DW - legendary head band! Are those pictures of your cats?

So my father was always finding cats and feeding them at their old address. So my brother adopted a cat with hopes dad would take him over. For our joy he did take the cat.

What we didn't expect was that my mom would cherish that cat so much. We've never seen her liking pets like that.

She even bought him those fluffy cat toys.

Great success all around. We named him Cafe, which means Coffee ☕ in Portuguese.

Dave - thanks for the pictures, that is so nice to see.

Mark - fear not! You can still see their pictures if you open this page on your phone with a data package.

Dave thanks for posting the updated pictures. Made my morning.

Congrats to the three of you, awesome pic, and a great PR Dave!

Trying to get caught up again after some combined days off work and sickness, my apologies to anyone I miss.

Fishy - Thanks! Aside from the HM in my sig line, which my coach is currently saying to run at 95% effort and may or may not end up being a PR. I'll do a Turkey Trot right before CIM (currently looking at races around the metro area to find the fastest one I can), and I may do a 5k to 15k the last Sunday in October - not sure about that one yet.

Steve - Congrats again on the race, even if it wasn't what you wanted and your training showed. I've got that RR queued up.

Marby - The above comments apply to you, too! Ramen pre-race? Yes, please! I'm a huge tonkotsu fan. (yes I usually avoid most grains but ramen is properly made with buckwheat, which isn't a grain).
This weekend I saw a guy wearing a shirt much like this and have been sorely tempted to order myself one ever since.

Flavio - Thanks, I do think my fitness is hitting some new levels. I love the running Superman photos.

JMac - Hurting yourself while doing something intended to ensure you don't get hurt sucks! I hope you're doing better.

Mark - Nice week. I do agree with finding joy in the process. Inevitably when race day gets close I resent it a little bit because the taper gets in the way of some really good training.

Cal - Excellent work in London, RR is in the queue.

Ian - Way to go!!

Dave - Awesome way to snag a PR!

DWave - Sorry for the issues leading up to and during the race, but from Strava it looks like you pulled off some of your classic steady pacing.

I had an unintentional cutback week owing to coming down with a stomach bug very early Thursday morning. I still wasn't feeling great for the start of my race, but oddly enough around mile 9 those stomach issues went away and I felt absolutely invincible after that, practically floating up hills that I've had issues with every other year - even with a (per Runalyze, GPS-based) 18:33 final 5k for a course PR.

The guy that won the race (1:23: something) was SUPER impressive. 55 years old, looks like he might be 40, and absolutely jacked musculature.

Back to the grind now, with what my coach has described as "big miles" for the next 4-5 weeks.

Weekly for period: From: 10/03/2022 To 10/09/2022

Total distance: 69.19mi

Thanks for everyone’s kudos! It really was an amazing day for me. The kind I feel like I could retire from marathoning on. But also the kind that makes me want to keep running them. Mikkey - yes, 3:15 has certainly entered my head! That would be about a 7:25 avg and I can see that. But I’m going to enjoy the moment for now.

DavePNW, congrats on a huge PR!  Sounds like such a perfect day for you

Ian, congrats on your race!  I think going for it and coming up short is better than wondering what you really could have done.  How have you never done speedwork and still run that fast?

DW, so impressed you were able to get back to a marathon start line.  Congrats on running the best race you could.  It also seems like you have a 'new normal' baseline to improve on.

Keen, impressive HM for not feeling your best.  Have you ever run a race feeling 100% at the start?

Flavio, I too enjoyed the live updates, thank you for doing it.  And glad to see a boring week for you.

Steve, nice recovery week hope the mental side is going as well as the physical.

Cal, another good reminder that I really need to refocus on losing some weight.  Also a perfect example that the 3-4 months before a marathon matter, not the week before.

Mark, glad to hear things keep improving, maybe this will help you from peaking too early.

Jmac, hope you're figuring out your hamstring issues.

I had another feel like me again week.  I cannot get over how much it feels like someone flipped my on switch back on.  Now I just have to remember I essentially took 4 months off and have to ease back in.  All the high mileage talk has helped me decide to focus on getting my mileage back up with mainly easy runs and 2 short workouts a week.

Weekly for period: From: 10/03/2022 To 10/09/2022

Total distance: 43.84mi

Jmac - I think your injury has more to do with flying too close to the sun than not running fast in a while. You knew the risks going in and I'm certainly not going to fault you for going for it!

Keen - LOL at that t-shirt! 

It seems your Achilles heel are stomach bugs. It’s like you never ever catch a cold so nature compensates that with stomach bugs instead.

I was also thinking that you’re probably like those racing karts that have their speed limited in software. At some point you will figure out the bit of software that’s blocking your top speed and you’re going to be flying.

Caitlin - It's so nice to see you're getting over it, for a while I was quite concerned based on the symptoms you were reporting.

Covid can be so nasty, I couldn't believe how much it zapped my muscular endurance considering how active and healthy I am, and how light my symptoms were compared to most.