Mornin' everyone!

Yikes - I can't believe this month is half over - where did it go?

Dave, I also think ordinary (pressure-free) days are fine.

Stumpy (and Holly, and Evanflein) - Going to the dentist if few people's idea of a good time, but it sure beats living with tooth pain!

Glad you're keeping busy, Ribs. We know the slacker you are! Good luck at today's annual check-up.

Twocat, sorry, but 30F barely qualifies as "frozen," even in New England. I like my iPhone (4S), but don't know if it works overseas. Doesn't that depend as much on your carrier/plan as the phone itself? Clearly, I don't know much about that end of cell phones.

Glad you like the Minimus, C-R. Yep, it is funny how new shoes can reach all the way up to put a smile on your face. Good luck to the kids this weekend.

Jlynne, kids, raw eggs, and a sofa rarely have good outcomes.

Holly, I can be bribed with brownies too...

Tet is 100?? Never would have guessed.

Evanflein, I'm glad for you and the kitties that the power came back. We switched our cat to gluten-free dry food, and that seems to have calmed her stomach heaves down to almost nothing.

Leslie - it's good to know where the bathrooms are, and it is better to get to them in time! But I understand thinking you can go further than you can in those situations. Where would we all be without bushes?

Mike, be careful with that achillies, and with DW...  I'm also glad you're speaking to Alaska.

Deeze, I also appreciate it when my body and brain speak to one another, although it doesn't happen often enough.

6.15 racewalking miles at 4:10. Well, actually it was 5+ racewalking miles and a running mile in the middle - does that make a sandwich? It was 28F, overcast, and almost windless. At one point, I saw a critter moving in the shadows. 15 seconds later, the newspaper delivery guy drove by and yelled "fox."

Good luck to Tramps and the rest of the weekend's racers, and to all of the runners and walkers and yard and house project workers!

Jay

Where would we all be without bushes?

T-shirt worthy.

CNY--yikes, that'll put some energy in your pace, I bet.

2cat—I’m in the market for a phone, too, and will keep an eye out during the holiday sales.  I don’t know much about them but I thought CNET had a useful buying guide (including discussion of international use) and very up-to-date reviews.

Erika—in your kind of temps a power outage must quickly become a plumbing crisis, too.  Glad yours is back on.

Rest day yesterday and an EZ 3 to stretch my legs this morning.  Cool and dry again (34F and 55% humidity) but all that changes today, sadly.  Tomorrow's start:

That’s about 10 degrees warmer than my PR year and 17 degrees cooler than my DNF year.  So based on the science, I’m predicting a time somewhere in between my PR and a DNF.   It's that humidity number (with almost no breeze) that has me a bit worried--especially this time of year when I'm not used to it anymore.  I’d been thinking I was in sub-3:30 shape but that would be a big stretch in this weather.  So I think the best thing I can do is go out a bit more conservatively than I had hoped and decide later if I’m feeling well enough to pick up the pace. That's the plan for now.

Thanks for the cheers. 

Tramps thanks I will take a look at CNET.

coastwalker I have a lot of apps that sort of tie me to getting a phone with an Android system.

No running for me today since I ran yesterday and plan to run my final 20 tomorrow.  Instead I today I got to track my passport which I sent out through the USPS via "Priority Mail 2-Day" on Tuesday for renewal.  So I logged in, typed in the tracking code and expected to see it delivered to the Philadelphia passport processing center.  Well, instead it appears my passport is now in Springfield MA.  I am sure it is a nice post office but it is not the passport agency!  More to the point it is in the totally wrong direction from Pennsylvania!!I have been on hold with the post office to try and find out what the heck is going on and if they do not answer soon I will have to get off and go to my office.    If the USPS wants to make a comeback potentially losing people's passports is a really bad marketing strategy!

Thank you Ek and others, but Bill and I had this shot taken before the Dallas Running Club Half, which was back then called the "Cross Country Club of Dallas" in the mid 2000's, my guess is 2006 or 07.  Bill, a bit of help here. Maybe before that. Can't wait to see him again. And for those who don't know, his wife is Waaay better looking than he is. (I equate all running dates these days with "before and after heart surgery"!)

 

I last saw Breger in 2010 at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  We had a great group lunch together the day before the race. DG, you were there.  Who else survives from those days, who is still here on RA? No matter, as I am all with you on FB if not here.

 

Spareribs

I agree with Ribs about my DW.  Waaaay better looking.  I also agree that we had a great time - both at the Expo before The Half (the picture) and the Twin Cities race.  But Spareribs, believe it or not that picture of us was taken in 2005 - 8 years ago.  Yikes, how time flies.

Bill

Funny story, Karin. I've had a few loose dogs run with me on the trails a couple of times, but never anything like that. However, it's always a concern when you see a wild animal acting strangely, such as a coyote around all those people in the daytime; I'd worry about rabies.

Also glad Erika got her power back. We are still "hoping" for a major outage around here. After 25 years of fairly frequent and sometimes long outages, about 5 years ago and at great expense we installed one of those natural gas powered whole-home generators. You guessed it: our power hasn't been out for more than a couple minutes at a time since then!

Did a decent 5-miler this morning in seasonable conditions as it's warming up to where it promises to be 60+ on Sunday. I have a 10K that morning, but am still not sure I'll go if the promised wind and rain are around when I get up. I signed up for this in advance while I was still on a runner's high from my HM at the end of September and I've been waffling ever since. It's an hour's drive to get there, I'd have to leave by 6AM, and there won't be anybody else that I know down there. I've also been having trouble staying asleep lately, so when I woke today at 3:30 I decided not to go. Then 5 minutes after I finally got up at 5:30, the race was back on.

Wish I could make these decisions more easily.

2005?? Geeze Byll. I ran a 1:34 that year.  Hard to believe I could do that. Now I can't get under 1:50.  See you soon.

Physical went okay, but I won't know anything until the blood work comes back. Nothing else wrong with me, physically that is.

4.5 miles slow right after the appointment.  Now I have writing stuff to do, one conference call, then my youngest son's soccer game at 4:30.

I need to brag a bit here.  Riblet as I call him here (real name Hudson, whom Karin named her dog after) is a junior at a small Catholic Prep school for boys, same as Prime Rib's school before him.  In December of the junior year the boys are given their class rings, and there is a mass where the rings are blessed by the Abbot, then the whole school meets for the Ring Speech.  One of the juniors is selected by his classmates to give this speech, which is always upbeat, about the class, its makeup, culture, goals, history and mission etc.  It is always uplifting, with a serious message, but is also witty and sometimes downright funny.

The juniors take the selection seriously, and it's done in three ballots. Hudson was the leading vote-getter in all three and so will give the Ring Speech in December.  We are quite excited by this honor.  Spareribs

A fox Jay. 'bout all I see around here are squirrels. I'm good with that.

Good luck to your kiddo and team Karin.

I saw that coyote pic yesterday. Guaranteed PR if I noticed something like that on the trail.

Hope the passport issues get resolved TC

Good luck Tramps. You put in the work so enjoy the rewards.

That's nice Wild. Have fun at the race and go point for your team.

10k Roch. Go get 'em

Nice Ribs. You should be proud.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm so excited for the kiddo. I run at 9 and he runs at 12:15.

I may run another 5k tomorrow evening as it goes over the only covered wooden bridge in our county. I'll decide tomorrow. But until then I managed a nice run today in some warming temps.

Cheers all

T-shirt worthy.

 

Yes, but I think the non-running public might interpret that line a bit differently...btw - good luck tomorrow!

Ribs - very wonderful about Riblet! (and also that you are healthy)...

Karin - a coyote bandit, heh?

Jay - I will keep that in mind...

Carolyn - I am sure you will do great!

C-R - good luck to you and junior at the State Championships tomorrow!

2 miles for me this morning on the TM in my V5Fs, followed by 30 minutes or so of weights and core.

A long-time employee got fired at work today....not without some cause, but very emotional and depressing, especially since I know that her personal life is overwhelming her right now, too.  Wish I knew what to say or do....