In which the first digit is a four

That's right: a four. For the first time ever, I ran more than forty miles in a week. That feels pretty good.

1.
Monday, 4:00pm
Eight and a quarter around Montverde with the team. Coming down Osgood Road, the oranges are nearly ripe. I can't wait until the citrus stand goes up by campus. I was ravenous when this run was over...went home thinking about the wedge of brie we had in the refrigerator.

2.
Tuesday, 5:00pm
There was no practice on Tuesday because the boarding students had their annual pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner at 5:30, and we wanted them going to dinner looking sharp. So I went down to the West Orange Trail and ran eight. Things would have been a little better if somebody hadn't turned off the water to the aid stations along the route. And I felt a little twinge of something in my throat that I spent the first few miles worrying about, thinking what kind of illness I might be coming down with and what I might do to avoid actually coming down with it. But somewhere around mile five, in spite of being thirsty and in spite of the little spot of pain in my throat, I realized that what I was doing was easy, that I felt like I could run all day, all night if need be. I know that isn't true, know that there is a limit, but it was a nice feeling, running easy and letting the miles just fall behind me.

3.
Wednesday, 4:15pm
Easy four and nearly a half with the team today. Felt pretty sluggish, but that's just a result of the mileage build-up this week...in fact, I'd say that Wednesday felt like Thursday usually feels.

4.
Wednesday, 7:15pm
I dropped Hillary off at the dance studio and then ran three down by Lake Minneola. I felt like I was working pretty hard here, harder than the results would indicate--I felt like I was running 8's or maybe a few seconds under, but they was really 8:21's.

5.
Thursday, 4:10pm
Our last cross country practice of the season: the Easy Six. Susan ran most of this workout with me, with everybody else trailing behind. Some of them wanted a speech when we were done. Mostly, I just want them to keep running during the off season so we'll be ready when track starts up in January. It was a strange feeling, too, since over half the team was already gone--some of them to basketball, some to soccer.

6.
Saturday, 11:30am
Cross country state finals were Saturday morning, so I was up way before dawn and went out to Dade City to see Ciara run. Then I made a quick stop back at the school, where the grand opening of our new athletic complex was winding down. And then to the West Orange Trail for twelve. Can I tell you that there still was no water at two of the stations? Come on, Oakland...please? Nothing flashy about Saturday's run, just easy 9's pretty consistently the whole way. Still fighting that bit of illness from Tuesday, which seemed to have moved out of my throat and into my sinuses. But things felt pretty good, even with a touch of sickness and the increase in miles this week. The OUC Half is in two weeks, and I'm still feeling pretty good about it.

Total miles this week: 41.7