Hello all!

I'm SO glad our prayers were answered...the storm is weakening!  Well, I know it will still hit some, and we're continuing to pray.

Congrats to all the other racers this weekend!  I'm VERY impressed!  I feel like I am brushing elbows with some of the most amazing runners!   Seriously, I'm very impressed with all the stamina and perseverence you all show...it's very encouraging to me and I'm sure others would agree!  also, thanks, all for so much encouragement...you guys ROCK!

I have a question (i know, i have too many probably!)...I used to be a sugar fiend...such a sweet tooth...now, after I have been training for the past six months seriously, I crave more salty foods than sweet...I still eat sweet, and enjoy it, but i don't crave it anymore...has anyone else had this phenomenon, or is it maybe just a palette change I've heard people go through? hmmm...

spicegeek, I've seen now that you LOVE to make pies...I LOVE to bake, esp. pies, and I love to make the crusts from scratch!  Any tips, or great recipes you'd want to share??

Rach - misswendy is the real recipe queen - she posted this little gem last week

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/dessert/tart_rusticpeach.html

which I modified slightly - I cut the raw pastry into 6 before cooling - the roll them into mini pies - I use lime juice not lemon and I put the almonds on top - They have been a total hit with the trainers at the gym - I had several kisses from the hot boys !! I made them with peach and stawberries last week - I just made another 4 batches peach , strawberries, raspberries and  blueberries - the all look great and smell awesome - If you make them as minit pies - take them off the trays and put them on a cooling rack as soon as the come out of the oven - the juice does leak out and if you leave them on the tray they are hard to move once the syrup cools and goes hard !!

mary - I`m so pleased you are trying the 100 push ups too !!

This past week program for me

12 12 9 7 31 - total 71

16 13 11 11 32 -  total 83

15 15 12 12 21 - total 75

retested today did 46 pushups - but I didn`t really warm up and I am feeling pretty tired and I didn`t really push to the limit - I did 43 in the orginal test and I couldn`t have for another push up out of someone had a gun to my head - I also realised that I had only been taking 60 sec rest on all 3 days between sets while the program for day 2 nad 3 ups the rest to 90 and 120 secs !! .. oh well - I still finished  weel 1 and 2 in the highest column so onto week 3 !

hey everyone:

I'm glad to hear that everyone is safe and sound!  Great races and running all around it seems.

Though I had planned to take yesterday off and go to the gym, I ran and had quite an adventure.  It was a beautiful day and I couldn't get my head around going to the gym and exercising inside. 

Off I ran on one of my usual 6 mile loops near my house.  Around mile 4 down by the beach what sounded like panting to my left along this super high fence line separating a million dollar home from the road.  I had my iPod on and wasn't completely sure that I heard correctly so I just picked up my pace slightly.

As I hit the end of the property line a gigantic dog came out from under the fence and proceeded to lunge at me.  For as big as he was, I can't believe he got through so fast.  He didn't bite me but he did manage to knock me on my #%#$ and scare the crap out of me.  I was so shocked/furious that I started yelling at the top of my lungs in the hopes that someone would retrieve their "sweet Barney".

Thankfully, a man and his wife saw the dog jump on me and stopped their car and he got out and grabbed the dog (who was not ferocious at all).  He managed to crab-walk the 100+ pound dog back to the owners who came out to see if I was okay after the man reported the incident to them.  I was so wigged out and frankly, ticked off that I ended up walking the two miles home with both a ripped pair of shorts and some pretty nice road rash on my leg.

I woke up this morning with a bruise the size of my head on my $%##$% and mood just as blue.  No running today.  Instead I stayed safe at home and canned 8 quarts of tomato sauce from my garden with my spastic but loving beagle boy, Chili.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try the bike trail for quiet solo run.

Can anyone explain why for some reason I'm no longer receiving email notifications that this thread has been updated?  I'm not sure if I inadvertently turned something off...

chilidogbeagle- Oh my goodness!  That's HORRIBLE!!!  I've never heard of anyone "close" to me doing that before...I thought that was only in the movies!  That's so sad...I'm sorry!  I feel so bad for you!  Someone told me once that if you see a dog, stop and walk, because the running can cause them either to become dominating towards you or make them think you're ready to play...I've decided that's what I'll do if I see one.  So far the only dogs I've seen since I've started running are weiner dogs and little bichons or something...I've seen bigger ones but always on a leash...that's TOO BAD!  Hope the end of the week is better for you!

Spice - thanks for the info again!  Great add-ins/ons!   I'll have to try them soon!

runjr - are you running the Komen?  did you enjoy that course?

Hey all,

Woke up this morning and nearly went right back to bed as it was tipping down with rain outside. Decided that i'd rather run that feel guilty all day so I got up, put on my wet weather gear and hit the road. I went for intervals to get through it quicker and ended up running 6 miles including 6*3 min intervals with 3 min recoveries - completed it in about 58 mins and the run felt great! The weather though was aweful - windy and driving rain the whole time - I was soaked when I got home! On weather - we've just had it announced that it was the cloudiest and wettest August on record! Not a record that i'm pleased we've broken

Reeb - congrats on completing your first half! How are you feeling after resting up?

Spicegeek - Looks like you need your EC for motivation! Hope you're all recovered from your 10 miler and enjoying the wind down to your race! I'm going to try baking those pies for definite!

Joe - good job on getting another 2 miler done... gym as well - you are a good boy! I registered for the HM in the WWFoR - it'll be good for me to up the miles again... although I did nearly wimp out and go for 10k! you'll all be kicking me out of here soon to start my own 10k trainers thread Hope the 3 goes well for you today!

Mary - Good job on that push up challenge! I really do keep meaning to try it but I never remember at the right time. When I get internet back at home i'll definitely do it! Looking forward to hearing more  on your September comeback! I slacked a little in August too

Misswendy - glad to hear you're safe! Great job on those 16 miles... you are truly doing amazingly with your training - are your times getting quicker too? I really want to get faster...

Teabag - Hope your calves are feeling better! You can definitely afford a cutback and still do the HM - i'd ran 12 miles before mine, but many others only run 10 before a half! Trust in the training

Rachel - I like salty foods and sweet foods... actually I crave pretty much any food I can get my hands on I wouldn't mind one of spicegeeks pies though

Chuck - Glad to hear the storm hasn't really affected you

Runjr - I know I can complete another HM, but i'd kind of feel like i'd failed if I didn't better my time... it's a mental block I need to work at... i'm a complete perfectionist unfortunately How are the family feeling after the HM?

Dari - Hope you're on the mend after your dog attack! I would have been quite frightened... actually DH and I were out running last week and a dog started chasing us - it was fine whenever we stopped, but didn't like us running... it took a while for the owner to get it away so that we could run again. Definitely taught me a lesson! The only thing I was glad of is that the dog was at least muzzled!

Macd - New internet ordered today so hopefully i'll be back up and running in a couple of weeks... Good job on the 5.5 yesterday. Enjoy your speedier run tomorrow!

About to leave for home now, so am signing off. I think it's a rest day for me tomorrow but will decide later!

Happy running all,

Cara x