>Insert motivational quote here<>

Ok ,here's one I like - We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities. Ralph Waldo Emerson I have the opposite problem here Jim. We had a low of 11* on this past Weds, but today's run was in 63* ! Hey, I'm not complaining about it mind you,just rather abrupt . Been very busy at work (good thing),computers still break in any economy. But I have been working an earlier shift and don't actually have computer access all day. Get home,run,spend some family time w DW and kids and early to bed. Also,kid #3 has been accepted to some colleges ,so we've been filling out all kinds of stuff.Moral of the story, I have had a lot less computer time lately. Anyway, some good runs,rests, races and recoveries going on here as I see. Hi to all who are around! Went out to do a 22.5 miler today and messed it up.Told myself to go slow,but went by feel and bonked out. Had to walk another 3m to get to the car. Rather than a slow one at that distance, I did a 19.45m @ 9:29, a full minute per mile faster than I was suppose to.Whew, just got caught up in the sudden spring fever, I guess. Here's to a Great Week!! ps- Do we have spellcheck now?!?! WEEEHAAA!!!!!!

Jim - nice recovery run from that crud, in cold temps! Leslie - sounds like you're pretty much back at it there...when you say your tummy bothers you, is that a recovery from stitches thing or still the GI tract getting used to the new you? Joe and Ev - nice long runs there, I hear you on sometimes going out too fast and finding some limits...walking home is still miles. I ran the Bidwell HM in Chico yesterday, and posted a race report under "racing". Bottom line: nice race in a cute, small college town that was dead flat and pretty - good for PRs! Arla

Hi All, Well I got out yesterday for a 5 mile slow and easy. It was a nice day. I felt good about it, but my legs were a little sore from doing some much needed weeding in the front yard. (Before the HOA send s one of their nasty-grams) I felt it especially the first mile or so. Jim - glad your getting over the crud. Leslie - good to hear your enjoying the trails again...I'm envious...but will definitely enjoy the Napa Trail 10K in 2 weeks. Arla - congrats on the Bidwell HM, I've heard Chico is a cute town, but never been there. It's supposed to get back up to the low 80's this week, so I get to enjoy more beautiful VW Bug Convertible weather here. My SO and I worked on cleaning up the rust and crud on the bumper we had purchased for it. It's 1977 VW Bug Convertible that is so fun to drive, but needs some fixing up. Right now the windows don't seal enough to drive in rainy weather, but it doesn't rain much here, so it works out. I hope everyone has a safe, fun week. Salty

Good morning 40's..... Nice runs for everyone! Super nice run for you Joe even though you went out too fast! Jim, glad your crud has moved on but I think it moved on over to Carol! Read your RR Arla, sounded like the perfect small race! Congrats again.... 3 mid-terms down, 1 to go.....tomorrow evening. Hoping to either get to the gym or go for a short run this afternoon! Will check in later. Enjoy your Tuesday, Jewels

Carol - I did Healdsburg last year, the first year of the event. The Good: awesome course, really beautiful. The only hill of any consequence (and it's minor) is near the beginning. Around mile 6 one of the wineries put out little thimblefuls of cold white wine, and spoons of honey. Before I got there, I thought, "ick", but it was wonderful and refreshing. The run ends in a park where there's a wine festival just for the runners. Again, before I got there, I thought, "ick". Turned out I had a blast! Transportation to the start and from the finish were great. Healdsburg is a cute town with a lovely center square and more restaurants than you could sample in a week or two. There are some downtown wineries pouring their stuff. The Bad: expensive to stay in Healdsburg - but do spring for staying downtown. Then you can walk (and sample wines!). The Ugly: race organization was dismal, the start was a fiasco. Don't try for the starting line pickup - even though it cost extra do have race day packet pickup, there was no one there! This ended up with a scramble for bibs at the start time, and a delay of start. Arla

Hey Everybody!!!! Happy Spring Break!! (why, oh why do not all colleges "break" during the same week!?).....mebbe cause it's better to spread out the party over three weeks+ time?!.....right after Mardi Gras!! Just popping my nose in real quick btwn stuff...not getting much computer time either Joe...spent my "allotted time" yesterday trying to figure out how to download Garmin stuff to the training log ?! didn't get it, now don't have time - not that it matters much as most of the runs I'm managing are sans Garmin anyway...I keep leaving it at the house I'm not at! or, can't use it @ the Rec Ctr - & I don't have the foot pod thingy to make it talk to me indoors....most days, I have just a "regular" watch & try to guesstimate the distance by time/pace feel...think I'm fairly close....most of the time.... Doug & I have been trying to get together for Sunday longer runs again....back to: "he runs faster, I run further" kinda thing (again, mostly) when again, this Sunday didn't go so well, we got to chatting about what a big day Saturday is - workwise & otherwise - for both of us, & since changes in the economy/company are forcing him to also take most Mondays off, we're thinking that maybe we should kick around on Sunday & do our longer run on Monday. Looks good on paper anyway! The truth is, neither of us usually take a full on rest day! too much work to do!! Maybe we can control a non-job day a little better.....? (anybody out there believe that!?) We did pull some training plans off of RW Smart Coach (?) & spent some time over post-run beers trying to figure out a fit to our crazy life schedule.....best we can both do is target a long run day & get what we can the rest of the time.... side note: had to open a "new" (separate) acct @ the bank and they are giving out 1GB Ipod shuffles as "incentives" ....anyway, had Doug program it from his little library of 10,154 songs....think I'll like the size better than my classic ...(keep seeing them clipped on running visors/hats) Carol: I remember Arla doing Healdburg last year... good times! & Bryce would possibly be doable for me in July.... if you decide on that one Ciao!! Cindy

Hey SRL - How's Tobias the Wonder Dog these days? And regarding The Wine Country (Half) Marathon and The Wine Country (Half) Marathon - consider where it's taking place. Too much sampling of the goods, I'd say.