A Year Long Streak & a New FRC Season!

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” – Margaret J. Wheatley 

“We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey

Reflection time.  Finishing up June will be my 12th month in a row in with 100 or more miles.  Prior to this streak I had only ran 100 miles in a month twice my entire running career.  I may not be running a 7 min mile, but I'm out here crushing it!  Here's a recap. (more for me than you)

2020 was a terrible year, but it was my best year of running!  Of the previous 7 years my highest mileage year was 2017 with 585.9.  I ended 2020 with 912.8!  After my 5 miles tomorrow (to hit 100 for June) I'll be just over 663 miles!  Already about 2/3 of the way to my 2020 mileage.

Using the first 6 months to calculate an average, I am on pace to hit 1,326 miles this year!  That right there is why we reflect!  Why am I getting faster?  I'm running more.  My highest mileage years were the years that I was the fastest (2014, 2017, 2020).  It makes sense now that I'm looking at it. I PR'd my half marathon time in January after logging the most yearly miles ever.

Now here I sit in the midst of my most epic year of running yet!  I did half marathons on back to back days.  Capping a 3 in 9 days adventure.  I am signed up to run up Pikes Peak in 8 short weeks.  I am signed up for my first full marathon in December.  Bringing my 2021 totals to 8 halfs & 1 full for 2021!

So I'll end this little parade with...  Consistency is key!  

Now we're in a brand new season of the FRC training plan & I'm a pacer this year.  We'll have workout as a group each week.  Tuesday Track, Wednesday Social, Thursday XT, & Saturday Long Run.  Depending on what mileage you're targeting there are multiple plans to follow. The weekly mileages are 25, 35, 40, or 50.  Super excited to see what the plan does for me & through me this year!

Until next time...  Here are some shots from the last few weeks!

Shoes from Atreyu in Austin, TX.

Had some fun with a T-Rex costume at Track Tuesday!

It was was also pouring down rain the whole time...

1,500+ ft of AR gravel elevation at Love Hollow.

A small cave at Waterloo Park in Denison, TX.

Conquered Salado Mtn twice in AR.

Just don't stop... ever.

      “Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”

– Earl Nightingale

You know a lot, I mean, a lot of people don't stick to (or even start) something because of how long it takes to see results.  That's why I love this quote!  It's a perfect perspective.  So what if it's going to take a year to lose that 20 pounds, the year will go by regardless (the good Lord willing).  You might as well do those little things everyday and persevere until the results come.  You can arrive in March of 2022 a different, better, healthier person or you can arrive, best case scenario, just as you are now.

It's like I've said before, if a living thing is not growing, essentially, it's in the act of dying.  So do what you can each day to live & grow.  Do it for yourself.  Do it for your family.  Do it for whatever.  Just do it.  Nike may have been on to something with that slogan.

Here we are another week in the books!  This is the 16th week that I have posted on this blog.  I think I'm getting better at it, but who knows.  I've had between 3 - 24 readers depending on the week.  Not many at all, but the journaling is as much for me as anyone else.  I can't wait to look back in a year to see how far that I've come!  I also hope that this blog will help someone realize that average people can change their life for the better.  We don't have to be elite athletes.  We can't let ourselves become discouraged because our pace isn't sub-6:00, or sub-8:00, or sub-14:00.  Just do it.  Maybe we won't ever win a race, but 

1. We can put in the work consistently and see changes.  
2. We can improve & have fun at the same time.
3. We don't have to be perfect.

Anyway, back to it.  Tuesday was a hectic work day, so I ended up running after work.  It's definitely my least favorite time to run.  I've been eating all day, I'm in a stress overload, & I'm just tired.  I like to run early in the morning before I have any other distractions.  I just go out & enjoy the run.  I did a quick little loop around the neighborhood.  I stopped by the school for a pic with the half-mast flag, in honor and memory of those who have lost their lives to Covid-19.

Wednesday we are back at it for Hump Day double digit miles.  We did a few familiar loops trying to avoid the wind.  It was a easy pace, but I was abnormally tired for some reason.  I couldn't seem to catch my breath.  Raph & I did 7 with Leo & then finished up those double digits!

After the miserable run on Wednesday I skip Thursday and grab a lunchtime 5-miler on Friday.  With the snow event, I realize that I'm way behind on mileage.  Plus, February only has 28 days.  So we're going to have to push it to hit my goal of 100 miles every month in 2021.

Saturday I'm shooting for 14-15 miles.  That will just leave me a couple for recovery on Sunday & I'll hit 100 just barely.  We head out on a 12 mile plan with Leo & company planning to grab a few extra afterward, but by mile 9 I was in the tank.  Another crappy run, but as we know not every run is going to be good.  You can fuel right, sleep right, stretch right, & sometimes the run is just crap.  The important thing is that we keep going.  Run, walk, or crawl finish it out.  So that what I did.  This is the first run in several months that I actually had to walk. Like earlier in the week, I just couldn't seem to catch my breath. Leo & Raph stuck with me regardless, as they always do & we finished it up together.

Sunday about 4.1 miles to hit 100.  So that's what I do.  Through the neighborhood I make up a loop that gets me a little over, just in case.  As I'm running a storm starts rolling in.  It looks pretty rough.  Luckily, I finish up just before it starts.  It was nice to sit on the steps & let the rain cool me down though.  

100 February miles achieved.  Now on to March!

Consistency = PRs! (plus a race recap)

Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” - E. James Rohn

Consistency.  That's what I believe in.  You don't have to be perfect.  You just have to be consistent.  That goes for anything in life.  For running, I believe that you will get better & faster the more consistently that you do it. Yes, cross training & speedwork helps increase that development.  But if you go out & run 3 times a week every week for, let's say a year, you will get better & faster.  I have no doubt.  Give it a try & let me know how it goes.

TUESDAY

It’s race week!  Just three 3-milers planned prior to Saturday.  Today I took an old out & back route to Union Park for lunch. I passed some guys putting in work just like me.  Well not quite like me but, we were both working.  

WEDNESDAY

I traded the usual 5am 10-miler for another lunch run.  I thought that might have been a bad choice.  It rained most of the morning.  I figured that I would be running in the rain.  I actually like running in the rain. So I wasn’t too worried about it.  The lunch bell rang & off I went.  Just a light mist, but a lot of puddles.  I took a frequented route through the neighborhood. I had to stop for a couple of minutes for a work phone call that I had to take. Back to the run. Needing to burn off a little steam I decide this is the perfect time to go into a progression run.  

What’s a progression run you ask... It’s running each mile faster than the previous.  Also called negative splits. Let’s do this. On this familiar route I pass by my buddy, Rowdy again.  No picture this time.  

Final pace numbers - 9:07, 8:49, 8:12.  A solid progression run!

THURSDAY

After a nice progressive run yesterday I decided I would take it fairly easy today.  This would be the last run before race day.  Work was pretty busy today. I couldn’t make it out for a lunch run. I knew I needed to get my run in, so a supper run it is. 

Early evening runs are my least favorite. I’m usually hangry & it ends up being bedtime before I can get in my wind down time. I take off with no route in mind. About a quarter mile in I check my pace.  8:45!  What the heck?!? Slow down, mister!  I venture past a boy on a scooter.  I give out a “what’s up dude”. He returns the gesture exactly & lets out a little “what’s up dude”.  I love those little moments on a run.  There are a lot of people on the trail at supper time.  Should these people be eating... supper??

Not too long later I come up on a mom with a small girl parked behind her in an Escalade power wheel.  As I whip around she floors it & hear that familiar spinning sound accompanied by the whir of the electric motor screaming away.  With all these pleasant interactions I continue to struggle slowing down.  Maybe that’s why the Brooks slogan is Run Happy... I run past the ballers at the ball court, around the clubhouse, down through the heart of Savannah, and around the neighborhood elementary. I meet couples walking, couples walking dogs, & other runners.  I head back to the house through some streets I haven’t ran on before.  Another 5k in the books just in time for sunset.  

SATURDAY 

RACE DAY!!!

It's misting rain & in the upper 40s.  Sounds like perfect running weather to me!  I meet up with my friends in the parking lot at Town Lake Park in McKinney.  The site of the Frisco Running Co Half Marathon & 5k . Getting out of the car I realize it feels a little colder than I thought it would be.  Nonetheless, we're going with it; shorts, short sleeve short, & gloves.  There are a lot of Covid protocols in place.  So our first stop is the medical tent to get our temperature checked.  A quick scan & beep, we're good to go.  Now for a few laps around the parking lot to get warmed up.  

The announcer urges everyone to the starting corral.  They have us setup in socially distanced waves.  The 5k & half runners are intermingled.  This is one of my favorite parts of races.  The anticipation of the start.  The music is playing. People are bouncing & stretching.  Last minute checks of your race gear.  For me, I'm just taking it all in. Race Day playlist cued up & ready.  A Warrior's Call by Volbeat is my go to jam for getting pumped up for  run.  A quick review of the Drader-designed race plan to get me focused.  I scribbled it on my bib.  It's broken out by 5k segments.  Every segment I'll evaluate how I feel & either speed up or maintain my pace.

• 1-3.1 - 9:25
• 3.1-6.2 - 9:15
• 6.2-9.3 - 9:05
• 9.3-12.4 - 8:55
• 12.4-finish - wheels off!

And we're off!  The wet weather has made the paved trail & sidewalks a little slick.  Not to mention the mud.  Several spots along the course have mud on the path making it even more slick.  Not even to the first mile & I can feel mud slinging up and hitting the back of my ankles.  A lot of the course is standard sidewalk so its a bit crowded in the beginning.  It winds through the park, in & out of the woods, and beside ponds/lakes.  We have several club members working aid stations.  It makes it nice to hear someone cheering you on by name or yelling out "Ninja Turtles!". To add to the excitement, these signs were posted along along the path.  I will say I was a little nervous when I saw them.  Especially since there was more than one.  Hopefully the cooler weather will keep us safe...

Don & Raph are running a quicker pace than I want, so I let them go.  After navigating through the race traffic Leo pulls up beside me.  Shortly after mile 2 I hear some guy behind us yelling about the sidewalk.  Next thing I know this Santa Claus looking fellow comes whizzing by.  It's about this time that I realize he was yelling at us.  We were side-by-side taking up most of the narrow sidewalk.  I yell back a friendly, "I guess you should have started in the front!"  That gives Leo a little chuckle. Shortly after, as we expected, Santa exits for the 5k finish.

As we loop the lake we hit 3.1 and I'm feeling good.  I've been spot checking my pace & I feel like I'm right in the pocket at 9:20. In actuality, 9:20, 9:08, 9:10.  In retrospect I think the slow downs from the muddy spots caused me to overcorrect my pace pushing me over my targets.  I give myself the green light to speed up. Now we're on the out & back portion of the race.  It sends us through a disc golf course & a couple of other parks.  This segment goes by pretty fast.  Next thing I know, we're at 6.2 & I'm meeting people on their way back.  System check.  Feeling good.  Increase pace a planned.  By this time I realize that I'm a little ahead of my targets, but I'm thinking, "just keep going".  If I get tired & I'll be able to afford to dial back and rest for a bit.

This segment should be 9:05s, but I start encouraging the runners that I meet. "Good job!  Nice work!"  I'm even more excited when I see our club mates!  Shortly after mile 7 we hit the turnaround point. Other than that I don't remember much about the next few miles. We'll chalk it up to the runner's high.  Miles 6-9 were all sub-9 minute miles.  It was starting to get tough, but this what we trained for, pain.  We had logged runs well over 13 miles during training.  We taught ourselves that we could endure.  So, I just kept on pushing.    Mile 10 I look at my watch.  Overall time 1hr 30mins!  What?!?!  I could actually hit 2hrs!  I'm hurting now, &  slow down a bit.  As long as I don't sink to 10min miles I'll make it.  Mile 12 & 13 are nothing but guts.  The gradual uphill at 12 is punishing me.  Where the hell did this hill come from?!?  I start the self-talk.  You got this! Don't walk! Stay above 10min miles! Explicative, Explicative!  

Finally, I can hear the announcer.  We're getting close now!  My watch beeps for 13 miles.  1:59.  I can see the finish line.  I give it everything I have.  I end up running that last tenth at a 7:27 pace.  Completely missing the last aid station that was giving out whiskey shots.  Finish time 2:00:32!  Wow!  I'm a little disappointed that I didn't hit the sub 2:00 mark, but I just ran my fastest half of all time!  Albeit by 21secs, its a PR nonetheless!  My previous PR was from 2014.  Not to mention besting my last 2 half times in Nov & Dec by a full 10mins!  I typically don’t like race pictures where I don’t look strong, but today I realized that this is a picture of me looking strong. This is me being strong. This is why we run.

We're tired & we're getting cold, but we did it!  We were consistent & we saw results.  All 4 of us set half marathon PRs today!  I'd say without a doubt we have pushed each other to be better. That's Turtle Power, baby!  I don't think I'll have any issue breaking that 2:00:00 barrier this year!

Consistency is key, my friends.  Consistency is key.

Progress not Perfection

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals - this alone is worth the struggle. ~ William Penn

Well, I seem to have failed in my 3rd resolution. I could say work had got in the way. While partly true. I chose to sleep in & it cost me. At the end of the day I didn’t want to workout. Soon have finished this week with one XT workout. While it was a doozy, it was 2 short of my target.

If you thought you were reading the blog of a guy that’s always successful now you know different. As I say, I am just an average guy trying to get better. This isn’t one of those fake, life is always perfect blogs. This is my journey. A real training journey.

The important thing is this. I will not beat myself up. I’ll take it in stride & keep doing my best. I will get better. I will run more, run farther, & have fun. 

TUESDAY

After our extra long run on Saturday, I took off Sunday & Monday. After the rest I had a fleeting run on Tuesday, a reverse lap on my neighborhood route. It was rather uneventful. Between conference calls I ventured out for a lunch run. Around mile 2 I ran past a guy repairing his fence I gave a friendly wave & journeyed on. I passed by the neighborhood school. On lunch runs the kids are usually out at recess I always imagine that they’re wondering why I’m running so slow. Luckily I have my 90s rock blasting in my headphones & can’t hear if they are actually heckling me. I’m sure they’re not. To add to my being out of sync, I forget to take a post run picture...

WEDNESDAY

I woke up at 3:45. A full 15mins before my alarm. Might as well get up & start my long run routine. We are scheduled for another, as we call it, a 2 by 2 by 2 by run. You’ll recall it’s 2 (2E, 2E), 2E. 10 miles with thresholds.

Another trip around a familiar route. It starts up Legacy swinging by the Track Tuesday track. We make the three sides of the block, down through a neighborhood & onto the trail. I’m always lost at this point. I’m pleasantly surprised when we’re closer to the end than expected. Into the 2nd set of threshold miles & I’m sucking wind as usual. At this point I’m alone. Leo & Don have turned on the afterburners & are out of sight. I can just barely see Raph. The last couple of easy miles we gather back up and finish together. I am happy to learn that I have ran my fastest paced 10-miler in years, averaging 9:32 per mile.

THURSDAY

XT day doesn’t disappoint. The club has initiated a 4-week XT challenge. A prescribed workout to be performed once between Thursday & Sunday. Participants have the chance to win prizes.

Race entry to Big Star Half, Race entry to Bluebonnet Half, plus shirts & hats from Big Star & the FRC store. So naturally I’m in.

This first workout is tough. 3 rounds for time. It starts out with an 800m run (1/2 mile). Then you start an 8 min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible).

The rounds are as follows: 8 burpees, 12 alternating lunges, & 18 sit-ups.

You repeat the 3 exercise routine for 8 mins. Once you complete the 8 mins you take a 1 min rest & start over with the 800m run. You repeat this process 3 times.

This was extremely difficult for me. Round two brought on the dry heaves. I’m not in nearly as good of shape as I thought. Nonetheless I kept going & finished the workout. To put it lightly, I’m completely trashed when it’s over. Total time 41 mins 17 secs.

FRIDAY

REST DAY!

In the past I’ve felt like I’ve been running out of gas on the long runs. I use Huma energy gels throughout the run, but still get gassed. Leo uses Karbolyn, a carbohydrate complex that fuels you in endurance workouts. He always seems to be strong at the end so I thought but was worth a shot. It came in today! I’m excited to give it a try on Saturday. I’ll put a scoop in my water bottles & hope that it fuels me at the end of the long run. Stay tuned.






SATURDAY 

Today we’re looking at 2E, 2(2T, 3min rest), 3E. It’s 31 degrees, but it feels colder. We set out on one of our old routes in reverse. We head up Main passing the FC Dallas soccer stadium. After 2 miles we we start the first threshold section. We make a left just before the Dude Perfect building. We’re pushing the pace pretty good. I look down & we’re right at an 8:30 pace. I’m thinking that I feel pretty good. So I keep pushing forward. 4 miles down & we’ve made it to the 3 min rest. Thank the Lord! I was breathing pretty hard. After walking for the shortest 3 mins in history we start the second threshold section. I’m really not looking forward to it, Back up to 8:30 we go. About a half mile in we run by the speed work track. Now starts a slightly downhill & this is the part where Leo takes off. I’m still holding an 8:30 & he’s walking away from us. Finally we finish the thresholds & start the rest minutes. We walk 2 mins & start the last leg of easy miles back to the store. We cut through Cottonwood trail & snap a pic by the pond. With about a mile to go we realize we’re running a pretty quick, 9:10 pace! In typical Leo fashion, he says let’s finish it out! Engage the afterburners! I don’t know how fast we were going I didn’t want to know. Nonetheless we ended up averaging about 8:45 for the last mile. After Wednesday’s run I mentioned running my fastest pace 10-miler. Well, we bested that today by 12 secs per mile with a 9:20 average pace!

I feel like the Karbolyn helped. It could have been the placebo effect. We'll see. I'll keep testing and report back soon.

SUNDAY

It’s an off day, but I feel like going outside. So I take a walk around the neighborhood. I take some time to think about the coming work week & the race on Saturday. In the process I make up another 5k route to run on another day.

That’s a wrap!

Ice Ice Baby

  Here we are.  Another glorious week of running.  We're about a month out from the FRC Half Marathon.  I'm getting a little tired. So I took yesterday off.  I'm going to try and dial back a bit after the race and do a little recovery time.  I've been on a rigid program for 31 weeks. Yes, I said try.  You probably know by now that I'm an all or nothing guy.  So I'll probably run the same amount & just try to dial back the intensity.  Keep your fingers crossed for me...

TUESDAY

It was beautiful day.  Mid-60s again  This time of year is perfect for lunch runs. Plus I can sleep in a bit too!  My plan for today was to run my little 3-mile loop.  I was planning to go a little faster than easy, but not go all out.  I settled into a nice 9:30ish pace.  It's nice to run & enjoy it.  That's why I was talking about dialing back.  I love running & I want to continue loving it.  If I go hard all the time I start to not enjoy it & eventually dread it.  I've seen a lot of people fire off out of the gate, running hard & fast every run.  It's almost impossible to maintain that kind of intensity.  So my advice to you, slow down & enjoy some of your runs.

I read this in a post by Run4PRs Coaching.  It talked about easy running. Here's a snippet.

"Bottom line: running slow gives you the ability to recover for your harder effort running days.  If you don't run slow enough, you body can't properly recover to be ready for hard running. If you never stress your body with harder running day, you will never be able to run faster.  Easy running should be 80% of your weekly mileage.  Easy running is 2-3 min per mile SLOWER than 5k pace."

I don't know how you feel about that, but I agree.  It also lines up with the VDOT paces for me.  Additionally, I think it ties in to the enjoying running that I mentioned.  You're not getting mentally drained & if you're running easy you're definitely having a good time! 

WEDNESDAY

It's long run Wednesday again!  It was 60 degrees at 4am on December 23rd.  Welcome to Texas!  Being this warm it doesn't feel like Christmastime to me. I'll realize later this week that making that statement was a total jinx (*).  While it sounds like pretty good weather for dark morning running, Mother Nature decided raised the difficulty level... 16mph winds.

On the plan for today intervals!  Intervals are short intense efforts followed by a recovery time.  The workout is written like this: 5E, 6(.6T, 1min rest) 1.5E.  Can you decipher it?

5 easy miles followed by intervals of 0.6 miles at threshold pace coupled with a 1min rest and wrapping it up with 1.5 easy miles.  The 1min rest can be whatever you want.  It can be stopping, walking, or running slower.  We choose to walk most times.

We started out the 5 easy with the wind to our backs targeting a 10min/mile.  We held that pretty good except for mile 2 we averaged 9:39.  As the first interval began I was thinking let's target 9min/mile.  I was feeling very smooth in my stride at the quicker pace.  So smooth that the 2nd & 3rd rounds were 8:41 & 8:29.  By number 5 I was gassed.  As is my custom, out too fast.  

During the 5th round we started to separate a bit from our formation.  That's not uncommon as we are close in pace, but not an exact match & like I mentioned I was getting gassed.  So, Leonardo & Donatello got ahead of us, but still in sight.  At the same time I was ahead of Michelangelo. (I should mention also that Michelangelo ran 26.2 miles on Saturday) Anyway, we were on a new part of the trail for me.  At the end of #5 we exited the trail to turn back towards the FRC store.  A few seconds passed and no Michelangelo...  We walked back down to the trail, but no sign of him.  Leo was familiar with the trail.  We decided that Mike must have not seen us exit & kept going. Back on the trail we went. After about maybe a mile we spotted him!  Whew!  I was getting nervous.

In the commotion we ended up skipping the 6th round of intervals & just headed back to the store.  I was completely out of breath & struggling to keep up.  They made a turn which looked like was going to be another block around.  I kept on chugging to the store.  A few minutes later they made it back as well.

After recalculating my workout, it was actually 5E, 5(.6T, 1min rest) 1.79E

CHRISTMAS 

6hrs of driving to see our families in Arkansas on Thursday, Christmas Eve. Dinner with my family that night followed by some time with my wife’s family on Christmas Day. 

Also, I remembered that I had signed up for a Strava challenge that required 4 days of activity for 4 consecutive weeks. This week was the last, only scheduled for 3, so I suited up for a quick out and back mile. Temps were in the 20s & the sun was shining. 

On my short jaunt I realized I was passing the Pleasant Plains population sign.  I thought that would be a good picture I could take on my way back by.  As I came back by the sign I realized that I didn't have my fuel belt since it was a short run.  That meant I didn't have my phone.  When I finished up the run I got my phone & walked the tenth of a mile back to the sign for my photo.  Hi, my name is E & I have issues... 😂

Merry Christmas to you & yours!  

SATURDAY

*weather jinx realized* 

It was cold in AR this morning. We met up at 6am and it was 22 degrees. It was cold & dark. Off we went. The plan was to run 14-15 miles.  Starting out on Harrison Street we ran most of the 10th & 11th mile of the Hope for the Holiday Half Marathon course in reverse.  People in Batesville have been running this out & back route for years.  From Batesville to Sulphur Rock and beyond.  Which also contained the Boring as Crap Half Marathon course from several years ago.  The shoulder runs out at one point so we always swing through Quail Valley to avoid that section.  At about mile 4 I took a drink of my water & it had ice crystals in it. It was an out & back plan so we decided to turn back at mile 5. The elevation in the next half mile jumps about 100ft.  Which meant a nice cruise back down.  As we turned back into Quail Valley at mile 7 I tried to take another drink of my water & it was frozen. The nozzle was blocked, but there was a little water still in it. 

This is where I tell you that my 2 year old fuel belt bottles are both cracked. So when I squeezed & the nozzle was blocked it squirted out all over my hand. Being a genius, I tried the other one.  Same result.  By the time we reached the cars my hands were hurting from being wet & in nearly frozen gloves. 

It was brutal & probably a little dumb, but we got in 10 miles and some great conversation on my coldest run of the year... so far.

SUNDAY

Time to head back home to Texas, but first I decided to make the loop around the Hwy167 by-pass and right through the heart of Pleasant Plains.  I had never ran that loop before & was curious what the mileage would be.  I was guessing about 5 miles.

Going north from the in-laws I hopped on the by-pass.  It's a wide 5 lane highway with a generous shoulder.  Rolling downhills until I hit the 2 mile mark.  Then its a pretty healthy uphill to 2.5 until you make the right turn onto Main Street.  The return back through town is nearly a mirror image on the elevation map.  So, a half mile down hill & the rest was rolling uphills.  I passed by my old high school, the road my wife lived on, and a lot of memories. Some people still live in the same place since I was in high school.  Sometimes it's hard to fathom.  Especially since we have lived in 4 states in the last 5 years.  It could be nice though.  I bet their mortgage is paid off.

Anyway, I reach the only 4-way stop in Pleasant Plains signifying the middle of town. From a previous discussion with my father-in-law we determined that this was a mile from the house.  If that was correct, I would be short of  my 5 mile estimate.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.  Passing the population sign from my photo on Friday I finished up the last tenth of a mile.  Official distance of the Pleasant Plains Metro bypass... 4.62 miles.

Luckily I ran today because in the 4x running challenge that I mentioned earlier, each of the activity times had to be 30mins or more  So the mile that I did to save the challenge didn’t count. 😂

With that being said, it was a pretty eventful week of running!  Thanks for tagging along!