"Oh, the craic was good in Cricklewood and they wouldn't leave the Crown, w/ glasses flying and Biddys crying sure Paddy was going to town, Oh mother dear,I'm over and I never will go back what keeps me here is rake of beer the ladies and the craic.....and down the glen came McAlpine's men w/ their shovels slung behind them twas in the pub that they drank the sub and up the spike you'll find them they sweated blood and they washed down mud w/ Pints and quarts of beer and now we're on the road again w/ McAlpine's Fusiliers"
McAlpine's Fusiliers-The Dubliners
Jaysus, what a week,much like waiting for the Luas or the DART{Dublin Area Rapid Transit} ye wait for ages for one..... and three show up together.........
Monday August 25th Into the final week of August......thank christ says I!!!!! still officially Summer but feeling like Fall and w/ so much at stake, I began the week on 73 miles w/ a chance to not only eclipse March's tally of 78 but also potentially log my longest run of the year w/ a 12 miler on Sunday......this would give me 105 miles for the month something I hadn't done since February of last year,the weather gods looked like they were on my side all week but the auld chestnut work.....always ready, willing and able to bollix up my runs at the drop of a hat, ergo the watchword of the week was caution, take each day as it came and hope that the running gods, the weather gods and the work gods were on the same page for once.....
Monday was an easy/recovery 5 miler off the back of Sundays 10k so no need to time it, three 5 milers last week along the Schuylkill River Trail meant I knew where the 2.5 mile turnaround was and I was able to enjoy some easy miles in 83 degree heat w/ only 38% humidity
TADA!!! Officially 78 miles tied w/ March, if I only got a mile tomorrow that would be enough for a new record.......but I was eyeing the other two targets, after a 28 mile week in the final week of March and another three weeks later fast forward 18 weeks, after the near miss three weeks ago when I toiled in unbearable heat & humidity Monday thro Thursday I had to settle for 27 miles w/ a hard fought 10 miles on the Sunday......remember kids Close only counts in a game of Horseshoes........
Tuesday August 26th BOOM!!! A new monthly record of 83 miles thanks to a 5 miler but of course seldom does anything go to plan in the realm of the Shamrock Warrior......
Firstly a typo on Monday of 68 miles not 78 miles on my social media outlets had me scrambling to my PC at work post run to go back and re add up the previous 3 weeks......mercifully it was just a typo and I was still on pace for a 32 mile week and longest month since Feb 24 and a return to triple digit miles, secondly Hal the little bollix Garmin decided today of all days would be gas to act up and act the bollix on the day I was looking to set a new record
When mile 1 came up too early I knew the rest of my splits would be off so I kept going along the Schuylkill River Trail past where Hal indicated 2.5 miles,it was off by 15 ticks or whatever unit of measurement a Garmin uses, subsequently when Hal indicated mile 5 on the Ben Franklin Parkway I kept running till 5.15 to give me 5 miles on the nose,my subsequent splits and pace have an * next to them for this run....and any other run Hal has acted the bollix....it was 78 degrees and 33% humidity.....and barely a cloud in the sky which is what usually fecks up the Garmin....not sure what Hal's issue was today.?......the little bollix.......
Wednesday August 27th Decided Hal could stay on the charger at home, the next two days speed, pace, splits were immaterial what was golden was the miles,at 77 degrees and 42% it really did have a Fall feel to the run,I believe I said this either last week or the week b4, September may have one {god forbid} two final "feck yous" w/ heat and humidity b4 it's done .......I hope I'm wrong I can attest to running a handful of PDR's {Philadelphia Distance Run's} in mid September that were humid as fuck so let's not get our hopes up too much just yet.....that said feck yeah let's enjoy these Fall like conditions at the tail end of August
At 15 miles for the week but more importantly 88 for the month I had the safety net of knowing if work threw a spanner in the mix tomorrow yes it would feck me for my potential 32 mile week but still have me on pace for a triple digit month....providing Saturdays long run went off w/out a hitch.......for once time to channel my "Inner Barbie".......this bitch wants it all..........
Thursday August 28th Not even " copy and paste" conditions as the humidity was down by 10% for 32% but identical temps at 77 degrees compared to yesterday
It's been a minute since I last logged four 5 milers Monday thro Thursday......wanna hazard when it was....???? try the second week of April when I was on pace for 32 miles only to have Sundays planned 12 miler end at mile 8........ye just couldn't make this shite up could ye???
At 93 miles now going into Saturdays scheduled 12 mile long run the safety net was IF it went tits up at least let me get 7 miles in to return to the realm of triple digit mileage, at this point w/ conditions cooling off I'm confident that beating 28 miles for the week would eventually happen sooner rather than later if not this week.....that said the chance to land The Grand Slam" longest week,best monthly mileage, longest run and return to the rarefied air of triple digit miles for the month was there for the taking.......and I wanted it!!!
Saturday August 30th It had all come down to this,12 miles longest run of the year {technically the Love Run 1/2 Marathon in March is my longest run but in terms of long runs in training I have two 10 milers under my belt one on March 2nd in prep for the aforementioned Love Run 1/2 Marathon and the other three weeks ago on August 10th}
As has been my won't on the weekends for my recent long runs I had to wait till lunchtime for more favourable conditions w/ the humidity, w/ so much on the line today flying in the face of it or playing fast and loose wasn't an option, I would like to eventually be in a position to knock out the Saturday or Sunday long run in the morning but today felt like caution was the better part of valour so 12.40pm it was when the temps were a comfortable 70 degrees and the humidity an even more comfortable 40%
As w/ most double digit long runs the blueprint is 9 min mile pace.....12 x 9 = 108....or 1.48 in running terms if ye'd offered me that b4 I set out I'd have willingly taken it,that said anything slower but still a complete 12 miles would still be acceptable also
8.31 for the opening mile happy out w/ that, 8.17 for mile 2.......which in fairness has a major downhill off the Grays Ferry Avenue bridge into Grays Ferry Crescent hence the faster split,now onto the extended Schuylkill River Trail
8.38 at mile 3 b4 a pair of 8.53 splits for miles 4 and 5 and a 8.48 split at mile 6, 50.40 at the turn roughly a mile and a quarter from Lloyd Hall and the start of Boathouse Row, at this point I wasn't thinking about a potential 1.41.20 finish based off the first half,first order of business mile 7 and triple digits for the month
8.40 at mile 7.....BOOM!! a smile and a fist pump for yer man here as I'd finally returned to the "promised land" of triple digit mileage per month, go back to August of 2023 when I logged 103 miles I then went on to record 6 triple digit mileage months in the next 7 months the outlier being October when I had to settle for 87 miles.....could I do that again? let's take one month at a time and see,the more immediate issue was could I nail a 12 miler to not only log 32 miles for the week but also record my longest run of the year period but w/ one eye on the upcoming Philadelphia Distance Run a 12 miler this week sets up the potential of 14 miles next week and IF that goes to plan hopefully a 16 miler the week after, it would be nice heading into PDR on the front foot after a few tough summers
8.42 at mile 8 and 8.34 at mile 9 heading over the recently opened bridge that extends the Schuylkill River Trail into Grays Ferry I started to ponder how to handle the last 2 miles......
8.44 for mile 10 the knee lift and leg turnover were beginning to get away from me, as is my won't I like to increase my long runs in 2 mile increments, had I more time {ie if it hadn't been such a bastard summer, again and my shorter long runs hadn't gone tits up I'd have that time .....but I don't}I could up them by a mile,the step up from 6 to 8 miles and then 8 to 10 miles was a grind so I didn't expect any less today going from 10 to 12 miles.....to that end like I did three weeks ago rather than tackle the steep uphill of the Grays Ferry Avenue bridge.....and still have a mile to go along 49th street I remained on the flat comfort of the the Schuylkill River Trail doing an out and back that gave me my final 2 miles
9.16 for mile 11.....hey ho there went keeping everything at sub 9 min mile pace, a battle for another day, now the focus was on the final mile,9.33 as I did exit the trail and begin the climb up Grays Ferry Avenue bridge at 9.90 and get the final 10 clicks to finish in 1.45.30 off 8.48 mile pace
BOOM!!!!/Start The Mixer.......longest run of the year,longest mileage week of the year, best monthly mileage, and a return to triple digit mileage after 18 months...........what's the craic!!!!!!!!!!
It's taken a while to get there but I always felt in my black Celtic born again Pagan heart it would happen, the fact I got them all in one week was sweet, the fact I had to wait and work my hole off to get them even sweeter.....in the time honoured question" what the fuck do ye do for an encore?" hopefully what I did back in 2023/24 and string together six or seven months of triple digit months, lets see what September has to offer?????
