ALMOST GUARANTEE

It’s always great in the winter when you have a warm spell that allows you to wear shorts. Usually that gets me wondering what the earliest date is that I’ve ever worn shorts in the winter. I can’t say the opposite – when is the latest I’ve ever worn long pants in the spring - has ever crossed my mind.

At least not until this week.

Tuesday morning it was only 45 degrees in the morning. Sure I could have worn shorts, but with a marathon on the horizon and strides planned for the morning, I played it safe. The cool temps lately and talk on the radio of “the year without a summer” almost guarantee that it will be 114 degrees in Duluth next Saturday.

Wednesday morning was my last hard workout, 8 miles with 3 x 1 mile at 5K pace. I was probably closer to 8K pace with my sub-6:20s, but that’s all right. That night my first “phantom injury” appeared. For some reason the bottom of my right foot was really sore. So I thought it would be a good idea to go back and read the article I wrote on marathoning after last year’s TCM. It worked as I felt fine during yesterday’s easy 5 miles.

This morning was a nice hour-long run on the trails of Hyland with Evan - fresh off his 2:50 at Christchurch.

8 days to go…

Quote of the Day;

“Then there are the phantom injuries that pop up. These are the aches and pains that occur in places I’ve never had any problems ever before. If I survive all of this – while resting and stuffing my face with carbs – I’ll start to feel incredible about four days before the race.” - me