Good morning, penguins!  Spent the last two days having a good time with family, doing some of the same jaw exercises that were mentioned here, and not running.  But I had a really nice time and it was good to see everybody.   Today I get to take my first run with my new Garmin 610!  I am very excited. I'm also a bit nervous since my last two runs have had a weird side stitch/pain thing that I'm hoping the two days off were enough to get rid of.

Gustav- Good luck getting to the gym today!

Jerry- I vote for keeping the 410!  Even if you don't use the functionality today, as you grow as a runner you might want more features and that way you would already have them.  Although his & hers FR10's sound nice too!

D- Good luck with the weights later.

Bin- I bet you could still get into the 2013 in 2013.  They have an individual category and a team category, so even if the teams are full you could join as an individual and move onto a team if somebody drops.  And with the forum switch I bet there will be opportunities early.  I would send a PM to Venomized if you're interested.  It's a one-year commitment and you set your own mileage goal for the year.  They try to balance their teams so that each team has a similar goal, which is why there could be a wait now.

Mitch- Glad to hear that you were able to get so many family members together!

Tori- I am so sorry!  I am happy that your Dad is recovering and wish him the best.

Vance- Hiya!  Glad you got a run in yesterday.

Everyone else, have a great day!

Good afternoon Penguins! 2 pages already?!

Gustav- That's funny....jaw exercises! Candy cane cheesecake sounds AMAZING!

Jerry- Congrats on the new Garmin! I don't have advice though, as I just got my first Garmin yesterday as well but I did do a lot of research before asking Santa, and I decided the Forerunner 10 fit my needs best, if that helps

Docket- have a good run and iron pumping sesh

Bin- glad you didn't get hit by construction debris

hog- sounds like a long day, have a good one

Tori- That's TERRIBLE! My thoughts are with your dad and your family

nbug- sorry you had to work on Christmas but sounds like you had a nice one! Yay for the Garmin present! Enjoy your rest or "enjoy" your dreadmill run

Page 2 personals:

Zelanie- yay Garmin! Hope your run is pain free

Lauren- Good luck with the doctor! Fingers crossed for good news for you

AFM- I also just had an inaugural Garmin run! Got the Forerunner 10 in pink yesterday! I found myself playing with the Garmin more than concentrating on running haha. Is there anyway to have a screen that says pace and distance, so I don't have to flip back and forth between the time and distance screen and pace and calories screen? Orrrr I could just try to read that downloadable owners manual. The run itself was not a good run. Those calf cramps that I haven't had in over 2 weeks now (all time record) reared their ugly head today. Ended up slowing way, way down to a recovery pace and doing some walking. Not the first run I wanted logged on GarminConnect so I just deleted it haha. We will call that run a "test run." Garmin claimed it was 2.24 miles.

Zel - Sounds like we're both resting some things.  Another Garmin?  I'm starting to feel a bit left out.  I thought Liz was going to get me one.  Oh well.  LOL

Lauren - Good luck with the doctor.  I know I get nervous whenever I'm going to the doctor.  I shouldn't be.  My doctor is pretty good at telling me things in ways that I can appreciate.

Kristin - You got a Garmin too?  Whoa!!!

AFM - My knee feels great, and I want to run really bad.  I feel like there was a reason I said I'd take the rest of the week off though, and I should probably stick to my guns on this one.  Besides that, my normal running routes don't look very safe right now.  That means I'd end up on the dreadmill.  The snow is causing low visibility, and slick conditions.  I don't think a car bumper would help my knee.

As for Christmas, my fiance got me an awesome gift.  I knew something was up when I couldn't find the race bib from my HM.  She took the race poster (they put every runners name on the poster) and had it framed with out bibs.  The guy who did it, did an amazing job.  It looks awesome.  I got a lot of awesome gifts, but that's probably my favorite.  My big problem today is that I made so much food that I don't really know what to do with it all.  I come from a family of big eaters, but they couldn't even put a big dent in the amount of food I made.

I have the day off from work today.  Back to work tomorrow and then a half-day on Friday, weekend off, work half-day Monday, then am off Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Went out and did  a run/walk in my neighborhood this morning. Quite a difference in the weather today from my Riverwalk outing yesterday when the temp was 65 degrees.  For my run today, the temperature was 34 degrees with a wind chill of 29, BRRRR!  A flipping 30 degree drop in temp overnite!  Never-the-less I just dressed like I did when I was in Washington State:  base layer shirt, one shirt on top of that, and my regular running shorts and gloves.  I felt pretty comfortable - as long as I kept moving , that wind was brutal - and also felt pretty strong. I had planned for 3 miles but felt so good I kept going. Ended up with 4.1 miles in 43:48, averaging a 10:48 per mile pace.  Must be getting stronger because usually for 4 miles I do an 11-something minute per mile.   This made 5 days in a row of running for me and so far my back is feeling fine. Stupid arthritis is behaving for once.  However, not going to push it, I certainly don't plan any such thing as a Dave/Awood streak, lol, definitely will be taking rest days.

Gustav, not only jaw exercises, but arm curling exercises too, lifting all the drinks, right?   Candy Cane Cheese Cake?  That sounds interesting.  I'd have picked the candy canes out and eaten them, since I don' t like cheesecake, lol.

Jerry, at your age, I'd keep the HRM.     Enjoy your post-work run today!

Good luck with the miles and weights, Damaris.  My arms are still sore from my weight training on Sunday.  Hadn't done my regimen for a couple of weeks so I guess my body has to get used to it again.

some worker started doing maintenance on the indoor track that I ran.. I don't want to be hit by any falling objects  Umm, gee, Bin, falling objects? What are you doing, running UNDER the track?   Glad you got some miles in.

12-hour shift, dang, Mitch.  I sure don't miss those days!  Happy family pictures and hope you are able to get your run in.

and I want to rock the awesome new running jacket and pants that I got yesterday.  Shoot, Tori, you rock them just by wearing them!   Dang, I am so sorry to hear about your father.  This may have been a 'cry for help' from him - I had an aunt that used to do that, she had a real problem talking with people about her feelings, troubles, etc., so she would make what the counselors called a "suicidal gesture" to get the help she needed and wanted. I hope the counseling helps your Dad. All the best to you and family.

Sounds like a nice holiday for you, Vance!  Enjoy the new gift!

Have fun with the Garmin, Zelanie.  Hope the side stitches behaved!

Lauren, I'm assuming you are already at the doc's by the time I type this. So hope the doc can help you and everything is not as bad as you seem to think it is.  Whatever it is with your leg, I wish you a speedy recovery.

Have fun with your Garmin too, Kristin.  I wish they would make one that just showed ONLY pace and distance on the same screen, and also had an interval timer that would go back and forth for my run/walk timing.  I don't care about all the other stuff, e.g. calories burned, heart rate, all that stuff. I'm a very simple runner, I just want something nice and simple to use, lol.  Sorry about the leg cramps.

Just cuz it feels great now, Awood, doesn't mean it is ready yet.  It may need a bit more time to heal COMPLETELY.  Give it the rest it needs so you won't relapse.  Nice gift from your fiancee!

You'll be able to soon!  Are you going to the doctor?

Gustav - Jaw exercises are the only exercises I've gotten in.  I'm pretty good at them.

 

Jerry - I don't know anything about Garmin's.  I guess I'm pretty worthless on that front.

 

Docket - I'm pretty jealous.  I want to run 5 miles

 

Bin - We used to practice wrestling in a building that was falling apart.  The falling plaster, and dodging trash cans that caught water dripping through the ceiling must have made the team more agile.  We had a pretty darn good team.

 

Mitch - Family pictures can be a lot of fun, or they can be a nightmare.  I hope yours go well, and you don't have someone who takes things too darn seriously.

 

Tori - I'm sorry to hear about that.  I'm not sure how you deal with something like that.  I hope everything works out.

 

N - Sounds like a good Christmas in my book.  Lots of Garmin's going around here.  There must be something to it.

Scotty- So glad to hear you had such a great run that was both longer than planned, faster than planned, and pain free!!!

Zelanie- glad your run was also pain free