Evening, guys--i have a bit of a crimp in my running at the moment. My atrial fib has been acting up since Sunday afternoon and the pills that I have been taking to control it (and get rid of it when it does show up) have sort of suddenly quit working completely. It hasn't been constant and at this point not particularly dangerous, but exteremly annoying. my cardio had asked me to take a EKG to check how they had been working, so I had one last night after work. He says that I now have more of a flutter than a fib, which isn't bad, but still makes me feel like crap. I'm going in to see him on Thursday, but even if the random flutters are gone I don't think I'll be running tomorrow or Thursday. Not sure what happens after that. It won't bum me out TOO much for tomorrow, since there is snow and/or freezing rain predicted. Sorry to jump to being negative at this late hour, but this is the first time I've had it go on this long and it's a little depressing. Better times to come soon. Kevin

Eliz... sorry about the tenor. & about my ill-timed comment. I hope it works out well one way or the other.. awful to be uncomfortable. how are you feeling? my sinuses have been bothering me too ever since I had that cold. I feel like a slug. good for you getting out the other day. You start training Monday? Like Laurie said... I didn't know there was an online tool for that (making your own plan) either. do you have a link? thanks for the cautionary words.. btw, doing the recovery run right worked out really well. Linda, yes thinking about it counts! Your plan sounds good.. so. yesterday was tomorrow. how did it go? Body part report... (sigh).. it really wasn't the 11 miler, though that might not have helped. I just did the typical change too many things within a weeks time, & it suddenly backfired. I'm not terrible, but definitely have a pita again. maybe 2 of them. So am cutting back this week again. makes me mad at myself, but i have plenty of time to make up for it. thanks for asking. apparently i still don't have this down, & I was honestly working hard at a slow, steady, consistent increase. Mike, I'll help all I can! hard to know what times i can get away from work. but when I can I will. congrats on your 5K. that is so great! have to stop. a work thing. more later.

deb, what is it you maybe have two of? Theresa, why does anyone live in new england?! The weather stinks all year long, especially winter and this has been a tough one. That cold/flu is going around. My Ali has it for the 2nd time now. I dont think the quantity of miles counts as much as the quality. Its more important to get the types of run workouts in than to get the miles in. Make sense (quite often I dont)? Kev, whats the word? Eliz, I am seriously considering home schooling Ali next year. Hows the discipline in your school? Theres none is Ali's. Her and I were walking the mall over the weekend. She suddenly said, 'uh go that way' and we veered off course because the mean girls in her school were headed our way. So I asked what they did that was so mean. It seems like their goal in life is to make everyone miserable. Its awful. I did a half hour of Wii fit yoga last night and woke with my leg hurting all the way up to my back and down to my knee. Its official, the only exercise I can do is swim until this thing heals. Oh well, means I have a reason now to go swim suit shopping. lol. Laurie

Hi everyone--the news is not horrible or great. My atrial fibrillation has added an atrial flutter that my meds no longer seem to control. No running or exertion for the near future, but no major danger. The rest may end up as TMI, but if you're curious, feel free to read on. I feel the need to tell this and don't really feel like telling people at work, so you guys get stuck (listening) reading. the only way to clear the flutter is to shock it and cardio says that's only a temporary solution--it will come back at some time. the only full cure is called ablation--permently zapping the portions of the heart that are misfiring and causing both results. problem is that they're on different sides of the atria. one side is easy to do and is done almost routinely (flutter), but the other side (fib) is a realtively new technology and the only person/hospital in the North east that does work on the difficult side is not in my insurance network. This means that I now have to fight with the insurance folks to get an out-of-network coverage. My cardio is very supportive and will be doing all he can to support it along with my regular doc. It's something that we've talked about doing, but somewhere in the future. I could have actually moved to a more expensive offering that would cover the majority of the cost without arguing, but thought this would be more than a year away and was trying to be cheapfrugal. in the mean time, I need to go on coumadin (blood thinner) as I'm not pumping at full efficiency and am more liable to develop clots. If the insurance can be worked out, I'll be on it until a month after the operation. If and when it happens, I guess I'd be laid up for about a week and then a month or so for most activities. So it looks like I'll be out of service for a couple of months at least. I'm planning on doing a lot of stretching and knee strengthening exercises that don't involve a lot of exertion. I mean I got out of breath bringing the trash up from the basement. Have I mentioned that this really sucks? For anyone that made it through, thanks for reading. I will try to stay in touch, because I don't want to loose track of all my on-line buddies, and I want to keep thinking about running again. Kevin

LOL, Laurie! Oh, I love New England. I first visited when I was in high school. I remember walking out of Logan Airport in June, feeling the upper-60s temps, and thinking, "Air conditioning! I have to live here!!!" It felt so wonderful not to sweat in the summer! I love being 5 minutes from the ocean, 90 minutes from great ski resorts, two hours from Boston; owning a log cabin with a beautiful view of a lake and mountain; Acadia National Park, the Old Port in Portland, NO TRAFFIC JAMS, independent Mainers, etc., etc. I could see living in Texas part of the year, but I think I will always have a residence up here.

I read the board and wrote a really long reply last night but then before I could hit post my browswer suddenly closed and all was lost. Being it was late and I had to get up extra early to shovel before I went to work I just put it off until today. I did my shoveling and am now at 'work'. With the airport closed due to a storm I wont be doing much work. Kevin, A few positives I see. One you have a diagnosis and thats always better than a 'I dont know lets do more tests' result. Two its fixible. And three youre a runner with a strong runner's heart. When I got my diagnosis I was like 'shit I have to take meds for the rest of my life' but then I learned how to control it without meds and havent taken any in over 6 years. Whats going on with our basketball team?! Their streak has turned into a losing streak. Eliz, how are the kids behaving in your school? Ali's school has no discipline at all and the kids get away with murder. She has done nothing in sewing class all year because the kids wont settle down to learn so the teacher has just given up. Theresa, I suppose Maine has a lot more to offer than western mass. You Kevin and I should meet in Boston for a race. I am considering the run to remember half marathon in May. Linda, 13 hours on a sat?! Why?! Ugh. Glad youre getting on the dreadmill though. Its a good start. I learned that swimming is the answer to my leg woes. Its the only exercise that doesnt hurt and actually it takes away the pain. Did 45 mins yesterday and felt strong like I could go for more after. Will try 50 mins today and about 55 laps. Laurie