My apologies, as you have been a FT (flyertalk!) member for about a year, I had assumed you would be familiar with the abbreviations we use around here.

MR means "mileage run", flights taken with the main if not the only purpose of earning frequent flyer miles.

ITA is a very useful research tool: matrix.itasoftware.com. Read the help page. They don't sell tickets but that's why they can be objective and reliable. Change the sale city to see prices in another currency.

My suggestion to you was that instead of throwing away part of the ticket, why not take a mini vacation in the middle and earn the miles.