Eliz - Whatever you decide to use (GU, Poweraid), be sure you test it on a run before you use it during a race. Enke - About a year or so ago, I had horrible pain in the ball of my right foot. I can't remember the diagnosis, but I switched to insoles with more cushion and that eventually helped. Also, if your new shoes are stiff, they may be a contributor, as well. Holly - Cute gift!

I figure that pain in my foot was telling me to take a day or two off running, which I need since I had two kids up in the middle of the night. The younger one had peed her bed, fun, and the older one was up twice blowing his nose. So I was awake for a long time sandwiched between a snoring DH and squirmy 6 yr old, in addition to an hour less of sleep due to DST. I'll try an easy run tomorrow and see how the foot feels. Leslie, how long was "eventually" w.r.t. foot pain?

Another factor affecting how you feel after an LR is hydration and nutrition - especially hydration. If you don't drink enough before and during, regardless how fast or slow you may have run your LR, you'll take a while to recharge afterwards. Tim commented on this this weekend. Could this be a factor for yours Lou? Bill

Good afternoon, all! Nice kick off, Leslie! Holly - love the light saber gift! Belated happy birthday! I didn't use gels/energy source for long runs for the first couple of years that I started doing distance running. Supposedly this practice encourages your body to utilize fat stores more efficiently. Then I read an article that claimed that going without sustenance on long runs contributes to accelerating the aging process in older athletes. Not sure if I believe that or not, but I've started using gels or clif bloks when I start going beyond an hour and a half. I never use energy drinks unless I'm in a race. I guess I've been lucky to date - I commonly break the "don't eat/drink anything on race day that you haven't used before in a long run" rule, and my GI system hasn't protested yet. 15 glorious miles in shorts Saturday morning. I had overestimated the power of the sun - the trail and both of my local tracks were snow-covered. Fortunately, Connecticut College has an asphalt apron around the track, and someone had been kind enough to clear it so I could do my long run. We had heavy rain early this morning, so I was back on the treadmill for 6 tempo miles. I just did an hour of core and weights during my lunch break. Good runs to all!

Holly S. very cute gift! Wait until you break it out to show her boyfriend some day! Eliz whatever you do, ingest nothing new just prior to or during the race! For a race like yours I typically bring Cliff ShotBlocks. You can munch them one at a time and each is like a third of a gel. Hard to eat just a third of a gel. Also they are a lot less of a mess! Of course, try them on a few training runs first!; biketm I passed the four week non-running mark last week. Better watch your remote control before I catch up to your recent record!

Heck Twocat, how many actual days was I off?....may need Tet's help with this one TimBo

I was too lazy to look ...Hummm, 76 days..can you beat that Twokitty. Actually I hope you don't, because that would mean your back running again Friend. TimBo

Way to run Nono and Tramps! Greta performances, both! Yes, Perch, why is that, that when you massage a sore muscle it often talks back? I'm scheduled for a massage Wed. and I'm wondering...just when I'm making progress; maybe I should cancel! Am actually enjoying my vacation from running, so I must have needed it. DH and I went for a long walk yesterday and it was fun remembering some other walks in our past... Carolyn, did you ever run the half in Salida? I did the full twice, back when I thought it was good for me to run trails now and again. You'd love it, I'd bet--it's in March and I was thinking of it. It was another sort of long walk for me! grins, A ps: Good luck, Eliz!