Laurie - I'm a corporate tax accountant (large company). I also have a DD who is 7. Vacation was fun, and sad all at the same time. Weather was nice - 70's & 80's, but smoggy and humid. Much cooler than where I live though (we are in the 90's) & unfortunately we still have a lot of smoke from the No. Cal fires. 2.63 miles on the treadmill this morning - runwalk

Laurie--very very gentle. since you haven't run at all this week, I would think just a couple miles at very easy pace just to loosen up the legs. 10K and long run sounds like a strenuous weekend, so don't over do. from one has has over-did.

Good Afternoon Everyone, Laurie, I think that Kevin sounds right on the money with his advice. Seconded by Debbie, Thirded by me. 4 miles this morning. I'm glad it cooled down just a little. It felt pretty nice out this morning. It was almost 80 when I went out Wed. morning. Trail building tomorrow and hiking Sunday. Cheers. Mike Oh and I'll take the camera, per Debbie's request, if someone will help me post the pics. (I did buy a small digital camera )

L's, Congrats to DD! Glad youre back in the game. Hows the foot? Mike, what is trail building? Well I ran yesterday. Just 3 miles but I felt good so I pushed it. Maybe not a good idea. But I made one of my fastest 3 mile times. Ran the Bridge of Flowers 10k today. Ouch! It was the most challenging 10k in New England. Its like running up the side of a mountain. Most of the runners walked it. I finished 3 minutes SLOWER than I did last year and feeling a little beat up. Last year I felt like I could have ran it again. This year I wanted to die. I guess I was in better shape than last year. I think I need to drop a few pounds. Maybe that would help. I need to get off my butt and start triathlon training. My tri is next month. Laurie

Good afternoon Everyone! Linda, I am so glad that you had a good time in Calif. and visiting your Dad. I wish he was in better health. I'm glad that you are doing better also. It sounds like you are making some good progress. Laurie, trail building is (was) 6 hours of swinging a mattock and an ax, making a hiking trail where there was not one. It was very enjoyable. I don't think that I've worked that hard in a long time. The project we were working on is a trail that connects parts of the Cumberland Trail. It is a local Boy Scout's Eagle project. Today it was hiking on Signal Mountain, just outside of Chattanooga. Beautiful! Apparently, it was used by union soldiers during the civil war to relay signals back and forth from point to point. Cheers Mike

Hi everyone! I just went back and read all the threads. It's been a long time since I've been on here, so if I've screwed up the names/ places, just let me know and I apologize in advance! I like to pretend my memory's great, but I usually find out otherwise later! (I also apologize for typos that I keep discovering, but I'm leaving as-is now!) Laurie, sounds like that WII is fun!! Our 9 yr old is saving his money by doing chores around here. We told him we'd pay 1/2 for Christmas if he wanted one, and half of the games. He's really been working hard around here, and boy do I love the help! I opened accounts for both the kids (other son is 6), so when we go to the bank, I have them fill out the slips, and do everything so they're really getting a feel for this "money" concept! I'll heed the advice by you and Mike about getting your butt kicked by kids! LOL I'm sure the kids will LOVE it! And I'm totally prepared for it. Congratulations on the new car, too! Was it for your daughter? How's she liking it? Have you wondered yet how you got by previously being a one car family? I didn't realize what a convenience it was until we didn't have two for a short time. How's the running going with your two running partners? Have you found yourself progressing because of the "push" from them being a little faster? Pretty much everyone I know is faster than me, so I always welcome a run (well, if they don't kill me!) with them so they can be my pace bunny! Hope your quad gets better quickly! Roberta, so glad to hear that the splint and celebrex has helped your foot so much! Congrats on being able to get back out there! Congrats to your daughter, too for her placing in the race!! Eliz, sounds like you have the perfect summer job!! I used to do nature walks a long time ago to kids that camped at a park where I worked. Pure bliss. We'd hike around with our little workbooks and fill them in as we went. Thanks for the "awesome job on your 10k"! It was a lot of fun. So I've just caught bits about "kayak-boy". Sounds interesting!! Hope you're having fun! I'm jealous of your Full Moon Kayak Tour!! It sounds like it was incredible!! Good luck on your mtg the 14th regarding your teaching? situation in the fall. Teresa! Congrats on the Beach to Beacon PR! What a chunk of time to knock off! So glad you're back out there. And thanks for the "great job" as well regarding the 10k. Kevin, I thought about what you said regarding pushing outside the comfort zone. I think you're right. I just don't want to overdo it as I spent most of 2007 on the bench. Another thing I'm going to start focusing on is leg strength, so hopefully that will help speed things up. We'll see! Thanks for the "good race and report"! Appreciate it. Congrats on an awesome race yourself! 26:29 sounds like a GREAT time to me! And how nice that it was 1/2 mile from your house! I read your knee was grumpy after going around the lake 2x, so hopefully by now it's better! Linda, seems like you're doing better and down to 1 anti-inflamm a day! Sorry to hear about your dad, but am glad that you were able to visit him; sounds like he really enjoyed it and that you had a nice vacation. I hope that you get the relief at work that you need. Also, thanks for the "yay" on my race! Mike, hi, I'm Joni! I think I came on here as you maybe you were moving? Sounds like you're enjoying the beautiful scenery in TN, especially having the Cumberland Trail about 2 miles from your house. There are a lot of people from TN on this site! I'm envious of the hills there. I've recently decided to start hill work to strengthen my legs. Could send some hills my way please? We have some, but not like you have there! And yes, I am a chatterbox and it didn't stop at my 10k. My goal for that race was to simply enjoy it, and I sure did that! Now next year I have a goal time so I'll have to get more serious, but this year was total fun and sightseeing! Your son sounds hilarious. Chattering away, used to 60 lbs on his back ontop of it! Great that you were able to run a race together. I love sharing running with the family. While we haven't had any super exciting event happen, it seems the summer's just flying by. School starts back the 2nd of September. It used to be a couple days before the holiday, then they'd have a couple days off, then go back. They changed it to start after the holiday. Finally someone got smart! I think that's a better idea as a lot of kids missed the first couple days as they were still on vacation with their families. Here's one little girl that we might be "adopting" soon: She's a 15 week old miniature schnauzer, the pics are from 11 weeks old and was a puppy mill rescue. She's only lived in a cage and was in pretty rough shape when rescued. I haven't seen her in person as she's about 2 hours away. Below is a pic that apparently is from her first bath. What a pathetic little face, huh? She was so filthy they had to give her ~12 baths...think they've had her only for the month. I'm just realizing that if we get this dog, it'll be like having a baby again!! No little toys on the floor, etc. I told the kids they have to ALWAYS be tidy if we get her. LOL Not sure if we can do that! Anyhow, we've spent some time at my in-laws cabin on the east side of Michigan (we're on the west side by Lake Michigan). A really great time there, got some running in too. The temps here are finally breaking a bit and the humidity's really gone down. So hard to believe the summer's winding down!!

Sockoni, Dog pictures always pull me in, and your "adoptive daughter" pics really caught my eye. How great that she was rescued. Our DD and her husband adopted a mixed-breed puppy from the local humane society, and the dog has turned into a great family pet. When the vet found out she was a "pound puppy," he hugged her and said he always likes stories like that. Only for a while will the puppy be like having a baby again. Soon, it will be like having a 3-year-old: you'll have to keep an eye out/ear open for the dog, but the minute-by-minute care will be over. Good for you!

Joni--you get big points for accuracy. You only lose points for not checking in more often sounds like good vacations all around. Crater Lake sounds like it would be great to visit. I have a 5K this coming Thursday. It's one of the corporate team ones, so I found out that we have a few runners and walkers here and was able to get a team together. we have 3 runners and 3 walkers. one of the runners is our summer intern. When I asked him, he said "well I'm not in very good shape at the moment, but I hope I could still get under 18 minutes" the other runner is also way out of my league as he's done the Goofy weekend (1/2 and full marathon). the two of them have a little competition going. I'm hoping just to not get trampled as there will be over 5000 people participating. Only downside to it is that we finally got a couple of days where we didnt have to get DD anywhere for anything, so we're going to Maine for an extended long weekend. I'll just have to drive an extra couple of hours to get to the race and back. Should be worth it. Hi to everyone--my after work typing period is up and it's time to hit the road. Kevin