TC~ You are such a sweetheart!

MK~ I guess I can tell the truth now.....I waited until the last minute to sign up for my HM and the fee turned out to $130 bucks, originally 75ish. But since I waited so long the fee went up and I just couldn't shell out the money after putting adeposit down for our wedding....SO I AM REGISTERED FOR THE 11/14 MCDONALD's HM!!!!!! And congratulations on 8 DAYS

Sharon~ I totally understand what you mean. I love this thread, it helped me a great deal when first starting out. It is how I learned of C25K, of course I made my own version of that but it is where I started. Glad this thread helped someone else

Smee~ I hope you feel better dear.

FatPants~ I am soooooo happy you didn't have to give up running and it is all working out! And you are the confy pace really does mark your improvement. You and MK and Ilene are the bravest ppl I know running in that cold weather. nuh-un not me

Great run this morning - except cut short today because a SKUNK was at the track and we just got too scared of it! Ack! But we had a strong 2 miles, so tomorrow will be a rest day before 5K on Saturday. Then HARDCORE training for the next 2 weeks!

Cake, Ilene and the rest of you cold-runners - I think I will enjoy cold running more than summer running. I do like winter better than summer. And I KNOW I will enjoy the fall in-between time! I'll just have to set my mind that it's NOT too cold to breathe and just do it!

Iris - totally know what you mean about the positive feelings. I have much better days, emotionally, after running than on rest days. I love it!

Cake - WHOOO HOO on the HM! Maybe that will be me in the spring! What's your training schedule like?

Cake, just out of curiosity, is that Mcdonald's HM as in the fast food restaurant is sponsoring??

Sharon, I'd be afraid of the skunk too! Two miles is still good. Good luck on your 5k this weekend.

Props to all of the cold weather runners... I HATE being cold. Of course in Arizona I like to make the excuse that it's too hot. Hence the group training is good for me... gets me out regardless of the weather!

Sharon my training schedule is pretty all over the place because I actually trained for a past HM a couple weekends ago. I am just tunning right now doing one or two longs runs a week. I can run up to 10 miles but I haven't gone past that yet. So I dropped it back to 8 (for the long run) and I am slowing building back up to 12 in time for the HM in November. SInce I have more time I felt like I can stretch it out a bit. BUT INITIALLY I used Hal Higdon's HM Novice program as I guide. At that point I had a 6 mile base I guess

Iris - Yeah the Fast Food Place....HAHAHA Maybe they'll pass out fries at the finish line....LMBO

Howdy girls - I'm catching up on a few pages I missed but wanted to post a quick Hi from Boston. Gotta love running at sea level, even if it's on a treadmill - you can go for miles and miles and there's so much oxygen!

Happy running...

Howdy girls - I'm catching up on a few pages I missed but wanted to post a quick Hi from Boston. Gotta love running at sea level, even if it's on a treadmill - you can go for miles and miles and there's so much oxygen!

Happy running...

Cake, I just can't get over the idea that McDonald's is sponsoring a running event!

I'm exhausted today. I know I need a decent night's sleep to be positive and motivated, and I really do almost always make myself get to bed at a decent hour - I'm just not able to control when I actually fall asleep! Last night I tossed and turned till after 2 am and today all I could muster was a walk. I feel defeated. Hopefully I will sleep well tonight, but fridays are off days for me for running anyway.

Hey ladies! Happy Friday!

Got out for 3 miles yesterday with again no knee pain.. very excited about that! Though my last two runs have felt like my legs are dead weights... anyone ever experience that? It's like it takes extra effort to make them move. I don't think it's dehydration - I drink water all day long. Are they just exhausted? I worked out five straight days this week, with my cross training focusing a lot on my legs.

It's a true rest day for me...finally rewarding my 50 lbs lost with a new haircut and color for the fall...yippee!

Thanks, Cake! I will look up that program if (when?!) I decide to go for the half.

Happy Friday!!!! Tomorrow is 5K Day - and I think this will be a totally different race experience as it's a much bigger event. I'm excited!

hey all--
smoke free day 11...etting easier...did my 12 mile lactic acid threshold run yesterday....it went very well.....excellent, strong run, very satisfying, and yet, still not much joy... but ill take it....each day gets a little better!

I woke up this morning, planning on running, but it was raining!! Pretty hard, actually. I normally wouldnt let that stop me, but it was cold too, like 40 degrees, and the LAST thing i need is a COLD or upper respiratory thing right beofre my marathon!! So i went to the gym, and had an unproeductive workout.
The kicker--- i got on the gym scale this morning...STUPID STUPID STUPID. Let me start off by sating WARNING TMI: since i quit smoking ive only, err.....gone to the bathroom......you know what i mean....TWICE. 2 freaking times in 11 days!! let me tell you i am VERY UNCOMFY and VERY Bloated.....The scale shows ive gained 5.5 pounds in one week!! I am trying to laugh about it (its not funny) but I KNOW i didnt dine at macaroni grill every night the past week, which is the ONLY way i couldnt consumed enough calories to gain 5 pounds!! Ive eaten exactly like i always do, im am just so constipated! I am literally FULL OF S**T! Thats my rant...... i do NOT want to even bother going in formy weigh in today

Hello ladies! Wow! So much to catch up on! Congrats on all the miles this week ladies!

FatPants~ glad to hear your knee is feeling better!! My knee issue is weak tendons all around the kneecap--it can dislocate pretty easily and has done so while running (my one and only cross country race in HS) so I definitely keep an eye on it.

Sharon~ congrats on deciding to enter the 10K!! I can't wait to hear all about it!

MK~ 11 days is awesome!!! I'm sorry you're not loving your runs right now, but I'm sure you'll get your mojo back!

I'll be facing cold weather running too--my biggest concern is the ice as well, they don't plow our subdivision very often (which is pretty much the only place I run) and not everyone shovels or salts the sidewalks so I'll be running on snow and ice--eek! Might have to look for those thingies to put on my shoes!

I wanted to second Sharon's post about how wonderful you ladies are! I'm truly a newbie to running and it is so nice to find a group of girls who are snotty and cliquey about running and are sweet enough to offer up so much helpful advice!

Well, I got my 3 miles in on Tues & Thurs and both were pretty good runs so that makes me feel even better about the subpar run last week. I have another one tomorrow and I'm going to stick to my usual routine and try not to sleep in like I usually do--hopefully that will help. Or maybe I should try to run at 9:30 and try eating before hand to see how it goes (I forgot who suggested that--great idea!)...we'll have to see what our plans for tomorrow are.

I've been working on baking up some breakfast cookie type things that maybe I could nosh on before running--something not to heavy, but healthy so that I'm not going crazy with calories or sugar...I'm going to try making another batch today with some protein powder thrown in--wish me luck! If I can't come up with anything, I'll probably do some wheat toast w/pb--unfortunately I'm not a fan of bananas unless I'm pg (weird, I know) and well...I'm definitely not now, nor will I ever be again (God willing) be pg!!

Okay girls, computer time is up! I hope everyone is having a great day and to all of those I missed, thanks for all the great advice and posts about your runs--they're totally inspiring!!!

Cake - Congrats on HM registration!! Woohoo!

Dancer - Welcome to my world at sea level. Glorious, isn't it? Haha.

Sharon - Good luck on the 5K! You're gonna do so great and I can't wait to hear about it!


FatPants - I've totally had dead leg days. I still can't really figure out why they happen because it's usually so random, but I guess you just have to run through it, make sure to hydrate and refuel well and stretch. Glad to hear you're feeling ok!

Mk - You're doing this! You're really quitting smoking! That's so amazing. Sorry about the unfortunate side effect though. Have you tried laxatives? I know it's kind of gross but it'll make you feel SO much better. Or increase fiber intake at least? That 5.5lbs is absolutely a result of the back up so don't even worry about it. Keep up the happy running!

Idream - Yay for good runs!

Ok girls, I desperately need motivation today. I actually want to run, but I can't seem to get off my butt to do it. I know it'll feel good and I'll love it once I do it, but I'm sooo lazy! Kick in the butt please?

There ya go! Now get out there and RUN!!!!

Hi girls -

Well that was a new experience. I had my first exercise induced tossing of the cookies. I ran for 45mins (about 3 miles) yesterday and was overheating so stopped for 10mins to cool down drank probably too much water and then walked for another hour (slow but on incline 8) 5-10 mins after finishing I had a yogurt... which all proceeded to make an appearance again. Yuck!

I think I figure its an overheating dehydration and trying to over hydrate issue but who knows it could have just been my choice of post workout recovery snack. Its a good reminder for me to be more cautious about my nutrition while racing/training.

Okay sorry if that was TMI!

Idream - THANK YOU! I must've read your message about 5 times and finally got off my butt and ran a great 4 miles. I needed that kick!

Ideal - Yikes! Sorry to hear about that. I guess it happens to everyone at some point, so just take what you can from the experience and hope it doesn't happen again!

Hope everyone else is doing well!