Helen~so sorry to hear about your grandma.

likenoother & artnsmarts~I started with the c25k last summer. I am proud to say that I--a certified non-runner--was able to complete w5 and parts of w6. Now I tend to just run for 30 minutes 3 times a week which keeps me around d3w5 or d3w6 and I'm happy with that. There's really nothing to be scared about!!

Hi to everyone else!!

Helen, I'm very sorry to hear about your grandma. That's wonderful about the marathon though! Is the process similar to the Boston process (qualifying time) or more like the New York process (lottery and/or running in a certain number of local races)?

I haven't run in a few days, but my legs are exhausted from a sculpting class last night that really kicked my butt - literally. Not sure yet if I'll make it for cardio tonight, but I did some weights already, so that's good. I just want to get my miles up!

Helen--Sorry to hear about your grandma. It is great that the running helps you cope.

Alinnell--Thanks for the feedback. I did WK5D1 yesterday and it wasn't too bad. I just needed to adjust my speed. I was getting too big for my britches. Getting a little ahead of myself so I stepped back a bit.

Helen, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad the running helps -- I've found that to be true as well. And congrats on the marathon.

Helen, sorry to hear about your grandma.

I'm on track at the moment to meet my goal in December of running more than half the days... (as we're only 5 days in, it's not so impressive, but considering that I've let my running slip so bad I had to start over... not too bad). I ran a little over a mile and a half tonight... hoping that the rain would hold off the entire time. Hope you all had good runs today.. and wishing I could share our wonderful weather for all you running in the snow.

Dee

Thanks everyone.

Scenestealer - it's a bit of both. There are four main ways in.

1. Open ballot - anyone can enter, but it's a 1 in 5 chance of getting in, possibly worse. I did this and didn't get a place.
2. Qualifying times - I'm not far off, but not quite there - I need to run 3:45 and my PB is 3:50. Hopefully I'll be able to get the time I need next year so I can use that next time.
3. Charity places - way too expensive when I've just done New York on a charity place. There's no way I could raise the money, which would mean I'd have to make it up myself.
4. Club places - each running club gets a certain number of club places, depending how big they are, which they can allocate as they see fit. At my club you have to have been rejected through the ballot (which I was), and then they have various criteria you have to meet. If there are too many people wanting to run who meet all the criteria there is then a ballot to see who gets the place, but as things stand at the moment there are three of us (including me) who will get the places as long as no-one else comes out of the woodwork in the next week or so (and even if they do, I think I'd be the last of those three to drop off the list because the other two have done it before and I haven't). So fingers crossed no-one else wants a place!

Helen - sorry to hear about your loss And congrats on the Marathon - how exciting!

Nothing new here - haven't run since Monday as I am fighting off some kind of sinus cold or something - grr... DESPERATE to run - !

Have a great day, all!
Heather

I had a really good outside 6.4 miles today! I can't even believe I enjoyed it. It is 22 deg. outside and about 3/4 of the way through it started snowing! Those really big snowflakes. About every other breath I was inhaling snowflakes. It was beautiful! Maybe, I am turning into a real runner! I felt like a little kid. Good day! Jelly

I did 8 miles or so in total today. I ran to the 5k TT (4.5 miles), did the 5k and then did about a mile to the bus stop to cool down before getting the bus home as it was about to start to rain.

I just about got a PB (22:51 - a whopping 1 second off!) and was third woman. I was really pleased though because there's someone else at running club who I always used to beat, but recently she's been running really well and I wanted to see if I could still beat her! I did, she was about 10 seconds behind me. She has run a faster time on that course than I have, but we've never raced against each other on it before today.

Helen, congratulations on your time and on beating that other runner!

jellybelly, that sounds like a great run you had!

Heather, I've been sick this week too and haven't been able to run since Tuesday. Ugh!

I think I'm going to take today off too, just to be safe. I'm feeling somewhat better but not completely, and I don't want to get out in the cold if I'm not well. Sigh... I may try to do some sort of workout inside. It's been AGES since I've done anything but run outside. I don't even have access to a treadmill today unless I go to my school, and I don't see that happening. Oh well...I hope to get back on track tomorrow. I haven't had a good 10+ mile run in about 3 weeks.

Okay so I made it through D3 of Week 5. I was distracted most of the time watching tv and po'd at my mp3 player. I think that really helped. 20 minutes straight. I can't believe it. On to Week 6 on Tuesday. I am proud of myself.

Seems like posts are slowing down a bit! To much shopping maybe?

Sunday I had to do my long run on the treadmil. It was cold and raining outside! I have run in the cold and the rain, but that is cuz the rain started after I was out there! I just couldn't bring myself to run outside! I also only did 5 of the 6.4 miles I was supposed to do yesterday. I was a little disappointed in myself, but it was boring!! I love long runs outside. Oh well. Today I did 2 mile of speed work and weight training. Have a great week. Jelly

After being sick for nearly a week, I finally got back to running today and it was TOUGH. It's hard when it's been more than a few days since your last run! I only did 2 miles with some students -- one mile on a trail and one on a track. I fell at the end of the trail -- tripped on a tree root, which I was afraid of all through cross country season. I'm fine, though, it was just a stumble.

I really need to get back to my long Sunday runs -- I really missed that yesterday!

It's been one week and two days since I last ran. The stomach flu tore through our house so I was either personally sick or taking care of kiddos each day. I did the elliptical twice but right now I am so worried about when I do hit the road again. It is raining here so I won't run tomorrow morning (dark and wet....uh....nope), so my plan is to do the elliptical in the morning and run Wednesday afternoon. I think I will follow your example, Lisa, and try just 2 or 3 miles.

Lisa and Midwife - I just got back to it today, too - managed 2.75 miles, walked a quarter mile and then ran the last quarter mile to make it 3. It WAS hard... I am also missing my longer runs, Lisa - here's to getting back into a nice routine!

Nothing else of news
Heather