I'm afraid to ask what kind of work you do. Dark Horse

At 6:00 AM, it was 9 degrees here so I wimped out and went to the Y. 8 miles on the dreadmill, 9:41 pace. I tried to run the last five minutes at an 8:00 minute mile pace but thought I was going to fly off the back of the treadmill and only made it 3, but I sure got my heart rate up there! The next stop was to the store to buy a turkey (they had a coupon in the paper - 48 cents a pound). Tim, you want to meet wimmin - the meat department was swarming with them! The store clerk couldn't throw them (turkeys, not women) in the meat case fast enough. It was almost comical - I kept looking for the hidden Candid Camera. Sarge - go buy some liquid bandaid. That stuff works really well on blisters and cuts. Hopefully, that will stop the blister from causing you any pain during your run. Good luck to all the racers this weekend!

thank you very much timmy for your good humor that really helped me deal with bein' so depressed this month at the cancellation of one of my favorite marathons earlier in the month (freebie United We Run NYC Sister Marathon on leafy, barefoot-friendly bike paths that, so it seems, got cease'n'decisted from affiliating with the NYC mary and fizzled w/o a big licensing fee). As a weekend fitness runner often on extended tapers, especially in the winter when there's not so many events to entice me to put on my sneakers, . . . I mean take 'em off, this is the first time I've ever had a nonrunning taper-buddie and it's really helped to be able to check the daily everyday to see if you were still tapering too. I'm really sorry that you're still on the DL and may be for a long time, maybe even giving up running through some of next year too. If so, you can be sure I will be be joining you again for the whole month of December after next weekend's Seattle Marathon and, after the annual New Year's Day Resolution 5K Run and shirtless plunge <>with some of the local goddesses i hope)>>> into Lake Washington, through January, and also February, if necessary too. Divechief's done long injury tapers at least two times after various marathons for up to six months but he really is living proof it can have very special benefits. <>arf/arf)>>> In the meantime, maybe you're already a good swimmer but, with an Ironman in your future (I know you are thinking half but please plan on the full sometime too; if I can, you can), most of swimming power is in the shoulders so, maybe pool run a little bit, but make developing a powerful stroke your goal for the next few months and just let your feet drag behind. Well, it's been a pleasure but, with her taking time to run the first five miles of the inaugural Eugene Marathon with me for real and spiriting me up at the mile 20 goddess aid station - and Portland too, I've been looking forward to ending the current four week taper tomorrow with a virtual tammy run (she doesn't want anyone to know it's her birthday, so don't tell). Why don't you dedicate something tomorrow to her too and maybe start thinking about something in the future you can look foward to too. <>SeattleRnR-tammy&tim/ilene&tim/mariposai&tim/evanika&tim/arf&tim/holly&tim aamos&tim/enkika&tim/franci&tim/marilynmonroe/TBA)>>> doesn't seem like such a great idea to run in those shoes for 13.1 miles no matter what else you might wear (or not). With regard to the TM, many of my runningbarefoot buddies use the TM in the winter too to avoid ice and snow on their soles plus there's a lot of shoddies running at inclines of 1-2% to avoid heel striking and get used to the mid/forefoot landings recommended for injury-free running by Posetech, ChiRunning, Mindful Running. Incidentally, though many gyms claim to require footwear of some sort, the LIfeFitness reps in Seattle said barefoot is just fine (otherwise, just put on socks, aquasocks, etc.) ====================== nonrunners anonymous - COR 11/21/08 (Friday) lamerunner - 11 erika - 19 twocat - 19 timbi - 20 tet - 27