those 5 days were interval days. Wednesday was surprisingly strong as I ran a 1600 in 5:34 and an 800 in 2:43 at lunch time when it was plenty steamy. Saturday, I ran long. At this point, my long is only 11 miles. Not sure if the Garmin is working. I ran fast as far as I could tell, but my pace was only 7:28. Sunday, I went to the track with the intention of running 1600’s but could only get excited about 400’s. Did six at 76, 76, 76, 74, 73,72. Not bad. My plan is to join the Gazelles on Tuesday. I still haven’t sent Gilbert a check. It’s confusing to me about how much to pay him so I haven’t yet. My back is starting to hurt. Not sure what this means or how I did it. It could be the bags of mulch I drug around Sunday or it could be that I’m just getting old. I made a classic mistake Sunday night going to HEB on an empty stomach – bought Blue Bell and tons of chips.