Day 305

• 13.25 miles
• 7:42/mile pace
• 0530
• Tempe, AZ -- IMAZ loop plus a bit
• Well, another collosal failure.   Seriously, I didn't have it at all...and I can't even think of any excuses.   Previous disappointing long runs included G.I. issues, heat, whatever...this one, just plain inability to come close to the scheduled pace.   By not close I mean, similar to how far off I'd have been from the podium if I'd have run in the 100 meter final against (Olympic spoiler alert! -- NBC coverage is so frustrating...we live in America and can't even watch anything live...???)  Usain Bolt and the rest of the insanely fast finals field.   Not sure what to make of it, not wanting to give up, but wondering if perhaps I should...by giving up I mostly mean adjusting my goals, but when I was supposed to speed up at the end of this long run and ended up actually slowing down overall, well, at that point I was wondering if adjustment of my goals might include refamiliarizing myself with my golf clubs.   I definitely have confidence issues right now, but I'm thinking there must be something more to it than that as concern over ability to maintain certain speeds shouldn't affect me to the point of not being able to make previously (like a month or 2 ago) easily maintained speeds.  Odd, but hey, at least I didn't get eaten by any alligators.  

Day 291

• 14.51 miles
• 8:27/mile pace
• 0625
• From/To Pat and Kathryn's -- Mt. Pleasant, SC
• Long very slow run that turned out to be MUCH tougher than I could've imagined.   I'm not sure if it was a dehydration issue resulting from the shocking amount of sweat loss the humidity contributed too -- I can honestly say that I have never finished a run as through and through wet as I was, excepting runs that involved rain or sprinklers -- or if it was due to fatigue brought on by the day at the beach followed by kyacking on Saturday, but by the end of the run I was dry heaving and wondering what in the world happened to me.   It was actually kind of weird, but I was happy to have finished the mileage and OK with the pace considering the last mile was painfully slow...literally.   Best news was that once I had some liquid and food in me I felt just fine...the slow speed even seemed to save my legs as I didn't feel nearly as tired as I usually do after a run of 10+ miles, which is fortunate because we had quite a fun day planned with friends going out on the boat etc.
• Multi-sport:   Loosely associated with this running streak, I used to kinda half consider myself a multi-sport guy in relation to endurance sports...I'll always consider myself a multi-sport guy in relaiton to appreciating/enjoying sports, but that's a different topic completely.   Well, it seems that Charleston, SC brings out my interest in multi-sport endurance events in special ways...I did my very first dual sport effort in Charleston years ago, in a neighborhood called "I'on" in an event called "I'on man."   I still have and wear the t-shirt regularly...the event was 3/4 of a mile swim around a lake followed by a 5k and I was barely able to move for the 3 days following the event due to exhaustion, but I was proud to be an "I'on man."   So, now, fast forward about 5 or 6 years to present day and I've done a few triathlon's and then basically given up multi-sport events in favor of the much easier to schedule running streak, but having been to Charleston, SC I thought about multi-sport a little bit.
• Flip flops:   Even less associated, I thought I'd share this little story with you -- so, as mentioned above, after the long run (sorry, I'm trying to tie them together, though there will be no running in the rest of this text), the whole Phoenix Wein family went out with our friends on the Stono River in/around the Charleston, SC area.   It was fantastic and helped by the fact that we have relatives in the area who could lend me stuff, like the flip flops I borrowed from my cousin's wife.   They fit well and were very functional...note the past tense, which I will now explain.   OK, so, our friends live in this amazing house with a view of the marshlands and river, but they also have their own pond/lake in their backyard, which looks very cool and got me thinking about how awesome it would be if I were able to swim every day as easily, potentially even more easily, than running every day -- the pond is maybe a half acre total surface space and shaped a bit like an oval, with the short side being north south from their back door (short side being about 40-45 yards across, length being 70-75 yards long/across),   So, with that in mind I asked my friend "How deep is your lake?"   He said he didn't know, which I thought was amazing since I was certain I would know if I lived there, but he estimated 4 to 5 feet deep because he said it was man made etc.   Well, that estimate didn't really satisfy me because if it wasn't that deep then how could I swim my laps reliably, right?   Anyway, I told him after we got off the boat I would wade out there and check it out for him...and to satisfy my curiousity, of course.   He said that would be cool -- so, after returning from our day on the river, he and his wife went to take the boat out of the water, Becca took the boys into our friends house to get them cleaned up for the trip back to our cousins house and I put my cousin-in-laws flip flops back on to wade out into the lake, since I was concerned there would be sharp stuff on the bottom etc. and then proceeded to begin my depth charting mission.  Here are the results (starting directely from the back of their house -- so, the bisecting the length of the pond/lake):
• First 5 feet from shore:   1 to 2 feet deep
• 5 to 10 fee from shore:   4-5 feet deep
• 10 yards from shore:       6 feet deep   
• 20 yards from the shore:  6.5 feet deep (this is what I consider the dead center of the lake/pond)
• OK, so, obviously, at this point I'm swimming/treading water since I'm only 5'8.5" tall, but it is warm and comfortable, so I figured I'd continue to perform depth charting further along the length to make sure it was uniform depth and because dropping down under the water, letting my flip flopped feet touch the bottom and then resurfacing couldn't be any easier, so why not? -- Well, because after doing the 2nd additional depth checking decent I was treading water facing away from the house towards some marsh grass (2 feet tallish weeds) when honest to God a freakin alligator launched itself straight at me into the water from about 25 feet away resulting in me setting the world record for unaided swim speed while also firing off Hail Mary's at a clip that only priests, nuns and those of us who spent 16 years in Catholic school could possibly replicate.   There is absolutely NO WAY that Michael Phelps could've beat me to the shore, I cannot be convinced otherwise.  I seriously have never been so scared, for my life, in my life.   Upon reaching the shore and sprinting out of the water the much smaller than I originally thought, and infinitely smaller than he will be in every retelling of this story that I author, alligator was circling my cousin-in-laws flip flops in the center of the water.  Hearing my exasperated announcement of "Gator!" Becca then came out to see my adversary and estimates it to be 3 and a half feet long, which I guess technically is correct.   So, obviously, I'm thinking, since I easily set the world speed record for swimming, I should get back into multi-sport endurance events again, right?!