Hey! I just found out that my cellphone, which has a plan from 1998, has NO ROAMING CHARGES and NO LONG DISTANCE CHARGES!!! Just a straight 8 cents/minute. I never knew this. So, when I’m in Boston, my kids can call me AS MANY TIMES AS THEY WANT! (This is our first trip away since they were born – can you sense the withdrawal symptoms beginning?) This also means that I can call as many Boomers as I want while in Boston with no worries. ....Er.....anyone want to exchange numbers?........ ETA - PDR - oh no! I hope it's just a minor pull and will resolve itself quickly. Certainly I'm no expert, but I'd bet that if you didn't run at all between now and Boston, you still would be in great shape for it, so if rest is what you need, don't be afraid to take it.

Thursday is here and it is going to be a lovely one. I have a 6 miler planed for this afternoon,so no running yet this morning, but I wanted to talk about food today? . I know that a bunch of us here will be looking at hydration and nutrition very closely this coming week as we get ready for marathon day. Here is the question of the day: what do you do on marathon week as far as hydration and nutrition is concerned?. PDR, please take care...a massage at this point should do wonders!!! Erika, I hope you are flying home today. vista, ho is your brother doing? JJJ, that is a nice 10 miler you did there. Holly, you will become a hill queen if you move to that house. jlynne, you are looking good...jump roping after running 6.5...you are tough.

Just back from 3 slow, picking my way along. Storm last night was worse than I had thought. Power lines down, cable out, windows blown in and so on. PDR, what a difficult time for an injury. I hope easy jogging here on out does the trick. Otherwise, as Aamos says, the elliptical is a solution, although not a pleasant one. Mari, I don't do a darned thing different regarding hydration before a marathon. An old-fashioned person, I would like to change as few things as possible during the days before a race, and for one thing, I would like my digestive system to be regular and predictable. And while we're on that subject, much as I look forward to the RR's from Boston, for every one I read that has a paragraph in it about your porta-potty trips, pit stops and other gastric disorders, the fine is a buck per transgression. We'll donate the money to Amy's fund. Richie Ashburn and the Phillies: tough team to play for. One year at the Vet at Easter time they had an Easter Egg hunt before the game for the children of the players. The fans booed the kids who didn't find any eggs. Spareribs

JLynne- I am trying to finish up my grad work...but I am only 44 Vista- your baseball story brought back memories to my very first little league game. My first time ever at bat in a real game and I was very nervous. Hit a foul ball on the first pitch that proceeded to hit our pitcher's mother in the head and knocked her out cold. My mom still kids me about it to this day. The RH 500 continues today, my teaching partner was experiencing some heavy legs this morning so I took both morning classes. 8 miles but I may need some help in the afternoon. Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

Good Morning Gang! no residual discomfort or swelling in the tibia area from my 4 mi run yesterday. When I press against the lower tibia, I still feel a bit of a tweakiness there compared to when I press on the tibia on the other leg, so I know I'm not 100%, but I'm still planning on running a 10 mile race on Saturday. I'm just running it though, not racing it, although I still think I have it in me to PR from last years time. And conditions should be perfect. Around 55-60 and clear skies at that time of the morning. Should hit 80 by the afternoon and since my son has his 2nd baseball game on Saturday, it'll feel great to sit in the stands in the sun. speaking of baseball, he had his 1st game last night (little league, coach pitch, 2nd graders), and won their game. They have a pretty good team, lots of strong hitters. They even got a triple play in the last inning. I couldn't believe what I was seeing as it was happening! He was on cloud 9! When we got home, we watched the rest of American Idol Gives Back. My son was real moved by the living conditions he saw in Africa and then when they started showing impoverished places in America, he said "this is in our country??!!" He was taken aback by the conditions he saw right here in our own country. He wanted to give money, so he called in and donated his allowance from last month. He's off school for a 4 day wknd now, so since we have the extra time, DS and I plan on finishing up our care package that we are sending to that sweet little Amy. When I showed my son her website, he said he felt so sad that she's had so many surgeries and she's only 3 yrs old. One of her surgeries was a couple days after his bday. Amy and my son look like they could be siblings - both smiley little toeheads! oh, another nice surprise today. I drive up to my usual coffee stand this a.m. on my way into work. Well, the lady in the vehicle in front of me, who I did not know, told coffee-boy that she was paying for my coffee too. She said one day someone did that for her, so now she's doing the same in return. So, a nice surprise to get a free coffee this a.m. And next week, I'll pay that same gesture forward. The coffee guy said that has actually been happening quite frequently at his coffee stand - customers buying a coffee for a stranger and then it starts to spread and more and more people are doing it. Wow - I'm a chatty one today!

Glad to hear from Ribs, heard there was a pretty wicked storm there last night.

Thanks Harriett for sharing that. It definitely takes a gifted and special kind of person to do that line of work. I have a few friends that are in social work and I know I just wouldn't have it in me to work in that arena. I'm sure you are very proud of your daughter for choosing a line of work that she obviously has a passion for and one in which she will impact those people she comes into contact with. Even though we all know these situations exist, I found it an incredibly sad reminder that so many thousands of people are still displaced after Katrina and it's the efforts of the average american citizen and the voices and contributions of socially conscious celebrities that seem to working the most towards getting them back into homes. It should have been our govt programs hard at work over 2 yrs ago to provide for these families.