An easy 5.5 this morning.

Teresa—congrats on finishing the home improvement work. Holly—two-word solution for your next power outage: extension cords. Glad to see that big bully Dicky has stopped picking on the powerless. Remember, Dicky, it’s “comfort the afflicted; afflict the comfortable,” not the other way around. PBJ—I’ve been thinking about your new job. I’m guessing back-up goalie? DH—I’m surprised you haven’t chimed in on the latest use of taxpayer dollars. As for me, I clearly wasn’t paying attention in my economics classes. Somewhere I got the idea that the profits from capital investment were in part a reward for risk-taking. I must have missed the “too big to fail” class. Perch-- Very humid but love the cool temps. 7.2 mile split run this morning: 3.7 miles on the gravel road @ 8:31 and another 3.5 miles on the trail @ 9:36. Lots of dense spider webs across the trail today slowing me down. Have a good one.

Tramps, don't get me started on the bailouts and the use of taxpayer dollars. I might have to start an OT thread. This is just wearing us all down. Lame, she did a 7:02 mile on grass, and that's pretty respectable. I hope you give her lots of encouragment. Very well done. Holly, listen to both Tet and Tim here. Tet is right, but Tim is also careful to point out that the switch takes time. If you are prone to AT problems you have to use care. DickyG, please continue your trend of amusing posts but without the extra praise for Mainerunnah. He is an enemy, and we just don't need this sort of thing. If he does something extraordinary, I will make a brief mention, but then that's it. Today I slowed the pace way down, but gently expanded the jog portions of my workout. 3.8 total miles with 17:30 of it jogging. This also included 2 x 800's, so I am counting the day as maybe 1.5 miles jogging, the rest walking. Spareribs

30 minutes of pool running on Monday, 40 minutes last night when I really really really wanted to run. But, figured the pool would be beneficial and the run would not, so the pool won. It does feel good, and my foot is better this morning. I do want to run 4 today after work as sort of a "test run" to see how it does after a break. Feels like it's been forever since I ran... but I did 10 on Sunday. Funny how it fades in memory so quickly! Tet, I've been wearing sandals at work since this spring. Rarely wear closed shoes. Not sure what I'm going to do this winter...! I think some flat shoes I have that I got last winter aggravated this condition and brought it on sooner than it would otherwise. I still have those shoes, but haven't worn them since before Boston. Oddly enough, moving from a heel strike stride to more mid-foot/forefoot did make me faster (I believe), but I think it also contributed to the breakdown of the metatarsal head. Some people don't have the mechanics for it, but push through anyway... Holly, glad to hear you got your power on. And it's amazing how well those freezers can hold temperature. I bet the contents are fine, but use it soon. Tramps has a good idea with the extension cord. CNYrunner, thanks for the link... but this always bugs me: "All orders going to Alaska or Hawaii will be charged $20.88" USPS Priority Mail costs the same whether going from Florida to Washington, or New Mexico (where these guys are) to Alaska. I hate being singled out like that. I like Zappos.com... free shipping both ways. Equinox entries are over 800, expecting close to 1,000 by Saturday. Most of these are relay runners, which bug me because they go out sooo fast (why shouldn't they, they're only doing 8.5 mile legs!) they mess up my pacing. Also make navigating the single-track rooty trails difficult... Getting nervous... wish it would clear up and get sunny to help dry parts of the trail...

Wildchild - too funny!! Ok, so that must have been my excuse too!....too many spiderwebs. I did 6.26 miles 10:50 pace o/a, it was about 63F and SO HUMID. Man it felt way way sluggish. I had to take 2 or 3 breaks to let my foot rest. Can't really figure out what aggrevates it the most...it is the left foot and sharp left turns definitely hurt it. Going uphill or downhill is not a problem. I was walking normally this morning, and now after the run I am a little bit gimpy, but I don't think I have undone much of the healing. I will know later today...I am going to crack open my newest pair of shoes tomorrow. Which means I should order another pair soon. Boy, who thought running could be this expensive?? Mariposai, I must look up your Autumn leaf run (which I saw listed on some website somewhere) to see if I can make it out your way....Whoops, just mapped it and it is a 4 hour drive from me....I didn't realize it was that far....

Hiya! missed youse guys! Lots going on--love the running feet! No power, yech--harder in the summer--in the winter, I had a wood stove (in Worthington, western MA) so even tho we'd lose it for days, you could heat the house, cook on the stove, and stick your perishables in snow in a cooler. Summer, not so good. Perch, hope you heal soon! Had a lot of fun running Maui with Stevie Ray for about 10 miles--I love running with him, and he politely tolerates me (he had a good upbringing, you can tell) well. I most definitely did NOT have a negative split. It was hot and got hotter. It was chip timing, but no registering individual start times, so our finish times are by the gun. Mine was 3:50 (but 3:46 by my watch, as I started it only when I got to the start.) Crushing game last night. Got to get it back tonight. 6.01 for me in 49 minutes flat (8:10 pace) 166 ave 177 Max: 8:29/8:05/8:10/8:02/7:59/8:11-- it's 85 here! grins, A

Anyone want wine? ETA: nice going Aamos and Stevie Ray!