Tall – thanks for starting us out. Thanks for your comments and advice re the funeral yesterday, gang – much appreciated. Debut run in my new neighborhood. I took on my new hill nemesis, what the locals call Stony Hill. Rising straight up from the Great Miami River basin, it makes the hill my house is on look wimpy. With all the trips up and down the stairs carrying boxes in the last 2 days, I hadn’t intended to actually run Stony Hill this morning, I just wanted a look at it. But as I stood at the bottom looking up, I heard it cackling softly at me in the humid early morning light. I took that as a challenge. Small compared to hills many of you run on, it’s still pretty big for this flatlander. I had to walk parts of the DOWNHILL portion, because it was so steep that running down it put too much strain on my knees. There are 2 roads that cross the river and climb Stony Hill, meeting at an angle past the crest. Today I took the more winding road up, and the steeper face down, but I think it would be easier on my knees to reverse that. Once a week, I think, will be enough. 6 miles in 62 degrees and light rain.

Went out for a 2 mi tempo run this morning. Yes, that's how I marked it dow in in my log. Well, it was 7:30 on the way out and 8:30 on the way back, but the wind was WHIPPING from the south, and I ran North first, so I'm still counting this as my goal of 2 mi at an 8 min pace. I have 5 more mi scheduled tonight with my babysitter and the dog. BIG news is that finally, finally, finally, I cracked 130 lbs. I almost fainted this morning when I got on the scale. My 6 weeks of no drinking finally cracked a lb or 2 off me! Of course, last night I ended my no drinking by having a margarita, and today, I reached my goal. Contrarian body of mine.... (I should add that I don't diet -- but do try to eat well and in balance, so other than no drinking, it isn't as if I put any real effort into losing the weight. It is a bit of a long-term, slow and steady goal).

good morning! best of days to you too, Tall. Holly, I hate it when hills cackle. Sue, happy sproink! Thanks so much for the information the other day. I'm behind too. I hate that. morning Nono. morning Renee the dog. congrats. if you fainted, you would have cracked 130 lbs. 30 min. on the arc trainer, & 20 on the recumbant bike. i decided that getting away with running monday (when i'd been sore for days) was probably due to some friendly pro-running faerie that looked at me & said 'poor thing, she doesn't have a clue. let's give her a break'. being very careful, at least my version, for the rest of the week. mta hey tw . happy to read didn't hurt the other day.

I'm with you Tall. After yesterday's tough workout, my EZ effort pace was very very slow. It's tempting to be discouraged by that, but it's probably OK. Running nearly the same pace all the time doesn't improve fitness and speed. 9 miles under drippy skies, 62F.

A warm welcome to Thursday everyone! That Ribs... he's always full of surprises. Twocat- who needs a car when you can run? Think of the gas savings. Mariposai- I hope you found some fun in your busy day. Glad to hear you snuck a run in. WRFB- thanks for checking in. Good luck with work, and with the knee rehab. Holly- you want to take the time to plan things out, and do it right the first time. Rearranging later is good in theory, but how often does that really happen? My condolences to your families loss. Good job taking, and passing the hill challenge this morning. TomS- thanks for the comic! I love Rhymes With Orange, it fits my warped sense of humor perfectly. I guess your aches and pains from the other day are better? Ribs- I'm surprised that you, Mr. Sweet as Sugar, didn't melt in that rain. Regarding brushing of the dog, I've taught Jake to let me vacuum him. He actually looks forward to it now. Bruce- you really are progressing nicely with your running. Keep up the plan, it seems to be working. Regarding Amy, thanks for asking. I haven't heard anything for a couple of days now. I would imagine things are quite hectic at the moment. I'll take no news as good news... enke- I like your foggy avatar picture. Where was that taken? I give it two thumbs up! Don't rush your recovery, and don't base it on how others recover. Your sproink will return when it returns. Cmom- keep this up and soon you'll be the one doing the whooping! Franc59- glad to see you! I think a lot of people will benefit from your posts! Aamos- I'll send you some peepers if you'd like. They go well with cootie bugs. PDR- steady as she goes there. Please be careful when adding speedwork, especially relatively soon after a hard marathon effort, and coming off being sick. Teresa- it's good to hear you are human and have off days now and again. HOpe today is better! JJJ- love the details of you post yesterday! eliz- good job getting the job done yesterday. Did you find the Holy Grail and not tell us? runningindc- maybe you'll hear some peepers on your morning jaunts! Otherwise if you ever make it to Long Island, we'll go peeper peeping together. Great news about the foot!!! Fingers are crossed for you! wildchild- on to better things for you. Best of luck with whatever awaits you. Nice celebratory run you took! halllar- those first few warm runs really do suck it out of you. No worries. divechief- so where was the strange part about your day? PJH- there you are! Glad to hear things are coming around for you since Boston. Thanks for the mentor update, that is such a great thing you are doing. Best of luck this Sunday to you and all your disciples! evanflein- have you been practicing your diaper changing in preparation for your visitors? Sounds like you got your mojo back since Boston! Congrats to your son on his speedy 5k-ish race! To me, superwoman is someone who does whatever duty calls her to do, and you certainly fit that bill. Tallrunner- we already know your pace. FAST! SueT- at least work isn't in the way of your running. Well done this AM. nono- it's the effort that counts, not the time. Have a good run tonight, skinny! tomwhite- sounds like things are feeling good for you today after your run yesterday. dg- those running faeries like cookies, so don't forget your offerings to them to keep them happy. vista- or should we be calling you Mr. Scarecrow? Lotsa rain and wind kept me from walking this morning. Poor excuse I know, but that gave me more time to do some neglected core work, foam rollering and stretching instead. I also did more PPV exercises, adding a few more sets and difficulty from the other day. My ankle really feels great. It's like having a thorn or splinter that's been stuck in you for a long time finally pulled out. Prior to surgery, the PPV exercises bothered the ankle. Today, they didn't bother it one bit. I remain cautiously optimistic that getting this surgery was a good idea. Later on I'll try things out on the elliptical trainer at the gym. All the healing vibes from all of you really helped. Thank you! A special shout out to all our wounded, or recovering, warriors out there. Even if you stop posting, please know that doesn't mean we have stopped thinking of you and wishing you all well. I'll leave you with this Pooh-ism: “"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called”

Debut run in my new neighborhood. I took on my new hill nemesis, what the locals call Stony Hill.

I wondered about that when you said you'd moved to Miamisburg. I only know it from my many trips back and forth between Michigan and Cincinnati, but from I-75 I know that the Miamisburg exit is really down between two big hills. Not surprising that it's tough to climb out of there! Strength work this morning, with maybe a short run tomorrow depending on the weekend forecast. Good running, all!

Cloudy here....not complaining, just noting. Gym day for me as I went out and ran again after work with my running club. OK, dive, the computer's not really broken, you must be the subject of an investigation! Whadja do?? Stay outta jail so we can see you in August! I'm curious--what does anything think of long slow distance runs? Way to make for a long slow race or do they have their place? grins, A ps: I wrote a piece on Boston and stuck it over in the Boston Marathon forum, for anyone still interested in reading about it. I figure folks here have been so wonderfully supportive and patient, it would have been overkill.