Great race, Paul! Nice PR! Holly - dinner with grand-daughters re-scheduled for tomorrow! SR - hope you get over this running injury soon ...you must be going nuts ... maybe it's a good thing you're traveling a lot Easy, 40 mins, 4.3 mile run with my "mentee" (15 yr old) at the Y this morning. Not that my "mentee" ran 40 mins, but I think the fact that I ran 40 impressed him so much that he decided to run a few more laps after that. He'll do fine in a 10k relay. My goal is to get him to see the pleasure in running. He's never ran before and this is all new, including the concept of sweating and all! I think he'll make a fine runner once he gets committed. Running a HM tomorrow. Longest run since being injured. Time to test out the foot (just a little bit). If all goes well, will try and ramp up training in March. Good luck to all racers this weekend! PJ

I hope the weekend is off to a great start for everyone! enke- you were due for a good run yesterday! And it's better to finish your run faster than hoped for rather than slower! If I don't PR this HM, it means I did something really stupid. That made me laugh! I'll have to try your theory about looking farther ahead to run faster. If that's the case, I'm gonna start looking miles up the road. fbgrrl- we all go through stages of our running where for a while it doesn't seem like we make any progress, then all of a sudden you have a breakthrough run as you had, and suddenly that becomes the new normal. It means you're doing something right! Tramps- Now that you've said that winter has missed you, WATCH OUT! munchkn- thank you for the check in. A guy in my office where I work just had a PET scan and had good results, I'm hoping the same is true for you. deez4boyz- your stories about sleeping in cars made me laugh! I followed your lead and napped in my car at lunchtime at work the other day. I'm also glad your adjustment worked, I imagine you stand a lot during the day, that's gotta be hard. wildchild- yes, it was Cmom, and I thought of her. I'm sorry to hear this sort of thing has touched you and your daughter as well. Congrats on another shorts run yesterday. I sounded beautiful. charleygross- what possesses people to be this way? I'm sure your son will have little to worry about when he goes away, luckily these incidents are still rare. jjj- awesome picture!!! You are a riot! PJH- I'm not sure what transpired out while you were shoveling snow, but it sounded like one of those clarity moments. And shoveling all that snow hardly qualifies as a rest day. I like the work you're doing with the kids. There is so much more to running than just running, isn't there? I hope you get to see your grandkids soon enough. I'm sure they miss their grandparents as much as you miss them. Good luck with your HM tomorrow! Roy- he's back to start us off! All is right again. Nice family outing you had, and it's good to hear everyone is healthy again! Steve- safe and fun travels to you! WRFB- With the miles you've been putting in, I'd be surprised if a 5 miler hurts you for tomorrow. Have a good one. PeterNC- you are charging those batteries for your upcoming race. I'm anticipating good things. Holly- funny how 34* seems like a heat wave! It's all a matter of perspective. Good luck with your 20 miler tomorrow! I loved watching the Poirot series on TV, it's good to know they are available for mp3 too! dtoce- I was hoping you'd tell us about your run home yesterday. Apparantly you made it ok! Ribs- you're running again! Yahoo! Hopefully your lighter travel schedule means more healing for your foot. Mariposai- sorry about your cold. I hope it doesn't put a damper on your wedding plans. And you know the saying... feed a cold! Dave- you're getting some awesome active strength work in this weekend! nonoruns- what was that pain? An injury? A stitch? At least it ended on a good note. pfriese- congrats!!! I hope you take some time to celebrate your new PB! runningindc- did you see JJJ's little ode to February the other day? Perfect for the way you are feeling. Good luck with the new shoes, they really can make or break your running. Take your time and make sure you get the right pair. breger- golf... a good walk spoiled. Makes for some good cross training though. seemomgo- cruddy runs are gonna happen, and are often followed by great ones. I do remember you talking about hooking up with your college buddy, I'm glad to hear you're still at it. And when you go to your 30 year reunion, I'm sure you'll knock their socks off with how good and young you look. I see some of my old classmates from time to time, and just hope I don't look as old as they do! Now if we could only figure out those aches and pains... Fortunate One- you did not live up to your forum name today! Hopefully a scrape is all that becomes of it! I want to start by giving a whole hearted thank you to everyone that read and commented on my post yesterday. Your comments were truly appreciated. But I'd like to put things into perspective. I was out for a run, saw some things that bothered me, got home and showered and ate, then went off to my cushy job. I didn't have death threats hanging over me at work like some of the teachers did. I didn't wake up expecting just another day at school and instead find that police were everywhere when I got there, and had to be searched and had all my moves watched and questions. I wasn't sleeping outside in bitter cold temperatures under a makeshift shelter of cloth and plastic. I open my fridge and eat what I want when I want. I don't have demons inside of me making me want to kill people. These are the people that need the support, and the concern, and the love and the prayers. Mmmmm, as I type this, the house smells wonderful with a cinnamon coffee cake baking in the oven. Its for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser tonight at the church. After helping out there later, I can't wait to partake in the carboloading that will hopefully fuel me through my long run tomorrow. The recipe is simple, and very kid friendly if you have kids that want to help. And I guarantee that you will love this cake! 1 box yellow cake mix 1 3.4oz instant vanilla pudding mix 1c. sour cream 4eggs 3/4c water 1/2c veg. oil 1tsp vanilla Preheat oven to 350. Mix everything without a care in a mixing bowl. Spray bundt pan with Pam and sprinkle generously with cinn/sugar mix. Start layering cake mixture and cinn/sugar until cake mix gone and top with cinn/sugar. Cinnamon and sugar mix...basically, mix until it's darker rather than lighter. I had a measurement for both ?3 tbl cinn to 1c sugar? But I add more cinn than this, I believe. Recipe calls for baking for an hour, which is about right for my oven. My run this AM was an easy 7 mile recovery run. After overnight snow, then morning rain, the sun popped out and things dried up and warmed up nicely. Basically I just let one foot flop lazily in front of the other, making sure I could breathe through my nose the whole time. Afterwards I got a deep tissue massage, which I find is such an important part of keeping this old broken body functioning. I am very thankful for the gift of running, not just for the physical and often mental benefits it provides, but also all the other things that go along with it, which very much includes having all you awesome people on this forum to correspond with. Thank you.

8 miles for me in Umstead Park today. Weather was beautiful and the company was great!!

Hey guys... Beautiful day in Southern Oklahoma.....started at 39 degrees.....not 75.... Easy 5 miler...tomorrow...20......... Have a nice one....

Good luck to all the racers! Just back from a 3.8 mi run. I started to bonk about 3 mi in and had a slow walk home that last .8 miles. That's what I get for only eating a little granola bar before noon and then running. In better news, I lost 2 lbs this week. That means I have officially lost 22 lbs., or 44% of my goal! My clothes are getting loose, including my running gear. Darn, what a terrible problem

dtoce- I was hoping you'd tell us about your run home yesterday. Apparantly you made it ok! .

Bob- Yes, I made it home. It went ok on my run home yesterday. Thanks for asking. I had a plan to get out of the office on time, so that I could beat traffic on the busy section, by sunset, but that didn't materialize as my last patient (an active 80+yo psychiatrist) told me of some 'breathlessness' and one thing led to another and after my exam and a plead to the xray dept downstairs to just do this one test even though it was 10 minutes after closing..., he was able to go home with a diagnosis of 'pneumonia'. (Ha! Who says cardiologists don't use their stethescope.) So I left late and ran in the dark on the dangerous road...very carefully, and with blinking lights, but I think I'll wait until it is lighter later before trying that again... Thanks for the props peeps. I need to get some mileage under my belt before that marathon that looms in April. and BTW, btb1490, you are top notch!

In better news, I lost 2 lbs this week. That means I have officially lost 22 lbs., or 44% of my goal! My clothes are getting loose, including my running gear. Darn, what a terrible problem

Well done! That's quite a feat!

ahhhh cinnamon - i looooooove the smell of cinnamon!! sounds like a yummy cake!! pfriese - nice PR!! fbgrrl - great accomplishment!! me - i apologize for my whining yesterday about being cranky and tired - i pulled myself up by the shoelaces and finally made it to the gym - didn't do a ton but did some cross-training: 20 minutes arc trainor 20 minutes step mill 10 minutes indoor rower then hit the supermarket and made all kinds of carb/comfort foods for the house - we had ziti w/butter and salt made by dh while i was out........i cooked tortellini with pesto, nachos with cheese, brownies and peanutbutter cookies!! today was snowing real hard when i woke up - those big fat beautiful snowflakes - made everything look so pretty i couldn't even whine about it snowing again!! back to the gym: 6 miles treadmill - felt great running - followed by .3 miles walk 4 lower body machines 2 upper body machines abs/obliques/stretching rushed off to youngest son's basketball game - woohoo - they won so still in the playoffs!! showered, went to church - the sun was shining and the sky was bright when i came out!! another beautiful day!!