18 May, Saturday.  "Reality Sets In"  My friend Kevin Murphy met me in the White Mountains of NH to recon the ascent trail I'm planning on using to get above treeline when I attempt to run the Presidential traverse in 2 months. 4100' feet of climbing in 4 miles.  Not much running on my part.  The idea slowly set in that after that climb, in this traverse attempt, I must do 6-7 more peaks at that same pace or faster, was sobering to say the least.  Was not discouraged at the end of our run, because I was way too tired. 9 mi, 4300' elevation. 3:55
23 May, Thursday. "9th Anniversary of my Dad's death" Never an easy day, but I always try to meditate on the fact that for the last 3 years of his life, my dad loved running and fitness. He was a ripped 54 year old man that loved life, literature, his family and his students and always 'carpeied the diem'. I enjoyed a low-key, easy run in the city forest trails with my border collie. 4 mi 125' elevation. 0:34
24 May, Friday. "Take Advantage" We were supposed to head down to Long Island for the weekend, but Denny was sick. It was raining heavily.  I decided to hit the gym for a workout.  Typically, I hate this, but I've come up with a great mountain running indoor workout.  Warmup: 25-50 pushups. Torture: Treadmill rockwall at 0 or overhang at a tough pace for 100-300' (usually 5-15 mins) Continued torture: 20 mins treadmill: 5 min warmup on even level. 15 min 15 deg incline, at either 1 min run/1 min walk or 2 min run/1 min walk. 5 mins slow run on even level.
26 May, Sunday. "Flatlander mountain running" We decided to continue on down to LI on Saturday and the following day, I had a great workout with family and friends on my beloved beach.  In the absence of mountains, I used to train on the 150' dunes on the LI sound.  A retro workout for me, that brought me back to my high school days, we ran 1 mile on the beach to the dunes, did as many climbs as possible in 20 mins and returned.  An all barefoot workout!  2.6 mi 350' elevation. 0:55
27 May, Monday. "Quickie" I'm never usually good at the quickie workout, but with lots of family visiting and time, I knew I wasn't going to have time to set aside for a long run this weekend.  Luckily, my brother Ryan lives right down the road from access to the 125 mile long Paumanok path that runs from Rocky Point to Montauk through the beautiful eastern LI pine barrens.  Saoirse and I did a 2 mile tempo run, and it was strange not to run up hills higher than 10 feet.  2 mi 30' elevation. 0:14
30 May, Thursday. "Denial" Thinking for 3 days that I wouldn't catch the horrible chest cold that enveloped Denny and Lindsay, I began to get sick.  I did a woefully pitiful run in the Ellsworth city forest. 2.5 mi 75' elevation. 0.35
31 May, Friday. "More denial, this time in Hell"  At 95 degrees in Eastern Maine and a full on raging chest cold, I decided not to rest and went for a time trial attempt on Bald hill in Dedham Maine.  Bad idea, but did shockingly well! 1.3 mi 600' elevation 0:14 
1 June, Saturday. "Giving in....kinda" I realized I needed rest. It was time to recharge and give up the long run for the weekend and focus on healing.  Somehow this turned into me talking Lindsay into a 3 mile steep hike on Schoodic mountain with Denny in the carrier.  Another 90 degree day.  We went SLOW. The 2 of us could barely breathe and we took many stops to blow snot rockets, but we took our time and were rewarded with 360-degree views and wonderfully cool breezes at the summit of the 1100' mountain.
2 June, Sunday. "Acceptance." I lay down on the couch all day with small spurts of getting up to help with Denny's shennanigans. 
4 June, Tuesday. "Sorta feeling better." After work run up Little and Big Chick hills. Short and steep ascents and a quick descent back on fire roads.  First real elevation gains since the White mountains. Ouchy, but not too ouchy. Ascended both little mountains in 30 mins with a few wrong turns. Things are looking up to increase the distance and elevation gain this weekend .  3.25 mi 1200' 41:00


Following are some pictures from some of those training sessions: