Not much going on here. Just more crappy weather. What happened to our sun and dry weather? Looks like we used up all our "weather credits" around here. Shoot. I just want a few days of sunny dry conditions before Saturday. After Saturday at noon it can do whatever the hell it wants. Can't believe in a week I'll be done with it and done with my presentation at my conference in MD. This is going to be a crazy, stressful week. Yesterday I ran the last 10.3 miles of the Equinox course. I was checking for mud, puddles, streams and slick leaf-on-rooty-ground conditions. Actually, the course (yesterday) was in pretty good shape. I know where the bad spots are (or were), but we got rain last night and drizzle and fog today. Can handle a little of that crap but not much... I break this race into sections, all of which I've covered in training runs. When I think of adding them all together, I add more time to the sections because doing the last 9.2 miles on a training run is totally different from doing it after the first 17 miles! So, for anyone who's interested... here's my plan. (oh, and to put things in perspective, here's the course profile) Miles 1 to 8, finish in 1:15 (best training run time was 1:12) Miles 8 to 12.5, finish in :50 (best training run was :46... this goal may be ambitious) Miles 12.5 to 17.1, finish in :50 (best training run was :44... this one could also be a stretch) Miles 17.1 to 26.2, finish in 1:15 (yesterday's time for this section was 1:13) That is a total of 4:10, and my goal time is 4:15, so I am giving myself some "cushion." But not much. And I'm not taking into consideration slowing for sore foot issues, cramping, slipping/falling, etc. So I better not have any of that nonsense. We'll see how it goes. My first goal for this race is always finish happy and healthy. Second goal will be to set a course PR (anything better than 4:26 which was my first effort's time), and that 4:15 is the lofty goal.

I went to local shoe store running club tonight, I won a Nike Sportsband. Some instructions with it would be nice. This is a 2nd recent win, almost said to pick somebody else, but didn't.

Erika, that is some race profile. I don't even think the last 10 would be easy. Do you find the downhills hard on your quads, particularly after the early miles? I think a course PR is the only way to measure success on that race. How could you compare a time on that course with anything else? Bugs, if I'm not mistaken, the sportsband is sort of like the nike+ ipod running tracker but without the ipod? Sort of a cool gadget. There's an FAQ here: https://nikerunning.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nikerunning.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php My knees are still complaining about my long run on Sunday. I did 5 easy yesterday and they felt all right but they are still sore. Overall, though, I just felt really weary. Tired. Good night's sleep last night and a steak dinner have left me feeling reenergized today. Gorgeous weather today (Shan, I know you've got it too ). I'd love to get at least 6 in and my work schedule is looking good for it. I'll probably go anyway and see how I feel. Shan, I know its easy to be unsettled by that kind of thing at the school. Just try and remember that the odds of anything happening are unthinkably low. Don't let the little shiteheads win

Bugs - can you "work from home"? Thanks for the confidence boosters. Seems everything is fine so far. And guess what!??! I am excited about running after school today. So let's hope that stays throughout the day.

80F outside.

Phew it's gonna be a LONG road back. 1 and change that went fast... didn't mean to go that fast - my legs feel good. The rest of me was in shock and wasn't happy.

Erika, It's not my fault I have CRS diesase. (Can't Remember Sh!t) Brian, Running on your lunch hour rules. I confess I don't shower afterwards, only change but I sit in my cub all day anyway. My run was NOT great. First three miles my shins were really tight. I had to stop, stretch, and just walk a bit till they warmed up. Not been a problem all week so why tonight? Then I had to head to the woods a few times, and it was hot. By mile 10 my calves were tight and I knew I had to finish this run on tired legs. They just really never loosened up. So it was a slow run but felt very easy. Then right at the end my stomach got really sick. Even though I still wanted to vomit I did my best to take an ice bath. I think the tummy problems were from too much poweraide. I was burping it at one time, and think I need to mix it with water in the race. I mostly take cliff shots, but hard to get in enough calories that way. Just 20 miles tonight, I could not make it to even 21. Time 3:13. Pretty slow, but it's about time on your feet right and there are benifits to doing a training run on tired legs. Just more fun when you get to come back and post how great was. I am officially tappering.