Theresa, ditto what Kevin said. That time for a 8 miles is respectable. Much much better than my first8 miles! Hey if you like 8 mile runs Disney does a cool night 8 mile race in Oct. I ran it last year with Kim. Hopefully it will be an anual event. L's, what I did for shoes was see a physical therapist that knew feet well and was also a runner. Call around to therapists in your area and ask for one who knows feet. Or see a podiatrist. Mine was able to recommend the shoe style I need and an insert for it. I tried them out yesterday at the gym and they are great. Her recommendation wasnt the most comfortable shoe but I went with her choice and I think it was a good thing I did. Bob, I am starting a new degree program soon at UConn. Web design. I am looking forward to starting. Kim and I are still mulling over our races for this year. So far all we have planned in the 7 sisters. She is good at duathlon but that mothers day race on Long Island is a killer. But she did well. Mike, you out there? I missed my run today because I was too dang tired and couldnt get up off the couch in time. Too bad to since this afternoon is going to be the last of our short lived good weather for a few days. But I will try to force myself up to meet the women tomorrow morning for a short run around the lake. Running with them is great. Laurie

Ran 3.5 in the new shoes. Toes werent happy at all. Went numb around 2 miles. I think they will make good gym shoes but I will have to stick with the tried and true Nike Free even though both physical therapists dont like that idea. Going to ice the hamstring now. Ouch. Oh the fun never ends. Laurie

I'm ba-ack! Just in from my first run since last Monday. Still not entirely over the crud, but it was better enough and the rest of me felt flabby and neglected enough to get me out the door, even with 25+ mph wind gusts. I'm celebrating my third year of running by finally using the HR monitor on the Garmin and trying out the low HR training thing. I feel like my progress has been sooooooo s-l-o-w and uneven and also that every time I do either increase mileage or get a tiny bit faster, I get hurt or sick or just plain worn out. I'm hoping that maybe this will help me to "make haste slowly," be more consistent, and increase mileage and keep it up. I'm going to give it 3 months, so consequently I'm bailing on the Broad Street Run (10m) in early May, unless I make amazing and unexpected progress. Three months of this experiment will set me up nicely for a 5K down the shore. It was the first 5K that I ran (I had walked 1 the fall before) two years ago when I DNF'd. Last year I was second-to-DFL, so at least I got better! My goal for this year is to feel strong and run the whole race without any walk breaks. Oh, yeah, and be at least, oh, maybe fifth from DFL! Sorry so many of you got walloped by the snow this weekend. We had rain, rain, rain all day Friday and most of yesterday - heavy wind and thunder yesterday, too - and lots of flooding in random areas. Just cold and windy out there today, but awesome to see the sun again. Lots of shoe-shopping going on out there - something that should be lots and lots of fun. Sorry it hasn't been so greta for a couple of you. Hey, I'm really feeling out of the loop here - what exactly is this Noakes book? Could it possibly be a reason for me to spend even more $$ on amazon? Anybody heard from Deb or Mike? They've been even more scarce than me lately. Hope all's well with them. Careful with the snow shovels, people; no injuries allowed this close to spring! Take care, everybody. Eliz

Typical, I guess - after my wonderful 8-mile run on Thursday, I really struggled to get through 3 on Friday. Then yesterday I woke up with the headache from hell, which turned into nausea, etc. So I bagged the idea of running yesterday, but managed to squeak out 3.7 today on the TM. Now I just have that "run over by a truck" feeling, but know I'm going to live. Sunday, DS and I are going to run a 5k race, so I will probably back off my mileage a little this week. He will try to break 17 minutes, and I will try to go under 34. Teresa

Theresa, 17 minute 5k! Thats incredible. That kid should be looking at running scholarships to college. 8 miles is a a good long run. Give yourself a few days to recover. Hope youre feeling better soon. I too have had a headache for days now. Felt ran down today but felt a lot better after I left work and got home. I dont think that was coincidental. Eliz, consistency is what makes a better runner. Dont beat yourself up. Youre doing fine. Are you adding any other workout into your running? Laurie

Theresa, brag all you want. Its cool to hear of kids doing well. How old are the other two? Can I jump on your bandwagon too? I just got out of a relationship where I wasnt allowed to say anything good about my Kim (16). My ex boyfriend chose not to like Kim. I think he is the only one on the planet who doesnt like her. She has one of those personalities that everyone likes. Her music talent comes naturally but her athletic ability comes from hard work. My other one, Ali, has natural athletic ability but doesnt pursue it and lacks self confidence. Laurie

Theresa, brag all you want. Its cool to hear of kids doing well. How old are the other two? Can I jump on your bandwagon too? I just got out of a relationship where I wasnt allowed to say anything good about my Kim (16). My ex boyfriend chose not to like Kim. I think he is the only one on the planet who doesnt like her. She has one of those personalities that everyone likes. Her music talent comes naturally but her athletic ability comes from hard work. My other one, Ali, has natural athletic ability but doesnt pursue it and lacks self confidence. Laurie

Yes, it's good to hear about your kids, too! Maybe your ex was a little jealous of Kim, huh? I have a son who will be 13 a week from today. He's very bright - adults love to talk to him, but he's just not cut out for traditional schooling. He gets bored easily and doesn't like just sitting there. I think he will be fine in the long run, but it will be an interesting journey! My daughter will be 10 in a few weeks. She is a little princess (in a good way!) and happy all the time. She's always looking out for ways to help - "Mom, the bathroom sink was dirty [from her brothers' toothpaste], so I cleaned it out - is that OK?" I'm praying she doesn't change too much when she's a teenager! She is also very musical and loves to come up with new songs on the piano. I so enjoy seeing how talented all 3 of the kids are - where did they come from??