I think I'm taking the day off. We'll see tonight. Feeling a little beat up this morning. Still trying to figure out what's going on with my carpy long runs the last few weeks... Off to check out a relay race report....

Rainy, windy, but mild (52F) so I donned my shorts and did a slow 3.3 miles. There was this nice blue sky just to the west of me and a distinct barrier of dark grey clouds spitting down the rain right where I was. I wanted to avoid the wind and rain as much as possible so I went to my one mile long trail that has lots of tree cover and ran up and down it a few times. I solved a mystery today. Along this trail, for the past couple of weeks, I noticed that someone had etched "I LOVE U" in the mulch in two different places. Cute. Every time I saw it, I would wonder who had done that and what the story behind it was. I thought maybe a lovesick highschool student had done it, but naw, wouldn't they just text each other? There is an 81 year old man that I often see running this stretch and he was there this morning. I said hi. A 1/3 mile later I passed a senior woman out for a walk and I said hi. Later I saw her with a stick, etching out a finish line and writing "GREAT JOB" under it. This finish line near the end of this trail has been there for years, and I've always wondered about that too. Later I saw her re-doing the "I LOVE U" further up the trail. As I got into my car, the couple were walking hand in hand out of the trail to cross the street. I would like to think it was the gusty wind in my face causing me to tear up, but it wasn't.

So far today, I've done nothing but shovel a little bit and blow my nose a lot. I'm thinking it's going to be a treadmill day today. We got maybe 3 -4" of snow here. No big deal. But the wind, and my cold -- eh, probably best to keep it inside where it is warm.

Good afternoon, all! Enke - what a nice discovery -thanks for sharing! DH and I were snowed in this morning. It took DH over 4 hours to clear the driveway enough to even think about getting a car out. And now it's snowing again ;-). I had brought work home for the weekend, so it's been enough to keep me busy and out of trouble. I have a big pot of chicken chili smelling up the house... I did core and upper arm weights this morning while DH did his treadmill run. The treadmill has been stopping mid-run - just when he is on it. Turns out that the "stop/pause" button is so sensitive that it responds to his sweat drops (he sweats buckets on all aerobic equipment). I did 6.5 easy miles today. Yesterday was a rest day as I did 13.1 miles in the cold wind Saturday. Good runs to all!

Putting down the Florida real estate brochure to post......It stopped snowing about two hours ago, so I went out for a walk on the mostly traffic free roads. I covered 4 miles while listening to a "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!" podcast and fell a few times because I was laughing so hard. It was slippery under the drifts----we live in a pocket that got whalloped by this Nor-easter---14 inches on top of the 12 inches that was still on the ground. Just North of us just had flurries and my Central NY friends were spared for once. Good stuff and great high knee action and quad/hip work as I marched through the snow pretending I had Cyd Charisse legs. The shoveling and digging this morning will show up in sore arms tomorrow. Stumpy---glad you made it. Mary Baldwin College is a client (in Staunton) but we usually meet in NYC or Boston. Welcome back Maraposai and I can't wait for more details from the relay. very cool! (or warm I guess?). Sorry about the funk Erika. I hope it's just that you hit the tired part of the marathon training cycle and your energy boost will be just around the corner. I know I get to a point about 6 weeks out where I am teetering between the best shape of my life and utter exhaustion. Be good to yourself.I wish I could send you banked time without worry about others' schedules. dg---I hope you are getting answers and that the pain goes away soon. You are so good to everyone here with your support and encouragement. Back at you now. Love that story Enke. Thanks! I logged 20 miles last week and feel great. I'll move up to 25 miles now with my longest run at 8 miles and hold that for a few weeks---goal of 40mpw by June with continued emphasis on core (I want abs like Lolo Jones) and stability work. Vibes to Meg and her AT too! Off to see if SueT48 has any chili left---sounds great. CNYrunner MTA: Hi Twocat...Sorry about the computer woe.

Holly, I see that on the days you used to take off, Mondays and Fridays, you are now getting in an easy 3-miler. This is so good for your conditioning. One day you may wish to comment on the difference in how you are feeling.

I remember how resistant I was to the idea of running every day when you brought it up to me last summer, mostly because I didn’t want to give up my Monday/Friday x-training (having limited time before work for both), but also because I worried that I would not be getting enough rest. But all the conversations about the benefits of short recovery runs finally talked me into 10 minutes on the TM (just one 10-minute mile, thank you very much!) before my x-training sessions. And then 1 mile became 2, and I still found time for my x-training. And then 2 miles became 3, and I am still finding time for my x-training. And I was thinking this very morning, as I chugged along (admittedly very pleasantly) on the TM, “This is all Spareribs’ fault! He lured me into this every day running thing!” But seriously, it does seem to “work out the kinks” a bit, and I am not finding myself unduly stressed by the extra running, since I am keeping the runs short and at a gentle pace. They are refreshing, really. Enke – that is so romantic! CNYrunner – sending “melt that snow” vibes to you.

If any of you snow-bound northeast folks can get to an airport, come to Denver! It's 72 degrees and sunny today! It's actually too hot to run at lunchtime today.

Tossing real estate brochure for Florida aside and reading e-fax instructions while trying to fit into scanner....closest airport is closed, but I'll be there by sunset wildchild!