Thanks for getting us going for the week Joe.......nice quote, although when you're injured I disagree with it! Way to get out there knowing you had more white stuff heading your way! Yesterday had to have gotten close to 80* but the next couple of days is suppose to be super, super windy and cold. Wierd, wierd weather! I spent 8 hours in a courtroom yesterday helping out with the county High School Mock Trial competition. Man, are some of these kids good. I mean, they dressed the part, acted the part and studied their stuff. The Honorable judge Silverman and Earp along with local attorneys who were the jurors volunteered their day yesterday to help out. There were 2 timekeepers, one for the plaintiff and one for the defendent (me). I actually learned quite a bit myself. Well, since I can't run I figured I'd just tell you what I've been up to. Lots of homework......taking 4 classes and it is pretty tough. Mid-terms are this week so I'm already half way thru the semester! Hoping to hear how Carols race went and how Ev's race/training run went! Have a super Sunday everyone..... Jewels

Woohooo!!! Nice PR in spite of that wind Ev! Must have felt like running on a treadmill in a wind tunnel. At least the hills weren't as a bad as last year, though maybe they would have knocked down the wind a bit. Sounds like you're right on track for that marathon. Joe, your post just stole any hope of a weather related excuse I could ever hope to use. Sleet, ouch! Thanks for starting us off, and I too like the quote. Jewels, sounds like quite a busy schedule! Hopefully will keep you distracted 'till you can see that knee doc. How did you get connected up with the moc trial stuff? Sounds very interesting. OK, you asked so here it is: Cowtown 1/2 Marathon (2/28/09) Team AIM (Accountants in Motion) met all goals!!!! (start healthy, design/wear t-shirts, finish). My friend's hubby is a Ft Worth police officer, and was nice enough to secure us a parking place downtown in the police lot about a block from the start. My hubby was kind enough to drive us to said spot and see us to the start. So that started things off nicely. We were not fast, but stayed together and had lots of fun. Weather conditions were similar to Ev's race. Right around freezing temp wise, with NW wind averaging 20 MPH, gusting up to 38. Really only felt cold for the first few miles though, and then it was fun to watch all of the clothes that had been shed laying on the side of the roads. I guess we were both a little excited, and in spite of visiting the facilities before the race, about 1.5 miles into it, we had to visit them again. Cost us about 5 minutes in line, and at a time when we were fresh. But since neither of us was serious enough about this to be willing to pee ourselves and we hoped the early lines would be shorter, stop we did. All went well as we clipped along for the first 10 miles. We walked some of the uphills, and stopped a time or two for my friend to stretch out her knees, and me to test my blood sugar. Lots of support along the course, including bands and impromptu musicians here and there. We slapped the hands of lots of kiddos whose parents had brought them out, and thanked as many folks as we could along the way. Around mile 8, we met a lady wearing a pink cowboy hat and pink skirt who had just turned 50 and was doing her first ultra (50K). It was fun talking with her, and her hands were cold so I gave her my gloves, promising that the stain on them was only coffee . So I can now say my gloves have completed an ultra cause she did it! At mile 9ish, my friend's parents met us at a designated McDonald's, so we stopped for a couple of pictures, and passed of our jackets to them. Outside of my right knee (IT band I think) tightened up a bit early on, but was quite manageable....until mile 12 where it became really painful. Had to walk a good portion of mile 12 and 13, but with lots of encouragement from my friend, and some cheery young lady shouting to us all sorts of "you can do it" types of things, I managed to restart for the last 1/2 mile or so and look semi-respectable crossing the finish line. I have no doubt that I held my friend back in those last couple of miles, but she was a true friend to the end and I think would have carried me if she had to. We finished in 2:32:21, and our splits were all over the place due to all of the above antics: M1 10:32 M2 15:44 (at least 5 mins at the port-a-potty) M3 10:36 M4 10:14 M5 11:57 M6 10:36 M7 11:39 M8 11:04 M9 12:33 (meet the parents) M10 10:52 M11 10:14 M12 12:29 M13 12:19 Hubby was there at the finish line and snapped a couple of pics. Wish we could have hung around to watch more of the marathon finishers (other than the ones who passed us , but it was just too dang cold and windy to hang around downtown without those jackets and gloves we had handed over earlier. So off for a quick shower, and then to Babe's for chicken, chicken fried steak, biscuits, etc. with our families. My friend appears to have emerged unscathed, and I'm walking better today than yesterday, so I think it's just inflammation of the IT band that needs some rest and a more balanced workout and stretching program going forward. When I started writing this, it was just going to be a short paragraph, but as you can see I got a little carried away

"Against the Wind" is the theme for the weekend! Uh-oh, now that's going to run through my head on my next run... Ev - Nice PR despite the wind...nice! Bet your finish more than made up for the frustration. Carol - LOVE the goals that included designing/wearing t-shirts! Got any pics! And...mmmmmm...chicken-fried steak. That's something that I only let myself have maybe every 3 or 4 years. Did something different yesterday, ran down to the river bottom of the San Joaquin River, there's a 22 mile stretch that is mostly state-owned, but it's not developed so you have to search for old dirt roads, some sections of these have been washed out, so we did a lot of scouting around and exploring. It was sort of a trail run, some rough terrain and short sharp ups and down, plus the big climb into and out of the river valley. Somewhat challenging, very pretty and a nice change of pace. Hope everyone is having some nice weekend runs. Arla

Congrats to the weekend racers. Ev the conditions sounded just miserable, this one will make future races seem nice eh? Way to hang in! Carol, nice job to you also, sounds like it was a fun race in spite of not perfect weather. Hope the it comes around quickly. So are the race Tees deductable (wellness program, advertising ?)? Joe winter is not giving up easily in the east this year, kudos for getting your run in. Arla interesting run in the valley. Jewels almost half way thru the semester, going to Florida for spring break I presume?? My nephew was on a state champ mock trial team but I never got to watch them. Lynda had a checkup in Denver friday, everything good, so we headed up to ski at Copper. We met up with MtnChk Sat eve for dinner but before she worked over my chronic calf/achilles area with her hot stones. She definitely knows what she is doing. No runs over the weekend but skiied pretty hard. Just for kicks I put my skins on and skinned up in place of taking one particular lift I don't like. Got some funny looks but good exercise. MTA skins think velcro for skis that sticks to your skis with adhesive with a velcro like surface against the snow so you can climb uphill without sliding backwards. When you get to the top just peel them off and fold them and put them away. http://www.genuineguidegear.com/telemark_skin_tip.html Have a great week.

Thanks for the nice words, everyone. Congrats Carol on a fine half! Sounds like you and your friend had a great time. Meeting up with her parent's at McDs....that fun stuff right there. Sorry to hear your IT band is giving you problems. I dealt with that a few years back. Mine not a bad problem but enough to keep me sidelined somewhat. I learned to do some stretches for it and have not had an issue since. Your after race dinner sounds wonderful!

Due to the recession in 2009, the government will start deporting all the mentally ill people to save money. I started crying when I thought of you guys. Run my little crazy friends, run! Well, what can I say??? Someone sent it to me, and dammit, I'm NOT going alone !!

arla, is that your bird in your avatar?