Hey Vixi and welcome back, we missed you. Wow, did you just make my day. Well, if I did a close up of my face you wouldn't say the same thing, but I will certainly take the compliments. Speaking of Ft Lauderdale/Miami, The wife and I are going to be down there next March for March Madness. If you get the exact date of the HM, I'll see if it fits in with my schedule and think about running it (casual run because I'll be coming off my winter hibernation) Suffered my first running injury of the year last night, pulled something in my left calf. I've been pushing up my training because hills have been killing me and really cost me in my 5K last week. So I went out to do a fairly simple 5.4 miles which has 6 hills, nothing too drastic, but certainly enough to give you some hill work. I hit the last hill @ about the 4.9 mile point and had to reach down within to gut it out. I crested the top of the hill and normally I kick to finish, but said to myself, just take it easy and lumber in and be glad you made the hill. So I was lumbering in and all of a sudden my calf went. I had to finally stop and rub it for a few seconds, before continuing to limp in. (Teresa, remember what we said about running easy) I iced it right away, then did my 1/2 mile cool down walk, re-iced it, then went home and iced it again. Took some Motrin before bed. Felt a lot better this morning, iced it again on my way to work and wrapped an ace bandage on it. I'm walking on it alot better than I did last night. I'll take tonight off and then see how it is tomorrow. Hopefully, nothing that is going to keep me sidelined. Teresa, how is your ankle doing?

Sorry I was away from the keyboard visiting family most of the weekend and am glad we got the necessary votes for the big reveal. Larry, you look about my hubby's age--mid 30's--except fitter! Thanks for posting that pic!

Larry, be careful!! I hope you're OK. Following my PT's instructions, I tried for another SHORT run today. It felt great! I ran one mile in 11:03 on the indoor track at the Y. Not a single twinge. I successfully fought the strong temptation to keep going. I didn't know you could get a runner's high after 11 minutes! I had a big grin on my face the entire time. The people on the weight machines probably thought I was nuts. Afterwards, I stretched, then iced my ankle when I got home. One of the fitness staff told me that I should try running on a particular high school track in our area - it happens to be the one closest to my house! She said it's like running on air. I have PT again tomorrow, so I will get his advice on when/how much to run next. I know this is the most dangerous stage for me - I feel like a sled dog raring to go, lol. {{{Simon}}} I'm thinking about Karen every night when I watch the news. It must be hard for you to live so far away. Now I have to move all the stuff out of my daughter's bedroom because the carpet installers are coming tomorrow. We can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel for our addition project. It's taken longer to build the addition than it did the original house.

Teresa, That's fantastic that you put some running on the leg and it held up. I'm sure we all feel your temptation to keep going, but take it a little at a time. As for my leg, it feels pretty good. I've iced it morning and night. When I got home last night the wife came out to the driveway to help me carry in bird food figuring I'd be hobbling like I did the night before, but was surprise to see me walking fine. I've also been wearing an ace bandage a few hours at a time as well to take pressure off of it. If the rain blows through CT today so it's decent tonight, I'll give it a go and see how it feels. I really think it was just one of this freak pulls that will be fine as long as I give it attention (ICE), rub, easy stretching and easy running for a few more days. We were suppose to go away tonight for the wekend, but I couldn't get tomorrow off, so we're leaving tomorrow night. Tomorrow is suppose ot be in the 90s and beautiful and the rest of the weekend and Monday is suppose to be crappy, but we're going anyway. So I may be out of touch for the weekend unless I'm able to get wireless service on my laptop (if i take it) Catch you all later and Simon, still thinking and praying with you.

DS15, DD10, and I headed to the local high school track this morning. IRC - overcast, breezy, and about 65 degrees. It IS a nice surface, and the mile run I did felt fine. Then I walked two miles, while DS ran a total of 7 miles. I love running with the kids! Gotta get some work done now. MTA: Larry, did you get to run while you were gone? How did it feel?

Hello HM'ers.... Did my long run today of 9 miles..... It was really good. Not GREAT, but good.... Hot weather and humidty are totally kicking my booty. I cannot WAIT till fall. This past Monday, DH and I checked out the HM course that we are running. in a phrase: GOD BE WITH ME. FULL of hills..... BIG BIG LONG MONSTER HILLS..... I pray that I stay healthy enough to start some serious hill repeat workouts. I am really scared of running downhill, so hopefully everyone's wisdom can help me get through this. Teresa~ Glad to see you back in the game girlfriend! feels great to run again yes? stay healthy, and strong! Sarge: Good for you for running a race on the 4th. It would be so hot here, I am not planning any races till my HM. It's tough enough to have the discipline to get up at 5:00am most mornings to be running by 6. Make sure you tell us how it went! Then eat some hotdogs and hambugers!! Larry: How the heck are you? Are you still injured? Hope you at least are enjoying a glass of something wonderful while you are healing up.... I have been on a beer kick lately... must be the runner in me needing carbs??? Happy Week everyone~ Good, Strong, and " Cool" runs for all~ Cheffy

Ended the month with 220 kms, or 137 miles, a new high for me. Hope to continue this trend, but with the distractions of tennis, Tour de France and the Olympics all coming up my spare time may be limited! Simon.

Hey Teresa, Well yes and no. After taking 4 days off, I ran a mile on Sun and had no problems. So yesterday we were still at the beach so I decided to go out and run further. I picked about a three mile stretch. I felt really good, no pain and was really happy. As I was finishing, I kept telling myself to slow down a bit, not to push it. Then about a 100 meters to where my finish was, my leg went out again. It's like a sudden thing, no warning, no feeling of tightness or pain until it's too late. I hit the cold ocean to ice it down, but it didn't help much. So today I'm limping around again and off of running again. I'm really not happy with it, but like you and your injury, not much I can do. So I'm back to resting it, icing, rubbing, etc. Just need to give it time I guess. I'll see if in a couple of days, if I can bike on it. At least that way my legs and cardio can get some workout. I found that I couldn't even really stretch much last week, so I'll stay away from that. How are you doing with your injury? Cheffy, Simon and Vixi, Congratulations on your high months. Keep it up. Vixi, don't worry about reaching your goal too early, just means you're getting stronger and faster. You have plenty of time to taper yet and running further and faster than you want will only help prepare you better for the race.

DS15, DD10, and I headed to the local high school track this morning. IRC - overcast, breezy, and about 65 degrees. It IS a nice surface, and the mile run I did felt fine. Then I walked two miles, while DS ran a total of 7 miles. I love running with the kids! Gotta get some work done now. MTA: Larry, did you get to run while you were gone? How did it feel?