Good morning all....guess I will start the first pot of coffee today. Internal alarm clock woke me up at 4:30 this morning as usual...but had my watch alarm set also, just in case on race day. Drinking water and eating a cliff bar and will be heading to my 10K race fairly soon. It's 62 degrees and clear, and it does not feel too muggy out. Suppose to be a beautiful day here....80 degrees and sunny, but should be cool for the 7:00 start. Excited to race, but nervous too because there are quite a few triathlete buds of mine that will be there this morning, but I have to stick to my plan, and not worry about their's....but I still am going to try and beat them...the one I have never beat before is a runner named Chet, and he is in my age group, so I will have my eye on him. Wow, chatty this morning. Hope all truely have wonderful day, and hope all the racers do well, and everyone has good enjoyable runs or whatever today. Karin....I am either going to be fresh, or stagnate with my time off...hopefully not the latter. Thanks Ribs! Remember all, there is only "one" today... and this is it! Tomorrow will take care of it's self, and what ever happened yesterday will make us wiser and stronger! Tim

Good morning all. Thanks for the start Tim. You gave us some good thoughts to help us face this day. I trust your race goes well. In fact, you should be running even as I type this. GO TIM. You are up and facing the day early this morning too Karin. I hope things go well for you too. I managed a nice 5 miles yesterday and hope to do some form of a long run today. I am sort of in the planning stages of my day. I have no time deadlines for the day right now, so am trying to figure out whether I will use it as a relaxing day, or a catch up from work day. My brother is going to have the tumor biopsied on Tuesday. From there, they will proceed to most likely do chemo and radiation treatment to shrink the tumor before removing it. The goal here is partially to avoid a colostomy. He was very upbeat while talking to me yesterday. That may have come from my email to him or the fact he was still on a high from the Celtics win the night before. That man is a BIG Boston fan, no matter the sport. Enjoy the runs today folks. Good luck to all racers. Joey

Good luck Tim and thanks for starting us off! Out for 10 miles today. Last night I was awake a lot with an upset stomach and thought sure I was going to be sick. Feeling better today, so went out for a longer run. Heart wasn't totally into it and by mile 9 I felt nauseous (spell?) again, so I walked a bit and finished my last mile home. Avg. pace 10:51, ahr 163 (higher than I like). Happy Saturday! ~Mary

hallar, it's good to have you back from what sounds like a good trip. Twocat, I hope your wife is recovering from whatever got her. Franc, nice family run. Steve, happy birthday to your wife. eliz, I'm glad to see you were able to get out for a run. Nice long runs for PDR, Twocat, and hopeful. Good job on the speedwork for dtoce and stumpy. This morning it was in the mid 60s with a little wind. I cut my run short at four miles as my hamstring was more noticeable than it has been the last week or so. It took me about 37:30 for a 9:23 pace. A good day and good runs for all. TomS

DON'T FORGET FLAG DAY TODAY! Go Tim, turn that nervous energy into raw speed 10 miles at a little under 10 min. pace, 1st 6.2 w/ DW in light rain that felt so good Busy umpiring almost everyday, I find time to run but no time to read or post. Did summer college league Thursday night then high school kids last night seemed like slow motion. Two college games tomorrow that's why I did 10 today. Graduation party for neighbor this afternoon then work a 5k race this evening "Vision for Veterans" . Fly your Flag & have a great day!

Just got back from my race and had a blast. I don't really like to start a new thread for a race of mine, so I will post it here. I mentioned it was not to muggy out...it was. I decided early this morning that I would go green again and run the 5 miles to the race site (I can see Ribs shaking his head on this one, lol) But after taking off the week from running for the most part, I knew I needed a long warm up. I took off and ran / jogged super slow till about 1 mile from the race site, then did a few striders...legs felt kind of heavy, but not sore....and I was already sweating like a pig. As I showed up it was about 15 minutes before the start...about perfect timing to get my bib and talk to some people. This is a small race and I suppose there were about 150 runners there. I saw Chet (my age group guy I have never beat yet) and we said hi to each other, then I scoped out others about my age. At the start line it is really funny to hear people's excuses as to why they may not run well...cracks me up, and I don't fall for that nonsense. This was my 1st 10K so I set a reasonable goal for me at around 44 minutes, and Ribs helped me out with a plan. He said my first mile should be no quicker than 7:00 minutes, and my 5K time should be at 22 minutes...that's what I set out to do. The horn sounded and we were off. I let the super fast runners go and tried to settle into a comfortable pace, and not go into oxygen debt too soon. I guess there were about 10 - 12 runners in the lead pack, including Chet, but I was not going to chase him down at the point. I got to mile one (they had folk at every mile marker giving splits, beats looking at the watch while running) and my time was 6:36...but didn't really feel that fast, but my watch had the same time. At this point I was in no mans land...not as fast as the front group, but faster than most. At mile 2 I heard 13:25 and was happy because I was feeling somewhat comfortable and had slowed down a tad. Then I saw Chet sliding back a and I picked up the pace a little and caught him right about the 5k mark going up a pretty big hill...I am a lot smaller than him so I like to take advantage on hills. My 5K time was 20:21 and was kinda worried because I had purposely slowed down, but that is a fast stand alone 5K for me. Mile 4 and 5 I just tried to hold pace and at mile 5 I started to tighten up and felt like I was slowing...and I quit looking and hearing my times. Then all of a sudden I hear heavy breathing and foot steps, and sure enough it was Chet. He passed me and I couldn't respond. I took a little bit to recover and mile 6 I got my legs back I tried to get my 1st place age group win. I heard footsteps and heavy breathing behind me again, and this youngster passed me, but I used him as a pace bunny to try and catch Chet. We were nearing the end and I just didn't have the gas to catch him....but did pass the kiddoe. I looked up at the clock and it read 43:17 which I was thrilled with, even if I did get 2nd in my age group...I did beat all my Triathlete buddies though...hee hee. You know what was nice? I gave it all I had today, but didn't feel completely trashed, and recovered nicely after eating some cookies and drinking water. I stayed around for the awards then ran my 5 miles back home. All in all...a great day....and PR. Total: 16 miles 10K 43:17 - 6:57 pace - 176 HR ave, whew - best I could tell, till the results are online, I was probably about 15th overall...the winner finished in 35:01 Thanks for reading, and helping me out in my running journey! ( I know I talked about this Chet charactor a lot, but he was my motivator to get a age group win. When he was leaving I saw him get into his truck....I said YOU DROVE HERE you big sissy! I said this is just a 16 mile training day for me...jab jab, lol) Now, off grocery shopping and treating myself to lunch somewhere nice. Tim

Well, Tim, we discussed 7's and you did 6:57, so that is very good considering the odd week you had. The best news is how much more you have in the bank for future success. A few seconds slower in that first mile may have given you a superb final mile. Still, for not having done this distance before you should be very pleased with the great time. Now you know you have work to do on the pace. 6:45's will give you a sub 42, and I think that is achievable for you, with some focus on race management. You are one fine runner. As to that warm-up, I don't like to judge because first of all, some people need a very long warm-up (I am one) and secondly, you have the endurance for it. Well done. Now we just have to wait for that shy violet CNY to tell us how she did. I am hoping she has a good race too. I sure enjoyed reading eliz' post and seeing how excited she was to get out today. We should all feel like this! I saw the other birthday threads but will say here happy birthday again to Gordon, a great guy, and to our terrific hally. Yesterday I finally gave in and made an appointment with the cardiologist to see what in the heck is going on with me and all this fatigue, but I can't get in until July 8th. Anyway, I feel good that I did it instead of leaving it alone. 5.5 for me today at 9:18 pace, for a 35 mile week. Spareribs

Hey folks! Sweet racing Tim! Congratulations and I agree with Ribs--you have a 41:something right there in your grasp. Your report is wonderful and I am thrilled for you. I still owe you a lengthier e-mail about training and I'll get to that later. ELIZ! Your joy about being back on the roads came booming out of the thread. I am so glad you are feeling better. Keep that notepad so you can cross both items out with glee once accomplished. Ribs---I am glad to hear you made a doctor's appointment. I was worried. We just got back from the Granby, MA Charter days festival (and in honor of Flag Day Sarge!). It's a sweet affair with a fishing derby, an oxen pull, various rides and booths, a petting zoo with my favorite piglet Frances Bacon and the like. Ah yes, and a 10k race after the kids 1 mile race. It's humid and warmish today at 76F with rumbles of thunder now and then. I am hoping the weather remains calm as like dtoce, the kiddo has baseball play-offs this afternoon. The 10k was low key and yet a couple celebrities were there----Eric Nedeau won the race in 33 something and by more than 2 minutes over the second place person. He's the head track and cross-country coach at Amherst College and is a nationally ranked middle distance runner. His cross-country team won the D-III National championships this past fall. Today's 33 minutes looked easy for him. Dick and Ricky Hoyt were there as well and Dick was first in the 60 plus age group. Ricky went to high school with one of the running Js right near here in Westfield , MA. It's great to see them and they are sponsored by John Hancock now---emblazoned on Ricky's wheelchair and all over Dick---NASCAR style almost! I went into this hoping to be in the 43 range. I have more miles on my legs and a boomer of a migraine today (probably because of storms in the area). I was rubbing my temples at the start and almost missed hitting my watch. I was 16th overall out of 60 or so (I think) and 1/3 in the 40-49 age group and 2nd woman overall in 43:31 (my watch---official results aren't up yet). My first mile was a 7:23 and I steadily brought it down in each mile by a bit. There was a long hill in mile 5, so I was pleased that I kept it steady and had a bit of a kick too. The finish was right by a Civil War troop re-enactment site and they were firing their muskets---good way to fly into the finish. yikes! Anyway, I haven't raced a 10k in maybe 4 years and that was a 45 something, so I am happy. My guys were with me, so we hung out for a bit and enjoyed the festval atmosphere. 10 miles of running total today with the warm-up and cool down. Lots of chores to do now and some super secret Father's Day shopping to attend to as well. All Mr. CNYrunner asked for was some Maytag blue cheese and more cedar planks for grilling......I have my eye on some hiking gear that he keeps lusting after. Karin/CNYrunner