Thought I'd better start the thread before anyone else posted to last week's. Good luck, P2R. Looking forward to your race report. Lots of Alaskan press coverage with the Palin selection. Looks nice up there. Glad the leg is feeling better Bugs. I'd err on the side of safety for now and heal up. About to lace up the shoes for an easy 4 or 5. Nice cool morning here. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day.

Pace - Wow, that's brutal weather for an easy 5-miler. Can't imagine 26.2. Great job gutting that one out.

P2R, those were tough conditions. Sounds like Chicago last year Bugs, sorry to hear about your ankle but it does sound like you're on the mend. As far as cars taking on the personalities of their owner, that is an interesting twist. Let me know what the mechanics figure out and then maybe we can extrapolate to fixing your control issues

Pace - great job on your mary! I was wondering how the visit went. Glad it went well. Bugs - take it easy lady!!! You are SOO close! I think I've put too much pressure on myself and am now struggling to get back to a place where running is fun. I think I'm drowning in the paste.

Hi everyone. My long run on Sunday turned out pretty well. Covered 23 miles, mostly running, some walking up the bigger hills (and THE big hill). Avg pace was 9:35 which was a surprise... I fell once, hard, on my right knee and left shoulder. Had to tell myself "roll to the left!" to avoid a full-on Face Plant in the roots. That part of the trail is just hazardous with all the roots out there. On the actual race you cover that part in the first 6 miles (the worst trail parts). There's roots on the trails farther along, and other hazards, but doing that stretch of the trail on the last few miles of a 23 miler makes it hard to not trip. I fall every year, so nice to have it done with. BUGS!! I just caught up on last week's thread and need to give you a Thwap! on the head. If you think that you shouldn't be running to the point that you actually tell your DH "I don't think I should be running," then for pete's sake what the heck are you doing?? Glad to hear it sounds like you're recovering, but take it easy will ya? P2R, all I can say is "oy" those were some tough conditions. I was thinking Chicago, too, when I was reading that post! Glad you survived, maybe if you're not feeling too beat up you can consider it a long training run and reset your focus on another a few weeks away? You've got a good edge, you just need to stop running in the sauna. Cash... you know there really is such a thing as diminishing returns in those lunges and such. I mean... just because 200 might be good for some people (like who??), doesn't mean that... oh... say 700 would be even better! I guess if you've got nothing better to do... Awful nice day out there... but I might take another rest day. Now that all my beastly long runs are out of the way I'm thinking some extra rest might be nice for the ol' footsie. I did notice that I'm altering my gait a bit because of it...

Erika, you aren't here to tease, so what else am I gonna do with my time besides 700 lunges? Tri class time trials tonight. 100 yards swimming in 1:28 so thrilled with that. Expected 2:15 to 2:30. with 41 people in the class not enough time to do 1000 yard time trials. 2 mile run time trial in 14:46. Pr but not nearly as exciting as the swim. Felt I could have run faster, but my right shoe was loose and felt like it might come off. No time to stop and re tie it in the middle of a race.

Great job Cash. You are quite the fish. Shan, it's just a hobby. When was your marathon? Erika, I bet one day your foot will simply stop hurting, have heard that with foot injuries several times. Are there strengthening exercises you can do, like towel pulls? They wouldn't hurt. ... Thanks for the lecture. I was in denial on Sunday morning. I told DH, "I'm going to run a few miles just to see how it is." Like buying a strawberry pie and saying you'll only have a taste and you end up eating the whole dam pie. Tempation is just too much. Lesson learned. Ankle is making good progress. Swelling is gone-to near gone and generally feels much better. Doing some strength exercises for it that doc recommended. (This is doc ironman, friend of a friend, saw him at the pool. Didn't officially see a doc, but this guy won Hawaii Ironman once, he's advice is valuable.) He actually thought I could run on it, but I'm not sure. Aquajogged last night and biked this morning. Might try just a test mile tonight.

Shan, I'm watching it really carefully. I feel it when I run, but it doesn't necessarily hurt. Sunday it did hurt a bit more but that is a lonnnng run at the end of a big week. So, given the taper and a couple extra rest days here and there, I'm sure it'll be fine. I did get out for 6.3 miles at lunch today, and it was ok. Doesn't really seem to affect speed much, in fact at the higher speeds it feels better, or maybe I'm just preoccupied with pace and all. mile 5 today was 8:00, mile 6 at 7:39... then I had to come back to work, playtime over. I didn't run Monday or Tuesday. I like taper... Nice swim Cash. Glad you're beyond the drowning-man thing. You're spos'd to tie your shoes B4 the race, silly. ETA: I signed up for Boston today...