Believe to Achieve

Good luck on that run. It is always harder to get going when I feel like crap and am sick, but I usually feel SO much better afterward. Leave the garmin at home and just get the miles in. Then you don't have to worry about pace - or even reporting it to us!!

Thats a great deal on the flights!

I didn't realize you were originally from the northeast... you're almost from Rhode Island! :-)

I am so jealous!! How fun for your family. Hope you feel better, take care of yourself!

Wow!!! CHEAP flights!!! I booked mine last week on Delta for $460 but hubby got the companion ticket so only pay tax for his. Of course we are flying in Logan Airport on a red eye. :(

Sounds like you'll have so much fun taking the family on a vacation back to where you grew up! FUN

Smooth-- we got two tickets free or let's say 908 dollars off our entire flights thru SWA as we joined the Rapid Rewards program and earned two flights just after our first purchase. However otherwise it would have been 350 dollars per person. We are flying out at 9:20am and coming back at 4:35pm out of Manchester. A few weeks ago Boston's flights were close to flying out of Manchester but the departure times were too early out of Boston (6:35am) or we arrive way too late in to Boston 10:55pm. All of the sudden the rates dropped for the perfect leave times. How often does that happen? Manchester is 55 miles from the Boston Airport. And I grew up in a town just 45 minutes away from that so it is perfect for me. We are staying on Cape Cod for a few days though. My cousins all live in Hyannis/Pocasset. We haven't been back there since Courtney was 1 (1999). I am pretty excited as my cousins all have more cousins for my kids. My three first cousins all have three kids each and all about the same age, some exactly. A fun side note-- my cousin Christopher was born exactly four years after me to the day (Feb. 7th). He and I married and then each had three girls all in the same year and month!!!! Talk about a coincidence of sorts!! We all used to be so very close until my dad, sister and brother were killed and then life went downward for our family as others moved on. We pulled out of it, having moved away. Now we have so many ties to reconnect. It has been too long. To say the least.

Jake, are you from Rhode Island? I have family there as well. My dad's sister and brother live there. Grew up going there for Christmas every other year.

FUZZY BRAIN??? That is cute. ;o)

Boston is going to be so fun for your family! I wish we could have brought all of ours---but getting 5 kids there and then figuring out what to do with them while both parent ran was just not practical! But a family trip would be so much fun. Your kids and husband will have a blast watching the race.

So, what do you mean "joined" Southwest? We are going to Florida this fall and I have to buy 7 round trip tickets (on my meager part time PE teacher salary---these trips are the only reason I work!) 2 free tickets would be cool!

Hi Kelli. We joined Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program last November. They gave us 50,000 points after our first purchase (groceries on the card etc...). It has an annual fee of 69 dollars. I don't know if they still have the promotion. We figured saving 900 dollars on flights for a 69 fee plus accruing miles for every purchase. We are putting all our bills (the ones that allow to) on it and paying it off which accrues more points. Kim told me about it. We are very good with paying off bills so it works for us. It works like a regular credit card. If we want to cancel, we can at any time (but you don't get back the fee you paid for the year of the 69 dollars). We have accrued enough points for almost another flight as well and they give you bonus or double points at times for expeditures. I would definitely look in to this. I bet you can find the same offer on Southwest airlines site. Or at least call and "harrass" them to give you the same deal : D. hope this makes sense. We wish we thought of it sooner then all of our flights would have been paid for. Melanie pays for all her bills with her Delta Sky Miles and her trip is paid for as well. I think she is taking all her kids too. Not sure what she decided about that.

Julie - I'm from upstate NY (Albany area).

+1 on the SW rewards card. It pays for itself the first time you use it.

I thought so. but then the RI comment. Okay...so here is an opinion poll/discussion-- good or bad to change out shoes??? I mean rotate from different types or just stay in the same realm-- minimalist versus some heal? Runner's world is now doing their shoe 4-1-1 based completely different than they used to. I am totally am like the Princess and the Pea-- if something is off with my feet---TROUBLE. I have Brooks Pureflow now and Altras which I alternate. Oddly my Altras feel great on the TM. Not as much support outside so my back ails a few hours later. However my PUREFLOW which ran well in last week's 1/2 marathon or PATHETIC for feel on the mill. The foam felt like I could not keep my balance like the altras. I think it ailed my left IT for a bit. But I wore the Pureflows a couple of hours ago outdoors and now my IT feels good (ibuprofen helped :D). Anyway what I am getting at is HOW DOES EVERYONE ON THIS BLOG like their shoes to feel on their feet? SPACE or SNUG? I hate my feet feeling snug. I am on this subject because I just sold my Mizuno Precisions to a girl on KSL (cheap mind you) because I have two pairs. She got the new ones I wore in the SGM that I feel gave me the PF problem during and after the race. But darn I like the feel on my feet. But not apparently running. Do I need to train my feet or something? With the pureflow, walking around is not that comfortable in them but when I raced in them they were comfortable. ODD. What is the deal?????? I haven't found the perfect shoe yet and it is annoying me since I am forking out lots of money finding the one perfect shoe. Actually the precision model before this one was my favorite and they are sold out everywhere. The new ones were made different and flex a WHOLE LOT MORE. Like a donut if you pushed on the toe to the heel. Not good for PF problems. Is this even making any sense? Probably not. btw the detox run helped. I feel so much better AFTER the run then during :D.

I have had 3 professionals tell me to rotate different kinds of shoes and often. My foot doctor (what are they called? I can not for the life of me remember right now!) says to keep the shoes in the same family-neutral, stability, motion control, etc. Both the sports medicine doctor and the PT said to rotate amongst the families to make my ankles stronger. All 3 doctors agree I have weak ankles which cause the occasional flare up of my foot/achilles problems. Who knows who is right.

What I have done is this: my running shoes are all support and my trail shoes are neutral. I wear my trail shoes to run outside sometimes (since I never seem to run on trails anymore) and to work quite a bit. So, I wear them fairly evenly. I am not sure if it has helped, but I have not had a major PF flare up in a long time and my achilles is doing much better. ;o)

My 2 cents is to TRY IT.

I'm with Kelli - I've had a lot better success staying healthy since I started alternating shoes on a regular, day to day basis. I alternate between a minimalist / low drop pair (Kinvaras) with something that is light, but has some support (Tangent, Mirage). And then for some workouts I'll wear a pair of racing flats. Always throwing something different at my feet, so any little things don't become big issues via repetition.

My two cents is that you have to be careful with the whole zero drop deal on the roads. They probably are great on the TM b/c you are running with perfect, symmetrical form... but then that all changes when you get outdoors, there is more variability, so maybe you need a little more support/cushion (margin of error) when you are on the roads?

But bottom line - switch things up day to day if possible. It makes the shoes last longer, too. Foam/EVA cushioning takes 24 hrs to fully bounce back and go back to normal after its been compressed.

Julie - I'm not an expert on this but I have found that alternating shoes has kept me relatively injury free. I alternate the Saucony Kinvaras with the Pearl Izumi Syncro Floats, and for SWO I usually wear Saucony Fast Twitch.

Question on the Kinarvas for those of you who have them: do they run a little smaller than normal shoes? I seem to remember someone telling me to go up a half size. I am buying some today (online so i can not try them on. I can return them for free, but then I would have to wait even longer for the new ones to come!)

Andrea says yes, go up a half-size.

THANKS Jake and Andrea.