Good Morning! WRFB – you’ve been working very hard lately, and certainly deserve a rest. PDR – so sorry about your aunt. Hopeful - tell Brinkley his post made me laugh out loud. Tim – 42 miles – wow! The two showings of our house on Tuesday both want to buy it, and there was another showing last night to someone else who is apparently also very interested. Very exciting. The two houses we looked at last night, one of which we really had our hopes on, are not going to work out after all. While we can overlook bad paint jobs, ugly tile, dirty grout, and ancient light fixtures, this house was advertised with natural gas heating, but instead has a heat pump. My dad had a heat pump, and with it $400-500 monthly heating bills in the winter. Nope. That killed that. So, we may be living in a motel for a while....This will be my new theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L30V5vnYHzk After dreaming and waking constantly with frantic house dreams all night, I got up ar 4:00 to get in my run: 10.75 miles today in 39 degrees, with 4 trips up and over Big Hill Road (will this EVER get easier) and mile #7 @ tempo-ish (8:31) and the rest at an easy pace, 9:58 ave pace over all, ave HR 139, max HR 176 (on hill).

PDR and Lou, sorry to hear about your aunt. Safe travel. Holly, good luck in finding a house that meets your family needs. You are lucky to sell your house so quickly. 6 miles for me this early morning with some fartleks play in the middle. I did not push the speed play too hard since I have a 20 miler ahead of me this weekend and I want reserve them legs for it. Good Thursday to all.

Safe travels to PDR and Lou. So sorry for your loss. No running at all this week for me. I have really botched my foot up...not sure if it is shoe related, running related or what. Started with the nasty blister on the side of the foot (new shoes caused this) now an enormous pain on the ball of the foot. Not good. I'm going to baby it for the next few days. I almost believe this is due to the shoes. This self diagnosing is for the birds - I ought to go to the dr. Holly, good news about your house! Hooray! Get a hotel with maid service and room service!!!

Happy Thursday! Continuing with yesterday's Pooh-isms.... "It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"” Maybe that old bear wasn't so silly after all! Mariposai- I loved your run description yesterday! Thank you for that! I'm glad you had such a good one. I will remember those words for my run today. I can at least try to emulate the tall and strong part, but the beautiful part belongs to you! SteveP- Funny story about your run yesterday! No lollypop for you? Good luck with your mom's house. Tramps- deja vu with your run? Personally, I thought that the Howells on Gilligan's Island were the substance abusers. vista- Continued prayers are heading to your brother, and to you. Keep running. runningindc- woohoo on your run and your foot! I hope this trend continues. Any word on what that incident was during your run? I too am saddened by the seeming desensitization to those events, it was very real to the people that were effected, On the other hand, we can't be gripped with fear every time something like that happens. enke- wow, nice run yesterday. I guess you are feeling pretty good after your race! Teresa- I think what you are experiencing on your runs is called getting into shape due to the hard work you've been putting in! wildchild- sounds like you had a nice scenic run yesterday. Alas, I am the type of person that does have their running schedule planned out down to the mile. Planned vs. actual can be quite different sometime. PJH- Ahhh, nice evening you had in store for you! Kids love that feeling of security that a fort brings. Were you able to join them inside? Regarding your high heartrate on your run, I think you answered your own question by saying you had a tempo run the day before. JJJ- another adventure of a training ride/run/walk for you. I hope the ribs continue to improve. nonoruns- I hope last night was better for you and the little one. I'm glad you had such a good run yesterday. Those Christmas light runs are the best, and so are the one's where mother nature provides the lights! If you saw three stars in a row in a straight line in the western sky last night, yep that was Mr. Orion's belt. Paul- nice half marathon yesterday! deez4boyz- yeah, I would say you needed the sleep! And it beats sleeping in your car I bet! Nice workout you had, you were energized! I think your son needs to have his hand re-set without any anesthesia. Then maybe he'll think twice next time before punching someone. Seriously, I hope all goes will with his surgery. Good luck to you dealing with it all. hopeful4ever- man they grow big squirrels in your area! That was funny! Thanks! evanflein- very very cool about your son! I hope it works out that he can go. FYI, while touring the olympic park in Park City last summer, I found out that the luge ODP is fully funded. The tourguides son was a member of the team, and he said his expenses were almost nothing for his son. Perhaps your son would like to try the luge? Nice run yesterday! A bit of a rollercoaster ride though. I take it you still have sinus crud going on? From today... Roy- are you getting vertigo? If so, that's nasty. I hope you figure it out. Seems like your new training program is going well so far. It'll be interesting to see how it goes with the higher miles. WRFB- sometimes you gotta take one on the chin. Knowing when to stay in bed sometimes is harder than getting out of bed when it comes to running. But this one day only! PDR- your aunt was obviously a very special person to have you consider her a second mom. I'm sorry for your loss. She passed quickly after her diagnosis, which sometimes is for the best. Prayers are being sent to all involved. Safe travels to you and WRFB. Run your 20 miler in her honor. Very nice run this morning, btw. hopeful4ever- Nice, entertaining account of your "run" today! Thanks! evryday- we'll let you slide just this once. Thanks for breaking the rules, I like how you appreciated your run. biketm- morning to you too! That was one heck of a ride for your first time back out on the road! I'll bet your buddies were pretty cheezed that they couldn't drop you. So that's what you call giving your legs a break? Sheesh! perchcreek- glad to hear your cold isn't keeping you down one bit! SueT- good morning! Did Jesse have to go sit in the corner with the dunce cap on? Jesse was just doing what she was bred to do, you can't fault her for that. Enjoy your yogurt at lunchtime. Ribs- Say HI to Dave for me if you see him and don't be late for dinner. Safe travels. rochrunner- you could've been doing your exercises! Jeanne- you're seeing pink bunnies on your runs, eh? Ok..... Nice speedy run you had this AM, I guess dodging slush did you good! Holly- hurry up and get a signature and a check! Woohoo! Now comes the REAL fun! Funny video! Nice Boston specific run this AM, Heartbreak Hill will be non-existent to you when you get there. Mariposai- two nice runs in a row for you! I'm sensing an awesome 20 miler for you coming up. lyndenrunner- a lot of people's beds had the extra gravity effect going on this morning. Good job overcoming it. CMom- no wonder you've been absent. I'll bet the blister lead to the other injury. That often happens when we compensate for one thing. Sorry to hear this. Hit the ice pack a lot, ok? Feel better. Twocat- glad to hear the calf continues to improve! Have a good SECOND run this afternoon. No run for me yet, I'll head to the trails later to enjoy the beautiful sunny day here today. I just wanted to check in and say HI to everyone. HI. A good rest of the day to all!

The only downside to the run was the idiot teenager who sped up to drive through a pile of slush (it snowed here last night) thoroughly soaking me in the process. If I wasn't such a lady, I might have had to use a gesture to tell him what I was thinking! Jeanne

JLynne might you have told him he's #1? I have had few problems with motorists as a runner, as a cyclist that is another story, the worst being having coffee tossed on me from a passing car.

Hopeful - that picture yesterday, good one! I've been in a total brain fog lately (can one hour of lost sleep do that?) and that picture threw me for a loop for longer than it should have! Vista - hope things start to improve with your brother Sorry about your Aunt PDR. WRFB - you get up about the same time my husband goes to bed! Twocat, Wildchild, another classic Arnie line popped into my head, from Total Recall (which, ironically, I couldn't remember the name of, after I had remembered it) Consider this a divorce. Rest day here. I was very fatigued the beginning of the week, but I am already looking forward to tomorrow's 10 miler, and not dreading it, so that is a good sign.

PDR, sorry to hear about your aunt.

(I download to TC and SportTracks, then file my run in my excel sheet, then file my run in the RA training log for good measure).

Lou, I hear there's medication for that. Overslept this morning and missed my window to run. Grrr. Slim chance of getting some sort of run in later.

PJH, the sleepover with the granddaughters sounds like fun. How old are they? DD used to love blanket forts. Brings back fond memories.

I have 4 GDs and 1 GS, all under the age of 6 ... and one more on the way later this year. I'm really not that old either! I did get down on my knees to check out the fort! PJ