Bob - 8.4/8:15

Crappy conditions - rainy, windy, and cool. Overall a very good run for me, though.

2 short runs left before the big dance on Sunday.

Chuck - 9.0 / 1:12:00

Terrible, rainy, gloomy weekend. I had to go the treadmill for the first time in a long while. I scraped out 9 miles at 8:00 pace. I'm sinking fast.

Bob - 5.0/7:57

Really nice run in light rain. Felt a lot of spring in my step.

Bob - 3.1/8:30

Just shaking the rust off from the Europe trip. Not a bad run.

Chuck - 4.0 / 8:00

Run with Emma and a flat tire.

Chuck - 7.2 / 7:57

I'm getting slower. There is no way I can run 7:40 half-marathon or complete a marathon. What happened?

Chuck - 15.1 / 8:45

Not a good run. I was off and running by 9:15 but it was about 70 degrees by the time I got done. This has me worried about my ability to run a full marathon. Is it really hit and miss on how I feel that day?

Chuck - 4.0 / 8:06

The run doesn't seem to impressive until you realize that I was pushing a 30 pound child along the bike path.

The big news is that I broke down and bought an airplane ticket to Green Bay. The price on Midwest Airlines website had gone up a hundred dollars since I looked last week, so I grabbed the lower price on a travel website. In fact, the price was going up as I was going through the process. I feel pretty good about a $250 ticket with really good flight times. In order to save money I have redeemed my hotel points for a free night. Still haven't officially signed up for the marathon yet though. That has to be done by May 1.

Chuck - 4.0 / 7:01

Don't be deceived by the stats, lactic acid kicked my butt. Ran the first two miles in about 6:45, but since I haven't run many short, fast runs lately, I died quickly; stopping twice. Still, it was get to get a faster pace in.

Chuck - 9.4 / 7:54

Not nearly as impressive as Bob's run, but I was generally happy with my run this Easter morning. I think the two days off was a good thing. Ran the route that I ran on March 5, which unbelievably was just over a month ago, through Benson to the Keystone trail at Fort St. I am a completely different runner than the first time. That is evidenced by the fact that my time was 7 1/2 minutes faster. That's right, SEVEN MINUTES, THIRTY SECONDS faster over just 9.4 miles. And this is a really hilly route, which makes the time even more impressive.

Plan on a few shorter runs this week to try to pick up my speed, then my last long next weekend.

Bob - 13.1 / 8:42 / 1:54:10

Lots of positives for me to pull from this run:

1. Did a sort of extended Timberlane circuit twice to introduce some long hills that simulate Lincoln.
2. Really windy
3. At mile 4, started to feel a twinge in my left hamstring, so I slowed the pace down a bit. Stopped 3 times at miles 8, 10, and 12 for about 10 seconds just to stretch it out.

Overall, I felt rather lethargic starting out, but grew stronger as the run went on. Was really pleased at how good I felt at the end. If my hammy wasn't bothering me, this run really had some potential.

And for those keeping score, this beat my 2005 Lincoln half time by over 5 minutes.

Chuck - 8.4 / 7:59

What I wouldn't do for a run that felt good. This one was a struggle from the start, yet from the 2 1/2 mile mark until the end I was able to keep my average pace between 7:58 and 8:02 the whole time. Of course, there were no hills from that point forward as I took the Keystone trail all the way to Elmwood Park.

Nearly 80 when I started to run at 7:15 p.m!

I anticipate running 400 miles prior to the Lincoln Half, compared to 250 last year. Plus, those 250 were mostly treadmill miles, while this year has been almost all outside.

Bob - 4.2/7:55

I had to work harder than I liked to get a sub 8 minute pace. I felt a little hung over from yesterdays beer/sun/golf thing.

Ready for my 12-13 on Saturday.

Did I mention the perfect morning weather this week?

Chuck - 7.2 / 7:55

Mama Cass. Midway through the run I contemplated trying to break the 55 minute barrier (about 7:40 pace), but decided against it. I will save that quest for one of my two taper-down weeks before Lincoln.

Unbelievable that the human body can run over 31 miles over the course of 4 days. I'm impressed at the physiology of it all, and proud of my mental fortitude to get that kind of incredible mileage in just 4 short days. Probably only a couple of people in this world that can match the feat.

On a similar note, this puts me at over 300 miles for this training session over 12 weeks, 2 days. An average of almost 25 miles a week.

Bob - 6.0/9:06

Hard to imaging that my 11 mile run a few days ago was 30 seconds a mile faster than this, but thems the facts.

Nice and warm with a very strong wind from the south.

Unbelievable that the human body can run 20 miles over the course of 4 days. I'm impressed at the physiology of it all, and proud of my mental fortuity to get that kind of incredible mileage in just 4 short days. Probably only a handful of people in this world that can match the feat.

Chuck - 4.2 / 7:57

Just like last week this recovery run was much harder than it should have been. It was a struggle to get in under 8-minutes, which is slower than I ran the first ten two days ago. Just fatigue.

My plan for the coming weeks is to get in 25-30 miles this week, but without a long run this weekend. Maybe a 10-miler at the most. I will then have one more run of close 20 the following weekend. That gives me two weeks to get ready for Lincoln.

UPDATE
Two hours later and my sometimes cramped left calf is one big knot. Ouch. Oh, the joy of running!

Bob - 4.2/8:22

Legs were pretty fatigued from Saturday, but overall a great little run. Nice and steady, perfect weather (again), with the time flying by. I'll get a longer run in tomorrow morning, a short fast one on Thursday, then gear up for a 12-13 on Saturday.

Chuck - 20.0 / 8:12

Well, considering the only other person who reads this blog ran with me today, I'm not sure what to write. Ran the first 10 miles of the Wabash in sub 8-minute mile pace, and felt pretty decent the whole way back.

According to my data, the run started at approximately 986 feet above sea level. It then rose at Dumfries to 1,254 before coming back down to Mineola at 1,141 feet. It takes about 4 miles to climb the 270 feet to Dumfries (77 feet per mile) and about 3 miles to go down the 120 feet to Mineola (40 feet per mile).

As I have mentioned to Bob, my "glory run" of 1997 was this exact run, done in 2:40, or 8-minute pace. To be in the same ball park as that run is very encouraging.

Bob - 10.6/8:32

Best run of the year. Met Chuck just shy of his halfway point, and cruised together nicely to CB on the trace. Perfect weather.

Did I mention that Chuck had ran almost 10 miles when I joined him?

Bob - 4.1/8:13

Orginally set out to run 6 miles, however at mile 3 I remembered I had to be in to work 1/2 hour early. Very mild weather.

I'm struggling a bit with something I've never experienced before - for the last 2 weeks, every time I run I feel nauseas during and afterwords for a bit. It's not enough to make me stop, but it's enough to take away the fun. Starting today, I'm going to really watch my diet and see if that helps. Hopefully it just goes away soon.

Chuck - 4.25 / 7:44

I went from planning to run 43 miles this week to deciding to take it easy. I almost scrapped my run today completely, but decided to do a nice Elmwood route. It was leisurely, but was not as easy as it should have been for that slow of a time. That is just more confirmation that I need to take it slow this week and just let my body recover for this Saturday and my 20-mile deathwish.

Bob - 8.3/9:15

Thanks to Chuck's run in the rain, I had the fortitude to get up at 4:30am against the tide of daylight savings time and catch up on my miles.

Bob - 5.0/9:20

I hide my head in shame as I read Chuck's post, and write my own entry.

I too went out in the crappy weather to run a long run - 9 miles for me. I too have never been wetter. However, a couple of seemingly close claps of thunder finally sent me in early at 5 miles. I was also going to write that I didn't feel that great from a bit of drinking the night before, but why?

I shall gather strength from Chuck's perserverence.

Chuck - 16.75 - 8:52

40 out of 40. But it wasn't easy. The first problem was trying to figure out when to run. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms all day. About 12:30 I finally decided it was now or never. I didn't really feel great as I started out, but I kept reassuring myself that anything under 9:00 was acceptable.

Ran down Cuming Street to the river, around Gallup and the Qwest Center. I then took 10th street down to I-80 by Rosenblatt Stadium. I headed back west until I got the Field Club trail. Realizing that my route was going to be too short I had to make diverted runs through Dundee, around Memorial Park, and then around my neighborhood a couple of times.

I'm not sure that I have been any wetter on a run. It rained the whole time, and twice it started coming down fairly hard. Only when I was in Memorial Park was there thunder or lightning in the distance. I was also concerned that my GPS may not work if it got too wet. No problems though.

I'm scared of 20 miles!