Good Morning! Since DS is 12, this is his last year doing Easter Egg Hunts, so I’m taking the kids to one at 10am, and another one on the other side of town at 11am. Then DD’s swim lesson at 12:30, DS’s soccer game at 2:20, church at 4:00pm, then Easter Egg coloring after that. (whew!) Tomorrow the kids will wake up to an Easter Egg Hunt in our house, with many of the eggs containing clues to other, more hidden eggs, that contain half-dollars. Could be a pretty lucrative holiday for them, but the Easter Bunny has made the clues a little harder this year…. Of course, in our home we celebrate the deeper meaning of this holiday, too, and the great joy it brings. 4.25 easy-paced miles for me today in 39 windy degrees.

Our brief midweek weather cool off has ended and this morning it was back up to 70 ° and humid at 5:15 AM. I started off running with the big boys and girls - 6 miles with them chatting away like they're out for a Sunday Drive as I hang on at (for me) near Tempo pace. At this point I split off, slowed to what I thought might be Marathon Pace and tried to just run that for the rest of the run which I planned on 15 miles altogether. This was a good training run - an MLR while already tired. 15 miles at 8:25 pace (below MP). If you want to contrast an IRC Marathon Pace run to a non-IRC MP run, take a look at my Training Log workouts for Thursday vs. Today. Note the HR's. (Of course some of it was due to blasting the 1st 6 miles.) Happy Easter to all my Virtual friends. Bill

Good morning good people. 11.5 miles for me, 10:02 pace, perfect weather when I left the house at 6:00 AM. Beautiful blue skies, not much wind - best running day in a long time. We're about 5 weeks out until the half marathon and this was my longest training run to date. Legs felt good - my only stop was around the halfway point at my friendly Super America gas station for a bathroom break and water stop. Holly - enjoy these times with your kids. We won't have any of ours here for Easter. Our daughters are living in Colorado and won't be home, DS#1 and his wife will be at her parents, and DS#2 is doing his Navy duty. Peter - you sound better this morning. Enjoy your taper! Bill - I don't know how you run so well in the heat and humidity you deal with every day. I can only dream of running 8:25 minute miles! Off to make a lemon meringue pie for tomorrow's dinner. Happy Easter everyone! ETA: Lots of MOJO to SrLopez this weekend. Hope you got through O'Hare okay!

6.2 miles around the neighborhood w/Dw in 57:00 that's a 9:12 pace her easy pace is continuing to drop. We were talkin politics while we ran, that really gets her going. I noticed that the bunnies were very active out ther today, Seriously Thursday's run was cut short due to bad pain in right arch. My self diagnosis is tarsel tunnel syndrome. I went to the drugstore Friday an spoke to the pharmacist who recommended Synovium gel. I rubbed it on the arch & ankle Friday & again this morning and it worked very well. Off to umpire 2 high school games then out to dinner. My 3 favorite things all in one day : OK 3 out of 4 ain't bad Happy Easter Everyone!

I'm going to Holly's for Easter Half Dollars......... Three of the four kids made it over last night for egg coloring. SIL and her youngest made it as well as MIL & FIL. GS is 14 months old and was using a paint brush on eggs...Then dropping them on the floor. The dog didn't mind. DS was at his bio dad's place. He's too old to color eggs. He would have been the 2nd youngest there. DD#2 helped me get things together for me yesterday. I've been scattering goodies in the yards of some of the local kids early Easter Morning. She freed up my afternoon today. Sweet. 3.1 with the Tag.

10 miles at 8:30 am in light rain and 42º---temps dropping through the day with a chance of snow later---I ran with the two Js who are Boston bound (we started with 4 and now there are two!) Dr. J and Iron J were in full taper madness mode when we ran this morning, so I just listened and grinned inwardly as they went over the details obsessively. It was a good run---easy pace and some strides in the final miles for 1:27---8:24ish pace. Iron J will be in corral 6 and is looking great to go under 3:15. Dr J is in corral 17 with Dr. B our other running buddy. They will both try for 3:35s. I am excited for them. I am also looking forward to my volunteer shift at Boston marathon registration next Saturday. I’ll work from 8 am-1pm and then wander the Expo for a bit. The geek in me is excited about spotting running celebs like Kathrine Switzer and Bill Rodgers (who will run Boston if it’s below 70º). I'll also hand in my card to defer officially and enter for 2010. Hockey season may be over for the kiddo, but the NCAA Frozen Four and Championships are on tap this weekend---go BU! I’ll be dusting and vacuuming while my guys extend their hockey fun for as long as possible. Last year I went to an Easter sunrise service led by a minister running friend who led a long run right afterwards. This year I’ll go to a non-denominational service with super granny and then she’ll spend the day with us. All good and pretty mellow. I hope SRL is rocking his 50th state marathon with lots of mojo.

I don't think this is worth an RR, but I ran the local "Apple Blossom Run" 9K this morning. It was a point-to-point straight up a paved rail-trail that I usually just use for biking. We went straight into the wind, but once I thawed out it was a pretty good run, and I finished in 47:47 for an 8:32 pace and 4th in the 60+ AG. They handed out medals down to 5th in each AG, so at least I came away with some hardware (and a "PR" for this unique distance). I hope the rest of our weekend racers do at least as well!

12.7 for me this morning...last long run before the Country Music 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks. I haven't done it in several years, and my memories of the last one are not pretty. Hopefully I've trained better this time. It was perfect running weather, although I underdressed. The acu weather said 45 - 50, but I don't think it ever got above 40. My heart goes out to all the surrounding areas near us who got tornado damage yesterday. Next Sat. is a 10K in Huntsville, AL called "music moves me" It is supposed to have a band every mile. Should be fun! Happy Easter to one and all and happy egg hunting, clue deciphering, etc. Gosh I miss those days.