oh, I am SO jealous! I'm gonna have to check out Tristen, thanks! I like music I can sing to/understand the words. I have a few Jimmy BUffet songs and James Taylor on my playlist too. Yet, I totally love a good rap song. I'm just complicated like that.

Life's a beach, you got it right girl... try to keep your HR under 146 for all of your regular runs. i'm doing that now too. i have been doing it all along but i'm being more careful now than before.

hey, I tried this today. I set my garmin to alert me when I hit 147...I was ok the first half and then I just got bored, and got into my music. But I still finished 9mile with an average hr of 148 and an 8:22pace, so that's cool!

Walking breaks. I use to never, ever take them because walking was for wimps. I added the breaks training for my last marathon and I'm a convert. Iit really does help break up the longer runs and speed recovery (ok, guessing at the last one, but it does help break long runs into manageable chunks). I only take these breaks for my longer run when I'm trying to go a bit slower. Walking every mile helps re-focus your brain and you from speeding through the workout.