MAJOR THREADS SCORE!!!

 

WHOA!!!! Our neighbor, another full-time RV'er work-camper, is leaving and moving on to the next gig, and she's downsizing her stuff,and gave me a DOWN JACKET!! LONDON FOG!! I've made it through the chilly (some single digits F*) Norther Virginia winter with just my jean jacket and my IMFL microfiber jacket. Whoo! I have NEVER had a down jacket before!

And fleece-lined jeans! Gap! I have never bought jeans from Gap, nor have I ever had lined jeans.

We'll be landing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire early in May. I've been on a "Backpacking the White Mountains" website that warns hikers to have WARM clothes, even in "warm" weather. I'm ready!!

SNACK ATTACK

What is this monster that drives me to the fridge and cupboards almost every evening? Yesterday I posted about good good self-talk to steer away from eating that goes against my purposes. Then, after that great 10-mile run, stayed up too late fooling with my sidebar and that's when I started eating stupid stuff. Seems like staying up past tired and eating past full go hand in hand. Almost always, when I mess up my food plan, it's late in the evening when I'm tired. Maybe going to bed earlier is the key?

MEET MY GRANDKIDS

Gracie, 8

Collin, 11

Abbie, 4

I'm putting them in my sidebar; they kept coming out too large when I downloaded them from Photobucket, so I'm introducing them here, then copying them to my sidebar from here, which should make them smaller. I hope. I'm still feeling my way with HTML issues....

RUNNING WITH PLANES

What a gorgeous day to run. I set out to do 9 miles, but felt good and did 10.

I kept seeing huge military cargo planes, probably C-130's, flying close by, flying low, all on the same flight path. I saw no less than 7 of these lumbering oxes (oxen?) during my run. Flying so low that they nearly grazed the treetops on the ridge, and as the first one I saw disappeared behind the mountain, I waited for an explosion, but none came.

It made me think of our son Jon, who flew in C-130's as navigator and electronics technician during his service in the U.S. Coast Guard in Hawaii. They did search and rescue, border patrol, and a lot of training, like flying in loops returning to the station, buzzing the runway without touching down, and climbing again, with a heavy load of fuel. Maybe that's what these planes were doing.

I also thought of Jon as I came to an unfamiliar intersection (farther along on this road than I've been before), which offered me a choice of Miller Road or Pitcock Lane. Naturally, I would take Pitcock Lane just anyway, because... well, just because. But I also took it because it reminded me of Jon: sometimes he flew with a female pilot who was offended by the word "cockpit." When she was aboard, they had to say "flight deck."

Stats: 10.1 miles

1:40:19..... 9:56 pace! Yay!! Click on my trainng link in my sidebar to see the gooey details.

WHAT I TELL MYSELF (or wish I would...)(or wish I'd listen to...)

So I've been hovering about 5-7 pounds over what I weighed at IMFL, which was a good 10 pounds over what would have made me a lot more comfortable that day, and 15 pounds over what would have been ideal. Obviously, things have gone downhill (maybe because of the subtraction of two of my regular endurance sports.)

But it's not just about the activity.... I just plain like to eat too much.

Except, sometimes I eat too much when I don't really like to, and eat when I don't really want to .... and, sometimes, even stuff I don't really like.

Now, over the months (and years) I have developed certain items of self-talk which, if I were another person talking to me, and watching me, would probably influence a change in whether I do or do not eat the food in question at the moment in question.

• Which would I rather do: eat this (or eat more of this), or qualify for Boston?
• Later on, will I be sorry I did not eat this? (Unless it's a needed meal, or a rare opportunity to taste something I may never get again, or enjoy something I rarely have, the answer is "No.")
• Will I be sorry I did eat this? (Usually the answer is obvious.)
• Does this add to or detract from my overall health, nutrition, fitness, and progress toward your goals?
• If it detracts, is it worth it in the long run? (Only if it's an unusual opportunity to taste something unique or magnificent.)
• Would Julie Berg eat this now?
• Would I eat this now if I were toeing the line my BQ in 12 hours?
• Am I hungry?
• And finally.... will I starve to death or be unable to carry on, if I don't eat now?

No one ever starved to death between meals, or between dinner and bedtime, or dinner and breakfast.

I..... WEEENNNT........

BIKING !!!!!

Saturday after my 4-mile race, I felt great. The weather was nice. I started thinking, I should clean up my bike and start biking when March comes. I went out again and thought, boy, it feels good out here --- I'm going biking TODAY!!



They say you don't forget how to ride a bike, but I had to rewire some brain circuits to remember which levers worked which gears which direction.


I rode 17 miles, about an hour and 10 minutes. Tights, thin tech shirt, longsleeved t-shirt, nylon wind shirt, bike gloves with regular gloves underneath, earmuffs, helmet. On the return trip into the wind, the cold whistled into my helmet vents and gave me an ice-cream headache, but other than that I was not cold. Temp was 45*F, wind about 10mph.


This was the first time I have even had the remotest desire to get on my bike since IMFL. And it wasn't remote desire.... it was very present and very strong. I WANTED TO RIDE MY BIKE!

I've got a new saddle, a Serfa Tri-W Women's. I needed one last fall. I saw this one in the Local Bike Shop, and pondered the risks and benefits of doing IMFL with a saddle I wasn't used to, or on one that was worn out and giving me pain. I used the old one.

Then my mother conspired by phone with my husband to get me a gift card to the LBS for Christmas, and this is what I got, putting it in layaway with her gift and bailing it out later with part of a paycheck. I thought at the time, hmm, I must be thinking about getting back on my bike sometime.

Also during this winter, I took a 3-session class in bike-maintenance and repair at the same LBS (just $5 a session, a steal!) and thought... I must be thinking about getting back on my bike sometime.

I didn't expect "sometime" to hit so suddenly, so strongly, and so irresistably. In fact, I wanted to go again today, but I worked all morning, work again starting at 5, and had to do laundry in between, bummer. I took Journey for a short mile-long jog instead. Tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer, but I'm scheduled for upping my "long" run to 9 miles.

TriSaraTops posted today about the new swimsuit she got from SwimOutlet.com, and I went to the site and thought, maybe this payday..... Does that mean I might be thinking about getting back in the water sometime? Or just that I need bodysuits to wear running and biking, and they ruined my favorite Catalina ones by "improving" them with bulky foam bra cups?

Either way.... I need a new swimsuit for all purposes. I cleaned out clutter this winter and THREW OUT my tri-swimsuits with bike-padding. I expect to do tri's again, and may even do another Ironman to celebrate the year I turn 60 (5 years from now), but in the meantime I have PISD (Post Ironman Stress Disorder) and have no triathlons on my docket.

I'm scheduling a weekly bike ride into my training now as cross-training. And because I want to again, finally.

VICKIE

Hey, folks, drop by and see Vickie -- she needs hugs.

It Doesn't Exist Anymore (or if it does, it's been modified or doesn't work....)

Geek Girl posted a really funny treatise on things she loves that get discontinued. It rang a bell with a whole lot of followers, including me! I started to write a comment ten yards long, but decided to borrow her thread (I'll give it back when I'm done) and list some things I used to like that I can't get anymore.

Geek Girl said Hanes Sports Bras. Yeah. My favorite was Bestform, a nice, inexpensive, easy stretchy pullover number that was enough for me and didn't rub or blister. Until they went and put HOOKS in the back. I DON'T WANT HOOKS IN MY SPORTS BRA!! Probably they did this to make them easier to get off.... I don't like getting trapped in my sports bra, but I don't like hooks in the back even more.

And I liked Catalina one-piece swimsuits, $24.95 at Wal-Mart, $9.95 on sale. Simple, easy, with inner shelf bra that wasn't really more than a liner. Now Catalina has gone and put cumbersome FOAM BRA CUPS in these suits. Someone caught on that I was doing honest-to-goodness athletic swimming in these, and that I also wore them with shorts over them for running and even biking, with no need for other under- or over-wear. Can't have that... I think the sport companies ganged up to ruin my suits so I'd have to buy running singlets, bike jerseys, and sport bras (and then they "improved" the ones I liked by putting hooks in the back.)

And things stop working. I can't click on links in my email. It makes my computer freeze up. However, I can RIGHT-click on them and then click "Open" or "Copy Shortcut" and get into the page.

As of my last trip through some of my favorite blogs, I can't just click on "Post a Comment" either. Gotta RIGHT-click it, then click "Open."

This is my husband getting into the conspiracy. He thinks I spend too much time on the computer. He's sabotaging me. Abbie's CPR on my computer was not successful.

I loved Coty's Muguet des Bois perfume (pronounced "mew-gay day bwah," for those not up on their French), used it for years, and then it disappeared. I just did a search. Bingo! Found it! Oops, nope..... out of stock. Like, forever, probably, although you can click "Notify me when in stock." I'll do that. (If I can click on it. So far, internet buttons have been OK, except for the "Post a Comment" one.)

At least I know I'm not the only one this happens to. Things being discontinued or changed or "improved" and just not being the thing I liked anymore.

OK, Geek Girl, thanks for letting me use your thread, I'm returning it now :-)

"PREDICT-YOUR-TIME" 4-MILER

Whew. This was one of the Shenandoah Valley Runners Club's Winter Series races. The course description called it "very hilly, rolling and extremely challenging."

I predicted 45:00.
I ran 37:58.

That's 9:30 miles, on hills that were, in fact, quite challenging (I wouldn't say "extremely"), and against a 12mph wind much of the way. 25*F. I need 9:45 miles to run a marathon in 4:15. I just may be able to pull this off.

No watches were permitted so I couldn't gauge how I was doing. The finish clock was turned around backwards so the official who told you your time could see it, but you couldn't, as you were coming down the home stretch. Pretty neat.

People who came closest to guessing their times (closest was 00:02 off) got prizes.

I wasn't even in the running.... :-) 7:02 under my predicted time!

However, I was told later on that I am third in my AG in total points for the Winter Series races and if I don't slip back out of that place I will get a shirt at the Awards Banquet in March. Nifty!! Makes me want to absolutely get to the rest of the winter races and give 'em my all!

WINTER IN WINCHESTER

THE NEW TEMPLATE TOOLS

Has anyone updated their template capabilities with the new system? In order to upgrade, you lose changes you've already made, although Blogger says they keep it available for re-access. Has anyone tried this? Were you able to retrieve features you wanted to include? I'm scared to try, but it sounds like template-editing would be a whole lot easier with the new system.

Any comments?

GRACE IN MOTION

Our 8-year old granddaughter Gracie recently participated with her Ohio gymnastics team at the Chicago Style Meet -- the largest women's invitational meet in the world.

Gracie told me there were 7 countries represented. She was so excited to be there with so many other athletes at all levels of competition -- just like when we go to a big marathon or triathlon. She loved the expo and bought some new leotards.

Gracie competes at level 4 of 10 (10 being elite.) In individual competition, there were 44 international athletes at this level.

Among the 44, Gracie was 10th overall, and THIRD on her floor exercise with a score of 9.1.

Wow!!

Against The Wind

Whew. When I went out for my 4-mile "easy" run, wind was 22mph gusting to 39. I headed into it all the way out, then ran a 2-minute negative split with the tailwind.

I'm still nursing my sore left Achilles tendon along. Right one is much better but the left one is still sensitive. It's not bad enough to keep me off the road, just ouchy enough to know I still need to work on it.

There's a high wind warning for tonight.... 35mph gusting to 55. Ew. Hope our camper doesn't blow away....
-------------------
Update: It's 11p.m. now and wind here in Winchester, VA, is blowing at 39mph (63km/hr) gusting to 50mph (80km/hr). Yeah, our trailer's rockin'.....

THAT'S MY BOY (again)

Maybe the reason I want to post links and photos (that's him in the front)of my son Jon doing what he does, is because what he does is dangerous and I want to be sure I keep him.

Jon prefers being scheduled as a firefighter to being on as a paramedic. In a 24-hour shift, the fire trucks get called out many times; the ambulance, usually only a couple of times, and even then the ride to the hospital is so short that he hasn't much opportunity to practice his skills, to do what he does. He finds it more challenging to be on the fire trucks.

I don't feel conscious of worrying about him, but I think I do. Every time I hear of a firefighter being injured or killed somewhere.... I can't keep it from crossing my mind.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

Wow. I didn't know what to expect from this movie, since the TV previews show only the magical fantasy. I wondered if the movie tells "the rest of the story," and it does.

This is a very stirring film. I was impressed with the book when my children had it, thought it should be a movie, and was excited to see it had been released. It is one of the very few movies I've seen that actually does justice to the book that spawned it.

If you have kids, be forearmed that, along with scary monsters, there are school bullies, parental favoritism, and, later in the film, the shocking death of a child. All of these issues are dealt with sensitively, intelligently, and in a way that fosters growth not only in the characters but in the viewers.

I loved it.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

We had our 4-year-old granddaughter Abbie for the weekend and I took advantage of the photo op. The one above is my favorite. Here are a couple more from the many:





Actually, it was a little hard to get a happy look.... she wasn't in the mood for pictures.

But not every picture has to be all smiley. Yes, those are fake tattoos on her hands. It's one of the thrills of going go Grandma's... she gets to have lots of "daddoos."



Abbie, R.N. (Or maybe D.V.M.)





Doing CPR on my ailing laptop. It's worth a try..... maybe I'll get a few more months out of it now.

GOOD TO KNOW.....

At least we can be sure it doesn't leak. Read carefully. An item for sale in our campground store.

SUMMER IS SHAPING UP!

Marathon Summer!!!

The Vermont City Marathon is May 27. I already have the go-ahead from my prospective campground-employer in Chocorua, NH, to have the weekend off for it. This will be my "see where I'm at pace-wise" marathon.



The Paul Bunyan Marathon is 6 weeks later, in Bangor, ME. It will be my throw-in-another-New-England-State-while-I'm-there marathon. I'll take it slowly as a training run. Maybe.


And the New Hampshire Marathon, Sept. 29, is my go-for-broke-qualify-for-Boston marathon. I can't wait to train all summer in New Hampshire. I'm hoping the weather will be as perfect as the climate. I also know to stock up on mosquito spray.

My plans for Boston have changed a little.... whether or not I hit my 4:15 qualifying time in NH, I am now aiming for Boston 2009 instead of 2008. Some friends are planning to gather for Big Sur in April 2008, and I really want to do that. If I qualify for Boston this fall, that time will still be good for Boston 2009. And if I don't..... I'll have another year to work on it, which takes the pressure off.

I'm happy!

CHANGED MY MIND

As soon as I went to post today's run in my new training blog, "I Keep Running Against the Wind," and that blank new-post screen came up, and I realized I had to go to my blog from the other day to find out what I ran to add the total.... I thought, shucks, this isn't any different from logging it on CoolRunning.com and in fact it's more nuisance b/c it doesn't automatically tally the cumulative totals like CoolRunning. So I'm back to CoolRunning. I've set my preferences to share my stats, so go to CoolRunning.com; my sharing password is "Ellie." I'm not sure how you indicate you want to read someone else's log. I searched all over the homepage and couldn't figure it out. Maybe someone else knows -- if so, please tell!!

Today's 4-mile run gave me < 70.3> miles for 2007 so far. Maybe that means I'm destined to do a half-Ironman in 2007 after all.

Or not....

Check my sidebar for a new addition: A link to join my BostonBound Yahoo-Group, for anyone who's training for a Boston-Qualifier marathon or for Boston itself.

MY FRIEND PATTY

I have this friend Patty from high school which was 1965 - 1969 for us. The Simon and Gar era... we used to sing their songs, Patty and I, with her on soprano and me on the guitar and singing also. We sounded good. Over the years we've stayed in touch some, more or less irregularly but never out of touch. Two years can go by and one of us will call and say, "Hi!" and the other will say, "Hi!" recognizing the voice instantly and often as not saying, "I was thinking about calling you!"

Except, when Steve and I moved into the RV and onto the road, I dropped off the face of the earth. I hadn't talked to Patty for a year or so when we did that, and I haven't contacted her since we've been on the road, and she couldn't contact me because I wasn't at my address anymore or at the phone number she had, and she wouldn't know how to contact my mother, and I changed my email address a couple years ago.

I've kept thinking about Patty and thinking I should get in touch but thinking more and more that she would be mad at me for falling off the face of the earth, and I started to be afraid to contact her.

Well, I decided I can't go on like this.... something could happen in her family that I'd need to know and she wouldn't be able to let me know. I did some stalking first, to update myself -- googled her, her husband, her parents. I found out her mother had died, which was not unexpected, and that Patty's Cairn Terriers have been winning championships. I found out her sister had a third child, a daughter. I found out her husband (a classmate of mine in elementary school) is teaching firefighting for the University of Maryland.

Prepared with this information, I called.

She was thrilled. We talked for an hour and half. (Steve said, "Why didn't you call her on the weekend when it's free?") No time has passed. It's like I talked to her yesterday, except we're all 4 years older, including all our kids. Last time I was in touch with Patty was when Abbie was born, because I needed the support of a lifelong good friend. Abbie just turned 4. So I know it's been that long. One thing my internet search didn't turn up is that Patty became a grandma a couple months ago. Welcome to the club, Patty!!

She and her husband have an RV for going to dog shows (they breed champion Cairns.) The same make and model as ours! I told her about thawing out the sewer pipes and she was dying, because she knows all about RV plumbing, holding tanks, and all the other neat stuff that goes with RV'ing.

If you've got a friend you've lost track of and wish you hadn't, and have been putting off calling..... call. I am so happy.

On a different note:
I've started a new blog, I Keep Running Against the Wind, just for my training stats -- distance, time, prep, weather, etc. -- like CoolRunning.com, but I've found that site cumbersome. I also find it a pain to keep updating sidebar information via my template, and I think I'll keep my blog up-to-date on my training more easily by having a separate blog about it. So now you can add my training site to your sidebar links and find much shorter posts than you find here at my regular blog. I'll still post training stories here, but cold stats will be there. I'm going to see how it works out. http://runagainstthewind.blogspot.com/

ALL KINDS OF $H!T

It started with the cold snap, during which the water pipes into our RV froze. The first day (Monday) we had no water at all, but with an electric heater got the kitchen pipes thawed in the afternoon. But no water in the bathroom. Brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink. Not taking showers. Pouring water from the kitchen, down the toilet.

This was the first $h!t event, the water situation. With no break in the sub-freezing temperatures expected for days and days.

Then yesterday, Steve left work early, apparently not feeling well. When I got home myself, he was asleep in bed, evidently either quite ill or milking it for all it was worth. $h!t.

The other thing I noticed as soon as I walked in was a powerful smell like a porta-pot without a deodorizer. We'd been living for 2 days pouring water from the kitchen down the toilet. The underpinnings UNDER the toilet better by-gosh-all-hemlock not be frozen... $H!T!! I lit some incense, left my husband sleeping and headed out to the liquor store.

When I got home, the odor was gone and my husband was up. I casually asked if our drain pipes were frozen. He said they were not and that we just needed to empty our holding tank, which he went out and presumably did. I watched American Idol and drank a couple hot toddies, which must have been the ticket, because the water in the bathroom came back on and we could finally flush the toilet properly.

During the night Steve bolted out of bed, dashed to the bathroom and barfed prodigiously. $hit. Now I'll probably get it. $hit.

Next morning (this morning) he was up. Said he felt better. I had a headache. Asked him how his bug started. "With a headache." $h!t. And here I am planning on a speed-interval workout a little later, going to the gym to the dreadmill, and now I'm probably getting sick. $h!t.

He put on his quilted coveralls and boots and started to go outside. He was not scheduled to work so my curiosity was up. Where was he going? "To thaw out the holding tank drain pipes." $H!T!!! Why hadn't he said last night they were frozen, instead of letting me think everything had been emptied, while I continued to pour liquid stuff down the drains? $H!T! He came back in, went into the bathroom and barfed, and went back to bed.

Little while later, to me: "Can you go up to the campground office and ask to borrow the heat gun?" Me: "Uh.... you didn't get it thawed, eh?" Him: "Unh-uh." Doze. $h!t. This is going to be a major production. He's sick. Guess I won't be going to the gym. Guess I'll be aiming the heat gun at the sewer pipes. $h!t.



Which I did. Put on Steve's quilted coveralls (he's 9 inches taller than me, with correspondingly longer legs and arms, and outweighs me by 70 pounds... nice fit, these coveralls.) And I squeeze under the RV, crawl to the appropriate area on my belly, and start blowing hot air at the sewer hose and drain pipes. The hose is frozen solid where it joins the pipe. There's a transparent section of pipe (in case we want to watch the action when dumping our holding tank, most edifying) which also is obviously ice-packed. I blow hot air. After a while I notice that there's something dripping from under the sewer hose. This is not supposed to be. I look closely. There are a couple thin spots in the hose where I've been blowing, and a little hole, from which drips thawing $h!t. $H!T!!!! I've melted a hole in the damn thing!!! CRAP!! SHIT!!! And it's DRIPPING!!! BLEAH!!!

I stop the heat gun and go indoors for the duct tape. And warmer socks and my heavy boots. The running shoes and socks in which I was preparing for the gym aren't cutting the wind chill under the RV as I lie on the cold ground in the quilted coveralls. So I go back under the RV, wrap many layers of duct tape around the hole in the hose, mentally rehearse telling Steve we're going to be needing a new sewer hose, and start blowing the heat gun again, a little farther away and moving it around a little more. I'm thinking the PBJ sandwich I ate an hour earlier isn't sitting well. I'm probably getting the bug. $h!t. I should have gone to the gym as soon as I got up, before I started getting sick. Then I'd have that done now. Or maybe I'm not getting the bug... maybe my sandwich is trying to crawl out because it doesn't like that I'm blowing hot air on a frozen $h!t pipe which dripped a little puddle which smells like the aforementioned un-deodorized porta pot.

Blow and blow and blow the hot air. I can see liquid $h!t now in the transparent section. The slinky-type hose is getting a little more flexible. Progress is being made. At least right there. I think about the 10 feet of pipe, 4 inches in diameter, and wonder if it's frozen solid the whole length, and my sandwich tries to crawl out again.

This is way fun. This is possibly even more fun than when we were coming down out of the Colorado Rockies in 60+ mph wind and our awning blew loose and we had to stop, get out a ladder, try to catch the damn thing, which was 10 X 20 feet and flapping like a sail, stop the flapping by holding it tight, which took all our strength, then re-roll it and tether it down. Him on top of the trailer and me on the ladder, in 60+ mph wind. But this is way more fun than that was.

I'm thinking, Maybe if I take a break for a couple hours, enough headway has been made for the liquid portions to thaw out the remaining frozen ones. Maybe I can go to the gym and do my intervals on the dreadmill real sneaky-like before I actually do get sick. Maybe it will raise my body temperature and kill the bug. So I go indoors, take off the coveralls, and announce my intentions. I wash up and leave for the gym.



2-mile slow warmup, 8 X 1/4-mile in 2:06 - 2:09 each with 1/4-mile recovery jogs, plus a cool-down, are planned. It goes well. Except that I've been having sore Achilles tendons and they protest mildly at the changes in pace. Just mildly. I'm OK and doing well. Until I hit 45 minutes and the dreadmill, which is apparently pre-set although I have it on "manual," becomes concerned for my health or thinks there's someone waiting and shuts off. $H!T!! Right in the minute of a segment and I lose my momentum and my recollection of what the distance screen said and have to reset the whole damn thing. This pisses me off. I don't remember whether I'd done 5 or 6 of the planned 8 intervals. $h!t. Well, I'll do 3 more.



Except suddenly my Achilles heels start yelling, "We've done enough now, didn't the treadmill shutting off tell you anything???" Just all of a sudden, both of them really hurt. $h!t. So I decide this is my last interval, I'll call it 6, and watch the digital distance readout crawl up per hundredth of a mile and finally I hit the Cooldown button and jog, then walk it in. My tendons hurt and I can hardly limp off the treadmill. $h!t.

I've been reading about sore Achilles and how it's the calf muscles that are really the problem. So I do calf stretches off the treadmill. Against the wall, then on the floor. I hold the floor stretch for 2 whole minutes. And when I get up.... NO PAIN!!!! WOW!!! I am IMPRESSED!!



So, about 5 miles total, with probably 6 faster 1/4's, that's 3 miles at a minute faster per mile than the marathon pace I'll need in the fall. Maybe I can do this. I'm happy.

Head for the shower, since I can't take one at home, since, although we now have water, we have no place for it to go once it exits the shower. The locker room is FULL OF TINY CHILDREN, of both sexes, fresh from the pool, in various degrees of nudity as their mommies dry and dress them. $h!t. How am I supposed to take off my sweaty clothes and get in the public shower with the whole place full of pre-schoolers? Ooh... the handicap shower. It has a curtained "vestibule" and curtained private shower stall and is empty. If someone in a wheelchair comes in, well, they'll just have to wait, because I'm using this shower.

I get back home. Steve is up but dozing in the recliner. He opens an eye. I say, "So, how's things?" "What things?" "Well... how are you feeling?" "Wiped out." "Are you still puking?" "No." "I guess I'll get back to working on the pipes." "Oh. After you left I tried it. You must have just about gotten it freed up because after just a couple minutes it started running." Just like me.

I dread hearing about my duct-taped hose once it became a conduit for the liquid $h!t. "Any leaks?" "Nope."



No $h!t !! Things are looking up.

And so far, I am not sick.....

Pictures & stuff

Our son, Jon. Wish I could take credit for the photo, but we lifted it from the Cumberland [Maryland] Times-News.


Random shot on today's run. 66-minute run; not sure of the distance but I'm crediting myself 6 miles. I'm a little short on my long runs, for the start of my 16-week marathon-training program. Yes, that starts this coming week! The KeyBank Vermont City Marathon is 16 weeks away, WoooHOOOO!!! Think I can cut my time from the 4:45 I ran at RNR Arizona last January, to 4:30? Would you believe 4:35? How about 4:40? Truth too tell, I'm hoping for 4:30-4:35. Then I have to shave that down to 4:15 by the end of September for the New Hampshire Marathon, where I hooope to run my Boston-qualifier. If not, I'll find one a couple months later to try again. And if I don't do it there...... then next year.


View out the back window of our RV. This is my "Photo of the Day" submission. I haven't been posting any, because my computer has stopped recognizing any kind of photo card or reader. However, today I remembered the direct-upload cord I can run from the camera to the USB port and, taa-DAHH!! It's working! (So far.... knock on wood...)