"To live only for some future goal is shallow.  It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top.  That's where things grow."

-- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Happy new week to everyone! 

Ev, I can't believe you passed up the opportunity to suggest that Leslie run w/ Karen evryothr time .  Seriously, I have generally been the slower one in a running friendship, so will give you that perspective.  While the bonding that we have had on runs has really deepened our friendship and I wouldn't trade for that, I prefer to run with her only about once a week and do the other runs on my own.  I'm sure you and Karen will find a balance that works for both of you. 

Nice run, Joe!!  Great score on the shoes.

Thanks for your input, folks.  All your points are valid and not taken lightly.  When we start out the run, we're pretty even, but as it progresses, she gets slower.  I think part of the problem might be that she pushes too hard on the hills in the beginning and saves nothing for the end.  If it wasn't for the fact I'm training for LD at the end of April, I probably would not be so bothered about having to slow down.  Regardless, I need to keep in mind that the goal is twofold: (1) run together because we're friends and that friendship is important, and (2) on the weekend long runs, it's about building endurance.

10 wet miles in the Community Forest this a.m.  It went really well, better than I anticipated.  My legs were tired, but not dead like I anticipated.

Had a "I'd love to shoot the dog owner" moment.  Please indulge me for a moment re language.

There's a leash law in the Forest.  The fine is $121 per dog off leash, so when Karen and I run there, Charlie is on leash at all times, unless he's going down into one of the creeks to get a drink.

We come down #12, I'm a little bit ahead of Karen.  I go to turn left, and 2 women with 3 dogs are coming up the trail.  Two of the dogs are off leash.  I tell Karen, "Dogs off leash," and at the same time the owner says, "Oh, they're nice."  Bull^&*#!  As soon as those two dogs saw Charlie, they came at him with no reservations.  One has some mastiff in him, and he had teeth fully bared.  Karen's trying to get away from them, but between the two dogs, she was surrounded, and the bigger of the two kept going after Charlie.  I mean, he was out for blood.  I'm screaming at the lady, "Get your %^*& dog!" and trying to figure out if I can kick the crap out of him without him attacking me.  The lady finally gets to the dogs and she's yelling at them.  I'm still not sure how Karen managed to drag Charlie out of there, but I tell you what, I haven't been that scared over a dog in a long time.  I was freaking pissed!  As we ran off I threw back of you my shoulder, "There's a leash law! Put *bleeping* dogs on a leash!"

I don't know how she did it, but Karen stayed under control the whole time.  I could see her mind flying to figure out how to extricate herself and Charlie from the attack.  We stopped a few feet down the trail and gave Charlie lots of "good dog" pats.  He was trying as hard as Karen to get away, while trying to protect her at the same time.  Poor guy.  Talk about an adrenaline rush.

Leslie, your situation with your running partner is similar to mine. When we first started running together this summer, I wasn't as strong a runner, so there wasn't as much of an issue. My intention was just to build base, and so my mantra was "miles are miles", even the ones at 12+ min/mile paces. But eventually that got to be a real drag, as I got to be stronger and faster. I ended up getting out to run earlier in the day to run at my own pace, then I'd do a couple more recovery miles with her a couple hours later, inadvertently training myself for doubles in the process. Now we hardly run together anymore, especially since she only runs on the weekends, and in the later afternoon to boot. I remember being a bit sad about that, but as another running friend wisely reminded me, running IS a solitary activity. It's personal. Doesn't mean we can't share it with others, but I see that as more of the exception than the rule. Just my 2¢.

Hey to everyone! I ran 11.4 miles today in the driving rain and I was grateful. And yes, I was in Aruba last week, had a lovely time. Ran a bunch there too. Hamstring is still feeling the effects of the strain of six weeks ago, but getting better everyday. Can't ask for more than that.

Have a great week, all!

And only when talking about dogs can this phrase be appreciated......"Thankfully there was some mutual rear end examinations..."

Weeeelll, that may not necessarily be true.  Just depends on how the examination is happening.

Well, after all my worrying about Karen, she gave me an opening in an email this morning to approach the subject with her.  One of the things I told her is she's the one who got me running in the first place, and I would be hard pressed to drag my butt out there weekend after weekend if I didn't have someone to run with.  Also, I don't want to be her sister who says she'll run with you then leaves you behind, never looking back.  It's been hurtful to Karen in the past.  The gist of her comments were I am not doing myself any favors running ahead of her, stopping and waiting, rewind, play again, but that I need to keep running.  If the opportunity arises for her to catch up, she will.  She doesn't want to be holding me back.  We're going to talk about it more this weekend, but I'm feeling better.  Karen is one of those people who gets caught up in other people's accomplishments as much as her own.  She's a great cheerleader.  It's a wonderful gift.

OM - Hope you had a wonderful time in Aruba.  Another "must go to place" on my list . . . along with hundreds of others.

Yea!  Ev pumped out more miles!  Nicely done, son.  Nicely done.

Rest day for me.  Just got out of a meeting with one of the attorneys in our firm, my Hub, and his friend.  They want to move toward opening their own BBQ/meat smoking/catering business.  They left the Health Dept pretty bummed, but I think I have a way to pump them back up.  I'll need to do some more investigating re the HD's requirements for such a business.  The guy over there told them he couldn't tell them anything, that things are changing on the state and county level and if he were them, he wouldn't even think about doing something like that right now.  WTH??  Give me a break!  A good thing about this, though, is it's making them step back and really think this thing through.  Perhaps start out with a smaller goal and build on that.  We'll see . . . .

Hi OM! Welcome back! Did you bring me anything! Glad to hear that the hammies are coming along, seems like for many folks it's a long, long road to healing. You probably know a little more than the average person about how to take care of that.

Carol - I could never get through that book, but that's a good quote.

Leslie - Lydiard once wrote that "it's far better to run too slow than too fast". And irresponsible dog owners make me just as mad as graffiti "artists". Just had an offleash dog growl at me last week while the owner laughed and said "oh, he's friendly"...made me want to growl back!

Joe - newly muddy trail shoes, what fun! Trail shoes sure are a heavy and stiff, though.

AG win for me on Saturday and 3rd for Mark. Happy campers! Then a really tough 20+ miles in drizzle, with lots of climbing, mud, rocks, downed trees (and I'm talking redwoods here), four river crossings (two of which were dangerous and required us going through two at a time and supporting each other), and even some boulder scrambling! Wow! The river was too high for us to make it to the hot springs (would have required technical boulder scrambling through poison oak - no thank you), oh well maybe some other time. Quads a little sore today so 2 easy recovery miles was a good day.

Nice going Arla on the win!  Sorry no hot springs soak....but sounds like the rest of the day was perfect!

OM.....great song and video!  Thanks for the hug and I'll send hugs out to evryone also.

Congratulations, Arla!!  Sounds like a lovely run/hike, too.  (not!)  Glad you didn't injury yourself right before your big 50-miler.  I would've had to come down there and smack you around if that had happened.

Thanks for the hugs, OM.  I don't have speakers here at work, so will have to check out the video link when I get home.

Hi, Ev!

30 min of stationary cycling followed by 1 hr of core/strength.  Hopefully, the legs don't poop out on me tomorrow like they did last week.

Later, friends ~

Jim - Glad you and Lynda were able to have some fun before the even harder work begins (I don't think anything you do can not be considered hard).

10 miles w/ladders.  Sing-a-long with me!  What a difference a week made . . .  They were still tough and I still hate them, but I never felt like puking, and only once did I feel like I went way too fast.  Oh, and I'm still able to walk.    Major difference from last week.