Happy Birthday Murphy!! (always room for another shoutout). Hope you got something cool. 13 for me today after the freezing rain melted. It's turning colder and I wanted to get in a couple of extra miles. Shan, Shan, Shan... Hope its nothing. Get some ice on it and rest up.

Thanks. There are some really nice miles out there this week. Jhallum posting two straight 70 mile weeks in the face of absolutely hideous weather makes me feel wholly inadequate. I've rationalized it. He's peaking in a marathon training cycle. Of course I didn't peak anywhere near that number but then again, I'm not going to run a 3:20 at Disney

Well, we're not having bad weather here, actually it was a beautiful clear day for our shortest day of the year (yeah! now we start gaining daylight!). But it felt cold... and I felt tired and slow. -8 to -10F, depending on where on the trail I was. I managed 10.25 miles outside in that and just had to stop. My sweaty mitts were freezing and my nose was getting cold under my frosty balaclava. How'd I do 13 miles at -23 last winter?? I finished my run on the treadmill, 10 more miles for a total of 20.25. Average pace for the first 15.25 was 8:41, last 5 miles at 8:20. I don't think I can even hope for that as marathon pace this time around. Last spring, while training for Boston, I felt strong and capable of cranking out miles and miles at that pace and faster. Now? Not so much... 53.75 miles for the week. Oh! Guess what. How's this for frustrating.... I'm 75 miles short of 2000 for the year, and going into taper. If I could run an average of 7.5 miles a day till New Year's I'd make it. The chances of that happening are low. But I'll be really pissed to be, oh, say 10-15 miles short of my goal for the year! Curses to those 5 weeks I had to take off... ! Cash, great playlist if you scrap the Elivs and that Clapton song. Otherwise, good stuff! Happy belated birthday Murphy. Since this is going to roll over to the new week you might not see this, but happy Bd all the same. Hope you had a great day and got some cool stuff, even if it was "just" hugs and kisses. Jeremy, bring on taper, no? Yes, Cash and I were on the original Marathon Trainers thread in the "Newbie Cafe" on Cool Running, back in 2005. I was training for my first marathon, and the thread was started by IndyRunningGirl, a wonderful woman from Indiana who actually ran a marathon with Cash before we migrated over here! Fun stuff, and I frequently wonder what happened to so many of those original posters.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MURPHY!! Very nice wife you have...