93 - Perc E Bust (Full Pint) - 14.5M

I met the boyz for some hillz. Long time since I hit up this workout and it went well. Kevin, recently off a 15:05 5K PR crushed this workout out front with Paul and I trading off who covered the hill better. Justin wasn't feeling too good but managed to finish off all five of the repeats. I grabbed a total of 14.5 miles but did some serious damage to my pinky toe that appeared to bend underneath my foot. Most likely the racing shoe I was wearing is too small. This fine brew called Perc E Bust by Full Pint Brewing Company was a real sweet beer as far as Porters go.

92 - Black IPA (Dock Street Brewing) - 9M

Hayley and I enjoyed a great run with sixty degree weather. After we hit up Dock Street Brewery for some home made pizza and beer. The Black Rye IPA (8.3%) was delicious and Hayley has a summeresk beer that sounded like see spot run.  All and all a great night.

91 - Grand Cru (Flying Fish) - 10.5M

An easy ten and a half with Skipper. Another nice day and tomorrow will be some hot! For the brew I went with Grand Cru (6.9%) by Flying Fish. This one had a floral tone but it was done right. A decent summer choice I think despite it being a winter reserve. So time to make some tough choices here with day 100 coming up soon. The run streak is easy to keep but this beer a day is shredding my wallet.  Day 100 seems a nice round number to call it on. I still have plenty of great beers to look forward to just not at +$3 a bottle. Of course the money that I could be using to buy beer is going to the State of Maine, who believe they are entitled to six months of PA state income. Always looking for a handout, those rat bastards, thanks for double taxing me.

90 - (Green Flash) 14 miles

Got tons of social running going on. Between the GPS and the first route I ran a total of fourteen miles! This was another top tier brew and I hope I'm not just saying that because it cost mad dollars yo, $3.75 to be exact. West Coast IPA (8.2%) by Green Flash Brewing Co. packs a nice punch for a smooth IPA. It's not overly hoppy and certainly won't be heart burn candidate, plus its real yum.

89 - Dogfish Head (11 miles)

Recovery run and my legs weren't that bad. The loss still stings a little but I got my ass completely kicked so that's that for now. To be continued.. Anyway for the brew it was Namaste (4.8%) by DogFish Head Brewery. This one was just okay. I mean it was a fine beer but I am not a fan of the flower and citrus.

88 - PHILLY LOVE RUN - 21 miles

I met Skip about a mile from the start line of Philadelphia's second ever "Love Run Half Marathon". It was bitterly cold and windy. Needless to say I was already making some excuses for myself when Skip jogged up to me at quarter after seven. I got a decent warm up and I was able to leave my pants with Skip parents (who I hadn't seen since the wedding so that was awesome).

As the gun sounds I stayed conservative but shortly thereafter I took the lead. No one wanted it. The sun was strong and it was blinding me the first mile out. I traded the lead once with a guy named Shawn briefly and split 10:53 and 21:45 at 2 and 4 miles respectively.

To this point things were going well. I certainly didn't feel in form, like I was tearing off 5:20 flat pace BUT I was keeping to my goal of sub 5:30s and feeling okay. Unfortunately with no one now near me I was running straight into the wind. Miles five and six were slower. As we hit the hill I glanced behind me and noticed a Bryn Mawr runner closing. Shit, not good I thought.

I worked up the hill, around the park and back down the hill. I wasn't looking back but he was closing fast now. Finally he passed me on the far side of the road. My legs muscles weren't responding. I told him nice job but he kept looking straight ahead. At this point it was somewhere after eight miles and I was fighting to keep the pace in the mid five thirties.

Once we made the turn around after Strawberry Mansion bridge we had the wind at our backs. First place was increasing the lead and third was quite a bit behind. The guys had been out by the bridge but unfortunately my race was pretty much over by that point.  I tried to force the pace faster while I paced slower runners cheering on their way out. I finished in second by a wide margin, glad to be done.

The race wasn't a disaster at 1:12:45. It was short of my goal but sill made a decent stepping stone. It's hard to lead a race for eight miles and be beat that badly but as anything it's a nice learning experience. Also it was a 21 mile day so there's that. I met up with Hayley who had a very nice personal best on the day and finished fourth for women.  I enjoyed a few beers but for the day's brew I am counting is Hop Devil (6.7%) by Victory Brewing Co (Downingtown, PA).

87 - IPA (Long Trail) 7.5M

Tomorrow I race a half marathon. Considering I haven't done any race specific workouts it should be real interesting. I ran an easy seven and half miles in the morning. I headed all the way to the ballparks with my sis to pick up my number. We ended up having a couple beers since our numbers entitled us to buy one, get one free. I went with an old draft stand by, Long Trail Brewing IPA (6%). Can't go wrong with a Vermont brew, those guys do it right.