Erika - be careful not to do emotional running! I would hate for you to hurt yourself. We are always here to lend a shoulder - that's what we are good for! 3 tumultuous years is really rough, but I bet it will be worth the struggle in the end. mta: just to toss in a little newlywed optimism.

Sorry to hear that Erika. We're working on 20 too and I can certainly relate. Try to remember that you're in it for the long haul and fight like you want to stay married. And whatever the argument is about is usually not what the arguments about. I might run today. I might not. This has been a strange week.

Thanks guys. We did have a long talk last night. He's under a lot of stress and esteem issues from the hit he took professionally a couple years ago; still struggling with it. And it spills over into our relationship in ways I never would've imagined. We've been through a lot, and yes I reminded him this is one of those "for worse" moments in our vows and if we meant it then, we should be able to get through it. I did get in a good 8 miles on the TM last night. Two mile warm up at 8:49 (it's so hard to stay at that pace, I always want to bump it up but made myself hold it down), then 4 x .5 mile repeats at 8:00 with .25 mile recoveries (8:49), then 2 x .5 mile repeats at 7:30 with .25 mile recovery (8:49) and then the last 1.75 miles at 8:49 for cool down. Longest run since NYC, and my legs were sore beforehand from the weights on Tuesday, and stiff from the run. I find the treadmill makes me stiff because there's no change in terrain, it's all steady flat surface and I think my legs like some variation. Bending over to untie my shoes was interesting... I'll run 5-6 recovery miles tonight while DS2 is at basketball tryouts. He made it past the first cut last night and should be good to go for the freshman JV team.

Erika, You are such a fast runner. You'll be back busting PRs again before you know it. Thats interesting on stiffness from TM. I've noticed the same, despite forcing myself to run slow. I've been on the TM more than previous winters. I'm such a crappy winter runner. I can't seem to run as fast in the cold. Is training outside (for the most part) better for training than on TM? I miss my running trail already. It is suppose to be 20F on Saturday, 20 mpw wind. Can't decide to do a faster LR on TM or outside. Thoughts? MTA: I really am not enjoying all this easy running. I've got this nasty feeling it is making me slower...but I'll keep trying.

Shan I'm sure it's from running more... Easy mainly keeps you from getting injured or burned out. And look at you, aren't you cute giving Bugs her own advice. I find it really hard to run slowly, if I run slower than 9 m/m I get sloppy and achey. Strange, I know. My "sweet spot" for speed really is my goal MP of 8:20 to 8:30. I feel like I can go all day at that pace. Of course, it's harder some days if I'm tired or sore or went out too fast at the beginning of the marathon... Murphy, get to bed earlier!! Goodness, the last few days before you leave is when you should be sleeping as much as you can because the last day or so will be hectic with travel and excitement. You know this, why am I saying it...? Bugs, in my case it's not the cold that slows me down, but the snow. Unless it's hard packed, it's a real drag on my legs. I read somewhere that Jeff Galloway believes that running 9 miles in snow is like running 12 miles on dry land. Not sure what the real ratio is or why he picked that example, but I believe it! And I trained for Boston through some pretty wicked weather, or temperatures I should say. Did most of my mid-week runs on the treadmill (tempos, intervals, mile repeats, easy, etc) and tried to do my weekend runs outside. That way I could run in the sunlight, which really helps. I'll run in the cold, and I'll sometimes run in the dark (but have a hard time with footing), but I really don't like dark AND cold!

And look at you, aren't you cute giving Bugs her own advice.

I wondered if anyone would catch that! Bugs - how slow are you going for easy?? My easy is between 945-11 - yours should definitely be a little faster than that I would think... And if you are feeling achy you are going too slow!

Shan, How'd you ever get so smart? Oh that's right you're a teacher.

nah I'm not smart I just repeat things smart people say!! haha ok and so I stalked a little bit - but that 12 you did last week - how hard was that? was it really hard or were you going by pace?

I logged it hard based on time. It was also on TM after a 9 hour drive in car.

Here are my very educated words of wisdom (by that I mean based on nothing but my own thoughts and 1.5 years of running) : don't judge effort based on time. Judge effort based on just that. If it felt easy - then it was easy. If everything was sluggish and it felt like a recovery - then that's what it is. I think if you confine yourself to times then you don't allow for improvement. I kept waiting for my easy time to get faster, but it wasn't until I stopped worrying about what my paces were that they actually moved. So maybe for a week try running by effort and see what your times look like. It's one thing to keep reminding yourself during your easy runs that it should be easy and you shouldn't be pushing so hard or whatever, it's another thing to slow down because of what a watch is saying. Of course if you are doing a HRM then I guess you have to follow that number, but that's a different matter altogether, but I didn't think you were doing that.