Happy Father’s Day to all who are Dad’s. This is the first Father’s Day that I do not get to talk with my Dad. It was not an easy day at times and while life goes on without him, there is still a huge hole in my life and heart that he filled.

Getting me to run before 10:00 AM is a big deal, but with the weather we have been having, it seemed like it was a lot smarter than running in 80*F plus temps, then adding in that the humidity was expected to get higher today…well sometimes the wife is a lot smarter than I am, but I am glad that I listened to her suggestion.

So I did Bennie’s first walk and then after a few chores, got my butt moving first thing in the morning – mmmm 7:09 AM

The Run

Planned run and focus: 4-5 miles at a comfortable pace and if not too zapped at the end do 4-5 strides.

• Course: Notta Road O/B
• Weather: Partly Cloudy/Hazy, 64*F, Humidity 96%, Wind 3 mph from ENE
• Distance: 5.03
• Time: 46:53
• Pace: 9:19

Splits:

• 1.0 – 9:16
• 2.0 – 9:12
• 3.0 – 9:12
• 4.0 – 9:15
• 5.0 – 9:41

What did I do well?

Stuck to the plan and just ran comfortably and looking at the mile splits very consistently as well. At least until I came back up Steven Hill and did my usual slow down.

I stopped worrying so much about my stride, form, mechanics and just ran. Actually it felt like I relaxed a bit more during the run without attempting to change things.

I didn’t look at my watch until I finished the run. I knew I was running slower than usual, but I was running simply by effort and even though I wanted to peek a couple of times when it buzzed for a mile split – I didn’t.

What do I need to work on?

The heat/humidity acclimation is not quite done yet. I could feel how hard I was working by the time I turned around at Notta Road.

Hill work.

The biggest reason that I dislike running first thing is that 95% of the early morning runs end up with me jumping into the woods or other convenient place after the first mile and this morning was no exception. Yes, I went before I walked Bennie, not that it made any difference.

Shoes:

New Balance Beacon v1 – Did everything I wanted from them.

I did get two pair of running shoes as Father’s Day gifts.

Mizuno Inspire 15 – I took them out for a walk with Bennie later and I have feeling they will be a bit noisy, due to the amount of rubber underfoot, but at the same time they felt comfortable walking 2.5 miles down-back on the rocky sections that the Beacons have a tough time with.

New Balance Beacon v2 – For when my current v1s get to 300 miles. I find that after 300 miles there is usually a difference in how they feel. At least that was my experience with the other pair of Beacon v1 and v2 that I have had.

What was I thinking while running?

About Dad, the good, the bad and some of the ugly. Our relationship when we were younger was not always smooth and at times not even friendly, but the over last 20-30 years we grew to like one another for who we were, not some unrealistic image of a person that doesn’t bear any resemblance to reality. Which I think is the way it should be.

We all have our good and bad points along with other personality traits that make others go mmmm.

Dad, I do miss our conversations and that shit-eating grin you would get when you zinged someone, usually me.

Initially I was going to turn around at Wildwood Drive and go back to do enough strides to get me up to 5.0 miles. With all the wool gathering I was doing I missed the turn and ended up heading on up to Notta Road. No biggie, but I sure did cuss myself out, when I had that extra mile under my feet in 96% humidity going up Stevens Hill.

I also did a lot of thinking about what I think about leadership, loyalty, courage, and honor. These subjects have been on my mind a lot lately and I am attempting to make sense in my own mind about a lot of things that have been happening over the last month and what I see, read and hear. I do think about this a lot when I run lately.

Since I was not focusing on improving my running this morning and was just running, on the way back I thought about whether I need/want/should continue worrying so much about how I run and focus more on just running. I still have too many questions in my own head about what do I really want to do after watching that video yesterday of me running. Now I just have more to think about and how will I move forward in whatever direction I decide on.

Oh yeah, no strides today.

Just lots of thinking and missing Dad.