Greg, funny you should ask . . . I was going to ask you guys where I go from here. Do I go easy this week like I did the week before the race? Then start my normal routine again next week? Ultimately, I want to hold myself at this level or advance a small bit over the holidays. I am happy with a long run between 1.5 - 2 hours for now. I am thinking about a 1/2 marathon in late February or March, so I would pick up in January and build up to that distance in the first couple months next year. Oh, my "official" time was 2:00:31 and I came in 97/127. That's right, bottom third just like I thought. Leslie, please be careful out there. I can't give advice, but I want you to know I wish I could. I admire your strength and persistence and hope to reach your level someday. Listen to Kelly and Greg, the Force is strong with them. Thanks again guys! You are a big part of my success. Kitrin

Greg, you are right in that I still have a goal ahead of me, but I am thinking that I need to change my routine a little in order to reach it. A couple things that I learned from this race: I really need to carry a bottle. I thought that the aid station halfway through the race would provide me enough liquid to finish. I finished, but I think I would have finished stronger if I had drank more. I struggled some of Saturday afternoon and Sunday with unquenchable thirst. It is time to start practice eating and drinking. I need more hill work. I struggled with the fact that the trail was rarely flat. This is exactly what I will face during the Auburn Tri (which is run on the Western States Trail in the American River canyon), except the grades will be steeper and longer. I am thinking of incorporating a workout every week at the local football stadium. I would jog a couple laps, then do all the stairs in the bleachers (both sides), then another couple laps. I would start at whatever is my "stop level" on the first workout and try to increase time from there. My ankles will take a beating on these trails. I thought that all my trail training would alleviate ankle problems from the race. My ankles were quite sore on Sunday and Monday. I need gaiters for my shoes. I wore my Injinjis, so no blisters or sores on the toes, but my shoe rubbed a raw spot under the outside of my ankle bone from something that was stuck in my sock or shoe there. I am in sandals now because all my shoes rub it. My goal in these races is to finish well, not just finish. This gave me a taste of what I am up against and I am a little paranoid. However, I do not want to over train and injure or burn out. I ran a very slow 2 miles today in warm weather. Everything felt fine, except those ankles. Still, I expect them to recover by next week, so I can get back on the routine. Kitrin

Hey, that's a good time for a trail marathon. Way to go.

I read Kate's report a while back. It's fantastic. I don't think I could ever run that far!

Leslie-if you run 15 miles on a treadmill, I will be forever in awe. That idea is totally insane to me. Go run on the roads before a treadmill. Some trailless miles for a long run won't be the end of the world. Made a little more progress on my web site tonight and I'm the best Mom in the world because I finally got my kids some new clothes.

Well, I was all excited about running in Riverside 'cause I'd been told by a couple of people on the ultra list of two places to run. One was definitely promising. ONLY PROBLEM IS . . . . . our flight out this a.m. was canceled late yesterday due to it being too foggy. The Eureka/Arcata Airport is one of the foggiest in the country. Pilots during WWII used this airport to practice landing and taking off in fog. But I digress . . . So we're suppose to show up at the airport late afternoon to fly out at 5:00 today. My big idea, then is to do my long run today since we won't be getting to Riverside 'til late tonight. Running a long run after an intense 6-mile hilly run the day before, and in sultry, humid conditions is a bad combination. Add to that the fact that my Garmin didn't' change the time when daylight savings began. So the run sucked and my legs were beat after about 12 miles AND I thought I was running (pun intended) an hour late. Anyway, get home, realize that next week's runs will go much better, finish packing, 1st friend picks me up at 3:00 to get to the airport, leave our car at 2nd friend's parent's house, and 2nd friend's husband takes the three of us to the airport. Get through security, sitting, sitting - OH!! FLIGHT CANCELED! Everyone scrambling to get in line and rescheduled. We are now scheduled for tomorrow's 5:00 p.m. flight. If we can't get out tomorrow evening, we're not going, and I'll have to figure out how to get my handouts for my workshop down there. Will have to fax materials for others to copy, prepare, and stand guard at my workshop. I think that if we can't get out of here, the three of us should head up to Brookings, OR, for the weekend. We'd already planned to be gone, let's get the puck outta Dodge! Okay - I've rambled enough. . . . . I'm sleeping 'til noon tomorrow. Nothin' else to do.

Happy weekend Everyone! I think I might be in northern California with Leslieinstead of northern Vermont-it's been lightly raining since sometime last night and a fog has come in that I can barely see the backyard. Glad I got my run done early and did my long run today because it's not going to get any warmer by tomorrow. So a whopping 12 miles again but pain free IT bands which is an improvement. My hamstring-well that's still a pain right below my ass. I saw a new PT yesterday-I have a lot more strength training work ahead of me. Good news-with my run this morning, I've crossed over the 2400 miles for the year mark-woohoo! I'm also writing to post the linkto that article I mentioned before about not tapering-here it is... http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=14759 And if you truly have time to spare-this is the address to my new web site-http://trainingbykelly.com/ It's still a work in progress and any feedback will be appreciated. Miles of smiles to you all, Kelly

Cool-good luck with it. God bless you for a 50k in January-I hope it's somewhere warm. That's ski season for me which I feel I missed training for Boston last April. So not this season! The first race I'm looking at is a half marathon in March.