2 weeks out

Hay is in the barn and all of that. Training for this marathon just hasn't been at the same level as the BQ attempt at Rocket City in 2004. Saturday was the perfect day for a long run, but wanted to do my last one two weeks out on Sunday. Saturday I went 10 miles nice and easy from the house to the Greenway. Leaves were crunchy under foot and the sunrise over the river was spectacular.

Dylan and I went to the MTSU game later in the afternoon. Great day for a football game, 60 degrees and sunshine. Raiders just eked out a win. They dominated the first half, but per usual fell asleep in the second half. Turned cold once the clouds moved in with the wind and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Dylan and I met Paula and Darrell at Mellow Mushroom after the game. We've been Mellow Mushroom fans since 1996 and our days in Atlanta. The "mighty meaty" is my favorite, but I really did like the new "buffalo chicken" last night with an oatmeal porter. They took the jerked chicken off the menu. Plus, the beer selection at the "shroom" is the best in "boro".

Back in our Atlanta days Taco Mac had the biggest beer selection, but Mellow Mushroom was a close second. We haven't tried the Flying Saucer in Nashville or any of the other places with big beer selections. We have made quite a few trips to the Blackstone brewery in Nashville, great food and beer. Whenever we are out of town, a micro brewery is always first on the list for food. We have yet to be disappointed with that tactic. Lots of good food and beer.

Sunday's run was supposed to be 18-20 miles. I decided 18 miles with either some tempo in the middle or marathon pace would be a good workout. Speedy and FM2 were heading out to Lascassas to run the St. Johns loop. I wanted to tag along and try and get a few fast or marathon pace miles. Fast stuff didn't happen. FM2 stayed home and I couldn't keep up with Speedy from the start. Only managed 3 miles at a sub 8:00 pace. The hills just ate me up. The back half I started to cool off and Speedy was out of sight. I slowed considerably, couldn't keep up the monkey pace. Average pace for the run was 8:33. Not the way I wanted the last long run to go.

The rest of Sunday was a lazy day. Finished mowing the grass and laid around all day watching football. Good to see the Titans can change the game plan and come away with a win. That seemed to be the thing they haven't done in the last couple of years. Dylan rented Batman for the WII. I just can't get the hang of those computer games. We ended up watching the movie, "Agent Cody Banks".