Chug-along-chica!

About the no-sugar, no flour thing: I did it once. In fact I went off fruit and juices and honey and anything else that has simple carbohydrates. My whacky chiropractor recommended it to get rid of yeast that she thought was in my intestine.

What I found was that it made me grumpy and I really craved the stuff I was missing. But it was possible and it may have helped. I learned to each more veggies and eggs and to snack on nuts.

The idea is that we eat way to much carbs these days and that it causes weight gain and possibly other bad things. Who knows?

Hey Lybi did you know they are starting to build some new houses in the back of our subdivision...he he he

You know my mom is a little bit obsessed with the South Beach Diet which is designed to help you cut out "empty carbs" and only focus on the good carbs. It actually seems like one of the better diets out there. There is a book that lists foods to avoid.

The Lybster! Yeah, the moon was awesome today! Thanks for reminding me. The wolf encounter sounds scary, I'm a dog lover, but I still get nervous around strays when I'm running- but a wolf- that's crazy! So you live around lakes- cool. I wanna live on a lake...(do you think I'm being influenced by my recent Powell trip?) Good job going it alone without the partner today!

The moon was absolutely gorgeous this morning. Good thing you didn't try to run with Sparky - he might have gotten himself eaten by the wolf - that dog is fearless! Christi - our "lakes" are really small, man-made ponds with sidewalks around them, kept artificially blue . . . :D

Hey, I forgot - are you still going to register for that 5K this weekend?

Lybi, you are doing awesome and really increasing your mileage! In addition to some memorable experinces! (Wolf?) That's a good one to put in the memory books. Only you would have an experience like that!!! Sounds like you may be doing a 5K this weekend? Good luck if you do, you'll smash your last time with the great times you have been having the last few weeks!

By the way... aren't you getting out rather early these days?

You should really back off on those 5 K runs. 10:30 pace is just about right, 10:00 is OK, anything much faster is probably too fast. If you feel the extra energy and have the extra time, at this point it should go into making the run longer as opposed to faster.

Regarding carbs - you need them to run or just live for that matter. As Lulu pointed out in another post, the trouble comes not from the calories, but from the package they come with. It is all about balance. Popular American foods tend to deliver carbs in the wrong mix, while natural foods tend to have the right mix of nutrients to go with the carbs.

Heber!!! How fun to hear from you again. I've missed you. As of right now, I have nothing against carbs in general. I'm just doing a little experiment with no added sugar or white flour. Some chiropractors can get really weird on you, so you have to watch 'em! :)

Kristina there are so many houses out there by you that I would love. But since the weather has turned nice again, I'm temporarily feeling happy to be an Arizonian. May is a good time to try to persuade me to move, though. :)

Thanks Christi! Your trip made ME want to live by a real lake, too. Or at least go on a trip to one.

Michelle, I'm getting up earlier than I've been since high school seminary! I am stoked because I've never had the self-control to wake up this early with any kind of consistency.

Sasha, you know your advice is like a royal decree to me, but can I present my concerns about slowing down to 10:30? 3 things. It feels a little annoying to my feet at that speed, for some reason. It feels a lot smoother to me a little bit faster. Second I'm afraid of loosing my fabulous running partner Christine with pokiness. Possibly not a logical fear. Third, in the morning I only have about 30 minutes to run before James has to leave. The only way I could go farther is to run faster. Although, I plan on adding another mile per day in the evening (at 15:00 pace) with my little ones. How about an average--3 miles each morning at 9:30-10:00 and 1 at 15:00 each afternoon. What do you think?

9:30 - 10:00 should be fine, 10:00 better than 9:30, but do not try to set records on that 5 K. No faster than 9:30 until you run 24:00 in a race. But try to sneak in extra miles during the day with a stroller and street clothes on, or even on the treadmill if it still works. Another idea - bring the kids to the track, have them play in the sandbox, and loop around in the meantime. If you run only 3 miles a day, and that is the cap, then the only path to improvement is to keep speeding up, the problem with speeding up without a base is that you start getting injured, and also ultimately there is no intensity that could possibly compensate for the lack of base.

Lybi, wow, great advice from Sasha, it is so hard to not fun faster when you got the fast feeling. Moon was bigger this morning, like it was close enough to reach. The wolf thing, scary, I always carry pepper spray. I have never used it on people, only on loose dogs that thought I was breakfast.

Brent, I agree. This is great advice and I'm gonna do my best to comply. I'm all excited now.

Lybi- You really do have some crazy experiences. Who sees a wolf on a run in the suburbs? I didn't get out this morning so I missed the great moon...but I read all about it on Chad's blog. lol

BTW Sasha, as a former long jumper, I find it offensive that you called the long jump pit a sand box! ;)