Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 7/28 Regular Run 6 9:40 Tuesday, 7/29 Regular Run 8 9:45 Wednesday, 7/30 Regular Run 3 9:12 Thursday, 7/31 Regular / Speed  5 9:30 Friday, 8/1 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 8/2 Long Run 14 9:52 Sunday, 8/3 Rest 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 36 Last week was a pretty successful training week, meaning that I met my weekly mileage and didn't get hurt doing it (my standards for training success have lowered over the years). One change I knew I needed to make was leaving my Seminole Heights neighborhood for Tuesday morning's "medium"-length run (I can only circle the Sem Hi 'hood so many times), which meant getting up extra early to drive to Bayshore. I looked for many excuses not to do this run, even after Tim and I got to the start of it (it was very lightly sprinkling outside), but eventually I did the eight miles--every difficult step of it. And guess what? I got rained on, and I was thankful for it in the stifling heat. ...

Yesterday I ran my final 20-miler of training for the Steamtown Marathon . I knew that if I could make it through that run without injury, I'd be good to go for the race. And I'm happy to report that I did! But the run wasn't without some folly.  Because my youngest niece was having a birthday party on the same day I was scheduled to do this training run, I'd planned ahead for Tim and I to spend the night at my dad's house in Longwood (which is close to where my niece lives). I knew my dad lived very close to the Seminole Wekiva Trail , so I planned the 20-miler on this route. Or so I thought. We knew my dad lived 2.5 miles from the trail, so we would just need 15 miles on the trail, or 7.5 out and back. I used someone's Map My Run route to get an idea of how many miles we'd be able to get at the entrance point from my dad's house. I even "enhanced" the map with my own notations, for Tim's benefit. The map I studied and enhance...