Hello Everyone, I am back. I found a house to rent in Dayton TN. It's perfect for the dogs and me. There are still boxes all over the house and I can't find anything. The stuff I can find, I don't know where to put. Work is busy. I have been trying to figure out who is who and how things work while trying to work on a project that is due Tuesday. It feels really good to be back at a power plant. So, things are going really good. I actually ran yesterday. I think it has been over a month now. I ran 3 miles at about a 10:22 pace. My legs were sore all day yesterday. I'll run again tomorrow morning. I met a guy at work that runs. He told me that he has run Boston twice and then started running ultras. He has run 9 ultras so far, including a 100 miler. He told me that's what I should consider. I'll look back through the postings to catch up. Mike Oh yeah, they have these things here called hills.

Kevin, those are good times. Weather has a great effect on runs. The hotter it is out the harder it is to run. You body works harder keeping cool in the hot weather leaving you less to run with. But you did fine. I would be thrilled with those times. Mike, glad to hear from you. Glad youre running. Hills are a good thing. They will get you ready for Boston in no time. Stick to it. Laurie

Hello Everyone, Well, 3 miles this morning on a road that has a lot more traffic at 5:00 than I thought it would. Hmmm. I think I need to rethink that route. That and dig through some of these boxes and find my reflective vest. Anyway, it feels great to be on the road again. The bottom of my left heel bothered me a little after I was done. The last time that happened, that signalled the end of life of my shoes. It may be time to pull the trigger on those Nimbus 10's Ive had my eye on. That can't be all bad. Laurie, Men, Women, Who needs 'em. I'm heading back to my "poor me, I'm single" mode again. Debbie, rigid what?!?!?! Are you allowed to tell me to be careful in the same post that you tell us that you hurt yourself? Isn't there a fine somewhere in there? Eliz, Did I miss something? You are moving to Jersey? I know you were unhappy but I missed what came after that. (I should probably be fined for asking you to rehash something that was already hashed.) Kevin, Awesome race. That doesn't sound like a bad finish at all. And to have it 5 minutes from your house? That's classic. Linda, I'm sorry you are still having issues with your shoulder. How is your Dad doing? He must be doing fairly well to think about going to disney. Roberta, Pf sucks. I didn't realize that it took so long to recover from. Good for you for sticking in there. Teresa, It sounds like things are going well despite a twingy ankle. Sockoni, Congratulations on your race. It sounds like you did it in grand style. I think it's funny the way you were talking to everyone. I ran a race with my son last year who is in the army. He ran with me and talked the whole way. He talked about the neighborhood we were running through, the cars we saw the people along the way. He never shut up. He told me (I had my tongue hanging out at this point) that he normally runs this pace . . . when he's carrying a 60lb ruck sack. It took everything in me to not shove him into the weeds. What a great time. Cheers everyone! Hey if I missed someone, Mike

Linda, 2 weeks off because of the foot thing. What is with your job?? meant to ask you about that before... didn't you say 12-14 hour days? I tend to think the video games might have really aggravated your nerves/discs.. when you hunch over & have to lift your neck it's hard on it. & I think it's easy to tense in general when doing that kind of thing. ( you know, the fierce competition. ) You & I talked before about posture. Sounds like you must have pretty good posture at work. I forget.. is your neighborhood hilly? That might not have helped, if you had to look down &/or up for a while. thanks. I'm doing reasonably ok at that. You too!!!! (you know the drill better than anybody) {{{ }}} So. We have to wear headphones if we race with Joni, and make sure we don't get between Mike & roadside flora. . Joni, really liked your report. You made it sound like so much fun. I'm almost tempted. Mike, rigid toes. And yes, I'm allowed. You have a problem with that? bill me. It's good to have you back. very nice morning for me. 15 min. on the elliptical, 4.3 mile run. assorted stability ball things. our weather couldn't be better. amazing what a difference that makes. Eliz, how is your foot? Laurie, do you still ache? hi to anyone I missed.

Rest day yesterday, as I don't think driving 70+ miles home to PA and back in the same day counts as cross-training. My foot was more sore from all of the driving than it was after Sunday's run, but I think it was at least partly in my mind- I find that I have a new and different physical stress reaction every time I leave the Garden State. I guess the moral of that story is that I shouldn't leave, huh?!? Have had a great workout day so far today. Ran 4.0 and walked 1.5 early this morning, with longer running intervals than I've managed since my almost-3-week running hiatus. Then spent about 1-1/2 hours kayaking on the bay, about half of it against a fairly strong outgoing tide. It was going out so fast, in fact, that I almost ended up walking part of the way because the water was so shallow! Saw lots of young egrets, night herons, and glossy ibis. I'm becoming quite the naturalist, aren't I? Beach walk tour tonight with kayak-boy - he told me he's brining the seigning net and I told him I'd eat some Wheaties so I'm strong enough to help him with it! Linda - glad to hear that your Dad is looking forward to Disney. Hope you manage to keep that nerve problem - and definitely those crazy hours at work - in check. Kevin - "not displeased" with a 26:29 time in a 5K?!? I'll say. That's my "Eliz on crack" time! (I'd settle for 36:29 at this point!) Super job on the race! How fun that it was so close to your house. Mike - you didn't miss a whole lot of details. The sordid tale of the last days of my school year are still so painful and so complicated that I'm still remaining pretty vague about the whole thing. The plan to move to the shore is still in its infancy, but the difference from earlier is that I'm now determined that it WILL happen, hopefully within the year. Good luck with the boxes. The logistics of packing and moving are one of the biggest barriers to my moving right now. Oh, that and the small detail of finding a job here . . . . Roberta - I'm not a podiatrist (nor do I play one on TV) and I'm grateful to not have PF, but I strongly recommend that you follow through and do "be extra diligent about foot exercises." I have terrible issues with my ankles, and the only way I can run at all is to be extra diligent myself with the stretching and strengthening exercises that I learned from my fabulous podiatrist and physical therapist. Deb - I clicked on your link, but it said "page not found - mercy." If it had photos of surgery, it was probably a mercy that I didn't get to look at it. I'm such a wuzz about stuff like that, but of course, I would have had to look! Take care to follow your own advice about not pushing too hard, too soon, girl! Just saw a former student in the public library - a kid I met on my first day teaching middle school, on HIS first day of 5th grade. It was so great to see him and chat with him for a few minutes. I'm just trying to figure out how he got grown up enough to have gone from 5th grade to starting college while I'm still so youthful! Happy running, etc., all, Eliz

Okay last night was only 9 pm.... still exhausted. Debbie - Its quarter end, & this is first quarter I have prepared the income tax provision. Its like doing a mini tax return plus some additional tax related items on the financial statements. Previously my boss prepared & I assisted him. What a quarter to pick! Lots of issues this quarter, plus I still have my other sales tax responsibilities & am somehow going to be leaving on July29-Aug1 I told my DH to remind me next year, I cannot take a vacation in July due to quarter end... needs to be either June or August. I think you are right on the video games.. I had not played in a long, long time. The kids were begging me.... & yeah its a big ole competition with my DS. We have these bean bag chairs in this room, & not a good way for me to be sitting.... yes my route for the run/walk has hills, but I had been slowly increasing paying attention to how I felt. And I had absolutely no side effects from that, then spent a couple hours with the kids on the video games, & that evening the nerve flared... Work station at work is fine. I have resituated it so that I sit very straight... (it is completely different from anyone else at work, and I'm actually having people ask about it.. lol) Okay, I'm late.. more fun with the tax provision this morning...

Hello Everyone, Laurie, Good for you. He deserves to be the ex-bf. B@st@rd. I've been on mapmyrun. Unfortuanately, this is a VERY small town. Like around 6,000 people. So, there aren't that many routes mapped out. I did make one up that takes me through downtown. Much less traffic on this route. I ran this morning, but I'm not sure how far. I missed my turn, so I ran 'till I figured I had gon far enough and then turned around and ran home. I also forgot to start my watch. I looked at it a little while into the run and it read "5:20". I thought to myself, "Wow, I sure thought I've been running longer than 5 minutes". Plus that was the longest half mile I've ever done. I looked a little while later and it read 5:36. Yep, time to go home. Sometimes it takes a little while for the 'ole brain box to get working in the morning. Cheers All! Mike