Mornin' everyone!

Greta photo of DD, Holly!

That was an outstanding 1st half, Runr_nut, and and HUGE PR at Baystate, Deeze!! Also greta racing by Tramps (including AG hardware), CNY (2nd Masters), and IBUB (PR in Columbus Marathon), Milktruck, who I had the pleasure of chatting with before the Harvest Half, failed to let you know that he placed 3rd in his AG there.

Nice runs yesterday by Jlynne, Stumpy (especially after a late Red Sox game), Ribs, Mariposai, Evanflein, Tselbes and Holly.

Too dark and cold at 8am, Rochrunner? What's with that??

Tselbes, it sounds like a nice time reconnecting with men (and their families0 who were your kids' friends growing up.

Deeze, I'm sorry about your incident in Boston. Suffice it to say that some people just don't get it. Hopefully that young girl will develope some sensibility and sensitivity.

Short but excellent post yesterday, Tet.

Just before I left for the Harvest Half yesterday morning, I read a column by a runner in a local paper about the mental aspects of running and racing. That came into play later. It was sunny, in the upper 50s, and with a bit of a breeze at race time. This race is mostly on a flat, very-well groomed trail, which was fine for racewalking (racewalkers feet always stay close to the ground, so having to go over roots, rocks etc. can be especially challenging). I started out relatively easy since A) this was a training race and B) I didn't want to burn out by going out too fast. I checked my splits on my Garmin for the first few miles, but they were all over the place (from 12s to 15s), which made no sense at all, so I just went by feel and perceived pace from then on. The trail had 1/2 mile markers, and one couple in the race would run a half then walk a half, then repeat. They pulled ahead of me on the runs, and I just about completely caught up on their walks. Just past mile 7, at a turn-around, I passed them, picked up my pace, and never saw them again. For the rest of the race, I targeted runners ahead of me who were fading, and worked at picking them off. Depending on their distance ahead and pace, I'd give myself a mile or maybe 2 to catch them. It was a great game, and helped me (along with remembering that column I read earlier) keep the pressure on. So much for being a relatively easy training race! I passed the last of my targeted runners in mile 12, and then was scared to death that they'd muster up a finishing kick and pass me back before the finish. So I picked it up another notch and went as fast as I could possibly go - to be honest, it felt pretty good to have some decent speed at that stage of a half. I finished in 2:25:something, which was a minute faster than when I did this race in '11. Most of my splits were in the low 11s, with 2 in the 10s, and I was at a 9:06 pace going into and through the last 10th. I was useless for a few minutes after I finished, but I felt great.

Yep, today was an SRD.

Have a greta Monday!

Jay

Nice Job Jay!

An easy 10k for me this am...Breezy fall day. Forecast for tonight actually includes snow.

'Morning  : )

wow Jay, that's fast!

PBJ...   how long is this marathon?     ; - )

Happy Birthday Mary!   

Which reminds me of a question...   do 'we' tend to avoid actual names, to some extent?      I remember seeing a post that hinted at that once but I wasn't sure if I understood it correctly.

Jeanne (well, there I go....) I'm so glad your race went so well.   1st in AG!   yay.    thanks for your comments the other day....   with all you've been through, you're very brave yourself.    and, you made me laugh... pool running was a bit of a leap for me, esp. the bathing suit part  (I know, grow up..) and 'brave, brave sir robin..' kept popping into my head.

congrats to everybody for everything.

Tet I loved the picture of you with your DD... what a great story went along with it.    pretty neat.

whine warning... I was really discouraged yesterday, due to things just not going well & a lot of chronic things that might be here to stay, & it hurt to do the simplest things.   and, I tried a walk a few days ago, that hurt in some parts, & the tiny run chunks weren't particularly successful.   I felt almost like giving up just everything.     then, last night I dreamed that I was determined to run the Columbus marathon again.    (I'll blame Ibleedunionblue...nice job!!)     I was down there for some reason, & I kept not being sure which day it was, but I was determined to run it in spite of the fact that I haven't been running at all & my foot's still in pt mode.  there were all the usual weird dream chunks...   it had already started, (it was a last minute decision ; ) )  but I found where you registered & you still could!  but I didn't have any money & so went back & found my purse (?) & registered.  couldn't find packet pickup, this place had upstairs & downstairs.. more like a ski place... it went on & on ...  finally got everything, strange bib configuration,   was just getting ready to start when I realized I didn't have any gus, but off I went, & then I woke up.

so, I went to the gym.   19 min. elliptical w/intervals, 13 min. bike, 2 sets of leg weights, 1 of arm stuff, hammie curls & hip flexor stretches, & 25mprwb.

Good Morning All. Nice race Jay!

Was still stiff this morning from Saturdays race but decided to get out and see how it would go. Everything started to loosen up after about a mile so I continued on for 4 more. 5 easy miles that felt really good, so am over that hump, and now to find another half to do. I have decided to relocate to Seattle area so will probably look for something out there. Goal move date is before the new year.

Happy Running to everyone!

Clark

oh, gee Steve.    in the olden days I beat that lots of times..

but you don't have to repost it to make your point!!! I feel funny enough with it up there once.... erase erase!!

That would be Scheduled Rest Day.

Too dark and cold at 8am, Rochrunner? What's with that??

It's called "retirement", Jay.

dg (guess I'm not supposed to call you by name?), I've had lots of dreams like that. Like not finding a place to park and the race is already started, or I get to the start and look down to find myself wearing a pair of dress shoes, etc. I don't think I've made it to an actual race yet!

This morning was a confirmation that summer is really over. Not a bad run -- 8 miles on the Paint Creek Trail -- but damp, chilly, and breezy. I was also just a bit tired from yesterday's 6-miler and was reminded again that it takes me a while longer to get warmed up when the weather turns cold. I'll have to keep that in mind for my upcoming event and make sure to do a warmup run of some sort.

I ran with a friend who's just back from Hawaii. Among other things, he volunteered to work at the Hawaii Kona Ironman, which was a couple weekends ago. His job was to be a "catcher"; that is, to catch people as they invariably collapsed when crossing the finish line. He enjoyed it, but did say that it would not be a good job for a germophobe!

Nice Jay.

Holly - great pics of your DD. What a joyous day for you all.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Being able to share with others who have had similar experiences helps. Oh and Tet, I will need to remind my kids about what you said if I ever need to take away phone/video games/etc.

Nice 6.6 today in advance of a week long business trip. Ugh.

Deez - people sometimes are just a "bubble off plumb" There are fewer of them than the nice folks.

Nice article Ribs and I started reading his blog. Good stuff.

Cheers all.