No "Black Friday" here, except I'm working.  I volunteered, though.  Thursdays and Fridays I work for one of my old bosses, and the last couple of months it seems either he's been gone or I've been gone.  And since I'll be gone yet again from next Thursday afternoon through Monday, I told him I'd come in and work part of the day today.  I'll be out of here by 2:00/2:30, so that's not bad.

Today's a rest day for me, and it felt oh so good to sleep in!  Although a cat fight erupted around 6:15, we kicked the offender out of the house, and I went back to sleep until almost 9:00.  The weather here is blustery, to say the least.  Winter has finally arrived!

Here's some pics from yesterday's  Turkey Trot:

Coach Bill and I are in the second row, toward the left of the picture.  I'm in the purple shirt and blue hat.  He's standing to my left (picture, right). The bald guy to the far right of the pic wearing #275 is Mike Pigg.  A former world class, world renowned triathlete:

Scott Pesch, one of the guys who puts this whole thing together every year.  It benefits the local cross-country kids.  Two are going to the National Championships this weekend:

 And we're off!

Me and Coach Bill approaching the finish line.  My bad habit showing: crossing my arms in front of my body.

The Finish Line.  Don't know why the picture is so small.  I didn't edit or anything.  Love the sign, though!

I'm one week out from my first marathon & first marathon trail race--the Tecumseh Trail Marathon.  I have heard there might be some pretty wet stream crossings.  Anyone have any last minute advice?  I have run halfs on portions of the same trail before, so I'm reasonably familiar with the terrain.  In my last one a few weeks ago I had some strange post race calf pain that I can only attribute to electrolyte deficiency or maybe cold.  I hate tights, so I have been thinking about picking up some compression socks...but now hearing that the trail is likely going to be wet I'm thinking I should just use my normal thin two layer socks that don't absorb much. 

MTA:  oh, and anyone who is interested in running has a brief chance to get in, some spots opened due to cancellations.

Today's run, while shorter and slugggish, was saved by a few cool experiences - orange and gold leaves blowing down on us along a narrow trail section.  A gorgeous coyote trotting towards me on the trail.  I though it was a dog at first, since there were so many people out today.  But it's owner never came and eventually, after I talked to it a bit, it ran down the hillside.  And lastly, my husband found a new trail to try on a future run.  We heard about it from one of his running buddies and wanted to run it today, looked for it on the way out, but didn't see it.  On his way back, he found it.  It's a newly cleared old railroad bed near No Hands Bridge (off of the Western States trail).  I love exploring new trails, so now we have something to look forward to for next weekend.

Trails2run, It should be a lot of fun exploring that new trail next week end. Do you and your husband run together? Sometimes I wish mine had an interest in running (long distance) - he is more of an explosive type (I would put a winking emoticon in here but they don't work for me - maybe I am over my quota?

Good luck and let us know what you find.

Ran on the gym treadmill a paced workout - needed to get some faster paced work done in order to get away from slugdom. The entire past week I worked on sensible recovery from the Sunday 23 miler. As you know, I dealt with left achilles inflammation. Well, midweek I ran some 7 miles in my neighborhood and had to walk home due to pain in the right knee - BUMMER! I had felt the same pain during the 23 miler but it had gone away when I changed shoes and I didn't think much of it after the run. However, my body apparently remembered it. I took the rest of the week off from running until today, Sunday. I touched the achilles with my fingers when I got up this morning and noticed the inflammation was gone. It made me happy. As I started running on the treadmill I felt very good and healthy - this also made me feel happy. 

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I ran 6 x 2000m at HM pace sandwiched by 1 mile wu and 1 mile cooldown. Total 10.5 miles.

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It may have been on the 4th repeat I started to feel the right knee pain again. After that, it took some readjustment of my stride to feel comfortable running the remainder of the workout.

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I am a little worried about this knee as normally I don't have knee pain or problems; is it caused by putting too many miles on my legs recently, I ask myself? Is it new shoes? If yes, then which one of the new pairs of shoes is causing it? Have I been compensating for the achilles on the left leg and developed a knee strain on the right leg? 

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More rest is called for so I can recover from this and run again. This is putting a severe damper on an otherwise pretty good time for me with my running. My life has been and is extremely stressful all of November, and going forward it seems we have a very busy schedule - hopefully the next month while busy will be a lot less painful for my husband and give all of us some much needed relief and relaxation. 

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Encouraging words from you - I like your description of how you and your husbands relationship has changed with respect to running. It's one of the added benefits of staying married to the same man for a long time - being part of how the relationship changes. All of those transitions form a strong bond and deepen the relationship.

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OK, so I will give my man a chance to surprise me!

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You mentioned that you would let him go ahead w/o you sometimes after the first 3 miles if you feel comfortable about being on the trail alone. What would make you feel uncomfortable about being on the trail alone?

I sometimes have an insecure feeling while on the trail alone - I mostly brush it off as something in my head. However, I have found I avoid a particular trail because dog owners like to let their big dogs run free w/o a leash in there - those a usually very big dogs and often more than one at the time. I guess the dog owners "own" that trail.....

You mentioned that you would let him go ahead w/o you sometimes after the first 3 miles if you feel comfortable about being on the trail alone. What would make you feel uncomfortable about being on the trail alone?

Flower - In this area, mountain lions and rattlesnakes are the main concern.  I also don't know if i'd want to see a bear while I was alone.  I've seen and almost stepped on rattlesnakes several times. But I haven't see bears or mountain lions around Auburn, yet, but there is always the possibility (there was a runner killed in 1993? on a section of trail I have run several times). My husband saw a mountain lion when we were running "together" (he was about 2-3 minutes ahead of me at the time).

I am also always aware that a trip and fall could land me over the edge of cliff, or knocked unconscious from hitting my head.  The terrain I run is pretty steep, and I/we rarely don't see anyone else out there.  Cell service is usually non-existent, too.  So it's not people i'm afraid of, like being attacked or kidnapped, etc.  But rather wildlife and accidents.

I used to run alone or with my dog. My dog can't run anymore. And the more I run with people, the more afraid or tense I feel when I run on the trails alone, which is really too bad, because, honestly, while I need and apprciatte the motivationa running partner gives me, I really prefer to be alone, hearing the forest, creeks, river on my own, and running at my own pace. I have several friends and my husband to run with now, so I rarely go alone now. Good, overall, I guess.