Good morning. Thanks for starting us out this morning Dave. Sometimes living on the edge is good huh? We all have those "beat the rain" runs. That sometimes becomes good motivation for sure. First let me report my runs for Saturday......8.1 miles, and Sunday.....5.22 miles. I continue to try this new system that I am developing and it is good so far. I owe a lot to this running thread. I first joined with you over at the Cool Running site and then we all moved over to Running Ahead. I was already running some on my own, but it was not until I got in here and was challenged by all of you fine people, that my running took off. Between the great examples that you have offered and the great knowledge and training that you have given to me, I now feel comfortable saying that “I run”. I could say so much more here, but I will simply say a heartfelt “Thanks”. A few years ago a co-worker of mine shot and killed another man who had raped the wife of my co-worker. I reached out and got involved in counseling him. He ended up getting convicted of murder and is currently serving a life sentence. His wife ended up committing suicide and the whole story is sad for sure. They have kids who are now left with effectively no parents to help them. Anyway, this story got my mind working and from it I have developed an idea for a novel that I am currently working on. Without telling more than I should, 7 prisoners end up having their executions faked and they are placed on a space ship as part of a government test. While in space, a murder occurs that creates a intriguing story that I hope I can develop into this book This (hopefully) will be my first novel and of course there is no promise that I can even get it published. However, there will be at least one copy made……MINE……and that will be a great accomplishment for me when I get it done. I am excited. A problem has developed in that since I have no background in space travel, I constantly need to research most of what I am writing about. This takes time, something that I am running low on with the many responsibilities that I already have in place. I have been wondering where I could find the extra time and have been working to prioritize all areas of my life to find the time. Then the Fourth of July hit. It would appear that my presence in this daily thread now makes people nervous and that is NOT what this daily thread needs to be about. I do not sense anyone in here who does not like me. I believe that in a couple of cases, my words the other day evoked a response from people in regards to how they already felt about the issues I happen to hit upon. Is that fair enough to say? These people were not upset at me, but more with the position that my comments represented in their mind. However with the thought now having been planted in everyone’s mind that just maybe I will say something deemed irresponsible and bigoted, people are left nervous about what will happen next. You know what? At this stage in my life, I don’t need that and neither do you. This website is meant to be an information and fun thread. For this reason, this posting will be my last in the daily thread. Am I backing down in regards to the statements I made the other day? Absolutely not. Later I plan to show why I believe them to be accurate. This will be done in the thread that has been started regarding “church and state”. I asked that if anyone else was offended by what I had said, that they please say so in the thread and no one did. I am therefore assuming that my apologies were made to everyone that I needed to extend them to. I also said that if ANYONE said they wanted me to stop posting, to please say so and I would stop. While no one did, some of the comments that were made said a lot about the nervous atmosphere. As well, some comments were posted and then retracted that also helped me to see what needs to be done. Please understand that I am EXCITED about this decision as I feel that today I am “graduating” from “Runner’s Learning School” now ready to move on in life. In reality, my purpose for learning about running on this site has been accomplished for all that I need. So I leave with my objective reached. To stay would purely be for selfish social reasons and I simply do not have the time to do that if I hope to write this book. Thanks to those daily posters and lurkers who have emailed me in the last couple of days. I have appreciated your comments and will respond to you if I have not already done so. I absolutely am NOT upset or mad at anyone. That is NOT the issue and that is important to say because I don’t want to later hear that people felt that I left in a huff. Nothing could be further from the truth. I feel like I could have a cup of coffee or a meal with any of you with no problems. Our friend Thomas Jefferson once said…”I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” I feel that way and hope that all of you do too. Now, my plan is to read the thread that has been separately started on “church and state”. I have not really read that yet, wanting to announce my decision to stop reading and posting here in the daily first. In that thread I will explain how I feel my comments the other day were accurate. After I feel that I have adequately stated my position in there, I will click “post” for the last time. If I can be of help or service to ANY of you, please do feel free to contact me. Simply because I will not be reading or posting here any more does not mean that you are not important to me and I would love to help. You obviously already have my email address but I will give it again here vista129@yahoo.com Thanks my good friends. May God continue to bless you. Joey

4 Magical Muggy Healing Miles with Tory in 39:16 (9:49 pace AHR 138). 96% Humidity and 70F

Is there an old story behind the "healing miles" that I've missed? (Just wondering if there was a reason for calling them that.)

Yesterday was long run day and congratulations on the 10+ mile runs yesterday to haller, pdr, enkephalin, busiman, evanflein, perchcreek, and tetsujin209 who should probably get listed twice for haing run 26.2 miles! TomS not having to run in humid thick weather? Not fair! dg. when I got hurt my "theme song" was Tubthumping by Chumbawamba. There was nothing like the refrain "I get knocked down but I get up again" to keep me going. Holly S. sounds like a great time. Annual parties as traditions have a lot going for them. We do one each summer and have a lot of fun doing it. wildchild hmm running in the rain felt nice? You clearly have different views of the sport than I do! vista I am sorry to read you plan to leave the daily thread. I hope at some point you will reconsider. I ran 5 miles this morning in some unbelievably muggy conditions. Oh, joy! I have another 4 on the schedule this afternoon. Hopefully, by then the heat will make the muggy part seem less painful. You know, sort of like hitting your toe with a hammer to get you mind off your headache.

..vista//....sometimes stepping back from something is a Good Move....... .....hopefully you'll check back in.... ..........good running to ya.......

4 roller coaster miles with a strong finish, followed by TM fjord dip. this here is hill country! vista, you will be missed in the daily thread, but space can be needed (and in your case, researched!). good luck with the book, and hope that your many responsibilities will allow you to return. good runs, susan

Following up on Perch's Recovery post and Spareribs comments about the same ... I am reading/browsing a new Running Book called "Brain Training for Runners" and the author suggests to never run 2 Hard Days in a row. The Hard/Easy approach. Using the Recovery Day to stimulate the blood flow to the legs and to get the body used to running in a slightly Glycogen-depleted state. Both have positive training benefits. He also states there is no training benefit to running 2 Easy Days in a row either. I disagree with him a bit on this point - especially for those of us who are "Mature" runners. But his points about avoiding 2 Hard Days in a row and running the Recovery Day very slowly are right on. Bill

Following up on Perch's Recovery post and Spareribs comments about the same ... I am reading/browsing a new Running Book called "Brain Training for Runners" and the author suggests to never run 2 Hard Days in a row. The Hard/Easy approach. Using the Recovery Day to stimulate the blood flow to the legs and to get the body used to running in a slightly Glycogen-depleted state. Both have positive training benefits. He also states there is no training benefit to running 2 Easy Days in a row either. I disagree with him a bit on this point - especially for those of us who are "Mature" runners. But his points about avoiding 2 Hard Days in a row and running the Recovery Day very slowly are right on. Bill

Bill.. I guess it depends how you define Hard days. I totally agree that you would not want to do two days of tempo or intervals back to back. But I do a medium- or long run (13-18 range) the day after a tempo or speed session with no problems and Pfitzinger has this sequence in his schedules. Two recovery days only in prep for a race or if something doesn't feel quite right.