Dave: Does "Man of War" sound better? We could drop the portugueses if that's not a part of your ancestry. I got the shoes for $49.48 + shipping for a discontinued color. I love it that the manufacturers do that sometimes to make the retailers change over stock. Trail shoes are all the same color after I use them for awhile. "Mud". I like Steep & Cheap because it is operated by backcountry.com. They still provide service after a sale.

Pictures like this make me even more determined to be adequately trained for my marathon. Thanks for the inspiration.

Wow, Kim, this relay certainly will go better than that last one...

funny I am getting no sympathy from anyone.... our running store owner last night said, "You get to run the American Odyssey relay?" " That's so awesome." That was nice... do I need to taper? Have I asked you guys this already? Dave, again, love those pictures.... that Perry guy sure looks happy- that's kind of annoying, huh? glad to see you're ready to get back on the horse. And I was just thinking of gelatinous aquatic creatures because Shan is Jellyfish- Man of War sounds perfect!! My nickname when I first started running was Flash- given to me by my friends who ran 2:45 marathons... I think they were kidding.

Speaking of Shan, anyone heard from her?

I hope she posts here soon. I know she has an somewhat of an update but it's not mine to post. Healing vibes Shan^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hey everyone. I'm back, swamped at work. Race didn't exactly go as planned. Foot was fine, and that had been my biggest concern. What came back to bite me was something I thought was under control and on the way out... I'd been fine on my last long runs so this was a total surprise. Anyway, had an awesome first 10k, then all of a sudden at mile 7 it felt like I got shot in the butt by a cannon, or kicked by a horse... hard. Almost took me down. Tried to shake it off and run thru it, but it quickly became apparent I was not going to finish so met up with a friend I knew would be just past the half and stepped off the course. I'm disappointed, hard not to be when you spend all those weeks training in miserable conditions, all that money and time, and then have to quit. Oh well. There will be other races. Oddly enough, Boston was not an "A" race for me so while I'm mad about racking up my first ever DNF, I'll get over it and go on to run another day. I made an appointment with the Sports Med guys for Friday to get to the bottom (heh, sorry) of this. What's this about Shan? I've been so out of it for the last week or so. ETA: Murphy! Congratulations on a girl! DH always wanted a girl, and I guess I did too. I sigh about having boys everytime I move any furniture and find all the crap under there that they don't get with the vacuum. Boys just don't care. But then again, I guess girls don't always either. Oh well, much more to it than how they clean the house!

Erika, so sorry that happened!!! It's so weird when you didn't feel anything like that during the long run. Makes you want to have a do-over. Sounds like you have a good perspective on it and hopefully, it's something minor that the doc can fix quickly. Hang in there.

Murphy and DW had their baby?? A girl? Congratulations! We need pictures Pam - it's ok to brag -- I'd be proud, too! Dave - I saw a few of my pictures from marathonfoto and some of them definitely looked like your number 16 Shan - we miss you Hi, Erika! I hope this injury is short-lived. p2r - best of luck in the relay -- weren't others here running that, too? 3.1 miles, 28:44, 9:09/mi, AHR 131 (67% MHR)