Hello hello hello! I met up with a friend (baby runner last year) that will be out of town this weekend and ran 8 with her. That's the group's long run so she wanted to get it done and asked if I would be interested in meeting her to do it so she didn't talk herself out of it. I said of course. It was 69 degrees this morning! Amazing. Between driving there and back and running at her pace, I was gone for a little over two hours. Dogs did great. I know you're supposed to crate train dogs, but Huck does so much better when he's got Riley around, so we've just been leaving them out when we're not here. This was their longest unsupervised time in the house and absolutely no problems. DH was working from home, but was on the phone the entire time and said he didn't even have a break to check on them.

Pic from yesterday for those not on fb:

How cute are they?

Liz, I would probably semi-wing it. We can talk more next weekend. What I do in that situation is use an excel spreadsheet and plan out longer runs each week and total mileage I'd like to hit each week (so maybe build to 50-55, then stick to that level with a cutback week ever 3-4 weeks). I like having one rest day, so with that and one long run day I know how many miles to spread out over 5 days. Then just go out and run. Try to make one of those 5 days a little longer, maybe make one have some speedwork if you're feeling it (or not), but do it based on weather and your schedule for the rest of your life and how you're feeling, not "it's Tuesday so I have to run 7 miles." Take an extra rest day now and then. And by long run, I'd probably top out at 15-16. If we remember, I'll show you what I use for myself when we're at Sandy's.

Susan, hope the seminar is good. We went to a two-day one that ExMob does for employees and spouses awhile back and it was really good.

Damaris, yikes on the dental work.

Judy, love the squirrel sightings. Enjoy the run today.

Diane, I'd have a sweater and coat on in that weather too! Trying to find the right balance between work and working out and life is hard, sometimes it seems like the hardest part of training. I was watching a training video yesterday and the guy was talking about the correlation between amount of time spent training and chance of injury. And how elites are more willing to get closer to that line of training to the point of injury, because the payoff is there, but for the rest of us, it doesn't make sense to push it that far. It's hard for me to get completely onboard (this was a presentation by the founder of the organization my group is part of) because I know I do well with more training and more mileage, but what he was saying makes sense.

Kathryn, hope the work thing works out. And that you got your longer run in.

Sandy, super excited about next weekend! I think bringing all these doctors and "experts" in to talk to my baby runners makes me more likely to go get checked out when something hurts. If this thing doesn't work itself out soon, go see somebody.

Cathy, how frustrating on the doctor wait time. I hate that. October 7 must be one of the biggest north/midwest race days - TCM, Lakefront, Chicago.

Lisa, that was kind super genius to plan non-running travel for the weekends after your 100k. Wait, DD"s Jeep was stolen? That sucks. But how incredibly cool she gets to spend a semester in Rome! That kid has done more cool stuff in her life already than most people, myself included.

Okay, need to do some laundry and get some groceries. Oh, I almost forgot. I made the world's easiest recipe for dinner the other night and it was really good. Now that it's starting to cool off everywhere but Miami, I thought I'd share. It comes from Pioneer Woman.

7-can soup

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can Rotel

1 can corn

1 can black beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can chili (meat only, no beans)

Open all the cans and dump them into a pot. Don't even drain them, just open and pour in. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to low for 10-15 minutes. Add an 8 oz block of Velveeta and stir until it melts.

And that's it. It's not super healthy, but it's really tasty.

Lizzie – ugh on the late call!  I have a bunch of Denver meetings coming up that are all like that.  Doesn’t anyone work in the mornings?  Hope it’s quick!  LOL on stopping at Davis Tire.  If I was going to DL I may be tempted haha  Yeah, Milkduds for dinner was not my proudest moment.  I could NOT have all that in the house or I would eat it!  I already know I will be SUPER impressed with your fridge and cupboards.  Sometimes I open my sisters/friends and just stare in awe LOL  You both can laugh at the spreadsheet I have hanging on my refrigerator haha

Karen – those pups are the cutest EVER!!  OMG I just want to sit and stare.  I love that you call him Huckles.  OMG I want to just love him up!!  Well, I found a PT that fast girl recommended that I will give a shot.  Emailed a request for appt so hopefully I can get in relatively soon.  Fun you got 8mi in with former baby runner!  YOU are calling it cooler??  Haha this kinda made me laugh.  I better pull out all my sweatshirts for you to layer up in while you are here!!

Sue – LOL on your boss terrorizing others!  But, yay she is staying away from YOU.  At least for the day.

Damaris – oh no on the tooth issue!  Did you at least get some antibiotics for the infection?  Here’s hoping a root canal redux does the trick and you can avoid the implant hassle.

Lisa – haha I will keep my eyes peeled for wood chippers in Fargo for sure.  Oh no on DDs Jeep!  That sucks!  Hope they can find it.  What a hassle!  Congrats to her on the study abroad!  Will you plan to visit at all?

Diane – I did enjoy Boston.  So much history.  And a very walkable city – my favorite.

Cathy – nice miles the last couple days!  You are going to ROCK your race.  OMG having to wait that long for the Dr. is soooooooooo annoying.  But, good bonding time with DD, maybe?  I get that Drs can get behind due to other patients and emergencies and such but at least let you know.  Hmmmm maybe I need to cheer for the Brewers this post season.  Because A) the Twins are out and B) Molitor played there

Well, I finally feel caught up at work after being gone.  One more meeting today and then I’m outta here!!

Karen, I'm really slipping, I hadn't even realized it was Boston announcement time. WOW. So they have cut the times by 5 minutes again?

RN should still be able to make it and so should you, you're close to the same times and about the same age, but some of us won't. Ever. No worries.

Awww, that picture of Riley and Huckster is so cute!

Kat, sorry the call didn't go so well.

Lisa, thanks for the affirmations. Those work for a lot of us.

DD's car got stolen? Dammit. Sorry.

Judy, I would happily pack up all the squirrels in the neighborhood and ship them off to you. Rancid little rodents eat all the fruit off my trees. And I don't have a Riley or a Skye to scare them off!

Diane, hope you can get out of the funk. Nice that the hearing aids are working well.

Margaret, ugh. tummy bugs are awful.

Sandy, that is one massive kit kat! I can see him saying "does this photo make my butt look fat?"

Liz, yay for cooler weather. Glad you got the caterer sorted out.

Cathy, ugh. Hate it when people think they are so important that you -- the CUSTOMER -- should wait on their convenience.

Damaris, tooth troubles are miserable, hope there is no infection.

Susan, maybe you could write a proposal for getting rid of your boss instead? Just saying...

Hope I have not missed anyone.

5 miles with RN this morning. WFH, which is nice, I'm baking for tomorrow's client/summit meeting. We have a client that has a very longstanding issue with their coverage not meeting contractual requirements for a project. Representatives of both our client and our client's client are coming into our office in an attempt to get this sorted. A colleague and I have been working our butts off and we think we have the current insurance meeting the contract specs, though we are still waiting on one piece and there are several previous years not tackled yet. (We were not in charge of those years when they were placed.) Not sure about other lines of coverage. Oh, and did I mention that the client's client is also our client so we are having to tread carefully? And that there is an event tomorrow in our building that will take up all the parking? I think chocolate chip cookies may help.

Well I got 3 in at the gym...the TM there does inclines and declines...I could practice downhill. Then I did 4 more here at home.  DH is going to be late so might as well.

5 on the treadmill.

Seloc, good idea to see the PT. All that back/hip/hamstring stuff all can seem similar, especially when diagnosing via Dr Google. I have pretty much decided against another half this fall and am going to do some 5 and 10ks. Basically, in training for halfs, I've gotten slower at those, despite running some faster halfs, so it seems to make sense.

AnonymousGuest, ,the dogs are so cute!

MyMomRuns, hope your daughter's car can be located.

Docket, hopefully the root canal will be the fix.