Erica..hope the foot felt good tonight on your test. Bugs..Im sure its nothing..and dont sweat the streaking. I made it 7 days myself. It sort of consumed me..it did motivate me to get some needed miles in, but it became a burden fairly quickly and I realized that it could potentially be counter-productive. But thats just me. For Shan, I think its a great thing..that log is impressive. 6 miles tonight. At first I had thoughts of 12..may have gone for it but didnt get out til 930 tonight. The 6 felt great though, no real sign of what I put them through on Sunday. Just a little rubbery up the last bit of hills. Oh, and I have pains. Miraculously though (knocking on wood) Ive really had no leg or foot problems. My back gets very stiff, but no real problems since Spring. It actually feels better when I run. ITs about time for new shoes. I should get them bbefore the marathon. My running store is gone. SO I gotta find someone else with my Sauconys. Im kinda shivering now. SO time to get a hot shower and some food. Havent really eaten all day, come to think of it.

SHAN! I have an idea. You should have a goal of running a marathon twice a month. Only you can run your marathon miles all week. Have to hit exactly 26.2 though. Weather for Iowa on Sunday NOT GOOD..13-24 mph wind. This could be an easy decesion.

Dave, so you're resting your leg, or it still hurts?

Both. I'm resting it. And its improving but it still hurts. Joint stuff, not muscles or tendons. Mainly my right knee. Makes me even grumpier. Plan right now is to continue to rest and stretch it and hopefully by Sunday morning it will be OK. I'll run it unless its really bad. Now about all those easy miles. It is so easy for people to immediately retort with "run more miles" as the solution to everything. Can't run more miles? Run more slowly and run more miles. It does get old. It is mostly right but not right for everyone. Sometimes the answer is building the base with easy and then adding speed with fewer, faster miles. My own training was an undisciplined muddle but it did include both. Except now my knee is pissed off. Hopefully it all comes together by race day. There's always motrin.

hahaha I teach Chemistry. We do a WHOLE thing on graphing.

We have to stay positive, Dave. My back/neck ? (it's moving) is killing me so I'm not running today... although I think running helps to loosen it up. I'll decide if I need to run on sat. to loosen up but probably not. One more dr. visit and I should be good. One thing I have noticed is that minor aches and pains seem to go away on marathon day. I've been lucky that way. And it looks like the weather is going to cooperate.

Nice summary, Inertia. And you get no arguments from me on the nut thing. Nut job may have been more accurate though I'm taking Bugs' advice and heading out for a nice easy 4 miles. Despite a major win for me at work this morning after 3 days of working long hours to make it happen, I'm still grumpy. Not running doesn't agree with me. Kimmie, do you realize that packet pick up opens in a few hours?

Kimmie - Smart Move Dave - Going to chop suwie you if you run too fast.

Heh, Bugs.... "Streaking seems pointless" "However I've been running EASY everyday and my legs feel better than they have in six months." hmmmmmm I think its a heckuva accomplishment to get out everyday and very difficult. It shows a consistant determination. I know I can't do it for an extended period. I had an epiphany of sorts yesterday...this will be long. When I first started running, I had the impossible goal to run a marathon 5 months later when I couldnt even run a single mile. The goal seemed impossible--but it was very, very meaningful to me. Pretty much ever since the 2nd one, Ive cut big-time corners on training. Ive had a goal of 5 hours, and really I should have obtained that by marathon 2 or 3. Breaking 5 hours would feel good..but not OMG I cant believe I did it, good. Breaking 5 hours would mean only that I didnt have to stop and walk the last 3 miles. My goal for next year is to break 4 hours. If I can go from couch to marathon in 5 months, I can go from 5:15 to 3:59:59 in one year. I can use all the pushing and encouragement you guys got. I will post my email in my profile. If I stop checking in, email my butt to make sure Im on track. I will run 40-50 miles a week, and lots of long runs. I enjoy the long runs, but dont get enough in. Run/walking the long runs in training feels great, and I feel that strategy will help me log much more miles. Ive found that somehow my body is very resiliant. I hurt like hell after my marathons because I havent completely trained for them, but almost always feel perfectly fine 2-3 days later. Time to push myself again, and not just on race day. I will probably post this in the general forum and risk the scorn, because that is what motivates me.