The "Penguin" daily threads were originally conceived to emphasize that all members of the community have a place on the boards. Encouragement, motivation, a little love nip (you will love one, give it a try!) or even a little kick in the pants when needed -- it can happen here. Basically, we celebrate just getting out there and moving our tails!What is "slow"? "Slow" is a perception but one of the common benchmarks is the 10:00/mi pace; but there's no firm line. In fact, there are many of us that have slipped past this, and just hope that no one notices and revokes their "igloo privileges." It can be confusing for the forum newbies, but we're not one of the teams in any of the fine games. It's a totally open group, so stop lurking, post an introduction of yourself dive in and join the fun! No application necessary! There might even be a lovely picture for Scotty (we love pics!)

Good Morning N-Bug. Hope your race goes well for you tomorrow, looking forward to hearing all about it . Don't know about you but I am ready for this day to be over and done! I'm ready for my 3 day weekend.

I'm racing this weekend as well but mine isn't until Monday morning. This will be my first 10k race, so pretty excited about that. Have no idea how I am going to do though because i haven't really done any training for it, but I've done plenty of 6 milers so I think I will be able to handle it pretty well.

Good morning everyone!

Vance and Jimmy -- good luck in your races!

Kristin -- enjoy the shore, or the casinos, or both!

AFM -- off the grid for the weekend.  A boy in our mountain community is putting on his annual 5Kish (a little long) race for Juvenile Arthritis on Sunday, so I will run that.  There is usually only about  20 runners total -- so it's very laid back.  I've raced this course a few times so I have a personal course record to chase if I'm in the mood.

I have some fivefingers but not the Bikila's. I love my shoes, but I still can't run in them very far.

Just ordred some Vibrim Bikila's....   anyone try these?

Morning!  A run of indeterminate duration since I have a chiro appointment first.

Vance, enjoy the Vibrams.  I don't run in as minimalist as those are.

Hola Penguins!  Happy Memorial Day Weekend coming up!  I ended up getting a long weekend, being off work yesterday and today, but it was not exactly planned.  I went running at Fort Sam Houston yesterday morning.  Planned on 3 miles but felt really good  - despite the 71 degree temp and 96% humidity at  7 in the morning - and ended up with 4.3 miles.  Got back to Fort Sam gym and while cooling down, got a really bad pain in my abdominal area and then started spitting up some gunk.  I thought that darn small hernia of mine might be the cause,  scared me a bit that it might now be 'strangulated', so off the hospital I went - which luckily, since I was on base, is only about a mile away.  With my medical history, the doc decided to be thorough and I ended up getting an MRI and cat-scan and an endoscopy  to check for everything.  Well, my inguinal hernia is still very minor and not strangulated, thank goodness, and the abdomen pain apparently was from some "stretching" of some scar tissue during my first hernia surgery a few years ago and the mesh "readjusting" itself to my "new shape" - I have lost some weight in the last few weeks and am finally under 200 lbs for the first time in I don't know how many years, yay!  . The endoscopy revealed that I also have a small hiatal hernia, which can potentially contribute to acid reflux (GERD), etc.   So now I have follow-up appointments with a gastroenterologist to get all the low-down on GERD and to see if, in his/her opinion, the hiatal hernia is bad enough to have to be taken care of surgically (does not seem to be, from what the doc I saw yesterday told me), and also  I have a future appointment with a physical therapist - apparently, there are some 'massage procedures" the PT can do to help loosen up the scar tissue in my abdominal area.  It won't go away completely, of course, but the massaging should help.  If it does not work, then the next step will be to get these injections that will apparently deaden the nerve at the pain point site.  Sounds so fun!    Hope it does not come to that!  Also, the doc gave me this stuff - kind of like pre-colonoscopy stuff - to help 'clean out my system".  Which is why I am home today.  Had to drink the stuff last night before going to bed...and today am staying quite close to the bathroom, lol.

Sorry, did not mean this to turn into such a long post. I am actually feeling pretty good today.   I have a 5K tomorrow morning. Depending on how I feel then, I may just walk it.  Will play it by ear.

Hi Pens...

N-Bug: Good luck at the HM...

JBJ: I also have a 10k on Monday. It's my first one in almost a year so I am hoping to PR. I know you will do fine in yours, just don't go out too fast. If anything, since it's a new distance for you, be very conservative so you have enough left in the tank for the last two miles.

kristin: You should consider a massage from a sports type massage guy. They have a way of really working out the kinks and knots that you can't get with the roller.

PF: 20 runners? That is cool. I hope you're feein' it and you could be first overall in your age group.

Zel: Enjoy the hike. I am glad you able to do that. Hopefully you will be running more.

Docket: Chiro? Are you having problems?

Bin: Enjoy the rest and that stuffed feeling.

Scotty: Bleh! That does not sound good. You may just want to walk tomorrow. Yuck...

As for me, I might end my little ten day streak today. If I do run, it will be four or five easy. I have a 10k on Monday and have no clue what I can do. I have not been specifically training for this because of my last HM, so my speed training has been minimal at best. I have found that I enjoy being on a specific program for a specific distance, especially a HM, because of the variety of runs you get; speed, long, recovery, etc... I might sign up for a December marathon so that would make me start training towards the end of July.

Tomorrow some friends of ours are getting a new puppy. They already have four cats so we will stop by Monday after the 10k to see the mayhem. It's movie night at home for DW and me and BBQ's tomorrow and Monday. Enjoy the three day weekend.

Happy Friday morning!

Three point two beautiful miles at sunset last night. Gave myself a talking to beforehand about comparing myself to others (bad) and reviewed the progress I've made since last year (bueno) Repeated the "graduation" C25k workout to check how I'm doing, and while I still wasn't able to run 5k in thirty minutes, I ran a quarter mile further in the same amount of time and felt so stinkin' good so I kept going until the cyclemeter app said 3.22! There are still times I find myself "running" slower than I can walk, but a little more often I'm able to speed up 

N-bug - have a great race! Victory beer?

jblackjr - 10k sounds like a fun way to top off a three day weekend

kristin - sorry about the IT band; congrats again on the new job!

Philliefan - I'm still giggling over "play outside", clever!

Zelanie - enjoy your run and hike; I love my MIL, too, she's probably the hardest working person I know as well as the nicest

Docket - not sure when your run in SF is but I'll be cheering for you in a town about an hour away!

Bin - Yummm, potluck. Nothing tastes as good as food made by friends

scottydawg - OMG, I'm glad you're ok!

Now off to work with me