I finally made it back to Memphis after spending 4 weeks in Fort Worth. I was working a temporary assignment at the Southern Region Headquarters as the Regional Operations Center Duty Officer. What a great experience! I had a really good time working with all the names I’ve heard in the past but never could imagine their face. I have a new respect for all those folks! Wow!

As far as training is concerned, I busted my hump while I was there. There were steep hills and a really cool running trail along the Trinity River. Oddly enough it was called the Trinity Trail! Anyway – the longest run I did on the trail was about 12 miles on my first weekend there. Then I later ran 10 miles during my last week there…due to missing 5 days of running due to heavy, flooding rains. Then I had to travel back to Memphis, and missed another few days due to travel and rain.

I’ve been back running for about 3 days now. I had to recover from traveling and giving Lisa some time to herself. I ran a 3 mile pace run in about 23 minutes. Not bad and certainly faster than ever before. I realize I still need to pick it up. I will say that my long runs and weekly mileage getting into the upper 30’s has helped. I’m not sure I ran hard enough because I wasn’t totally winded when it was all over. I also ordered some new shoes while I was gone. I used one of my two new pairs for this run. They are just the newest Saucony Ride 2’s.

Sunday morning I ran about 8 miles which was pretty easy considering that I’ve been running almost twice that distance. So that was an easy workout. I’ve been a day behind since all the rain both in Texas and Tennessee. I should do my longest runs on Saturdays.

Today…Monday afternoon I ran 7 hills at race pace. This was definitely not easy and by far, my least favorite workout. My heartrate peaked at 186 bpm which is an all-time high since I started logging my heartrate. I did feel as though I was about to throw up after hill number 6. I think I’ll be sore tomorrow.

All this pain will hopefully pay off on December 5 when I run the St. Jude half marathon.