Ogr44 I hear you on the race front... I have not raced because I knew I wouldnt finish. and per docters orders.. bruised foot.. but I am working on my first Marathon I am 17 days out from doing my first  marathon. ( or the shortest Ultra Marthon) I am running in the Williams Route 66 Marathon here in Tulsa. http://route66marathon.com/. with a trip to the center of the Universe makes it an ultra. very excited about it... my goal is to finish standing up... this is a good site I think a lot of people left because there was so much issues with it trying to log on and not getting email messages of course I am still not getting the emails to let me know somthing has been posted.

I have been off this community for quite a while. I had to quit running for a bit because of an ankle injury. I am trying to get back to it. Sure would help to have a running partner. Is there anyone here in the Shingle Springs/Placerville, CA area looking for a "running mate"?  (pun intended)

Congrats, Shelly, on your first 5K. My first 5K was September 19, 2010. I had said I'd never race, but my sister had lost her only child to osteosarcoma (a type of bone cancer that effects mostly children) and she was going to walk it. I had begun running back in March of 2010 and finished couch to 5K just before that 5K.

Since then I have gone on to run many more 5Ks, a few 5-milers, some 10Ks, two half marathons and, most recently, on October 21, 2012, a full marathon. I have done all of these at my penguin pace and been happy, happy, happy to be waddling along.

This penguin community is so awesome. I remember my flurry of posts in the early days. I've been away from the forum for awhile, but I just had to come back and see how everyone was doing and to provide some encouragement. Runners are (with a few exceptions) fabulous people and very supportive.

So keep going, Shelly and everyone else whether your goals are of the 5K type or if the marathon is in your future. You can do this!!!

~ Nita

@Wayna72:  how did the marathon go?  I hope well - I'm in the planning stages for picking my next 1/2  -- Maybe St. pats day in Virginia beach.  Also depend on travel schedule and other such issues. 

I've never worried about the E-mails --  I don't rely on them.  I usually lurk once/twice a week  --  when I remember and have something to post. 

I have continued to heal -- pushing the pace when I can but still keeping it below running pace.  I am trying to give it another month before really cutting loose.  I have just in last month been able to put more pressure on the knee  -- for example, getting into back stance in karate; cutting loose on kicks a little more, feeling strange that it doesn't hurt much the next day...

Doing local 5k tomorrow  -- cannot pass up race that starts less than 1k from my front door.  Wife is walking with me - this is second race for her after Chemo  (she is 3 yrs post treatment for stage 3 ovarian cancer).  shooting for post treatment PR,  hard part for me is slowing down to stay with her  -- I can walk fast especially in a race setting  -- our local race will  have around 1200 or so folks in the 5K and another 400-500 in 10k.

Hope everyone has good holiday

Skoal/OGR44

Your post is realy nice. I think I can develop my skills from hare. Thanks for the sharing.

I love this - I had never heard the term penguin before!  I am definitely a slower runner than a lot of people I know, and after finishing C25k last year, I spent the fall season just enjoying the experience of running for thirty minutes straight without stopping, regardless of the pace.

Now I'm trying to train for a half marathon so I'm working some on speed just so I'm not out on the course forever... but I still think that the BEST reason to work on speed is so that you can then slow down and enjoy yourself and just be out running and loving the scenery and taking it easy.

My favorite miles are the ones where I settle in around an eleven minute pace and just look around and enjoy being outside.