Afternoon everyone..... Finished up the painting Friday at moms house. Thank Gawd! Messed up the back again....I think it is the moving of furniture, HEAVY, HEAVY furniture that is bothering the back rather than painting. Couple days rest, should be fine. Congrats to Carol on an awesome 5k this weekend. A PR as well....26:58.....thats smokin'...... Hope everyone enjoys their Easter Sunday and a great week ahead! Hub is cooking stuffed shrimp (crab meat), salad, crispy shredded cheese potatoes and brocolli. YUM! Jewels

Carol Ran a 5K this morning in 26:58. Very happy with that time...a new PR ! Had I run down the teenager ........ Note to self: next time, trip the teenagers early ! ( I dunno how to quote from another thread.... ) Jewels: I one other suggestion, besides rest....Massage!!! Happy Spring Everybody! Yesterday was supposed to be the "coldest day of the week!" Had small amt of snow over night & a chilly start @ 17*....but w/sunshine, I had an easy 45* by the time Mairead & I headed out for our "long run"... 11.2 miles along the creek trail @ ave 12:42 pc (several walk/water/potty breaks) & I had to fight it often....I really, really, really need to practice more self restraint! We had a friend's birthday party the night before....knowing full well that I had 11 miles on my schedule, I still drank 3 glasses of wine & 1 Guinness! & then didn't get home until 1:30am!...... ..... I really need to either kick my own butt for this carp or reconsider Colorado HM signup in a couple of weeks...... Cindy

Congrats Leslie! 5 hrs. of running makes me tired just thinking about it. Glad you were proud of your time. Nobody knows how tough those things can be unless you've done one yourself. Can't wait to hear the full report. Again....you did it girl! r2...woot, woot! An 8 miler. Way to go! Just when I think I'm not progressing like I should I look back at my log 16 months ago when I was struggling to even run 1 mile and I feel happy. Cindy....you're doing great! 11+ miles the day after a little drinkin/late night celebration. As soon as I hit 12 miles for a LR I'm gonna sign up for a half. Right now I've done 10 a couple of times but for some reason I feel if I can run 12, I can run 13.1 One more day of rest and I should be O.K. to get out there and run. One more time, congrats to Carol on her race. You've come a long way baby.... Jewels

WOW!.... Jes.. WOW!! Leslie!! {wish this site had sound effects!!} I be thinkin' walkin' that woulda kicked my butt!!!....& oh yeah, CONGRATULATIONS!! Jewels - I'm thinking about doing a couple of HM's....before the full in Oct....more for training/experiential than racing....& I keep looking for the events that allow Mairead to run w/me....Oh! & you really shouldn't post a dinner menu w/an extended invitation! .... Yay R2!! Great runs ya be havin' lately! I'm kinda getting the same thing..(except w/o the hip thangy)....feeling not-so-fast...then looking @ my Garmin records from nearly a year ago... ....& letting myself feel a little bit proud of my progress.... {{{rib poke}}...I read this really cool chapter in a running book specifically talking about "older runners"...& that even starting @ our age, we can expect up to 8-10 yrs worth of improvement before we "level off!" ...Maybe that means that we should pace ourselves & enjoy the journey a bit! 0712am 39* F/33% H, 15mph breeze & brilliant sunrise.... 4.17 miles~ 3.3 @ 5k pc + wu/cd & Mairead potty breaks..= 12:29 ave pc (a year ago I was walking most of this!) Cindy MTA humor link: http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-walt-babyboomers-blurb,0,1036393.blurb

Okay - Let me see if I can remember what the PT told me. Basically, I'm a mess from the waist down. He actually said that! There are problems with my right side that are more than likely associated with my initial ankle injury. There's a muscle that runs just above and to the inside of the knee that's not doing what it's suppose to. Both knees are out of alignment with the hips. They turn inwards when doing this single leg stair climb thing (I'd have to show you). My butt isn't strong enough, especially the right side. And without me having to tell him, he knew exactly where my back hurts on the right side when it's messed up. My IT bands are way too tight. There was good news. Except for those conditions named above (and maybe something else??), I'm in excellent condition compared to most women he sees. When checking hip alignment, etc., he said it was nice to actually be able to find the correct spot without having to "dig" into thick hips. He gave me a couple of exercises that I believe are suppose to work on alignment and butt strengthening, and he gave me a killer (ouch!) IT band stretch. I'm suppose to work up to 200 each per day of the alignment exercises and 2 minutes w/the IT band stretching. He also said that with my explanations of my knee pain and other things he detected, I was right on the edge of basically ruining my knee. Nice! But it doesn't seem like anything that can't be corrected at this point. Regarding running, just listen to my body. With regard to the orthotics, stick with the Montrails for now. No gait analysis. I think he wants to wait and see what happens with all this corrective stuff. He said it would also be a good idea if I could exercise on a Bosu, so I'm going to search the Internet and see if I can get a deal on one. He was suppose to give me the name of the top knee PT in the country to look up on the Internet, but we both forgot. Said that this guy is the only PT who's invited to some major physicians conference, and his seminars are always packed. There are actually waiting lists for the next however many years. I'll get the info tomorrow and see what I can find. And you thought I wouldn't let you know what happened today . . . .

Gorgeous picture, Arla! That's a framer. Last weekend definitely was a beautiful weekend in Northern CA. Great time to visit. Re the butt strengthening. I have a foam roller. I sit with my back straight and flat against the wall, foam roller under the legs at the knee. Let's go w/the right leg - keeping the heel pressed lightly to the floor, the foot up (but not stressed) and slightly laying toward the outside, and the thigh up and in a straight line out from the body, you press the leg hard into the foam roller for 5 seconds, let go, repeat. Start w/50 for each leg and increase over the days until you're doing 200 in a day. Can be split up 100 in a.m., 100 in p.m. Does that make a little sense? You can feel it in your butt and hamstrings. The other one is with a towel rolled up under the knee, and for the life of me I can't remember what I'm suppose to do. I have to call today. Premenopausal brain fart. The IT band stretch - Lie flat on your back, legs extended. Loop a belt, rope, whatever around the end of one foot, keeping leg straight, raise it as high as comfortable, turn entire leg slightly inward, the pull the leg across your body toward the opposite side. I've been doing this w/out the slight inward turn. BIG difference. Hold for 10 seconds, let go, repeat 5 times. Switch legs. Work up to 2 full minutes at 20 second intervals w/each leg.

Awesome Springy Wednesday to all!! Jewels: Come on up North for some cooler Summer training weather! I've got approx. 6.5 mos. till the Denver Marathon....hopefully, plenty of time!!! both of my HM's are in the foothills, so cooler environments too. & Sounds like you're having a bit of psoas/SI joint stress...think Yoga! (particularly pigeon pose, etc) + heat & "vitamin I" if you can....& a quality massage therapist will know how to help you w/that... Arla: Ahhhhh....don't care how long the walk was...that was worth it!! ~ & I second the "frameable!" & I wouldn't have been able to tell by your log that you'd had a bug... no way that rascally rabbit's gonna catch you! (meantime, I'm still behind him! :roll Leslie: <putting> ahhem, you get more mileage to any stretch (& therefore, more effect) by the tissue being warmed up 1st(think Silly Putty)...be it excercise, hot shower, hot tub, massage therapist w/hot stones! etc....just be careful to not overdo said stretch! On that same note Joe: If it's better towards the end of the day...sounds like you could use some more warm up + gentle stretching to help ease it back on the road... glad it's not the shoes...but ??? Surfaces?? Guys? We have some Docs who hang out over in the main board & in the 2000 mile club (I think they call it the Swamp? ) Anyhow, one of them is Trent....maybe not a bad idea to post a coupla ??'s to him.... Why are we all having "issues lately??" Don't tell me it's age!....! oh wait, mine are entirely self induced (I will be using up this body before leaving this planet!)....Suppose maybe it's a bit of Spring Fever?!?! frustration pushing into a little overtraining? I keep forgetting I'm not 25 any more..... Lack 'O Time this am = 3.35 miles @ 12:39 avg pc/ 129 AHR Laters! </putting>

Jewels! You're cracking *ahem* me up! HA! Gawd, sometimes we're a creaky bunch - but we keep goin'... Arla