Tony - I must have been posting when you were.  Good luck in Chicago!  Just tell that toe joint to get with the program and run. 

webpro and nrdgirl:  go kick some Chicago butt on Sunday!  Some friends of mine from CO will be there too and weather looks pretty good for the race.  Trust your training, have some fun, smile a lot and have a great race!  Send us all some pics of the bling after you finish.

Your fan club,

Team Fearless

13.3 miles  2 hrs 23 min  Jeter Mtn Rd.  Two 45 min climbs. Beautiful views after one hour.

I noticed they used a cable wrapped in plastic for fence wire to keep from scarring the show horses.

Hope its cool this year in Chicago!!

7.5 miles 68 min. Down & up the mtn the long way. Great view of downtown at night.

Hello, I'm back! I'd stopped getting emails for this thread and been too busy to check it. I see many regulars are still here. 

Ran 5.8 miles today at an 11mm pace, my longest in forever and it felt great.

Last week I ran 11 miles, in what felt like my first real running week in some time. I was out for about a month because of an auto accident - not too major since I walked away, but some damage to me (hurt when I breathed hard, so no running) and especially to my car (3 weeks and $$$ to fix). It was 100% the other driver's fault, so no money out of my pocket.

We have Canada Geese here, too. They're especially annoying when I'm bike riding on the paved trail system. On one street the city put up a "geese crossing" sign one year when the geese were always in the way, but of course the geese don't cross there anymore now that the sign's up.

NHLA- nice runs.

MelodyLea- glad you were pain free on your run!  Good luck next weekend.

The MO Cowbell half marathin is int he books.  Was a chilly morning with the run starting off a balmy 39 degrees.  I think by the time I was done it was about 45 which is much colder than I would have preferred.  I finished in 2:02:42 which was about three minutes slower than my goal.  I think the cold had something to do with it, but not sure if I would have cleared two hours anyway.  I beat my previous HM time by about six minutes so i was happy about that.  Felt some pain behind my knee and on the outside during the run and it is pretty sore right now so I will be interested to see how that goes the next couple days.

Run strong all and have a great weekend...or what is left of it.

BigSlade - Congratulations on the PR!

DebM - Hey, I still have my SOAR badge somewhere. Can't remember what it stands for...

Julia - Welcome back.

Dan - I'm rather enjoying the autumn myself.

NRDGirl and Webpro11 - Can't wait to hear your race reports.

Our friend Renee was the 1st American woman to finish in Chicago at 2:27:17. Not a bad debut at the distance! We're so proud of her, she's been working for this for years.

Friday I skipped a scheduled 5 mile tempo run. It was 34 degrees and raining, and I was feeling a muscle pull in my upper right quad, so I decided to rest it. I pulled the muscle Monday when, about 300 yards from home, I saw the city had put a radar trailer at the side of the road to slow down traffic. I just HAD to see how high I could get the numbers to go. Stupid, stupid, Coyote. I wasn't warmed up yet, and paid for it.

Saturday was a scheduled rest day. Checked the forecast last night, and decided to go to church and then running, as it was supposed to be 24 degrees at 7 am!  At 11:30 when I started, it was 45-50 degrees, bright sun, nor a cloud to be seen. The half moon was visible in the west, and it was the only patch of white in the sky all afternoon. 15 or so miles in a little over 2-1/2 hours; long enough to remind me that distances hurt - but not long enough to wear me too badly. I did get a little sunburn.

Run free, everyone!

NHLA - Impressive mileage, as always. 

Julia - Welcome back, glad you're okay.

Slade - Good work.  Take care of that knee.

Melody - Awesome 13, enjoy the taper.  Anxious to hear how you do.

Cold and windy Saturday morning in Wausau.  It snowed several times throughout the event too.  But for me, the wrut-n-run couldn't have gone better for me.  I beat the hell out of my time from last years event.  Better still, I was first in my age group and 4th overall for men.  For winning my age group I won a $25 gift card from Eastbay, that canceled out the $25 entrance fee.  I gave the gift card to my son, he's shopping for some new, better trail running shoes.  The biggest hurdle during the race, other than the steep climb was the wind making my eyes water (yes, I forgot to wear glasses).  During the downhill runs the trail was single tracked and very technical and uneven, fortunately I didn't go down, but it was close a couple times.

A little surprised by one runner, he walked up to me after the awards and told me that I'd better prepare and train better for next year because he's moving up to my age bracket and he knows he can beat my time....and he was serious.  I told him that I'm not 'racing' anyone or anything, just running against myself, the clock, and my previous results if it's a run I've done before.  I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

The only way the weekend could have been better is if the Packers wouldn't have laid that GIANT egg in the second half of the game again Indy.  This is a poorly coached Packers team.

Still on a bit of a high from that run....

Cheers All!!!