GOOD LUCK, CHEFFY!! What time is your race? I want to be sending you good thoughts! My running partner and I are making the hour drive down to York, Maine tomorrow afternoon to pick up our race stuff. Probably not necessary to do it ahead of time, but it will be fun, anyway. She and I did our last run this morning - 2 miles in 20:46, which is fast for us! It felt good. My ankle is fine, but my arch is still a little sore. I need to get get some more ice on it. This afternoon I'm driving to Fryeburg, Maine for my son's XC meet. It's about an hour and a half away. A beautiful fall day for a drive! It was 39 this morning when we ran. Winter is coming, I guess. Simon, two months from now I'll be in South Africa! I'm getting very excited.

GOOD LUCK, CHEFFY!! What time is your race? I want to be sending you good thoughts!

Gun Time: 7:45AM

Didn't run last night. Did my warm up walk and the leg was really bothering me. I test ran about 10 yards (twice) and the pain was not good, so I called it a night. Tonight is an off night any way and I'll see how it feels tomorrow. Fortunately, it's taper time, so I'm not in a panic mode or slipping into depression yet! Cheffy, Good luck tomorrow morning, go get them girl, Hope your outfit matches your pink wrap! Teresa, good luck on yours on Sunday as well. You might want to get up a little earlier and soak your leg in a hot bath to relax it. Have you been using the Ben Gay before your runs? Simon, I don't see a log entry from you for last night. Two days of running and one day of rest? Come on guy, let's get back wiht the program. Vixidu, As for running partners, I'm basically on my own and prefer to be mostly on my own (Worry about myself only), however once every couple of weeks I get together with a Tanya after work and will do an easy run with her. Had another occassional running partner but she's been sidelined with an injury unrelated to running. She just returned back to running this week. I had hooked her up with Tanya as well and they were trying to run several times a week together. The three of us did speed workouts together one night and that was okay, because we could all run at our own speeds and did not try to run together, so it was different. I look forward to seeing race reports from our two racers. As for support and this group, I'll ditto what's already been said and add that having you all as friends helps to put a little fun into it as well, because running 5 days a week gets a little boring at times and one thing about me, I hate "BORING". Larry

Hi everyone! I'm new to this HM forum. I've been running for about 2 years now. I try to go out for a run at least 3x a week for 5 miles a time and do a long run on Saturdays. In May I took a leap and ran my first 10k. I wasn't too nervous as I'd already run that far several times. Now I am planning a HM on October 18th. I've been increasing my long run and ran 10 mile long runs for two weeks in a row. My plan is to do two more long runs -- one 11 miles and one 12 miles before I taper. I woke up yesterday with a mild stomach flu so I hope to get my long run in tomorrow. My goal is to run the HM slow and easy, have fun and finish. Do you think this is doable?

Simon, the masters' board folks make ME feel welcome, so you should be fine! I've gotten some great advice from them. Some of us may get together to watch the Red Sox in the playoffs, too!

Thanks for the welcome! I live in CA and am going to Louisville in a couple of weeks to run in a Susan Komen Breast Cancer run with some internet buddies -- we've never met so we will be meeting and running together for the first time. It is only a 5k and then the next weekend I will be doing my HM in the CA redwoods. Kind of excited about the whole thing!

Hi, everyone. Did 13 on Saturday and felt really good, thinking of Teresa and Cheffy. Funny, the 6 today felt tougher. Simon, glad you're back on the roads feeling good and I know how it is when life gets in the way of your running. My dh just got out yesterday for the first time in about 10 days. He said it felt okay, though--I hope your longer days at work won't cost you much training time. Larry, no foolishness now. One missed race is better than a permanent injury. Be smart, o fast one. Waffles and Chimera, welcome! The more, the merrier. Waffles, I think your training to date will more than carry you to the finish line of your first half, and Simon's advice, as usual, is spot-on. Run this one to finish. See how you feel at the 10-mile mark and let it out then if you can. Congrats on setting the 13.1 as a goal, btw. Chimera, I'm on the opposite coast, in Jupiter, but I have family close to you, both in St. Pete and in Bradenton. I thought of doing the Gasparilla half, or maybe running my first 26.2 there. Maybe someday. Here's to good recovery for Cheffy and Teresa, and thanks for kicking off the season for us. It's really here!