mtnchk - Yeah, Dr. D! I listened religiously every week back in high school. Even had an LP he put together. My favorite was Tom Lehrer. Love seeing the music list. Always looking for something new, or something old that I had forgotten. My latest find is Tinariwen, from northwest Africa, they do amazing guitar work. Imagine NW African folk meets the US blues. Yabba - oh, you're one of those FAST guys, eh? You know that means we're all going to hit you up for advice. Welcome, Tim C., glad you found us! Thanks Leslie for putting the announcement out there! Arla

Good Morning Everyone. Country Music and Running have been kind of parallel in my life. As a kid, I only went running when I had to, and only listened to country music when I had to. "Gloom, Despair, and Agony on me". "woe". "Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Misery. "Woe"... Now I enjoy running almost every day and I enjoy listening to country almost every day. But I can't run to country music. I tried it once and it threw my cadence waaaay off. I'm hoping to get out for a fourth run of the week for the first time since the second week of November. (I just checked my new log on here. It's taking me a little while to get used to this new one but it's obviously far superior to the one on CR. Lots of bells and whistles.) But it's raining lightly here today and I'm not anxious to go out and run in the rain with this forever headcold. Good Runs Everybody. I'm glad so many of us made the jump over to here. Hope the others eventually come over as well. bty

Hi Folks, TGIF!! A loud and hearty Welcome to all new 40's friends! Out the door @ 5:30 this morning.About a quarter mile in the books when the sky opened up.Would have stuck it out if it was only pouring rain,but the lightning and thunder was enough to turn me around.Hope to finish my run later. Leslie~ Good luck on your vacation.Be sure to keep us informed! Have a good one all

Hey sillybear, there you are! The holidays mess with your running schedule? Leslie - I'm wondering what it means if state parks close. It may just mean that campgrounds and bathrooms close, you might still have access to the trails - maybe you'll have to park on the street. I've finally shed my holiday pudge. Don't know how it got there, I *tried* to be good, honest! Probably a lot of it was bloat due to all the eating out and salty foods and such. And wine. And desserts - ugh. Dang, they just announced on the news that Marion Jones got a 6 month jail sentence. Imagine what would happen if they jailed everyone who had ever taken steroids? I remember watching my high school coach pop dianabol right in the classroom. He also coached olympic-level athletes, I'm sure all of them were on the juice as well. I guess someone's got to take a fall - hopefully the spectre of jail time will keep kids off synthetic hormones. Arla

I like the idea of a weekly thread. Cuts down on the enormity of the thread, 'cause sometimes we can be quite the little chatters! Since you asked, I am officially on vacation as of whenever I leave work today, but we don't drive down to the Bay Area until Sunday morning, and then we fly out of San Fran early, early Tuesday and get to Prague on Wednesday. We fly from here to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta, it's a 15-hour flight. Ugh! I won't be taking my laptop with me (shudder), so unless I'm able to find and figure out an Internet Cafe over there, I won't be able to keep you updated on my adventures. But rest assured, I will give you a post-full when I get back! Pictures and all! Okay, gotta be back to work . . .

"Gloom, Despair, and Agony on me". "woe". "Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Misery. "Woe"...

"If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. woe. Gloom, Despair, and Agony on me."

Welcome, Evryday! If you're a country music fan, you're OK in my book! (Oklahoma - OK . . . sorry . . . ) Had a really great 7-mile trail run this morning. It was wet, muddy, and fun! I got a little wetter than normal, however. First, I get to Karen's house, pull my pack out of the car, and think, "Hm, it's not as heavy as I thought it was." Well . . . I guess the hose/mouthpiece of the bladder was under the pack, which means the part you suck on to get the fluid was squished wide open, fluid leaked out all over the floorboard of my car. . . . all 48 oz. My purse got soaked, my pack was soaked, when I pulled out my floor mat, the liquid was little flowing off it. Great! So as I'm cleaning up the mess, Karen refills the bladder using her GU2O. We're about an hour into the run, she has to stop and visit the backside of a tree, I'm standing there thinking, "Hmmm, my butt sure does feel cold." I reach around and my entire backside is soaked. She didn't roll the neck down tight enough on the bladder and also put it in the wrong slot on the side of the pack. It just wasn't my day, liquid-wise! Well, I'm all packed! I tell ya, I can get more in a suitcase . . . I bought a new pair of trail running shoes yesterday, so I'm taking those instead of my regular ones and will see how the blister situation goes. (I figure the trail shoes will give me better grip if there's snow and ice.) Right now I have a nice blister on the upper edge of my left big toe. That's a whole new spot! Popped up for the first time last Saturday. Seriously irritating. Well, that's it 'til I get back in two weeks. You guys are gonna miss me, aren't ya?!? (um . . . please say, yes) Anybody heard from Tamara?? Later!!!