The 'dog is man's best friend' experiment is even funner coming from man who gets PAID for his extraordinary people skills and ability to motivate people to push themselves to their true potential.

Spareribs - might I suggest you take the tire jack and tire iron out of the trunk before this experiment? Soundrunner - I know what you mean about pollen. On my run today, I kept seeing what, at first, looked like yellow paint marks on the trail. After a few minutes I realized the yellow was the pollen that had fallen out of the flowering bits of the trees. The catkins (spelling?) were all over the ground and had a little puddle fo yellow surrounding them. I ended up itchy and splotchy on my wrist and my nose is kinda stuffy. Time to shower off the pollen and take my Claritin! Nice run today. I'm consistently running below 15 mpm now. I even had someone on a bike tell me I was running at a nice pace. Go figure. Tomorrow, I'm getting up at an ungodly hour and meeting a friend at 6:30 am for a run. We're doing 5k run/walk and then I have to race back to the house, shower and be at work by 8:15 AM. It's going to be close, but if I don't run early, I won't get a run in tomorrow. I've got a bunny to catch!

Mari, dear princess, how long at SeaTac? I will email you. Back from the doctor with sick son. Orders to wait another day or two to see if he improves before giving him antibiotics. He has developed a sinus infection. Much better than the bronchitis he developed after last year's brutal flu. I'm still dodging that bullet. Evan, I bet you were always picked first to be on someone's team!

I got a call last night that my only brother was taken to the hospital. I was surprised to be able to reach him directly by phone. When I asked what was wrong he said......in a weak voice...."I can't (pause) catch (pause) my breath (long pause) so (pause) I went (pause) to (pause) the doctor (pause) and he (pause) put me ( pause) here." Today I got through to my niece who informed me that there is blockage to the heart and a leaky valve. He has congestive heart failure going on and they hope to stablize him in order to put in a stent for now and then do by-pass surgery later. He has diabetes, is sedentary in actions, slightly overweight, and basically wound differently than me. Anyway, he has put in a good day today and they hope he will soon be strong enough to get the stent at least put in. The doctor said he is pretty weak right now, since he waited at home for a week before seeing help. I ran a nice 3.08 miles at noon and managed to duck the responsibility of a basketball trip tonight. However that does not give me an evening off as I will be doing some of the work by listening to the broadcast and then using instant messenger to communicate to the announcers. Let me take another attempt at explaining my comments on the four ladies......Soundie, Erika, Holly, and NYRunner having a race: You all are different but there is a competitive edge in different ways to each of you when running. With Soundie, the little encounter where you vowed to beat that guy next time who has drafted and then nipped you, shows your competitive side. As you said, the newness of racing perhaps aids in this desire to pass those in front of you. Your competitive side comes and goes. With Erika, you have already stated, "yea, let's get it on". You LIKE to compete. That is your nature and your "carrot". It is one of the things that keeps you running. No argument there in saying you are competitive. You even wanted to neutralize the possible disadvantage of running on a track, just to make sure things were in your favor. Holly, your competitiveness might not be so much against 'others' as much as within yourself. The alternate word that could be used for you instead of compete is "strive". You find yourself never satisified with what you have done. The training just goes on and on. It is an unending desire within yourself to excell. You want to strive for perfection. This is your area of the competitive nature. With NYRunner, your acknowledgement of once being competitive but now enjoying a stage of not needing to "win" every time in order to be happy, shows who you are now as a runner. The edge however is still there and never quite leaves, but by choice you have set your focus on other goals than simply beating the field. That goal was true at a previous stage, but is not your objective now. All four of you are wonderful runners. You are all very capable athletes who are "wired" slightly different but who have utilized your talents, abilities, and personalities to become the runners that you are. You still share in a competitive nature that would ignite if you were all together for this one event. There are other very capable and dedicated lady runners on this board. Mileage wise, Mariposia is up over 314 miles already for the year. Somehow I don't think of her as "competitive". There are others who are good consistent runners at various stages and perhaps some of them could actually be added. Aamos, Arf, Enkephalin, Hopeful, Ilene, Jemmama, LaVitaDolce, Mtnchk1, Predawnrunner, RunninginDC, Teresadfp, Wildchild to mention a few. Anyway, it is all fun to think about. Thank EACH one of you for being you.

Hi Cootieboy Joey - sorry to read of the health issues your brother is having. I'll keep him in my thoughts and prayers. no run for me today. Day two of rest. But I have a four day wknd starting tomorrow, so plan on extra doses of running and exercise.

Afternoon all, Treadmill day for me. 6 miles at 9:48/mile pace Paul

Wildchild - there is a half marathon on April 6 starting in Littleton and ending at the Buckhorn Exchange. Come run with me!!! I'm not fast, I'm not competitive - heck I didn't even rate on the post about all you great women runners, but I am fun! I have been working with my college friend to get her ready for this mileage. I would love to get under 2:00, but reality tells me I am going to have to settle for 2:10ish. Platte River Half - if you are interested! Tall - good luck tomorrow. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. btb - your rainy running forecast reminds me of last year's Denver Marathon. Wet wet wet! The good news is I invested in a really great rain jacket for running!!!Good excuse to buy some new running stuff if you ask me!