Where does the time go?

I've been really busy since going back to work (6000+ emails waiting for me) and busy at home with the kids who have decided that they'll be on some strange bedtime schedule that doesn't correspond to either Hawaii time or local time.  I have gotten out for a few runs since returning from vacation. If I had time I'd write more about them, but in a nutshell:

Saturday 5/29: Ran out to the Tunnel trail and noticed that it was getting pretty overgrown (and muddy). Continued on to Kopachuck middle school because they have a big grass soccer field. I took off my shoes and ran 8 lengths of the field. Using gmaps-pedometer.com, I estimated that to be about a mile. The shoes went back on my wet feet and I went back home the way I came. The barefoot running felt really good. I felt steady and efficient. I noticed that my upper body didn't bob and bounce as much.

5.6mi
~50 min.

Monday, I got out for a short run in the BOB jog stroller with my daughter. A local mom-n-pop convenience store just re-opened after 6 months of renovation so my daughter wanted to go with me for a treat. I grabbed a pair of garden clippers and ran back to the tunnel trail. I clipped everything that was growing over the trail while she directed me where to go next and what to cut. After the trail maintenance, we headed around the roads to the store and stopped for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate milk. They're more her taste, but I was happy to help her eat them.



4.5mi
~45 min. with all of the stopping to cut down branches / bushes / vines.

Today (Wednesday) I ran at lunchtime from the gym. It was raining the whole time but that didn't really bother me. The temps were in the mid 50s which felt nice with a long sleeve shirt on. I ran out the corridor trail which was also wet and very overgrown. There were so many plants covering the trail that the rain collecting on the tall grass soaked my shorts, socks, and shoes. Instead of going into the Bridle Trails I turned right and headed down 132nd until I hit Old Redmond Road. From there I made another right and then ran to Grass Lawn Park. I planned to do a barefoot mile on the soccer field but when I got there I found that in addition to the Astroturf field, they had a nice spongey rubber track around it. The track was 0.20 miles in diameter. I ran 6 laps, alternating each lap between the track and the edge of the Astroturf. It felt good to run barefoot but I could feel my calves and achilles start to get sore by the last two laps. I was happy with 1.2 miles of barefoot. I wrung my socks out and ran back to the gym.

5.3mi
43:11

On all of my recent runs (over the last month or so) I've been trying to focus on landing mid-foot instead of on my heels. I feel like it's coming along nicely and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I hope it makes a difference in the knee pain I get from running, that's about 90% of why I'm doing all of this.

The knee has been doing well recently so I hope I can pick the mileage up a bit this month after a very low volume May.