Murphy - i'll be back in school then. otherwise i'd be right there!! Groov - hehe I can just imagine the red hair with smoke coming off of it hehe Cash - 4 months!! 17 months!! oh my goodness that's awful!!! Yeah I'm definitely not going to mess with it. I want to be able to run again soon. Still feel it today - just a dull ache. Kicking myself for not listening to you guys... guess i need to learn the hard way that i'm not invincible...

Bugs-Ive thought about a name change. Guess Im still holding out hope that some stragglers will find us. Although maybe that can be accomplished just by referencing that we originated on the cool running site in the description or the main page.

Hey Bugs, if I'd really wanted to get all 50 states, I think I should've started a few years ago! Heh. Shan, take care of that knee! Ice, ibu, rest... standard prescription. Cash, did you have some stretching or exercises for that thing? -45... again... but I don't run out in that stuff! My cutoff for any distance is pretty much -20. If it's colder than that at the start, I don't go or cut it short. The treadmill is my buddy, and we have a thing goin' on this winter I tell ya. Speaking of which... 6 miles last night, which was 1 mile warm up, then 3 x 1 mile repeats at 7:30 pace (my 10k pace) with half mile recoveries at 8:34 after each. Then a nice half mile cool down and some walking. That first mile at the 10k pace was hard, but the other two really weren't so bad. I want to work up to 3 consecutive miles at that pace... Got that relay at the end of the month in AZ and that's the pace our fearless leader put me down for (what was I thinking!). Nice thing about those speeds though... you do get your workout done sooner! 49 minutes for the running, 11 minutes for the walking. 8 easy miles tonight, on the TM, with 3 at marathon pace. Wheee! I posted this in the masters' forum, but thought I'd share here. This is a photo our public affairs person took from our building this morning. We're high up on a hill, but the real cold and ice fog settle in the valley... you can't even see town from here!

Shan - watch that knee. You've caught it early which is good. I've seen too many folks ignore ITBS and once it gets its hooks into you, it's a bear to get rid of. Groov - I think we're all waiting for clear roads and warmer temps. I've got a degree in marketing and I think a name change may increase our presence and market share. How do we want to brand ourselves? Certainly "penguin", "easy going", "anyone can do this", and similar concepts are popular and effective ways to market running. Do we want to go that route? Addidas started doing that last year and it worked well for them. they've gone a different route recently. Mizuno has just the opposite tactics. They market hardcore running. that being said, that's just the marketing image they like to project, neither one has much of any real place in running philosophy. What sort of runner are we trying to attract? Different runners are going to respond different image projections. I don't really want to brand ourselves as slow, plodding Binghamites, even if it would attract a decent following because we're not like that. I don't consider myself fast enough, nor hardcore enough, to market myself like Mizuno does. We're consistent, dedicated runners with 26.2 as a common binding thread. Marathonites Thoners Thoners, Inc. Something along those lines?

thanks guys for all your suggestions!! So went to chiropractor/deep tissue massage guy who specializes in althetes. He does not think ITBS. He thinks my knee doesn't track right (which i knew was a problem I had in the past) and suggested I pick up the band that goes around the bottom of the knee. Said that should help alot to get it back doing what it's supposed to do. He wants to see me tomorrow. I will ask him then how soon I can start running again, but he made it sound like I can be running with the aid of this band. I want to double check. He also said I might need new shoes but to not worry about that yet and to focus on this first. So i'm hopeful!! Erica - that is a cool picture! I vote for Thoners!!

Murph, Don't beat yourself up about it. Elliptical will do as much for your cardio as running. Just wont quite get as much muscle build up. Shan google Patt Strap. It can go above or below the knee. You get 2 in a plastic packet. They worked much better for me than the cheaper black straps. They stayed on the leg better. I tried the black ones, they didn't work. Brick ( Bike, Run, It Can Kill) workout. 17 mile bike ride, 3 mile run immediately after getting off the bike. Change shoes, but on running hat and gone. (Your legs feel like jello the first half mile or so, just from changing from going around in circles on the bike to back and forth running. Going from running to biking doesnt feel any different than normal)

Last night's run was going to be 8 miles, but I set the treadmill for 75 minutes and just went with it so got 8.6, first 4 EZ, next three at 8:34, last 1.6 EZ. Went through all of solarmix 6 and a little bit of 8. I really need to get a TV for down there. I have a window looking south at the neighbor's house and town beyond. But at night, all I really get is my reflection. There's only so long I can make faces and flex muscles and play with "proper form" till I totally bore myself. Cold snap continues... it's been at least -45 every morning this week with not much warming action during the day (maybe into the -25 range). I'm starting to be glad my car is at the shop, but our pickup is getting tired of being the only pony in the show. Our neighbor called this morning to say her husband "got stomped by a moose" when he went out with the dogs... she wanted to be sure we gave the kids rides to the bus stop. Hope he's ok.... the moose get pretty cranky at these temps. I don't care for "Thoners" as it reminds me of thongs... Murphy, it's ok, you got a workout done which is better then sitting on your butt! As Cash said, the elliptical is a good sub for running so just get back out there when you can. Plan for tonight is an easy 5 or so on the treadmill (duh...). Hope to get outside this weekend, highs on Friday could be zero, but with winds (ick). Colder on Saturday and still windy. Hmph.

I agree with Erika on Thongers. Lets give it a good week to think about, and everybody come back with ideas. I like the 26.2 theme, but think like the idea of a broader name too. I also like how Marathon Manics has levels. We could do fun stuff like that. Levels for # of races ran a year or something.