Good morning....... I say that quietly as I suspect many of you are still sleeping at 6:15 on a Sunday morning. This message will be waiting for you when you get up. Sorry......it is not breakfast in bed, but then again what I might serve you makes that probably a GOOD idea. In 2005 I was having problems with some high blood pressure. My HIGHEST reading was 181/105....which was NOT good obviously. In consultation with my doctor, I briefly went on medication to bring this number down, and this helped. However, my work insurance switched plans and no one could figure out why my drug plan suddenly got cancelled. It was an accident, but I decided that while they worked to figure it out (they never did.....I ended up switching plans), I would see if my diet and exercise program could be tweeked to accomplish better numbers. At that time my figures were in the 142/94 range. That was 2006. I continued this and 2007 was more like 140/90......a slight improvement. At that time I started increasing my mileage running significantly. I had been working to build miles safely and also chasing a goal of reaching 1,000 miles for the year. It meant running 400 miles in the last quarter of 2007 to accomplish this goal. Interestingly enough my blood pressure dropped during that same quarter to 135/83. 2008 rolled around and I committed to running more miles early in the year to again be able to chase 1,000 miles for the year and hopefully get to 1,200. Right now I am well on track towards the second goal. My blood pressure was checked again yesterday.......124/76. In the last 6 months I have consistently been having readings of 114-120 for Systolic and 76-80 for Diastolic. I check this and record it twice a week. The stats I have kept certainly go a long way to verify that running has certainly helped. I have not needed to use drugs during this period. It has purely been my diet (I now seldom eat red meat, although I will when dining with friends) and running (bumping my mileage up by 25%). I thought you would find that interesting. This was not necessarily a designed plan but something that just sort of happened in the process of doing what was right. My stats for running and the blood pressure check shows the correlation. I feel great now and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me....with me....with me.....with me....with me....with me....with me....... Tell us your success and thoughts with medical issues that have been helped by running. Have a GREAT day. Joey

Thanks for the start Vista, the nurse told me I have fantastic numbers while looking at my chart from my physical results. BP good, cholestrol good, blood tests excellent Peter nice run this morning I had a very nice & easy 5.2 miles around the neighborhood x 4 at 9:55 pace w/DW Gotta go ump 17-18 years olds for 2 games this afternoon. Enjoy your Sunday!

Good morning all! It's easy reading the daily today, but that just means it'll be harder this evening to catch up. Vista --if the only problem you have is that your record skips every once in a while, you ARE doing pretty well. I was on high blood pressure meds for quite a while before starting to run and have stuck with them, sort of a security blanket, I guess. I think my BP has gone down, along with my resting HR since running, though. Out for 4.2 this morning. A bit warm, with 71 at 7:30am, but the sweat is coming easier, so I hope the acclimatization is starting to kick in. Evidently enjoyed too much good food at a graduation party last night, which meant that a lot of my warm-up this morning was running up the stairs to the loo. And during the first 1/2 mile, my main thought was "How big a mistake was this?", but after that things settled down and got through the run with no problems. With that, anyway. After 2 + months of nothing but flats, even these dinky little hills are kicking my butt. I'll stick with them and I know they'll get easier. Kevin

Quick note.. gotta refuel. Finished my 31 mile weekend.. 11 MP yesterday and today 20 miles in (3:03:22, 9:10 pace, AHR 149) It was hilly and VERY humid but cloudy/hazy. I knew I would lose alot of water weight on this one so I carboloaded on spaghetti for lunch and dinner Saturday. This helped. Although I lost 7 lbs, my weight was still ok and I don't feel bad after. Also put e-caps in my water bottle (bad taste!). Glad that's over. Now a bit of tapering next 3 weeks before Grandfather Mountain Marathon July 12th. Hope everybody haas great runs! Steve

Great early morning eze 3 miles, which brought my total to 40 miles this week. The wave LR I did on Friday, pretty much like Holly's today, but a bit slower, left the legs just a little more tired than a normal 18 normally does to me. Off to get ready to go to church with my little girlfriends.

Vista, Great job on the BP...I have to be careful myself..you might remember in Feb of this year I had 152/138. Had my physical last week and it was much better. 135 over 115 so better although last year I was 118 over 78 so stress has something to do with mine. Went out for half marathon training run. Did it in 1:36 and change. It was hot out there so I did some slow mixed with some faster stuff, pretty much all on the trail Holly great training run. BC fantaastic race Have a great day everyone off for a visit with my parents. Tall

Well, I couldn't run forever today. We had a bunch of people over our house yesterday, and spent most of the day on our feet, to I at least was spent and not ready to do the planned 16 miler -- I did grind out 9 and decided to hang it up there. PDR is still out so I guess she has more stamina than I have (and is even more stubborn than I am). We think it was a good party, though -- people seemed to have a good time, and they politely said my beer was not overly horrible. Workout: 8.2 miles, 9:10/mi, AHR 145 Overall: 9.2 miles, 1:24 Have a great day today! MTA: oh yeah, blood pressure. Well, exercise and eating well didn't seem to help mine, so I guess I'm stuck with the medicine. Sometimes it's just in the genes.

Holly, Great work out! It sounds challenging but fun. One of those feel good "AFTER" the run type. Perch, The Machine. You are definitely ready. Spareribs, Thanks for your input yesterday on my question about MP and in general for all that I learn from you.I read and listen to it all. 10 mile long run today. My first this long in over 3 weeks. The effort seemed harder than I expected but I did race a 5k this week and also did my first full week of running since vacation. 1:44x about a 10:20 overall pace I think. It was 72 and sunny but felt really warmer. I usually run most of my long runs right around 10 minute pace but took it extra easy on my first week back. Now its time to cool down with some lawn mowing. Safe runs everyone Larry