track fan

whoops.  Forgot to look at my watch - but it was around 60`.  I rode my bike into work today, so I had to hurry out of the house after my run.  I was conflicted this morning ... I realized last night that I had left my helmet in the back of my car -- after all the planning with bringing an extra lunch into work for today, extra change of clothes, etc.  the one thing I forget is the helmet!  DRAT.  I decided to live on the edge and ride without it (I was a little more hesitant than usual especially on the "mountain bike" part of the ride - and was extra vigilant about looking for cars coming out of driveways and side streets).  But then ... on my run this morning I got STUNG ... I don't know if it was a spider, fire ant, or scorpion ... but it hurt like heck.  At first I thought it was just a "sticker" that had gotten stuck on the tongue of my running shoe ... but when I bent down to pull it out, there was nothing there, but there was a tiny blood prick on my foot/ankle.  Well, I finished my run and did not notice any neurologic symptomology ... so I think I am ok.  But it hurts like crazy and my ankle/foot is all red and swollen.  What a mess!  If I was not in a Zen-like embrace with the desert (over the heat and whatnot) I would be upset ... OOOOHHHMMM OOOOHHHMMM.

The weather was nice today, still very hot, but the monsoons are coming, the monsoons are coming ... it was overcast and that makes all the difference!   My run last night was into huge wind gusts like I have never seen before (even in Wyoming) -- dust devils everywhere ... today was lovely in comparison.  That is why I ended up riding my bike regardless of the non-helmet shod head, aching back, and throbbing ankle -- it was just too nice of a day not to!!

Yours in peace and harmony (oooommmm) bloggers!

AM: (9.5 + miles, 1:22:57). 27:14 warm-up 20 x :30 w/1` recovery and 25:43 cool-down. Great run, it was pretty humid (and hot, but what else is new, OHHHMMM). I enjoyed running fast and I enjoyed the morning!

I called poison control yesterday about my bite (to make sure it was nothing serious). It hurt SOOOO much all day and night. He said it sounded like either an Africanized bee or one of many of the horrid little stinging ants we have around here. On the off chance it was a spider he told me what to look for today. Last night the inflammed area was about 6 cm in diameter, pretty localized. It "sweated" all night, but I put some of my magical (perscription strength) steriod cream on it and today you can hardly see it!! YEA. AND -- best news of all -- I could breath this morning when I woke up! I was still sore and my back felt "tight" - but it was so much better. I feel like a million bucks! Maybe whatever stung me injected a toxin that is turning me into a running "Incredible Hulk" -- ahhh, to dream!

PM: (4 miles, 36:57). Going to my favorite park ...

Happy day bloggers!

Reminder everyone, the Tour de France starts on Saturday. Even if you don't have the VERSUS (old Outdoor Life Network, OLN) channel, their website is really nice for keeping track of what is going on. If there is any sport (besides swimming) that gets even less respect than running it is cycling. It is a very complicated team sport that I find facinating to watch, man these guys are tough endurance athletes. It helps if you know some cyclists who can describe the strategies, but even without understanding them it is pretty exciting (I think).

1:04:10 (32:37/31:32).   I have to be very careful, I feel really good on my runs (it is rare to get injured when you are struggling in your running, the thought is that when you feel good you have a tendency to push it more than you do when you are tired or training "close to the edge").  Anyway it was 87F and 45% humidity ... I haven't run in humid weather in a while ... but with such low temperatures it just feels SOOOO good!

Last night my car died on the way to "my favorite park".  It had rained just before my run, so it felt so cool (like this morning actually) there was NO WAY I was going to miss running in cooler weather ... so I went for my run from where I was parked ... It was sort of scary at the end (because it was dark and a very busy street) - but I was able to run on the dirt and felt so good.  I was surprised after my morning run I expected to be  a little tight ... but I felt great (I think it was the weather).

Happy Weekend bloggers!!
 

AM: (8 miles, 1:10:21 (36:16/33:56)). WOW, what a difference a night of rain makes ... temps 77.3-81.7 (depending on the weather stations - I run by two of them) 77% humidity. It felt SOOOO good. I had no idea how much the heat has been slowing me down. We went to Phoenix yesterday so that our ART/Chiro guy could look Dean over and see how his prolotherapy has been working. He worked over my hip/hamstring and ankle really good ... I could barely sit in the car it hurt so bad. It did wonders though on my quads which are still problematic.

 The monsoon rains are starting -- not in full glory yet, but the wash had water in it and plenty of roads were blocked off early this morning ... it is pretty exciting!  Though I love the rain, I hope for the kids (and adults who like fireworks) that it is clear tonight.
 

PM: (4.5 miles). My favorite park, hopefully I will make it there tonight with no car troubles!

Happy 4th of July bloggers!

1:44:26.  Today was a good day to run by time and not distance. It was so hot at 6AM I just couldn't face it ... so I talked Dean into driving up to Mt. Lemmon (9,157 ft).  We drove up to about 8,000 ft and tried a 4 mile loop that we had seen on a topo map.  OUCH.  It was way steep on the front side - the backside  portion of the loop wasn't as bad, but lot's of "ankle grabbers".  I would say it is sort of like Dry Creek Trail in Salt Lake, but with a lot more tree roots and rocks and a little longer distance-wise on the uphill.  It took 50 mins to run 4 miles.  I was going to do 3 loops, but I knew that wouldn't be feasible (or smart) - my legs were already super tired with one loop, I would have fallen for sure after doing even one more time.  So, after we finished the one loop I ran up the road from the trailhead and found a dirt road that wound up (and I do mean up -- about City Creek Canyon steep but at 8,000 ft) for about 3 miles.  It took me 28 mins to get up and at liitle over 20 mins to get back down!  

It was still hot up there, but over 20 degrees cooler - and it was nice to see some pine forest.  At about 4000 ft it gets hot again and the flora turns back to saguaro again ... it is a fun drive (about 1.5 hours from our house). 

The neatest thing was that I ran (not literally) into a local trail runner up there - I have followed her blog for a while so when I saw her, I recognized her right away.  The Tucson trail runners were doing a 16 mile run, she had been out for 4 hours already and still had 1.5 miles to go.  Trail running is not fast, but it is really good conditioning and man it is hard!  My mileage may be a little lower this week, but I got a really good workout in today.

Happy Sunday bloggers!

AM: (9+ miles, 1:19:16 (40:35/38:41)).  82F @ 5:30AM, 90F at the end of the run.  Felt really good though, my legs felt much better than I had anticipated, given how difficult my run on Sunday was.  I suspect that I could be back in 1:36 1/2 shape in about a month if that was my goal.  I plan on actually solidifying short and long term goals with Greg next week when we get up to Flagstaff.  Basically, right now I think I plan on focusing the next 2-3 months on 10K speed (and bringing down my 10mile PR), and shoot for a winter (January?) 1/2 marathon ... maybe a little flatter this time ;-) (Houston?).  Spring is less clear for me, maybe another 1/2, with an optional marathon?  Part of me doesn't really want to focus on the marathon right now, I feel I really only have a couple more years that I can train for shorter distance PR's - so, I am kind of thinking the marathons can wait.  But then again, I think I can do better in the marathon than I did in my first ... maybe not though ... see, it is not as clear yet!

PM: (5 miles, 45:57).  It will certainly be a lot hotter than 100F tonight.  OHHHMMMM ... it will be a challenge to get out, but I will do it for Dean, MichelleL, Rattletrap, Josse, and everyone else who is not feeling well or can't run like they would like right now.  The only thing worse than doing it, is not.

Happy Tuesday bloggers. 

(128.4)  I am stuck, I feel my dreams of 125 slip away, but that is ok - I guess I could ride my bike for 30 miles tonight and then I would get dehydrated enough that I could get it down to 127 or so ;-).  I am not sure if I will track this anymore.

1:02:27 (31:27/30:59). Tired.  Too little sleep, stress and the Tour are keeping me up.  HOT.  This weekend will be a record for me, heat-wise, forcast is in the 113 range over the weekend.  I can't wait until next week, Flagstaff will likely be 30-40 degrees cooler.  It will be a "vacation" that is not really a vacation though.  My class starts on August 14th and I need to get some of the notes finished before it starts.  It is a very hard class (both for the students and me) and it is going to take a lot of time to prepare.  This week I have to finish a manuscript and start working on a poster that I will be presenting in DC the first week of August (The Rocket will likely notice all the geeky statisticians from all over the world that will be taking over her neighborhood -- they are hard to miss ;-) ).

Bike to work (11 miles).

AHHHH the monsoons are here -- very nice.  It really cools things off, and it is quite impressive.  

AM: (11 miles, 1:32:15). 26:40 wu, 5 x 5` SS effort (target pace 7:25-7:36 but because of the heat was expecting 7:40 or so -- actual pace 6:50 - 7:00) w/3` recovery (~ 8:30 pace) +25:50 cd.

I ran about 2 miles of my warm-up with a woman I had seen running on the path before (she also ran the 5K that I worked in a couple months ago, she ran a 20:50, we would be good training partners). She is training for the Long Beach marathon (in October) and runs with a local running group here in town. She was running 14 miles with 6 x 800 - she asked if I wanted to run her 800's with her, I was tempted but had my own workout. Her warm-up pace was actually much faster than mine, I should have paid more attention to that!

I kind of suspected my first 5` segment was a little fast, but I also thought it was just that I hadn't done these for a while and was a little out of shape. By the second one I had my "5K" feeling. Digression: I have a joke about faster paces, I can tell how fast I am going by my "bile rhythm", the higher up my chest the acidic feeling goes the faster I am going. 10K pace is about mid-way between my stomach and my throat, and 5K pace is almost throat high (unfortunately sometimes higher in the last 100 meters - TMI). Anyway, by the second fartlek my bile rhythm was at my typical 5K level. So, I thought "either I am going way too fast - not 1/2 marathon pace for sure - or I am super out-of-shape". I slowed down for my third one and was able to time the first 800 of my last two and realized I was still running 10K pace (~7:00 pace). Yikes, this means my bile rhythm is still pretty accurate for 5K (generally the bile rhythms don't work for 10K until the last 2 miles) and I was likely in the 6:50 or faster range on my first 2 segments. I need to do this on the track next time ... so I can get my internal garmin calibrated! Slightly encouraged, but still a little peeved at my inability to judge my pace right now.

PM: (4 miles).

Happy Thursday bloggers!  An interesting interview with Dathan Rizenhein here - as he prepares for the World Championship 10K. 

1:02:21 (31:35/30:45).  Paid for my bit of tomfoolery yesterday ... but by about 40 mins into the run I felt much better.  Last nights run was pretty tough.  Legs were heavy and it was about 103F ... but I waited until the sun was down and it felt much cooler than the morning did.  

More on the saga of the lizard-sacrificing-cat ... yesterday I found 3 lizard heads ... no bodies, just heads (and a little torso) ... I tried to get him, Titus, to tell me where the bodies were, but he gave me a look like, "if I tell you I will have to kill you", so I let it go.  I wonder if he loves us more or less now then when we got the whole lizard?

Have a wonderful Friday bloggers! 

AM:(8 miles, 1:13:40 (37:44/35:56)).  Slept very well last night - unfortunately I slept in a 1/2 hour later this morning ... and that 1/2 hour cost me some major heat.  Today and tomorrow will be the hottest temps that we have seen since we moved here (108F today and 113 tomorrow).   Today was about 93F and the sun was hot by 7:30.  I was a little nauseated by the end of the run, but recovered pretty quickly by the time I got a couple glasses of water down.  The extra sleep was worth it!

Part of the reason I slept so well is that I finished a draft of my paper -- yea!  Now it is the hands of my co-authors to look over and comment on, I think it will be ready for me to submit in a couple weeks.  Best of all, I have to work a couple of hours this morning, but for the first time in 3 months my weekend will be MINE ... well, and my messy house ...

I hope you all have a good weekend!

PM: (4.5 miles).  Might have to try a frozen bandanna tonight - to keep me cool. 

1:48:22 (56:51/51:31, 9:05/8:14).  It took me forever (well, 40 mins at least) to warm up today (not literally, it was 81F at 5AM this morning!).  I felt pretty awesome the last 7 miles, despite the fact that I got up at 5 to try to beat the heat, and it still was over 90F when I finished - the sun is just brutal this time of year.   I did learn yesterday that frozen bandanna's don't work ... maybe the ones that they sell that have an ice-pack built in would work better.  It was "cool" for about 5 mins, then it was just wet, and then by about 25 mins into the run it was actually completely dry! wow.  Pretty interesting, I guess 101F and very little humidity will do that to a frozen bandanna ;-)  not banana.  

I hope all you bloggers are having a wonderful weekend!  I can't postpone this any longer, I HAVE to go clean my kitchen floor.

AM: (9 miles, 1:20:27, 40:59/39:27).  Pretty good run today ... a little on the slower side, but it is what was comfortable.  It was such a nice weekend, my house is CLEAN ... sparkling even ;-). 

PM: (4 miles, even easier than this morning I am sure!).

Have a great day bloggers!

7+ 1:03:48 (32:34/31:24). Felt much better than I usually do on Wednesdays ... I must have run particularly easy yesterday! It was overcast today, which makes a great deal of difference in comfort-level too.

Last night I stopped off and ran on one of the dirt trails (near the bats) on my way home. By the time I drove into the area of houses where we live it was dusk, not quite completely dark. I came up to a stop sign and this huge dog ran right in front of my car. I watched him run off and though there was something odd about him, and I couldn't really tell what breed he was, but something was just a little "odd". Anyway, I pulled over thinking - I have to catch him and see if he is wearing any collars because I almost hit him and I did not want anyone else to hit him. He was hiding in these tall bushes next to someones brick fence and I stood on the sidewalk calling "here doggie doggie, its ok, come here ...". I could see his shadow against the wall, but still couldn't see him. I thought it was weird that he was just standing there, most dogs would either run the other way or come to you when you called them ... but I moved slowly toward him. Then he moved! He ran to another bush closer to me, and stopped. HOLY TOLEDO ... it wasn't a dog at all!!! It was my very first javelina sighting! He was on the larger size (probably over 80 lbs)!

I was very excited to see one, though I was surprised there weren't more around, as I have heard the generally travel in herds. I have also heard they will charge you ... but "my" javelina was very gentle and nice (though I did not pet him). He moved much faster than I could have imagined from his size as well.

Run safe, and be well bloggers!

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:21:24).  25:32 wu 15 x 1` @ 3K-5K effort (6:30-6:45) 25:20 cd.  Very hot this morning -- but I felt pretty good right from the start.  There was a horrific headwind, I ended up with 8 into the headwind and 7 with a tailwind.  I was getting pretty tired by about #11, so I figure they were pretty close to the "right" pace. I marked an area on the dirt path that looked/felt like 250m or so.

PM: (4.5 miles).

 Excited about going to Flagstaff -- I can't wait to see 85F highs and not 85F lows!

Have a great day bloggers.

1:02:45.  Felt really really good.  

Off to Flagstaff.

Happy weekend, bloggers.

AM: (1:02:54).  Great out and back on a  rolling forest service road ... great place to train.  AHHHH did not get out for the run until 9AM it was a lovely 72F.  Even the 8000ft couldn't detract from the wonderful weather!

PM: (easy 4 on yet another forest service road ... the place is teeming with them).

2:06:20.  Fort Tuthill trail run, except for the altitude it was a easy - to moderate difficulty.  Some climbs, none lasting more than 11` and rocky in some places but overall good for running (or beginning mountain biking).  Last 20`-30` @ somewhere slightly faster than marathon pace (though there were some fairly technical sections that might have been slower than this).   I really don't know how far this was ... I did a 6 mile hilly trail run twice, and added some on during the first loop (getting lost).

Great run, got really dusty and dirty.   

AM: (9 miles, 1:21:14 (40:07/41:06).  Yet another Forest Service road ... this one was even better than Saturday.  It rained all day yesterday so the road was pretty muddy, especially the first couple of miles, where there is quite a bit of truck traffic.  It was pretty much downhill on the way out, so uphill on the way back.  The road ran along a ridgeline and dropped into a beautiful valley.  No one around for miles and miles.  I knew the run after the turn-around was going to be tough, there was a 2.5 mile stretch of switchbacks!  But luckily I paced it perfectly and felt pretty good on the way back ... I was surprised that it only cost me a minute!  I almost turned around 38 mins out, as I thought for sure the uphills could cost me 3 or more minutes!

PM: (4 miles). 

Happy Tuesday Bloggers.  I will write more tomorrow about some of the elite athletes (from all over the world) that are training here for the World Championships.  It is hands down one of the best high altitude training sites ... lots of dirt roads and trails, weather is perfect ...

1:03:00 ... ok, I did have to jog a couple yards to get that even ;-).  Another beautiful day, another wonderful set of dirt roads and trails.  I don't think I will leave.

August 15 is the beginning of the 12th World Championships in Athletics (track and field) in Berlin.  There are at least 2 athletes here in Flagstaff preparing for the women's marathon.  Yoko Shibui, from Japan and Paige Higgins from the USA (and Flagstaff).   Nobby Hashizume (from the Lydiard Foundation) is coming into town today, to see Yoko, and Greg and the gang, and things are getting exciting as Paige leaves for Berlin on Friday.  All of these athletes have sacrificed a lot for these types of opportunities, and it is awe-inspiring to see the final preparations for a very important race.  It is easy for me to see why Greg (McMillanElite) chose Flagstaff for his training base, although I really liked Boulder I find running here a lot more fun ... almost never ending number of great places to run.  Of course once the snow comes the athletes are forced to run on ashpalt again, and apparently the first two weeks are so are filled with complaints of aches and pains from the pavement pounding.  I know I feel that way too ... I am spoiled since in Tucson I never run on anything but dirt or grass (and track) -- and whenever I am forced to run on any hard surface I just see all my joints being shocked and jarred and "old" ;-).

Anyway -- interesting, I found out even though Paige and Yoko are living within a couple of miles from eachother they are not training together.  Not out of competition but because of training styles being completely different.  Apparently the Japanese runners run a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of miles - but many of those miles are so slow that even recreational runners would have to slow down, and many of the other elite runners just can't bear to run that slowly.  I have heard the same thing said about some of the runs of the Kenyan elites, when they are not supposed to be running fast their slow days are painfully slow (hence the term "Kenyan shuffle").  Interesting.  I will try to find more links to this for those of you who might be interested. 

Not now though, I have to get some work done so I can enjoy some of the afternoon.

I hope all you bloggers are having a great week ...

AM: (10 miles, 1:30:44).  Fartlek workout at Buffalo Park -- very cool 2 mile loop course with mile markers every 1/4 mile, basically flat with one 250 m very steep hill. Ran approximately 2.5 miles wu and then ran 5 x 5` w/3` recovery and then 2.5 miles cd.  Was surprised to see my splits actually.  The first couple miles were 9:00-9:15, I hit the dreaded hill in both my 2nd and 4th fast segments (it really hurt the 4th time).  I expected my spits to be about 15-30 secs/mile slower since it is at 8,000 ft (so I was expecting about 8:00/pace).  I ran 7:50, 8:03, 7:51, 7:50 (ouch - uphill), and 7:44.  Not bad, much more controlled than the last time I did this workout.  It took a lot out of me to hit the hill though - I felt much worse on the recovery portion on the 4th one than on the 2nd one!

PM: (4 miles).  Easy run on what will now be known as "forest road #1".

More on the Japanese (women's) marathon training.  They run about 150 mpw.  They work through a cycle (7 days), 40K run in the AM (sort of a progression run, finishing the last 10K @ MP - for most of them 5:20 pace or so, they are 2:19/2:20 marathoners) and then a 60` run in the PM.  The next 3 days they run easy, 2 hours in the AM and 1 hour in the PM.  Then they will run some sort of "interval type" workout, but rarely faster than 10K - 1/2 marathon pace (20 x 400 or 10 x 1k).  Then they will do the next 3 days easy again (2 hours AM/1 hour PM).  Their easy runs are generally pretty easy, some of them at 9-10 min pace.  Greg says there is a lot of culture stuff incorporated into this type of training - it is difficult to specify this exactly, but what is likely true is even if we trained just like them we would be missing some crucial components that the culture brings to the table. 

1:01:48.  Did the "uphill" run.  First 3.5 miles are downhill, therefore last 3.5 miles uphill.  Only a couple "really steep" sections, mostly just a steady uphill grade.  I wasn't sure that I should do this run today, after yesterdays run, but it is just so darn pretty.  I took it very easy on the way out.  The way back was hard ... but I think it was good training!

Happy Pioneer Day bloggers!

AM: (8 miles, 1:08:53).  Oh man ... another beautiful day and perfect run.  I really don't want to leave ...

PM: (easy 4).  Forest trail #1.

Went to Paige Higgen's send off/autograph party last night ... was pretty fun.  Tonight is a more intimate party at Greg's house.  The McMillan Elite team is in such good shape right now.  Emily Harrison will be going to run 20K championship run in August (New Haven), everyone else is somewhere in the beginning or middle of marathon training ... with the women's team gearing up for fall cross-country.  We hung out with Trina Painter and her husband David (her American record for the 20K just fell a couple of years ago and she just ran a Master's record in the 5K this year) last night.  We met them a few years ago when were up here - David knows the Grand Canyon really well and he had taken us on a phenominal tour - they are the nicest people.  Another reason to love it here, nice people. 

Have a wonderful weekend bloggers.

2:19:43.  25` hard just before 1:45.  Might have been a little longer than 15.5 but I don't think it was quite 16.  We went to run a series of trails in Walnut Canyon Mesa.  Dean and I ran about 4 miles together (pretty fast too, it is just so hard for him to run slow enough to run with me -- even when he is injured!) and then he went back and went on a different trail.  The idea was I would run about 8.5 miles and then end up back at the car, get some water, and then run another 3.5 or so, running about 1:45 (should be 12 - 12.5 miles, probably closer to 12 since it was trail running and altitude).  Well, I got lost.  Ended up running the first loop 2 times (5 miles each) the 3.5 loop and then a series of other smaller 1 - 2 mile loops trying to find my way back.  It was hot at the beginning of the run (not Tucson hot, but about 80F or so and sunny), but then a huge monsoon storm blew through.  I was soaked and the trail got really muddy and slippery.  At first it was kind of fun - actually it was fun the whole way.  When I "thought" I knew where I was I sped up the way I was supposed to (I was supposed to run the last 20-25` hard) - but after I had been running for about 2 hours and realized I had no idea how much further I was going to be running I slowed down a little.    Dean was really worried, since I was an hour later than what he had been expecting ... he is a little mad at me still (in a concerned way - but miffed).  He says I am not allowed to trail run by myself any more.  The bad thing was -- there were actually good signs on the trails too -- I just got turned around and was about 1/4 mile from the trailhead 3 times and did not recognize where to go ... I have a horrible sense of direction.

Happy Sunday bloggers.  I am very depressed that we are leaving tomorrow.

AM: (9 miles, 1:19:47). Whew, welcome back to the desert. We left Flagstaff at 12 noon yesterday and by the time we got home at 4PM it was 109F. Sigh. What a difference 4000 ft makes. It was tough getting started this morning (not just because it was already 89F at 6:30) - my back is killing me (not running related) and my legs were dead because I had a "massage" (more like torture session) yesterday morning. I have two huge bruises where she found some serious knots ... I am sure it will feel much better tomorrow. The run did feel good after the first 4 miles though.

PM: (4 miles). Got out really late because of work, last few minutes were a bit tough as it was very dark ...

I can't wait to get to the cool of DC this weekend ;-).

Happy running bloggers.

1:01:59 (31:39/30:20).  I can't believe I did so well up the hill this morning - especially since it is so hot, I was super tired, and my back is killing me this morning.  I don't know what is up, but it is not good.  One thing is good though -- cardiovascularly I am in great shape, I feel pretty good on my runs, except for the aches and pains.

Happy HumpDay bloggers. 

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:19:23).  26:07 wu 15 x 1` @3-5K effort w/1` recovery 25:32 cd.  My back has been keeping me up at night (I can't lay down without severe spasms, and they happen every time I move positions, so I spent most of the night trying to lay as still as possible).  It is super tight when I first get up, but then it loosens up after a while and feels better (as long as I don't lay down or sit a certain way for too long).  Anyway, it hurts a little when I run, but not nearly as bad as when I don't -- so maybe I just need to run all day ;-).   It was super hot this morning, but I felt pretty good on the fast bits, until the last two - which mainly is an indication that I was running them a little too hard!  

PM: (4 miles, easy).

Happy Thursday bloggers!

1:02:55 (31:48/31:07).  Except for my back I am feeling so good on my runs that it is scarey!  Once I got warmed up (which seems to take a good 30 mins or so) I just felt awesome!  Maybe I ran my pushes too slowly yesterday - slacker me.

I will be missing about 4 miles this week because I won't be able to get a second run in tomorrow evening (since I will be on an airplane) ... I don't really mind, this is the good thing about base training -- I am not nearly as obssessed about not missing a run!

Happy Friday bloggers.  I hope I can get my poster done today -- I really don't want to be working on it on the plane tomorrow.  Since I have to work on a couple papers then !