Good Morning!!

Hi everyone! Another week... they sure seem to fly by and my "to do" list seems to never get done. I almost got my garden finished this past weekend. Just need to plant my potatoes and get the broccoli and cauliflower seedlings planted (they're really still too small, but gotta get in the ground!). I did run on Friday/Saturday/Sunday so that was good, 20.6 miles for the week so my lowest mileage week in ages. and this morning... (drumroll please...) my foot hurts a bit. Rats. Seems like I'll never beat this thing. And it's not a disabling pain, and (unfortunately) it doesn't hurt when I run. Just afterwards. Strange thing. I DO need new shoes and have them on order. Starting to heat up here... ha for some of you, you'd say. Got up to 72 yesterday, should pass 75 today. Hard to be at work when it's so nice out... No running today, will finish up the garden after work. We have our first soccer tournament this weekend down in Anchorage so we'll drive down Thursday. Not sure what sort of running I'll be able to get in. Discussion last week on walking? I do it... never have finished a marathon without a couple of walk breaks. But I do think they help in the end because even though I slow down a bit to walk, it seems to help my legs recover a bit if only just a short break. And I always walk thru water stops if I take water, cuz I just can't do the run/drink thing.

Bugs - Maybe you were smiling knowing that guy would be looking at your butt for the rest of the race instead of the reverse??? And you are right about Erika - that's why I have to revel now!! 3 slow miles today. Ran recovery. At easy pace my calves hurt at recovery pace they did not...

Uh oh, Bugs... uh... have you ever had your gait analyzed? I've heard nothing but trouble comes from a classic heel striking stride... and that's exactly what your picture caught! Seriously... you might want to look into that... Heh. 70 miles. I wish. I'll be traveling to Anchorage on Thursday for the boys' first soccer tournament of the year. Then, next week, we go to Hawaii for a week for the Far West Regionals tournament. I have my one mile race next Thursday (would love to beat last year's 6:38 but don't think that's gonna happen with my foot issues), and the Midnight Sun Run 10k on the 21st... race starts at 10 pm (yes, the sun will still be up!), and I get in from a 5+ hour flight from Honolulu at 6:20 a.m. that morning!! Ugh... a nap will be in order but I'm not expecting terrific times from plane leaden legs. So... next two races coming up are not expected to be great. We'll see what happens.

Uh oh, Bugs... uh... have you ever had your gait analyzed? I've heard nothing but trouble comes from a classic heel striking stride... and that's exactly what your picture caught! Seriously... you might want to look into that...

My first thought when I saw this picture was "That heel strike is BAD." Honestly, I think it something I do when I'm going too fast on legs tired. I've been reading about the pose method, and trying to land on a bent leg, midfoot. You have to force yourself to fix it right, not something shoes or orthotics are going to fix? Dgb, Thanks, always fun to pass a big tall guy.

So I'm trying to get myself flipped back to morning runs like last summer. My long runs on Saturday are always early (5:00 - 6:00 depending on the distance), but my weekday runs had been in the evenings. Man, my legs were not happy about the 5:00 run today. It took about 2.5 miles before I could get under a 10:45 pace, but my HR was nice and low considering it was 78 with a 68 dewpoint. Ugh, I'm ready for October already. Nice pic Bugs, that dude looks whooped. Was that hill as steep as it looks? I thought the same thing about the heel strike, though I don't have much room to talk. Every now and then I try to focus on faster, shorter strides and landing more midfoot, but it's easier said than done for me. But, my shins are pretty good about reminding me.

1 mile faster than comfortable... not as fun as I thought it would be...