cool this am, nice day for a bike ride...so I did ~13 miles to work...more later... Have a good day everyone! (go RED SOX!)

As Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and some of our long-standing financial institutions go right down the tubes, the FDA has announced that they are hiring 1300 new people. Soooo....forget about breaking your back for 4 years to get your undergrad degree and another 2 to get your hard-earned MBA. Spend 3 weeks flipping burgers at Wendy's, then get a job at the FDA. Roch: Congrats on your 8-miler yesterday...you're way ahead of me. Carolyn: House pix are just stunning! Dave59:

That's what happens when a large corporation buys your employer and instead of meeting with customers, I now meet with people, who meet with people, who meet with the customer.

Welcome to Corporate America...just be happy you're not on Wall Street. Holly: Don't worry about the steaks...we're all coming over for a BBQ....your treat. Sarge:

Dicky I'm thinking of claiming her as a pro on my taxes so I can deduct the cost of the clubs.

Hey, that was quick thinking...you should be working for Lehman Brothers...wait a minute... Tim: Nice 12-miler this morning...you'll definately be ready. Didn't you just get some new shoes 3-4 weeks ago? Bill & Peter: Nice going. It's pouring here & I got too much work to do...I'll sneak out later for about 4 miles..unlike many of you, I don't do rain...my hair frizzes. DickyG

Tim’s post reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to mention. Our local running store got rid of its treadmill and video years ago. They argue that your gait is different on a treadmill than it is on the roads and so treadmill video is misleading, resulting in inappropriate recommendations. They make you run out in the parking lot and go out with you to watch. I don’t know enough about this stuff to have an opinion one way or another. Any thoughts?

Good point. I should have said also that most of my analysis was spent running on a side walk with my running tech watching my gait...I was there for 3 hours altogether. You can only see so much with the naked eye, so that's where the video came in nice too. But the first part was running on the side walk - middle on the treadmill with photos - last part back on the sidewalk to make a final determination if the shoes were right. Tim

Mariposai-I'm probably not going to run Bellingham-but Taper Boy and Jura are,so I'm going to have dinner with them both the night before... Bellingham however is on September 28th...let's see how I feel in the first part of October

Good point. I should have said also that most of my analysis was spent running on a side walk with my running tech watching my gait...I was there for 3 hours altogether. Tim

Wow! 3 hours; that's customer service!

Congrats henrun and marj on your races, especially marj with AG win and new shoes. dive, that was neat meeting tet and posting the pictures. mirko, nice race. busi, good job on your race (and able to do a long run afterwards), deez, neat run with your son. roch, congratulations on your longest run of the year. Holly, power outages are not fun when they last more than a few hours and the freezer situation is a real bummer. Nice long runs for Evan, busi, Peter, bike, and tramps. Good job on the speedwork for Dave and breger. This morning, it was about 50 and almost calm. I got in 8 miles, including a trip over the "big hill". It took a little over 1:18 for a 9:48 pace. I don't think I 've mentioned it, but our son is getting married a week from this Saturday. This has been in the works for quite awhile and we are happy and excited. Plans seem to be coming together quite well. A good day and good runs for all. TomS

Went to the park with the Saint today, who agreed to do the same workout I have been doing, a walk followed by 4 quarters jogging, with a quarter mile walk break after each. Strange when you run with someone you normally don't run with. She thought my 9:17 mile yesterday was so much faster than she runs, so with each quarter she did she took off like a rocket. We come to the first mile marker and she says, "how fast was that?" I said 1:58, and she says, "That's way too fast." I said I knew it was and the next one she can take the lead and I will just follow. We don't need to go this fast. So we come to the next quarter mile mark and I yell go and off she goes again. In 20 paces I am thinking this is the same pace we did last time, but I follow along and don't comment. We get to the marker and I tell her we did it in 1:59. Okay, she says, this one I am going to take it easy because this is way too fast for me. Another 1:58. Good thing she really slowed down for the fourth one, as I clocked the entire mile in 7:54. I think she really does want me out of the picture! Still, this is good experience for her. She now sees she can and probably should do a little workout like this once a week, 4 x 400 at around 2 minutes, surrounded by a couple of minutes walking. I ran behind her the whole way and her stride looked very comfortable and efficient. I am most interested in Dark Horse, Tramps and Tim's comments on shoes and gait analysis. Let me add my 2 cents. It's well known that many runners have different sized feet and would best be fitted by a size 10 on one foot and a 9 on the other for example. I think there is even some store that will sell them to you like that. But I am equally certain that there are many more runners whose gait is such that they could use different stabilities or cushioning for each foot and it's too bad they can't buy the Stabil for the left foot and the Pegasus for the right. Now that would be a hell of a marketing niche. My PT watched me run last year on the TM and never commented on my gait, but a friend who is a PT who runs with me at the lake had very decided opinions. It was she who got me to move to more of a midfoot strike from my old heel to toe and this change immediately eliminated all my (making a list here) piriformis, sciatica, hamstring, glute and other related injuries. I often put my car keys on the ground just inside my tire and one day I noticed I could squat down after a run and pick up the keys with no pain! This is an important area where the barefoot runners have it right. Just get Tet going on this subject. So if anyone is good enough to look at your gait, they ought to do so when you are really running, and a camera that gives you slo-mo is even better. Great posts by you three on this important topic. Spareribs