Happy Saturday, gang! Vista- your kickoffs here the past couple of days have been great! Thanks! Looking forward to following the mockingbird trail! mainerunnah- how very fortunate for me that CNY spotted you at the expo! It was great to meet you! You certainly looked primed and ready to go! Peter- Nice running conditions for you. I'm not sure if you ever mentioned what your next event was? anachrotech- It's good to hear you are having some good runs finally! dg- careful on that ladder please! Cmom- Good luck with your runs and projects this weekend. I hope the foot continues to do well. CNY- I guess you made it home ok! I was worried with all the yawning you were doing before you left! What an honor and treat it was for me to meet you yesterday! Sarge- That's a lot of squatting for today! Good luck! nono- One of my favorite purchases ever has been a home weather station. No more guessing how it is outside. Keep up the great runs with your partners! TomS- I checked in a few runners from MI at the expo last night, and the talk usually was of the snow this winter. I'm glad you are finally having nice weather to run in. The hip is doing ok? Teresa- lots of record setting in your family! Good stuff! Stumpy- see you tomorrow! Nice day for a bike ride! Tallrunner- give 'em heck in your half! You are one fast runner! Greetings from Boston! I wish I could pack each and every one of you up and bring you here for this weekend. Whether you are running the race or not, it's an exciting weekend to be in the city. I arrived yesterday without incident via ferryboat and then train, had just enough time to dump off my stuff at my room then get to the expo for the 2pm volunteer meeting, where I was to meet up with CNYrunner. Even though I'd never met her before, I knew immediately who she was when I spotted her. You can tell just by looking at her that she is a really fast runner! And within minutes of speaking with her, you can also tell she is a really great person. As she mentioned in her post, it was very fortunate (for me at least!) that we got stationed next to each other with our volunteer assignments, giving us a chance to have some nice conversations. Since this would probably be the only CNY sighting for the weekend, I was ecstatic that things worked out this way. Thanks Karin for a very nice time. As she also mentioned, we met up with other wonderful boomers there. Henrun and Marj, always smiling, had Ileneforward, always smiling, in their company. Ilene looked like she was really enjoying her Boston experience so far. Then CNY spotted mainerunnah passing by. He has a lot of good karma working for him this weekend, and is ready for a great race. Aamos' bib number was handled by CNY. I want 1/10th of the energy that that woman has. Just being around her leaves you out of breath! It was fun to watch her and CNY gab like they have been buddies forever. Amy's haircut looks quite good on her, and will no doubt shave minutes off her marathon time. wa5yom, aka Tim, called me to find out where we were stationed, and he stopped and chatted for a bit. Thanks for hunting us down, Tim. He looked nice and relaxed and ready to run well. I was in heaven meeting all these great people. What a fun evening, thanks to all of you! Handing out bib #'s and chips to the runners was a lot of fun. It was great to see the mix of people and their different attitudes. Some were so focused and serious and had tunnelvision, others were very laid back and casual. Then there was the excitement of the first timers. Watching the wonder and amazement in them was the best. Everyone was so friendly and eager to talk about their plans. What a really great time it was! Had a nice morning here with my buddy from Seattle, the fellow I was supposed to run the race with. He is so pumped and ready to run under 3 hours, I really excited for him! He found a really cool breakfast spot, in a part of the city I'd never been to, mostly because it's all residential. But in the middle of it all was this tiny old style breakfast hole that had the best food. Then we went to the expo to check him in, and to browse a bit. Picked up a few things, did some other errands, and now I'm packing a box of tissues, getting ready to head out to meet up with Amy and her family for the first time. Amy called me last night while I was at the expo, to say goodnight and tell me about her day. Her mom finally had to take the phone from her because she was going on endlessly! As CNY pointed out, they will be stationed at mile 13 of the marathon. I hope the Wellesley girls don't frighten them away! Wish you all were here...

Aw Spareribs....our favorite curmudgeon! I don't know about Holly having lunch with Frank Shorter, but he was on the same flight with Aamos. For real! .......running out of the forum now while ducking..... Karin

I ran my first "race" in 6 months. The Great Lakes Loons 2nd Annual Pennant Race. The Loons are a minor league team that came to our town last year. I am in pretty bad shape right now, so my goal was to embarrass myself into more regular workouts. I hope it worked. I finished in 28:53 (which was 5:14 slower than last year in this same race.) 9:17, 9:38, 9:06, :53 27 of 32 in the mens 45-49 group. 401 of 609 overall.

0603 65 F Started out on a 10 miles run (reverse stinky deer run... PBJ, if you're listening) There was a large group of runners this morning... must re-phrase... there were several moderate groups of runners this morning... Some were doing Waller Mill (aka reverse stinky deer run), some were doing Quarterpath, and some were running Bassett Trace. I didn't know what to do. The shirtless men took off toward Waller Mill while I was trying decide. I ended up running by myself way way behind the shirtless men. It was a wonderful run! Except, when I got to near 8 miles (per Garmin)... my pace went radically slower...but I was moving at the same speed...but I wasn't moving (per Garmin)... the darn machine stopped counting mileage for a wee bit, but, the clock kept ticking. I thought, "This is strange." Then, I started going backwards (per Garmin). I think I ran further than 10 miles (I hope I did according to the clock). Everyone from all of the groups was already sitting outside the coffee shop, laughing and having a good time when I arrived. The r.s. had a good run he kept up with the shirtless men for about 7 miles (7:30 pace) they, not being Clydesdales, started pulling away from him in the park. Hi C-Mom! How far are you running tomorrow? Hey Karin and Bob, thanks for volunteering and bringing word back from Mecca... I mean Boston. Hey Ribs. This is the 4th Hounddog run I remember hearing about... maybe you should post that photo of your son's dog... Go Stylin' Amy! p.s. We signed up for Delaware, anybody else running it?

well popping in today to read Ribs' cranky attitude was definitely worth it. He's so cute when he's cheesed off. . . Although I've never had this longing desire to qualify for Boston (not that I ever could anyways), but reading all the excitemen does start one wondering what it would be like. No running for me today. Decided to take the day off and just rest. Doing a bit of stuff around the house, but have just been enjoying sleeping in til 8 a.m., making a coffee, doing a bit of laundry, etc. As much as I wish I could have gotten out there and done a nice long run today, I'm sort of enjoying the fact that there is absolutely nothing on my schedule that I have to do today. BTB - Amy should have her package by Monday. I wish she could have gotten it before you'd be meeting up with them this weekend. have a great weekend everyone!

Just a quick note since I wrote an epic earlier. Enkephalin, I loved your taper poem the other day. Have a good run in early May! Tammy, I am doing laundry and pulling weeds from between the bricks in my patio... odd combination, I know, but it all needs to get done! Tempted to go to the William and Mary baseball game instead... all proceeds go to ALS today. $5.00 to watch baseball and help with ALS research vs. chores...? What would you do?

Hi, all... ...will post a run just to make sure all y'all know I'm lurking and wishing you all well. Except for Spareribs. Him, I'm just here to keep an eye on. Today was my last longish/hard run before Eugene, 2:30 of progression running. It was Postman's weather: Ran in rain, snow, sleet - it changed up from one mile to the next. The only thing I missed out on was Dark of Night, but a few of those glowering clouds offered to fix that, too. I gave thanks for modern fabrics: Although soaked to the skin in 35F, windy weather, I stayed warm until I got to the van, where I had a change of clothes. The divot in HR at Mile 14 is a trip to the Blue Room. I spent the last mile or so getting a premature ice bath, as it appeared that 4" of slush had fallen on this area while I was further out the trail. Drove home barefoot, and am now thinking good things about the extended weekend's racing while I sip my latte. Mmmm. I think I'll hide under the covers now until Spring returns. Vista, I've sent your blog to some friends who are teachers - I really enjoyed the birds last spring. Thanks.