@marisap2010 Rant on. I don't know why some people think the rules don't apply to them. You are doing great with your plan. Your recovery run was a great pace.

Just got in another walk today. I did get everything done I really needed to except PACK. I'll do that tomorrow. Since I'm driving, I'm not on a strict schedule. I just want to get to the hotel at the half way point before it gets dark.

I just have to say that I can't even imagine a "cracker winter's morning" right now. Thank you for the photos CMM!

Have we made it halfway across the pacific yet? Currently at 117 out of 100 mile goal. I should surpass May which was one of my lowest mileage months ever.

01.06 5.52km at 8:09/km
02.06 3.00km at 7:46/km
08.06 3.02km at 8:08/km
10.06 3.23km at 8:03/km 10x pace repeats
11.06 4.00km in 8:17/km
12.06 2.10km in 7:37/km
13.06 5.00km in 8:04/km incl. 5 minute fast run
15.06 5.50km in 8:21/km
17.06 4.35km in 7:55/km
20.06 7.21km in 8:19/km
22.06 8.00km in 8:06/km
24.06 4.00km in 7:38/km 12x pace repeats
26.06 5.18km in 8:04/km

Target: 60.11/60.00km - YAY!

Running didn't go quite so well today but that's hardly surprising because I hiked 16km in fairly steep hilly terrain yesterday. And my attempt of loosening my tight leg muscles this morning resulted in lots of bruises in areas needed for running But hey, I REACHED MY GOAL FOR THIS MONTH! 5 days ahead of time. At the hottest and most humid day of the year so far. So lets see if I manage to get in a few more runs.

Awesome place to run @ContraryMaryMary .

Thanks @marisap2010 .

Great running @Scott6255 .

You're doing great @yirara .

Welcome @Sparkx_15 ! I haven't figured out nutrition for long runs yet, so I am no help there, but plenty of people on here can. Congratulations on your second Master's!

Great run @marisap2010 !

I got a late start driving today due to not getting packed yesterday. Tippy and I got to the hotel around 8, so not enough time to explore the wildlife refuge. After we got situated, we did go out and walk a mile around the many parking lots in 15:50 minutes. Tippy usually won't walk that far with me, but she did great. She was tired though when finished. She'll probably sleep good tonight. Hope I do too. I'm on my phone. Tried to post a picture of Tippy, but can't figure it out. Maybe tomorrow when I get my computer out of the car.

Dang it!  I had my race report all typed out then accidently clicked on a link and lost it all!  Let's try this again...

6/24 - 6.4 hot, sweaty trail miles
6/25 - 13.1 rainy race miles
130 of 160 miles for June.  

Friday - I wanted 8+ miles but was late getting started so I cut it short.  It was nearly 90F and humid in the forest so I was happy to have it end sooner.  My intent was a really easy effort and with a 14:00 pace, I accomplished that.  I had a cooler in my car and a cold beer at the end sure tasted great.  This run was the first time I used my Salomon Adv Skin 12 hydration vest.  Overall it performed well and I think I'll like it more than my Ultimate Direction vest.  It has a TON of storage, is compressible so it doesn't bounce very much, and two big zippered pockets in front, and my favorite feature...elastic straps in front to allow me to breath heavy without it feeling constricting.  I did have one issue though.  The front zippered pockets wrap around to the side a bit, allowing my cell phone to move to my side with a corner poking out into my arm.  I had to either lower my arms or hold them farther from my body.  Next time I use this I'll try putting a buff in there to prevent the phone from moving around. I also need to do a better job routing the hose. The bite valve was a bit low for me to easily access.

Saturday - RACE DAY!  In spite of not getting to bed until after midnight, I woke up easily and ready to go.  It hadn't started raining yet but a check of the radar showed this coming in:
The temps  were in the upper 60's.  I was planning on walking the 1.3 miles to the start as a warmup, but with the storm I decided to drive there so I wouldn't get caught out in it if it got bad.  There were only 43 HM participants so parking was plentiful and check-in was very quick.   Still no rain so I was walking around talking to other racers but 30 minutes prior to race time the storm hit and I retreated into my car to wait and watch.   Lightning caused the start to be delayed by 15 minutes.

A minute before the start, the rain still coming down hard, I went to the start line.  Right away I almost instinctively went to my usual HM effort level, with an HR around 153-156.   Normally this would be perfect.  I kept this up for 4 miles while I considered trying to maintain this but in the end decided to stick to my plan of not racing it and backed off to an HR in the 142-146 level and my pace increased accordingly.  

The first 4 miles wound around a golf course area and residential area, but the limestone bluffs stood tall above us and with some low-hanging wispy clouds it was a pretty sight but I left my phone in my car so no photos.  At the 4 mile mark the rain eased up to a light rain and we started into the more rural portion of the race.  Unfortunately, while waiting in my car for the race start I forgot about making my last potty break so I had to use the on-course porta-potty at this point, which cost me a couple of minutes.  This was also the first water stop.  At this point I was regretting not bringing my handheld bottle so I could skip the water stops.  Even though it was cool and wet I slammed a couple of glasses at each stop and had to walk about 50 yards for the water to settle before I could start running again.  A handheld would have allowed me to take sips along the way and not have to stop or walk those short bits.

We were now entering the rural portion.  First along the bluff then turning toward the lake and running along, but still above, the lake.  It was beautiful, just like my training runs on the course the prior weekend.  

This was also about the time I started running with a guy about my age and chatting with him.  He said he was there to run with his daughter in her first HM.  I found it interesting, then, that he spent the next 30+ minutes chatting with me when his daughter was behind us and slipping further back as the race went on.  Eventually he broke off and went back to run with his daughter but later, with a little over 2 miles to go, he raced past me, by himself, on the way to the finish.  I guess if I were in that position I'd want to either run the entire race with my daughter, or race it and see her at the end, not a mixture of both.  He ended up finishing 7 minutes ahead of his daughter.  

About half way through the race the rain tapered off, first to a light rain, then a misty rain, then done.  At 10 miles the sun tried to poke through the clouds, raising the temp and and the humidity, but it was never miserable.  I was still soaking wet and the breeze off the lake cooled me down.  My effort was still steady though at a couple of water stops I probably walked longer than I should have.  

With 2 miles to go I approached the final, and biggest, hill on the course. I could feel a blister building on the ball of my foot and was tempted to walk up the hill.  There was no one in front of me close enough to chase down, and no one behind me close enough to catch up, so it wouldn't affect the standings, but I kept running. Once the hill was behind me it was all downhill or flat so I increased the pace a bit to the finish at the same effort I started with.  

My finish time was 2:03:36.  My slowest time in 4 half marathons but just the effort I was looking for from myself.  Had I not had to waste two minutes taking a potty break I probably would have pushed to break the 2 hour mark.   I finished right in the middle of the pack...19th out of 43 overall, 15/30 in the men's division.  It was a nice race and a nice course.  I'd definitely run it again.  Perhaps trail running gives me a different perspective but at 360 feet of elevation gain over the 13.1 miles, I thought the course was extremely flat, yet afterwards I was talking to a couple of other runners who were complaining about all the hills.  I'm not sure you'd find many HM courses flatter than this one!  

I did make one big mistake.  I knew the course had 3 miles of gravel road and not wanting any gravel grit to get in between my sock and ankle, I grabbed a pair of mini-crew running socks.  What I didn't consider is that they were heavily cushioned and in the rain, they held a lot of water.  My feet pruned up and by mile 8 I could start feeling a blister develop right on the ball of my foot.  ARGGHH!!!    At the end of the race my foot was really sore and I couldn't wait to get my socks & shoes off.  It didn't develop into a full on squishy blister but it was bad enough to make me hobble about for the rest of the day.  I did wear my new Kinvara shoes but I don't blame the shoes at all, and in fact I think the shoes felt great throughout the run. I look forward to running in the rain with these shoes with better socks to see how they feel.

I fully expected this to take a while to heal up and planned to take a break from running until my race this Saturday but today I barely feel the blister at all.  Still, I have a few other niggles and aches so I think I'll just do a short walk or bike ride tonight and tomorrow before I run Wednesday & Thursday.  I'm planning on using my new Salomon hydration vest on my 50K and want more experience with it before then.