Well, someone had to do it! Ran a 2 hour long run yesterday afternoon, sunny and cool, great weather. Pushed a little harder than I should have, couldn't read the Garmin with sunglasses instead of prescription, felt more tired than I expected at the end. Changed glasses and found out why... Leaves and pine needles not raked yet, oh well.. Simon.

Teresa, So how did DS do at the State's? Ct states were last Friday. Times were not overley impressive, no one broke 16:00. Aalthough it's a tough course, there are usually some runners under 16. I understand the NEs are in New Hampshire this year, but don't know where. Did he make it to the NEs? I'll be away so I won't know about the results until I get back and try to play catch up on the papers etc. So I'm off to Cancun and won't be back until the 13th. The leg has been feeling pretty good, but still not doing any exercising on it. I'll see how it feels when I get back from vacation. working around the yard and walking has been good, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Until next week, take care my friends and hope that when i get back and able to run, I'll get back into the full swing of things mentally and physically. Larry

That is really terrific, good for him. Good lesson for him to learn about proper eating. Sounds like he must have been really nervous to forget to eat, especially with all of the runners fuel avaialble today. What was his coach doing? Did DS travel with the team? Too bad I'm going to be away. My oldest brother lives just outside of Manchester, I could have gone up and visited and catch the race at the sametime. Good luck. LPH quote pid="98b57e6e83424587bafc92b184e60688">Have a great trip, Larry! DS came in 6th in Class B - his team was the fastest in the state. His team made New Englands, and he also made it individually. The meet is in Manchester next Saturday. As usual for any time they run at Manchester, rain is predicted. No times under 16 by any runner, though. There were some sub-16 times in Rhode Island. Here is the funny article that was published in the Portland paper (my son is Logan):

Finished my first half marathon. the City of Oaks Half in Raleigh, on Sunday! Woohoo! I was worried about finished before the time limit of 3:30, but finished with a few minutes to spare! Gun time was 3:22:52, chip time was 3:19:24. It was a great morning, weather wise, to be out running! The course was a little hilly, but not as bad as I expected. My biggest problem, other than needing to drop some more pounds, was that I stopped at every portajohn stop--sometimes because I really needed to, but other times because I didn't know for sure if I could make it to the next one. I need to work on proper eating/drinking the day or two before, and maybe training a little bit to "hold it!" I was a bit nervous before the race, so I'm sure that played into it as well. I'm still sore and a bit tired, but I'm looking for another half to do now! http://runlesleyrun.blogspot.com/2008/11/race-report-2008-city-of-oaks-half.html Lesley

DS finished 41st out of 266 runners at the New England meet, which was really good (last year he was 168th). Each racer had to qualify in one of 5 state meets to even run at all. He was the 8th fastest boy from Maine (5th fastest junior). His team finished 12th out of 30 teams - two kids were injured, one ran with bronchitis (he deserves a medal), and another just had a very poor race. They were still the best team from Maine, though. So DS was happy. Oh, he set a 5k PR by 9 seconds - 16:28.

Well it looks like I am dealing with some stress fractures in my shins. I'm not sure about the details ... I have a bone scan scheduled for later this week. Who knows when I'll be back running. I'm going to pull a Cheffy and have a positive outlook. I'll get through this.

Ouch, Mr PH. Sorry to hear that. Let us know what the scan shows.

I have to shovel out the driveway today as we got our first significant snowfall last night. My son got a couple of really warm balaclavas from the Running Room, they are black and look like ninja masks, very light and comfortable, with mesh over the mouth for breathing. Good solution for windy/cold days. He tells me he is thinking about taking the next year to get really fit in order to try to do a marathon in 3:30, not sure he can do that as the time commitment is substantial, but he is a determined sort, who knows. More modest ambitions for Dad! Simon.

Wow! Congratulations, Vixi!