Top of the morn'in to everybody! Your faithful runner reporting from Dublin today. Which means that I have a five hour head start on all the US runners and get to start the daily! The goal today was 6 miles in the morning with DW and then 4 later on. We started on part I and my Garmin conked out. I must have left it on or something when I packed it. So all I really know is we ran for about 70 minutes which I guess is about 6 miles given her typical pace. We are off to tour today and when I get back the Garmin should be all set for the afternoon run. Good luck today Tall and all our other racers today.

top o the morning to you too two!! have a great race Tall - can't wait to hear all about it!! i'm heading out for the 5 mile run of the Boston Run to Remember - today's race is to honor fallen police officers!! i'm running the 5 with a few friends from work who know i might need to walk part of it depending on how my back is feeling and then some of our group is running the 1/2 marathon so we'll all meet up after anyway and head over to the Barking Crab for some fun!! hope i see Henry and Marj today!! Have a glorious Sunday all!!

Well, I followed up last night's run with 5 more mi this morning alone, without Renee. I wanted to run on the boardwalk, and it's one thing to run a dog up there in off-season, but just not right to do so in-season. In the first 1/2 mi, a cop yelled to me, "Weren't you running last night on the beach with your dog?" I said, "Yep." Can't get away with much around here, and it was nice of him last night not to hassle me for having my dog on the beach now that it is season. So I was thinking this morning how successful running is like successful investing. Patience, consistency, regrouping after a setback...Avoiding "get rich/get fast schemes"...So that's what bounced around my head today. Glad to have something other than my Mother's condition, construction details and the kids occupying my thoughts. More staining of my deck today. My 4 yr old has been helping. She's not bad at it, but it sure slows me down! Best of luck to all racers!

Good morning everyone. The weather looks perfect here this morning and I hope that Tall has some of it up in Ottawa. I hope all of our racers find this good weather wherever they are. I greatly appreciate all of the concern and prayers for my brother. I will keep you updated as things progress. I did want to respond to Rindaroo's kind post yesterday. Some of this is a bit difficult for me to answer and I have not talked to my brother yet today. The fact we are 800 miles apart has allowed details to be a little hazy. My lack of knowledge on Diabetes also enters in. All of that being said, here is what I believe to be accurate: My brother has been diagnosed with the Diabetes for about 10 years. He is 63 years old now. Our father also had diabetes, diagnosed when he was about 65. Their cases are similar......adult diabetes that moved into the need to do insulin shots, which my brother has been doing. He has only been doing the shots for a little over a year. Up to that point it was diet and exercise, both of which I am not sure he has been as disciplined with as he should have been. The word he used to describe his foot was that they sensed no activity in that foot at all. He asked the examiner what they would do next and the response was that most likely they will try to either bypass the problem in the leg (assuming that is where the blockage is) or try to stent the problem. I felt that this indicated that they felt his foot could be saved. A big factor here is that my brother has a bent towards seeing things from the "half empty" perspective. That is often where I have been a help in his life. Yesterday on the phone he admitted to thinking the worst and I firmly but gently reminded him that until he KNOWS the medical facts and has gotten a second opinion, his thoughts are not only inaccurate but also detrimental to himself. We then went into a "how to handle these thoughts" conversation. I basically gave him "triggers" that he can use when the wrong thoughts pop into his head. Anyway, thanks for this information on options to losing the foot. I had THOUGHT similarly, but your good imput here simply gives me ammunition for how to advise them. Trust me....I WILL use this information Thanks again my friends. You are most encouraging and helpful. The special thanks here goes to you Rindaroo and also TomWhite.

Twocat and Tall, the talk of Dublin and Guiness reminds me of a good song by Reckless Kelly "Seven Nights in Ireland. "The laughing eyes of Ireland, sparklin' blue and green, with hair as black as Guiness stout and barely seventeen." Tall I'm gonna track you right now, unless your done already. Thanks for that link. Berger 91% humidity...I'm sweatin' already. Yesterday I crosstrained with my father in law. We replaced some siding on my house around the chimney. Climbing up on the roof, up and down ladders....he's 70 something and worked my butt (can I say that on the internet?) clean to the ground. I'm constantly amazed at the skills this guy has, and told him so again yesterday. He is da man! I"m sure he'll be peeking his head in the door for more of it today. I'll try to get 3 recoveries in today if I can get out the door soon enough. Good runs to all.....Halller, where is that report?

Tall is at 1:25:20 at the half. He is now at 2:00:58 at the 30 KM point. (18.6 miles)

Vista, I can tell from your posts that you're a positive person! When I was a teenager, I was a "half-empty" person. My sweet mother gently changed me, partly by her role modeling. She also bought me the book, "The Power of Positive Thinking," by Norman Vincent Peale. To be honest, I can't remember anything he wrote, but the fact that Mom thought I needed to read the book really struck me! So I resolved to start seeing the bright side of things, and life got much easier for me. Now my running partner laughs at me, because I'm always saying things like, "Well, the race starts on a hill, but at least it's halfway UP the hill - it could be worse!" So it is possible to change! Two of my kids are half-full types, and one is half-empty, so I need to help him like my mom did me. Guests for lunch today after church, so I'm going to run late this afternoon. I have to keep my resolve!!

8 beautiful miles in 1:20 a 10:00 pace w/ DW, I finished strong the last half mile because we had fallen 40 seconds behind our 10:00 pace. Off to the in-laws for the big holiday feast from the grill. Hired my neighbor to do the cookin' for 50 It's too much work & would leave no time for the family. Perfect weather for it, Sunny 78F. Everyone enjoy this wonderful day!