Hello, my fine fellow 40 runners! I'm back! Did you miss me?? I missed you all - had RA withdrawals. I did manage to run 4 times while I was gone, 3 of them in Prague, but did walk everywhere! I wish I had worn a pedometer so I could've tracked our mileage. It hadn't to have been at least 4-5 miles each day. Hub even thinks he may have lost a pound or two! We couldn't have asked for better weather, and all my anxiety about trying to run in snow was for not. I could've run easily in my road shoes as opposed to my trail shoes. However, it did give me a chance to try my new trails shoes and only ended up with a blister one time. Woo hoo! Hopefully, the whole blister problem was the shoes, but a trek on the trails in two weeks will tell the tale. Prague was absolutely gorgeous, and I will give full details later. Suffice to say, it was an incredible place, we had a great time, 9 days was a couple of days too long , and I'm very happy to be home. I haven't had a chance to go back and look at the last two weeks of posts, but I hope all is going well with everyone, and welcome to any new people who have joined us. Later, All!

Good Morning 40's ~ Welcome back Leslie ! and yes,we did miss you.Can't wait to hear about your trip. BTY- How did your floor go? I certainly know that feeling of "uh oh,what did I do now?" Nice run Jewels, 10 miles is alot! Can't believe that Jan is almost over.One more frigid month left.Finishing up the strongest running month yet for me.Stretched out my longest run to 15.4m yesterday. Feeling a bit tight in the calves as the course is pretty hilly.Speaking of courses,do you guys map out your runs here?I think the guys tend to do it more than gals.I think it's a pretty cool way of looking at different parts of the country.Feel free to check out my courses.I'm actually pretty proud of what I have done on them. Take care folks!

Welcome back! Someday I'd like to visit Prague. I think it may have to wait until the kids go to college, unless somebody wants to pay my (our) way in the meantime. I've mapped a couple of courses but since I never even leave the neighborhood they are bound to be pretty boring. I managed 9 last week, and I'm surprisingly sore; as recently as October I was running almost 60 miles per month, I've lost a lot of fitness and endurance. My feet and calves especially are grouchy right now. Have a great week, everyone!

BTY, you're brave! Hope it turned out OK. Carol - I've had my share of messing up a do-it-yourself project and ended up spending more in the end than if I'd just looked for a pro in the first place, but I keep trying! Not too bright... Hey Leslie - welcome back! Glad to hear the weather was friendly - I think it was worse here. Got pics? Did you eat some schnitzel? Some good beer? I'm very interested in the food report! Jewels - the best thing about double-digits is the bragging rights There's something psychological about telling people you just ran 10 mi (especially while you stuff your face at dinner), and they just look at you like you're an honest-to-goodness athlete (or just plain crazy). Joe - I'm another one with boring courses, nothing to map, I just follow the multi-use paths around here. Both of 'em. Yawn. But the changing seasons, clouds, wildlife, people watching makes it interesting. Incidentally, I'm inspired looking at your mileage - it's tempting to take that next step. Last week I cracked 30 mi for the week - was aiming for 30, but felt really good and fresh after 10 so I added just one more for 31! No soreness or anything today, very strange. I havn't gone near a bottle of ibuprofen in forever. Keeping it mostly slow seems to really help. Arla

Good Morning 40's ~ BTY- How did your floor go?

Thanks for asking...and so far, so good. My youngest son and I did the hardwood floor removal together - demolition is a great male bonding activity, btw. We got the floor prepped and the ceramic tile laid out, and now I need another stretch of time when I can be home long enough to mix up the mud and lay the tile for good. Fortunately the tiles are going in the corner of the living room, so there was only one cut to make. Two of the sides of the rectangle are formed by remaining floorboards, one by a wall, and just one by my cut. That made getting it square much easier than it might otherwise be. I hoped to go for a run at lunch today, but I was just now (6:30 pm) excused from jury duty - I've never heard of juror selection going from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM! Ya see, the problem with choosing a panel in Albany is that practically everyone called for jury duty in Albany is Irish; so we either are cops, have relatives that are cops, or, uh, know enough cops that it takes a long time to find "qualified" jurors. So after a 25 mile week last week, I'm optimistic that I'm truly excused and now going back to my normal work schedule, and can get in enough short to medium runs to make this a cut-back week, not a lost week. bty Go Blue!

Ugh! Hub and I both have the flu so bad! I really think I'm going to die. It would be a nice alternative to how I'm feeling right now. Brian - You're gonna do great on the floor. Jewels - Congrats on the mileage! Yee ha! Carol - What happened to Katy?? I need to go lay down . . . .

BTY, glad the demolition went well. Never have understood why guys like smashing things, but it seems to be pretty universal. Joe, congrats on your best running month ever! Seems that you are looking good for that May marathon. You’ve been really smart with your ramp-up. Arla, you know what they say…doing the same things expecting different results is a form of insanity. Oh yeah, we’re all crazy runner people anyway, so what the heck. Holly, I hear you on the Garmin. Definitely makes running routes a lot more free flowing. I still have a tendency to run the same routes over and over again though. Yabba Dabba, looks like you are getting in some good runs on the treadmill. That takes fortitude. Way to go! Leslie, hope you feel better soon. Nasty flu bug be gone! We’ve missed you. As for Katy the dog, on our run last Tuesday she was attacked by a Boxer that got out of his hard. Pretty scary, but she only sustained one gash, and seems to be healing well. Vet said no running for her for a couple of weeks, and she’s starting to resent that! Bear, glad you’re getting back out there! I wish we could just press the “save” button on our fitness level sometimes just in case life crashes in. If you figure out how to do that, please let me know! In the interim, we will rebuild. R2, excuse me while I cry over the fact that you had to snowshoe in such an ugly place! Nothing like a cold, crisp, sunny day in the mountains to revive your soul! Sucky run for me yesterday. Put it off ‘till late afternoon and only went a little over 3 miles. Felt like I could have gone fishing with my legs. The were like lead sinkers! Need to get back to running at least every other day. Also missed my yoga class. No excuses, just didn’t do it.