Wow, Cheffy, you picked a hard first HM! Ours is supposed to be a little hillly, but I'm afraid to investigate it! My running partner and I are doing a LOT of hills now, though. We ran 5.5 miles on our local XC course, which is supposed to be one of the hardest HS trails in New England. I believe it!! We had to run/walk it, it was so challenging. My ankle is about the same - bearable as long as I skip a day in between every run. I'm going to try 9.4 miles later this week and see what happens.

My fall HM is Sept 27th. It was listed as the 28th on one site, so I contacted the Race Director and he cconfirmed that it's on the 27th. I also got an official course map from him. I picked this HM for two reasons. 1. The guy timing it is a friend of mine 2. The course is in my backyard and covers almost 8.5 miles of my long runs already. I did find out however, that I've been running backwards on the course, so will change my direction this weekend. There are no major hills on this course, a number of small rolling type which I can handle no problem. I'm glad there are no major hills as I haven't done any real hill work since injuring my calf last month. At this time, I haven't set any goals, which is very unusual for me. I'd like to just run and have fun for a change and not be so worried about goals and just let things take their own natural course. However, I'm a goal type of person and I'll probably cave in and set a goal and pace for myself. Of course, I've got to do a better job of my pace than I did at my HM in June, but on the flip side, I know that this course will be properley marked and I'll be able to know my pace at 1 mile instead of having to wait for mile three to think I know it and mile four to verify it. By that time, my pace was almost 30 seconds faster than I wanted it to be and I almost crashed and burned during the race. Teresa, Sounds like you picked a really tough HM. I'm praying for you that your injury is better by then.

Thanks for your prayers, Larry! I will need them. Sigh, MrPH, I know you're right - thanks for the kick in the pants. I will tell my running partner we need to go check it out next week. It will probably ease my anxiety, anyway! Good luck to you both on your fall races! Leaves are just starting to change here - I love fall in Maine!

How wonderful--a $20 ten-miler in your backyard! I haven't run a 10-mile race and would love to add it to my repertoire. Some day. My race just published the course map. It's very similar to the course the A1A Marathon used for my first half, so I feel familiar with the course. I have to smile when I hear you guys talk about hills. In Florida, we train on bridges to try to get stronger, but the state is a pancake (like my feet!). On this course we'll hit a bridge at mile 4, then it's a flat cruise along the water. I raced a 5k once when people complained about how hilly the course was--b/c there were a few rolling sand dunes. Seriously, these were so gentle and flat, but in this small field people just weren't used to it. Anyway, I'm glad it's a course I've been on before, and I'm praying it's a little cooler. Cheffy, I'm not sure what to think about the orthotic. Like I said, it's not the first time I've been told I need one, by the running store, the orthopedist, or the podiatrist, and hammering my toenail is . . . well, painful. You probably saw in the LLR, but DH and I have met our medical deductible for the year, so it looks like insurance will cover 70% of the orthotics. DH is approving a second visit to the podiatrist to get everything discussed more in depth--and the financial details in writing! I have three more months to get this done before our deductible gets reset to 0. I'm a little scared, so I'm asking everyone I know for advice. Will the shoes I wear still work? Will it take forever to get used to them? I still really want to sub-2 this half. Let's see, after 4 days off last week, 6 on Monday, 6 on Wednesday, 8.5 today. No speedwork, just trying to wake the legs up again. Figuring on 4 slow ones tomorrow and 10 on Saturday. 11 weeks til my half. Like you, Larry, I'm terrible about being able to "take things easy." It's part of the reason I'm not sure I should run a marathon this winter. Life-wise, it's probably the easiest time in my life to train for one. But one of my biggest concerns is whether I'd be able to run it w/o thinking about the time, even in the smallest, darkest recess of my mind. Well, one way we can tell fall is inching closer to Florida--it is staying dark later. Family of racoons greeted me at the start of my run at 5:30, and I raced a bunny on the last lap of my 2.75 "Florida hills" course at 6:30, just getting light (he won). Oh, and, of course, we now track a new tropical storm every week. Here's praying for the Gulf Coast. +1 for the Icy Hot before the run. Big help when I had that slight calf pull. Sorry about the book.

Should have added- you can often treat the pain in the arch of your foot by rolling a tennis ball around with the sore part of your foot, its a sort of massage. Also, running hard up steep hills will give you stiffness in the glute muscles as well as the quads. What you do about that problem I will leave to you to decide!

Don't be afraid to apply it liberally and well before your run so that the heat starts to work and loosens everything up. quote Thanks for the advice, Larry. I tried Icy Hot for my run today, but I don't think I put enough on. I'll try more next time.

130 miles for August Started the month injuried ( right hamstring) but kept running easy & had an aggressive stretching program. Ended the month feeling strong, flexible & fast. OK maybe not so much fast. Planning a group club run of 12 miles next Sunday, the course has 1100 feet of up hill & down w/ a uphill finish. MrPH that 10 miler sounds really good right now, I wish I was much closer. Larry that's a nice run, I think you are OK to run it fast with the day off today. Cheffy, Vixi & Teresa you ladies are doing great keep it up!