A balmy 29 degrees to run in this morning!! Clear roads, also. Life is good! My friend and I ran 4.0 miles at 11:42, which is great for me! I told my running parnter that it's amazing to think that this is our SHORT run now. I'm so psyched. Teresa

Dark Horse, a mile is a mile and every mile counts towards better well being. Keep at it my friend. Any news from the doc about the knee? biketm, be careful with that "calf testing run. Good luck!! Sue-maybe we should start a separate thread about ww bread making. I would love to see how others make their bread. I also freeze mine and my family does not complain. Teresadft- you and your friend should be proud of your accomplishments. 4 miles is your shortest miles? WTG. It is snowing outside . I will run on the mill after work, but I did some XT this morning using the ball. I am not acostume to list my XT ex. here, but just for the fun of it this is what I did today: basic crunches, side pillar bridge, ball hip lift, T-pose, shoulder press, back flye, triceps pressback, biceps curl, chest press, bent-over row, ball squat, side drop and reach, glute bridge, and stationary lunges. Total time: 1 hr.

Thanks Gordon! Mariposai - nice workout! I like to see what other people are doing for x-training, so please consider posting the details more often - gives me ideas...

4.01 miles in 50:30 for an avg. pace of 12:36 m/m. This is the "fastest" pace I have maintained since the PF/AT debacle. I didn't necessarily start out to do this, but with the wonderful weather (52F) and feeling so good lately, my feet just took over. I am hoping and praying I did not set myself back....Everything felt good but time will tell. Splits: 13:15, 12:24, 12:05, 12:37 Ran around the tidal basin today. Lots of geese and ducks about. A few seagulls too. And then, of course, were the tourists clogging up the sidewalk with their picture posing and taking. Teresa: Great run!!! DH: nice workout with a bum knee. When do you find out what the doc says? Nice Monday runs everyone....

Do you want to hear a ridiculous tale of woe? My right knee, of course, is always sore. For the last few months, I've had severe chronic soreness on the inside of my left knee, including above and below. Oddly, it only hurts when I run, and not right away, but usually only after a mile or two or three. Last week, as I mentioned at the time, I fell off the back steps and twisted my left ankle. It is still sore, but is coming around. Last Friday I got up at 4:30 a.m. because I had to drive an hour to start three days of military training. It was dark outside and the temperature was bitterly cold for Newburyport, only 4 degrees F. I dressed in my Army uniform and went out the back door. I successfully descended the back steps--there are only three of 'em, it shouldn't be hard--without falling, but the sidewalk was slick and my boots have hard rubber soles. I fell heavily at full length, on my left side, banging the outside of my left knee. At 6'5", I have a long way to fall. So now my left knee was injured on both sides, in addition to the twisted left ankle from a day or two earlier. What can you do? I picked myself up off the icy sidewalk, limped to my car, scraped the windows clear, and drove off in the dark to my training. Dark Klutz

Well thanks, Twocat! Nice run for you, too! That was interesting, doing the split run thing. Question for Holly and anyone else who does that... I always thought the point of the long run was to build endurance and get your body used to the steady, continuous running. While splitting the run up does get your total miles in the bank, it also gives a break in the run. It took about 15 minutes for us to drive home and then have me change out of all my layers (and there were a lot of 'em!), take a quick potty break, grab the iPod and head down to the 'mill. Does that negate the benefits of the "long run?" I did get pretty frosty yesterday, but the passing vehicles blew icy little snow spray all over me so much it got very annoying. Had to shut my eyes and turn my head away the last few miles. Now this morning, my eyes are sore and red. Hmmm, definitely irritated. Must mean I need to go home and go back to bed...! Mariposai, I rarely post my XT here either... just don't think to do it. I haven't done much stuff with weights for awhile but need to get back to it.

One thing I like about loops in my red neck of the woods: I can make an 18 mile loop and not be more than 3 miles from the house. If I have to, a run can be cut short.

One thing I like about loops in my red neck of the woods: I can make an 18 mile loop and not be more than 3 miles from the house. If I have to, a run can be cut short.

That's a nice option! My 18 mile loop takes me by a lot of "bailout" points...Mile 5 is Lowe's (nice warm entryway), Mile 8 is DH's office, Mile 11.5 is my parents' house, then it's almost 7 miles to home. And I always do long runs with my phone. Yesterday, DH figured I should be done by 2.5 hours (for 18 miles, isn't he cute) so he came looking for me, I didn't even have to call!