Funny Tom! Lou.. I first thought you just got real drunk last night and woke up with a tatoo Really nice one! I do alot of thinking during long runs.. real random stuff. Today I was comparing running with the economy. When we keep running we feel stronger and stronger and push harder and harder. Then come the little hurts in new places which we may ignore or back off immediately..or.. keep running and then a real soreness appears which we may run through until it gets so bad it shuts us down.. can't run. We are forced to back off and conserve and heal and then very slowy work our way back. We usually come out stronger in the end. The economy has been running full steam ignoring the injury signs for some years and now we're paying for it. 2 miles with Tory at 9:40 pace then 15 miles of hills Total 17 miles in 2:31:09 (8:53 pace, AHR 149)

Lou.. I first thought you just got real drunk last night and woke up with a tatoo

Thanks everyone (and Mary I really like yours, too!). Perch - the artist and I spent a couple of weeks going back and forth until we found the "right" one. BTW, I checked with "the artist" if it's ok, and it is, so I'll mention that she is none other than our own Aija -- you can see more of her work at http://www.cafepress.com/EDornbusch (there's some really neat stuff there).

.just can't seem to generate any speed when I'm wearing 18 pounds of clothes...

I'm with you there, and I noticed again today that my percieved effort in the cold is way higher - I think I'm chugging along at a brisk pace, only to find out when I download the Garmin that I was actually going MUCH slower than I thought....and don't listen to Craneium...running in the cold is NOT like any other run, at least not for me...on other runs I don't have snotcycles when I get home... Jlynne - I wear Saucony Trigon Rides.... WRFB and Hopeful Mary - nice tats! Lou - is Aija someone who posted at CR before?

Lou nice tattoo! Half marathon this morning, disappointing 1:59:40 about 1:59:10 chip time but there weren't any chips. Woke up today at 5:30am to 8F, brrr...82 mile drive to the race. 15F at race time, roads were mostly clear although there was several icy spots with 2 of them on turns, this wasn't bad considering it had snowed 4 straight days. Course was a flat double loop through a Cleveland Metro Park. I was shooting for 1:54 , right on target at 6 miles. The monster that lives in my right hip woke up and it started to tighten up. By mile 8 it feels like a nail is being hammered into my femur head. My stride is shortened due to the tightness. I stumble my way to mile 10 at exactly 1:30, I know I can't slow down or I'll be over 2:00 I keep pushing thru the line and come in under 2:00. 5 minutes slower than Flying Pig But that's alright I only enter races so that I have incentive to train. Good news is DW took 2nd place in 5k I put liquid bandage on my heel blister with a large band-aid and it give me no problem.

Nice tattoo Lou! You too, Mary... yours is nice and simple but cute! Holly, Aija used to post as Egret. She posts on KR now. Nono, I'm with you and Tramps on the tattoo stuff. I've thought about it, but I see a 80+ year old woman with a big tattoo on her back and it's really not a good look.... I keep thinking of how all these girls with the tattoo on the small of their back will look when they're a lot older... Nice thoughts, Steve. I think about stuff like that, too. That's why I like running alone... don't want to feel I have to talk to anyone else. All you guys running long are making me wistful to get back out there. Patience! I keep yelling at myself. Today is day #21. The outer edge of my promised 2-3 week hiatus. I'm hesitant to say this is as good as my foot will get, because it's still not 100%. But maybe it never will be. Maybe this is the "new normal" for me and I'll just have to manage it as a chronic condition. I talked to my dad last night, who has the same deformity (but much worse) and his, even with corrective surgery, is still getting worse and causing him problems. So, not sure what to do at this point. I will try to get to the pool this afternoon while DS2 is at soccer, get in a "long run" in the pool. I've been on the elliptical too much this past two weeks and my 30 minutes of pool running yesterday were harder than they should've been. Time to get back to running form in some fashion.

I've wanted to do that Tallahassee race, but I remember having a hard time figuring out how to get there. But I probably didn't try very hard.

11 miles @ 10:41 pace, which was a little faster than I expected, so I did have a good run today after my carpy one yesterday. Beautiful sunshine, cool 40F slowly warming up. I saw almost every regular runner in the neighbourhood out on the trails today. I wish they would pass me when I don't have snot running down my nose, but I guess that would be never. And another gross thing, yesterday on the TM the guy beside me had a little cup that he was occasionally using to spit in, after he loudly cleared his throat and sinuses. That's a new one. Yuck. My hamstring is still tight and making noises so I think I better back off. I went from zero to 40 in one week without being able to stretch properly, so I am really pushing my luck. Nice Tattoo, WRFB. {{{Nancy}}}