Congratulations, Deez!!!!

Jay should be well done with his HM by now, so I hope he had a good time.

Tselbs - Sounds like a wonderful time with a lot of good memories being kicked about.

Holly - What a wonderful pic of your DD. She looks so happy!!

And re NOT getting lost on the trails.  I use a lot of visual marks, and if I'm uncertain about certain turns, I'll mark them somehow.  One of the things you might try is getting some of the plastic ribbons like they use in trail races and mark the trails as you and pick up the ribbons on the return.  Obviously, the more you're out there, the more you'll get to know your trails.

I'm suppose to run 6 today, but it's not looking good.  I have a turkey in the oven, and I'm still tired from yesterday.  Boy, are my biceps sore today!!!

I have had an amazing day until just a little while ago standing in line at a local ice cream place where there is a Boston Strong sign across the street.  This teenage girl standing with her boy friend said "Boston Strong, I am so sick of all this Boston Strong crap!"  Mind you - I was standing there in my Boston Marathon jacket!!  I just looked at her trying not to cry and said "Seriously, maybe you wouldn't feel like that had you been running it or if you had friends who helped the victims who died and who lost limbs."  I couldn't speak anymore - wish I could have added or had family standing across from the bombs waiting for you to finish,but I just tried not to cry.   Her boyfriend said something to her like "really!" and my son Justin who was with me had walked away just before and didn't hear any of it.  Another man asked me what she said after she walked away and he said - maybe more people need to spend a little time at Spaulding Rehab.  I wasn't mean to her but am glad I said something - hopefully it will make her think a little more before she speaks and maybe seeing my reaction of sadness/distress not anger will help her to have more compassion going forward in life.

lots of sweets this weekend, including Deezie's second one just as much, if not more, sweet and meaningful as a PR.  However, it's not that easy, or safe, to eye-contact with insensitivies who may get triggered to over-react.  Be careful.  You're a great mom and citizen.  Pretty good runner too.

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C-R: Taking your kids seems a good way to be able talk about those days with their full attention. Maybe even take some photos to tell them even more about her.  You're a great dad.

Denise, I'm so sorry you had to hear that insensitive comment, and while I think you did the right thing to stand up and respond, I do think it's a case of just being too young and naive to fully understand. Maybe she'll get it later, maybe she won't, but it's not your responsibility to try to make her. Still, I'm sorry you had to go through that. But, on another note, what an awesome kick-ass half marathon you had! Way to go!

Holly, our church also baptizes as infants, and when an adult gets baptized it's a "finger trace" method, not full dunk. Interesting that your (her?) church does it that way. Quite the braid she has...

Spareribs, I think any half in the 1:30's is more than a pretty good effort, especially for a masters runner. Well, then there's MikeE and CNYrunner, but still. A half in the 1:30's is awesome and most of us won't ever see it. Congrats, runr nut!

C-R, more hugs and good wishes for you and your family for what you're going through with your mother. You too, tselbs. That's just so tough. My grandmother was almost 102 when she died and while she was mostly in pretty good shape, she did have her moments of totally not understanding who I was, where she was, and what happened to her husband. But mostly, it seemed she was on the fringe of pretty good for her age. For that, I'm really grateful. I wasn't there when she wanted my mom to promise not to bring "that boy" (my aunt) around again, and make sure they didn't try to make her leave this nice place (the nursing home she didn't want to go to at first). Those times were hard on my mom (and her sister), but when I saw her for her 101st birthday, she was remarkably lucid.

So my run yesterday was pretty good, for the most part, but I kept thinking "this would be Wildchild's version of running hell!" I ran 11.1 miles around the McCarron Airport, from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Mostly on sidewalks, sometimes on gravel and broken asphalt, always with incredible traffic that was at times way too close for comfort. But sometimes the sidewalk was wide, and sometimes it curved around some brush and greenery, and it was oh-so-cool to stop and have a plane go right over me on its way to land... felt like I could reach up and touch it! The temps were nice in the upper 70's and I was happy to get in what I'd have to call my long run for the week, before dinner and after a full day of class.

Full day today, too, but we got out a bit early at 3 so I went out again at 80° and full late-day sun, just down the Las Vegas Blvd ("the Strip") but to the South away from town. Again, always the "iffy" sidewalks and the constant traffic, but I got in 6.3 miles before racing to get to the opening keynote speaker at 5 p.m.  So this week is 36.5 miles... my first sub-40 mile week since early May. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

Ran my first ever half yesterday in Cincinnati and was pretty happy with it, a 1:39:09 for a

second in AG and 60th OA.

Nice racing!

Columbus marathon in 3:45.06

 

thats a personal best.

Great job!