brrr evanflein.... brrr. another wish for everyone to have a safe and happy new year's celebration. 1100 52f 8 ez 8:24 saw a pack of wolves running on the other side of the river bank. ok, not wolves, could have been wildcats. or maybe those olympians. (not sure if it was abdirahman or cheseret) silent, powerful and just flying over the ground. i took a little mental movie, wrapped it up carefully, and stuck it in the back of my brain, next to the smiling 7 y/o runner movie. and speaking of visualization exercises... i get to mile 18 in phoenix and feel great, slowly lowering the hammer and passing people... dropping into that wonderful pool of lactic acid... but feeling calm, relaxed and powerful. i lift up my eyes a little and see the next guy up the road, grit my teeth, hammer a little harder, breathe a little louder. slowly i make my way up to his heels... i focus on his feet, flying back with each stride. i look over... and it's paul tergat! we fly down mcclintock stride for stride... up and over the little bridge, heading for the 24 mile mark. the band at the mile marker: mc solaar!!! "carpe diem!" he yells into the mike as we fly by, feet floating over the road. tergat looks over at me, winks, and drops into 4:30 pace, leaving me in the dust! as he disappears into the distance, the fans on the course are still yelling at me that i've got second place... and at mile 25 haile jogs past, cooling down from another world record half marathon, and yells "go mc go!" at me. left turn on 6th, high-five my coach, right turn up packard, on my toes, and sprint to a new marathon pr. at least that's how i picture that it's going to happen...

Here in Tennessee it was a chilly start at 31 - my favorite kind of running weather..... Helen

...yep, but on the Cumberland Plateau, we're expecting 20-degrees tonite........Cannabalism could break out at any time.. so if you get Invited over for Dinner====>>push for More Details////

brrr evanflein.... brrr. another wish for everyone to have a safe and happy new year's celebration. 1100 52f 8 ez 8:24 saw a pack of wolves running on the other side of the river bank. ok, not wolves, could have been wildcats. or maybe those olympians. (not sure if it was abdirahman or cheseret) silent, powerful and just flying over the ground. i took a little mental movie, wrapped it up carefully, and stuck it in the back of my brain, next to the smiling 7 y/o runner movie. and speaking of visualization exercises... i get to mile 18 in phoenix and feel great, slowly lowering the hammer and passing people... dropping into that wonderful pool of lactic acid... but feeling calm, relaxed and powerful. i lift up my eyes a little and see the next guy up the road, grit my teeth, hammer a little harder, breathe a little louder. slowly i make my way up to his heels... i focus on his feet, flying back with each stride. i look over... and it's paul tergat! we fly down mcclintock stride for stride... up and over the little bridge, heading for the 24 mile mark. the band at the mile marker: mc solaar!!! "carpe diem!" he yells into the mike as we fly by, feet floating over the road. tergat looks over at me, winks, and drops into 4:30 pace, leaving me in the dust! as he disappears into the distance, the fans on the course are still yelling at me that i've got second place... and at mile 25 haile jogs past, cooling down from another world record half marathon, and yells "go mc go!" at me. left turn on 6th, high-five my coach, right turn up packard, on my toes, and sprint to a new marathon pr. at least that's how i picture that it's going to happen...

That's awesome....just awesome!

Something like this.... Someone said spring is just around the corner? Please, I'm so ready! This was the end of my "long run" yesterday... the planned "14-15" where I bailed at 12.1 (right at my parents' house, DH rescued me per distress call at mile 11). Whenever I make that call, I seem to get a second wind and almost think I could go on... but I was having cold-cramps in my right hamstring and left quad, and I was having problems seeing clearly... started late so no reflective wear/headlight and I was losing daylight fast. So, it's all good. Wanted to hop on the TM for a couple miles to increase total, but we had to go to the home improvement store to order our cabinets... last day to get 10% off! I'm going to try to run today a bit, downstairs on the new mill, just cuz I'd like a wee bit more miles for December/2007. But I'm already over 1900, a huge PR for me anyway. Happy Birthday, pegruns! You've got great company....my niece turns 6 today! Hi Tim, be good to yourself. You've got lots of night running ahead and it'll be there waiting for you. Hi Holly! I'm off till Wednesday, then it's just half days for me thru Friday. Kids off till Tuesday the 8th!

That's awesome....just awesome!

8K Resolution race for me today. 39:08 at 7:53 pace ..10 out of 24 age bracket and 110 out of 373 overall. Just about what I planned so I guess it was a fair effort. My watch screwed up again so I have no splits but feel a pretty even paced race. 35 degrees and sunny at the start so we couldn't ask for any better weather. The only screw up was at the start. They anounced a start line at an intersection that the runners were supposed to start on one side and the walkers on the other. Well nobody listened so everyone rushed to the front and me being the one who actually did what they said ended up starting in the back. The first mile was pretty slippery and I also was trying to push to the front through the crowd. It really didn't clear out for me for about the first half mile or so. I either lost some time there or it was a blessing in disguise. Not going out to fast was probably better on the ice and I did not end up on my ars. The middle miles were pretty steady I got in behind someone at my pace and settled in. I realized about this time my watch was wrong because it said I passed the mile mark at 4:40. WOW I must have been flying or this %$&$^ watch is screwing up again. I can run for months and its fine then when I really would like to know my splits it goes bonkers on me. The course is an out and back sorta. The 1st and last mile are the same roads. That at least gave me an idea coming in where I was on the course. There is a big downhill going out which means its an uphill going back. That is where I decided to pick up my pace. I am pretty good on hills so I passed a lot of people at that point. The only other funny thing was just as I was coming into the shoot this guy in front of me was groaning so load with each step I thought he was in pain or something as I passed him and realized he was ok just working hard I guess. I was smiling and almost laughing as I passed the clock. I was looking forward to meeting up with the elusive Marathon Derrick at this race but we managed to miss each other. He did call me on the way home and tell me about his race so hopefully he will post a report soon. Last miles of the month and year but I will have to wait to go back to work for my totals because my speadsheet is there. Happy New Years everyone! Larry

I've thought about the glasses... Choovie suggested skiing goggles. I hate wearing anything on my face though, that's why my mask is always pulled down. Might need to consider it. Have a good time and race, JJJ. MC, nice... hope you get it (and I know you will...). Tried out my new treadmill this morning. Wow, it is so smooth! I've been running on those old worn out club treadmills for so long. I realize now that all those times I thought I was running a certain speed or distance, I prolly wasn't. I think those things are so out of calibration and the belts are so maladjusted, it's just awful. So... I did 5:07 miles in 45 minutes today, fiddling with speed and buttons and such. Wore the HRM, too, which is totally annoying. DH wore it yesterday, and I tried to tighten it up but guess it needs more. Found out I don't have "pace" on this thing just "speed" in mph. Well, that's a little annoying. Oh well, it's smooth, and steady, and I love it. AND, DH did a nice 5k of easy intervals in half an hour yesterday. I think this is JUST what we needed to get him going again!

Yet another windy day with single digit temperatures so I wimped out and went to the rec center. I'm not tough like Erika! Round and round on the indoor track for 5.5 miles, to finish December with 100.5 miles. My fifth month this year over 100 miles! DD came with me, and she did C25K week 1 on the treadmill. She was up to week 3 before Christmas, but hasn't run for two weeks because she got the flu, so she wanted to start out easy again. I'm so proud of her for sticking with it. She'll be beating me in no time at all. (Of course, that's not hard, as I'm slow and 35 years older than she is!) Every day I go to the rec center I've been running the last couple of miles on the track barefoot, and find it's easier and faster. Why is this? I don't think the weight of my shoes would make that much difference. Today my fastest mile was the last one, at 9:30. Good way to end 2007. Happy New Year to all my virtual running buddies! DH doesn't understand my running obsession, so I'm glad I have you guys.