Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower Hi folks- seems like we can afford less and less these days, but we do have our Freedom Cindy- Way to go on your half!! Awesome pics on the last thread. Hi to Everyone ... Here's two wet, happy muddy very clean (cleaner than Kelly was anyway) dogs after 9.5 m in the trails in 86* and 95% hummiditidy ...whew !

Joe your looking pretty darned fit these days and just how long is that dog's tongue anyway???????? Cindy looking forward to your race report. Kelly reminds me of that Terry Clark song " dirty girl"!! 8.3 mi LR to town, 62 degrees, 8am, into a light north wind, this morn, went pretty well. I stopped once to move a sand turtle to the side of the road. Probably just one maybe two more runs before our hometown 5k on friday. We should be ready. I think my dad is doing the 1 mile, he is 88 as you remember. He has been doing 2 miles a day the last month, sporting some of my old mizuno creations that exacerbated my shin splints. Finally last week is over. Sunday nite midnight repairs on well motor Monday rinse nozzle clogged sprayer tues broken hydraulic line and accompanying mess, so about 1/2 the acres done I should have wednesday see tuesday, broke another line. pivot stopped for no reason?? thursday broken u bolt on red peterbilt truck, couldn't find direct replacment, reshaped a used one, missed our delivery slot at the E plant, sent to the pig farm but contract full there, after many phone conversations with broker, etc got dumped. night hail storm, some damage on ALL of our corn, very light damage on wheat. friday damage evaluation from hail storm. pivot stop blown off in storm pivot still running dry. Saturday did oil change, another pivot restarted without water. oh well you get the picture. Will push hard to get remainder of spraying done and combine and support equip ready for wheat harvest about a week away???? Have a great week 40's folks.

Hey! Who's Slackin'!?!? http://www.runningahead.com/groups/MastRun/Forum/1df2aa33a3404e2aa1cf9120a037e9c9 Nope R2, Doug did not run this one....maybe the Firecracker 5K on Friday....lets get back to runnin' - sounds like more fun than farmin'! ***lighting candles & all stuff pagan to pray for crop success*** Cool pic Joe! you look soggy, Buddy looks....excellent! you must have 'steamed" off the mud ...I think Kelly gets the mud award!! Kewl! I git to collect more pictures of my "imaginary friends!" I gotta go try to sleep a coupla hrs must go to wrok in 7 hrs c

Hi Gang! Nice pics Kelly.You got me beat with the mud part. I modified my previous post for you Great report Cindy! Can't look at pics at the moment (at work) but that sounds like a fun race with Máiréad .I have to hand it to ya for bringing her.I'm nervous enough at this races worrying about myself! Jim- here's hoping that this week goes better than last for you. Nice going with your runs and race prep. Bigtime kudos to your Dad for running so much!! That's just awesome! Leslie- Good going with the hill progress! I know that's tough stuff! BTW- Buddy's tongue is not always like that (his ears are tho) . I think I pushed him to his limit yesterday. Sending some major {{{rain vibes }}} out west for you guys and those fires! Take it easy with that smoke and running.That can't be good for you. Eight days in a row of running for me so today is a rest day. Cross traing will consist of going home after work and mowing the grass.(Rats) Have a good one everyone!

Jewels - When going up and down stairs, lead with the opposite foot so that you're putting as little weight as possible on the injured area. Might try doing the cold/heat thing and see if it helps: 20 min cold/20 min warm, switch back and forth for an hour and end in with the warm. Switching back and forth like that helps to get the blood flowing through the area. If you can do that a couple of times a day, you might see some faster improvement. It's helped me with all my injuries (knock on wood!)

Joe - you are both studly-lookin' dogs there! Jim - workworkworkworkworkworkworkwork! I don't know how you get anything else in. Tell your boss to give you a break. Cindy - awesome race report and pics - and what a smokin' time at that elevation. *whew*! I have a dumb question - do dogs get giardia? Leslie - I've only done a couple hill sessions so far, I can't wait until I can tell it's working. How long? I'm betting about 3 months. Jewels - sorry to hear about that injury...you're smart to rest. I don't know if I would be that smart! And no, I don't think I'll do summer school again, unless they're desperate. The students are better (or driven because they know they only have a few weeks to cram it all in), but I do like having summers off. After Sunday's long run I came home gritty from all the smoke junk in the air, today was better although I wasn't out nearly as long - but the air quality looks better, the sky is actually blue-ish now instead of brown. I figure the bad air isn't as bad for me as growing up with two chain-smoking parents was. Arla

Leslie: we'll just list one of your taper side affects as "digitally challenged!"

Thanks! . . . I think . . . Jewels - It hurts to touch the area? Wow, don't have a clue as to what you could've done, unless you continued to aggravate it and now it's really PO'd. Rest, rest, rest and ice/heat therapy. That's Dr. Ames' unsolicited non-medical school advice. Arla - If you're persistent in your hill workout, you should start seeing improvement in a few weeks as opposed to months. Look up "quad/knee strengthening exercises" and incorporate those into your strength training and alternate cardio days and you'll really start seeing a difference. I do my knee exercisese 2x a week now. BTW - What kind of hill work are you doing? Jim - I agree Arla - workworkworkworkwork - not sure how you find time for other things. Keep up the good work! Joe - Running 8 days in a row?? How do you do that and still have happy legs/knees? Mine would be killing me. 11.84 ile bike ride this a.m. I'm getting a good leg workout, but no a whole lot of cardio benefit. Not enough continuous flat or inclines to get the HR up. I also need to get one of those "rearview mirror" thingys for my helmet. I suck at trying to ride and look behind me at the same time to cross traffic, turn, etc. I'm not the most graceful person in the world, and combining those two things is turning into quite the challenge. And with regard to the bike helmet - quite the sexy addition to my workout attire. Yessiree, Bob. I am looking hot in that thing! Especially when it comes off after an hour. Oh baby!! As of today in California, you can no longer talk on your hand-held cell phone while driving. You must use a hands free unit. Yee haw! And if you're under 18, you can't be on a cell phone period. Double YEE HAW! People driving and talking on the phone at the same time is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Yesterday after work, there are 2 or 3 of us lined up at the mail box to deposit our mail. I'm behind the chick who is at the mail box. First, she had a $#*t load of mail to dump. And instead parking and walking a few feet to the mailbox and putting it in the big slot, she pulls up in front it and gets out of her car to unload. Okay. This shouldn't take too long. But she has her stupid cell phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear, and she's trying to drag all this mail out of her car, stuff it in the little slot, and not drop her cell phone all at the same time. WTH?? Put the (expletive) cell phone down, dump your mail, and get . . . out . . . of . . . the . . . way!!! Let's just say she's very lucky I was no longer PMS-ing. I would've been like Kathy Bates in "Fried Green Tomatoes." Shawanda!! Whew - okay. I feel better now. Have a good day!

LOL Jewels! sometimes! .... as I'm off to rotate laundry on the way to the shower.... 5.54 jog/walk miles @ 75*F/18%H.....coolie vest + shade breaksfor Mairead! oh! btw: just signed up me & DH for the Firecracker 5K on Friday