570.57 !

That's exactly how many running miles I have put these aging legs through in the last six months.    That's a smidgeon under 22 miles per week on average.  Had I not collided with a car last month and forced into some recovery down-time, it would have been more.   But all in all, my inner-tyrant-training-demons are quietly satisfied.

And summer is just beginning .....

Here are the upcoming highlights:

Mid-June is the Epic Relay.  Same format and approximate distance as our beloved Hood to Coast, but closer to home ..... in fact one leg of it runs right behind my house .... you cannot get closer than that!  It also has far fewer participants, is cheaper and easier to get in ..... BUT .... as much fun?  That remains to be seen.   It will be my first experience on an all-girl team.   I will be, like always, the oldest one in the van.   Some of my teammates are young enough to be my daughters, including my actual daughter, better known in this blog as Favorite Daughter and Favorite Running Partner.  But I am not the slowest which ..... means nothing really.   Relay teams are all about fun and not speed, which ALL slower teams say Because.It's.True.   Fast, competitive teams simply CANNOT be having as much fun as we have!   (Wikipedia would concur, if it was asked .....)

Late August will be my 4th Hood to Coast.  Will it be my last?  Every year from about January through June, I ALWAYS say I'm ready to retire.  And this year is no different, but I've learned to take myself with a BIG grain of salt.  So we'll see.  One year at a time.  We'll also see if HTC fixed their big mess of 2011.  They reduced the number of teams this year so we're hopeful it will go back to being our old HTC that we all know and love.

September brings the Best Dam Run .... my favorite 10K.

That's pretty much it.   Not that that's ALL I'll be doing ..... we have some BIG plans, but not everything involves running.  Yes, you heard that here.

Oh, and we finished our annual Run Run Ye Saints last week and it was a smashing success!!!  A post is forthcoming.

For now, revel in the fact that SUMMER IS JUST BEGINNING!!!