Who'll Stop the Rain?

Click on the photo below and you'll see how I made the Christmas card in an earlier post just for you, my faithful readers.

Another song for my post title. Don't worry Irene, it's a temporary thing. Here's the youtube to activate while you read the rest of this random post.

Yes, it's raining in Chandler, Arizona. I can't remember the last time it rained any signicant amount, but I would guess it was over 3 months ago. I've only ran in the rain twice. Tomorrow might be the third time. That's my front yard in the foreground. You can see it's crushed granite with a faux creek in the middle. Across the street you can see an Ocotillo. It's a sort of cactus that grows around here.

This is the water retention park. We don't have storm sewers around here. The parks just fill with water. Amy just called me for dinner. The rest of this post will be done shortly.

This map is for Lisa and Karen - The Tumbleweed Running Club. We shall meet at 7 am tomorrow morning at Kiwanis Park. Park near the tennis courts and we can run past our cars to restock.

I read an article in the Arizona Republic about Chandler's Vice Mayor Lowell Huggins. He run's his family barbershop that has been in Chandler for over 50 years. It's a Chandler landmark and I need a cut, so off I went. It really is an old time barber shop. Lowell wasn't there, but Della and Tracy were and they took good care of me.

Finally, a picture of the Risk board right before my daughter, Emily beat me. She's the blue army and I am the red army. See my one army on Eastern Austrailia. She has about 50 armies on Western Australia.

Running to Stand Still

Just like the song I have an addiction*. I haven't told you all this, but I do. I need it and last night I wasn't having a good run at all. I was running just to stand still. Until. Right before I decided to make my run short and go home, I headed for the dark street corner to get my fix.

I decided if I ran to the corner, there would surely be someone at the dimly lit gas station and I could score some stuff. Then I could run home.

The chart tells the story. Did you notice my split time after my treat was much better than the rest of the splits in last nights run. If you like song titles for blog titles and want to play the "name that song title game" go visit Irene at Magazine Smiles. Did you know the band of "Running to Stand Still" before you clicked on the link?

*If you are checking my blog as a back ground check, for the purposes of hiring me please note my addiction is to ice cream and running. Sadly, in that order.

A Season to Run

Mile 1071, Chandler,AZ -I don't have all your addresses, so here's a Christmas card from The Monahan's to all our running blogging friends. Can you guess how I made the christmas card above?

Saturday was spent hauling christmas boxes out of the garage to the living room and then putting the plastic tree together, hanging the lights that I can never seem to get all lit on the tree and putting christmas decorations all around the living room. It looks really nice and I'm glad I did it. But, I haven't been in the living room since and that's where all the decorations are. I can't even go buy a gallon of that peppermint chip ice cream and sit in their watching the lights go on and off.

So, I did the next best thing. I decorated my blog. I hope you like the picture of the running santas from Las Vegas. This Saturday they are competeing with liverpool, England to see who can set a worlds record for the most running santas.

Oh yeah, I got a 10 1/2 mile run in with the gals - Karen and Lisa on saturday morning. It was a good run with lots of talk, but we didn't get lost or run over, so not much to mention. It was cold, but no snow, just a bit below 50 to start.

Tonights run was done all by my lonesome. I ran around the neighborhood and then over to Desert Breeze Lake, around it 1 1/2 times and then back home for 5.27 miles in 59:01. A pace of 11:11. It's funny, my garmin data is stored on software from two different compaines- Garmin Training Center and SportsTrack. I get two different readings. SportsTrack is always a few tenths of a mile better.

The Biggest Loser Fantasy League

I guess because of the writer's strike we get 2 hours of BL every week. I'm liking it a lot. Bryan, I'm sad to say has been voted off. He impressed me a lot. There's just 6 players left.

Last week I made a math error. Since Kae was eliminated I forgot to give Bob her last few pounds. Of course, those pounds meant the difference between 2nd place an first for Bob. Jeff is in second and both of them have the same two players - Neil and Isabeau. There's no way for Jeff to pass Bob. If Neil gets eliminated than I might have a chance to pass both of them. but, it looks like the fantasy league will finish with Bob first, Jeff second and me third.

Click on the BL fantasy league to get the up to the minute standings.

Tempe Town Lake and shoe shopping

Mile 1056, Tempe, AZ - I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. We didn't have any family in town this year, so it was a quite holiday for the Monahans. Amy did ask the kids if they wanted a turkey. Yes, it was unanimous. The dinner was a scaled down version. Turkey, stuffing, carrots, mashed potatoes and bread on the kitchen table. Amy did a fabulous job with the turkey. I don't remember a juicer bird. You could here the juices flowing as I carved it. It was so moist, the stuffing in the bird was more like pudding. That's what the kids called it. We, always make extra stuffing in a crock pot, so Amy and kids ate that. I ate the stuff out of the bird and it was delicious. Emily and I peeled potatoes earlier and they turned out great. The carrots that cooked underneath the bird were great. As is the Monahan tradition, Amy and Emily cooked. Pat and Tyler cleaned up. It was easier this year, because we didn't have the fancy china and silver to clean up.
Today was shoe buying day. At Performance Footwear you get half off the purchase of the second pair today. I got two pair of my Asics Kyano 13's. They even gave me my Arizona Roadracers discount on the first pair. Can you tell which pair I've worn for around 400 miles?

Since I was up near Tempe Town Lake and it was a gorgeous 65 degrees out, I decided to take a fun 3 mile run. It went like this - slow, slower and slowest. And I had a blast running along the lake to the east dam. Town Lake is a man made lake between two inflatable dams. It's in the river bed of the Salt River or Rio Salado. Yeah, our rivers are usually dry. It takes lots of rain or snow up in the high country for us to have water in the river. Weird, I know. So, the good folks of Tempe decided to fill their part of the river up with - Water.

During my run I thought that they should have a Dam to Dam Race. It would be about a 4 miler. I think I might just organize one for the Tumbleweed Running Club. Heck, it should be a Dam To Dam To Picnic Run. We can do a potluck and eat in the park. Dam It!, I think I'll do it. It's a Dam fine ideal. I do like dam jokes.

If you click on the map below, you'll see the dams at either end. The west one is barely in the photo, the east one is right past the Y. The U shape is Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University. The parking lot of the stadium is the finish lines for the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathons.

Mesa Turkey Trot 2007

Mile 1052, Mesa, AZ - Another Personal Record bites the dust. I ran in the 2006 Mesa Turkey Trot last year and set a PR of 1:11:05. One year later I ran it again and finished around 1:07:59. 3 minutes and 6 seconds faster with a sore calf.

Here's the tee. I think it's pretty cool. We also got a $5 discount for Mi Amigo's Mexican Restaurant. I got to watch the start of the 1 mile and 2 mile races before my race started. Lots of folks running these races. I bet there were about 500 people for the 10k. The race was all on surface streets, asphalt with some dirt shoulders. I decided to rely on the water stops that were planned, so I didn't carry any water. This worked well and I never went thirsty. I had a gel around the 3.5 mile mark and that seemed to help. At the start it was pretty crowded, but I wanted to start slow and warm up my calf. Mile One split was 10:35, but there were times we were running around 11:30 shoulder to shoulder. I wanted to get my speed up like it was at Vegas last week. Mile two split was 9:57 and I was breathing good, but my legs felt tired. Mile three was my worst. The split was 11:58. There was 2 breaks during that mile. One for water and one for no obvious reason (that I can remember). Mile four's split was 11:18, so I was picking it up a bit, but I wanted to go faster. I tagged along with various runners that passed me, my unknowing pacers. Mile five was 11:33 with one break. Mile six was 10:20. I realized if I wanted to have a shot at a PR I better get it in gear. At the end you enter the park, the crowds pick up and you run along the lake. I passed a bunch of people and ran my fastest of the day, doing the last 2/10 of a mile in a split of 8:51.

This is the sweat shirt they gave out at the LV turkey trot last week. I really like it, but it's a medium. I can fit into now, but after it gets washed I think it will be too small. My wife, Amy has put dibs on it. Below is the data, if anyone is interested.

The Biggest Loser Week 11

So, now Kae is gone and we are down to 7 contestants. All have lost incredible amounts of weight. Neil and Bill have lost over 100 pounds each.

As far as our fantasy league is going, everyone has one or tw0 players left except for Team Chubikins lead by Jennifer. She's out of players and has finished the league with 188 points. Jeff and Bob lead the league but have the same players, Neil and Isabeau. Which means Bob can't overtake Jeff, unless one of them makes a trade. I'm in third and I have Bill instead of Neil. The only way I can win is if Bill loses 24 more pounds than Neil over the last weeks of the show. Which could happen if Neil gets eliminated soon. Hunter's Hopefuls and Marcy's Meatballs still have an outside chance. I doubt anyone else has a fat chance of winning. Sorry bad pun.

Here's the standings after Week 11(players eliminated are in grey):


237 Jeff's Former Fatties - Neil,Isabeau Jez, Amy,
235 Bob's Waddlers - Neil,Isabeau Kae, Phil,
213 Pat's Pounders - Bill,Isabeau Amy, Phil,
208 Hunter's Hopeful's (Margie) - Bryan, Hollie Ryan, Amy
206 Marcy's Meatrolls - Neil,Hollie Kae, Jerry,
195 Dan's Eliminating the Excess - Hollie, Phil, Amy, Ryan,
192 Tiggers Hate Honey - Isabeau,Nicole David, Jez,
188 Chubikins (Runnergirl) - Ryan,Kae,James,Amy
159 Wim-sical - Isabeau, Bill, Leylye,Jim
154 Katie's FIRMin8ors - Julie Ryan, Phil, Patty,
152 Ken's Weight and See - Bryan,Isabeau Phil, Lezlye
142 Pokey's Potbellies - Nicole David, Amy

And the winner of the Bizarre Run is . . .

Mile: 1046, Chandler, AZ - Our very own Javamom who ran in her neighborhood with a bike helmet on. Now, I promised that I would have a prize for her and she'll get it at our next group run.
You get a sneak peek at her bounty. Don't tell her, but it was all free stuff from the expo at the National Association of Realtors Convention in Las Vegas.

First, she'll get a great tote bag for the beach with a frisbee from Taser. Yeah, they were promoting tasers for Realtor safety. So, no one better give us a hard time. Or Zap. She also gets a pamphlet on buying real estate in Costa Rica. There's some great running down there. The green bracelet says "Realign with REIS". But, Lisa can pretend its a LiveStrong bracelet. She gets a pen from the Venetian. A flashlight and hand santizier from Bank of America. A pedometer from Two Men and a Truck. And a thing to clean her sunglasses from Wamu.

Now, don't tell her. I want her to be surprised. Yeah, the really neat stuff I kept. Wait til I show you a picture of the globe that glows from Google.

And one finally thing for Javamom. A truly bizarre run on youtube:

Congrats Javamom

Tonight I got in 3.4 miles in just under 40 minutes. My first mile was 10:10, but then I felt a bit of a pain in my calf and I slowed it down.

I'm Back!

Mile 1043, Las Vegas, NV - Many of you have training programs from Hal Higdon, Jeff Galloway or other great runners. You know that I don't really do any programs, until now. I found the Las Vegas One week training plan.

Here's how it works. You go to Vegas. Stay on the strip, gamble away your kids college fund and eat really bad fried food all week. You train by walking from casino to casino and work your upper body by pulling levers. unless that's too difficult, then you just push a button over and over again for hours. After a week of training and no running you go and run the Las Vegas Turkey Trot.



How do I know this training program works? Because I set a PR! My previous PR was 31:06 set at the Islands 5k in Gilbert, AZ. Today I ran a 30:25 at the LV Turkey Trot. Each mile split was under 10 minutes, no walk breaks and no leg issues.

Remember, I had a calf issue. So, I decided I would take the week off of running and just run the 5k. I spent the first 3 days of the week limping around the National Association of REALTORS Convention. Then, on Friday my leg felt great. I knew I was going to run.

I got to the Las Vegas Outlet Mall around 6:20 am for the 7 am race. The 10k race had already started and I got to see them go by. I signed up, got a sweat shirt (really nice) and started to warm up. I knew it wasn't going to be real scenic and I was right. It turned out almost 2/3 of the race was in the outlet mall parking lot. The beginning and end of the race was behind the mall, past the dumpsters. Before the race I met a couple that had just gotten married and were on their honeymoon in Vegas. They were from England. He did the 10k in 44 minutes and finished in 21st place. She ran the 5k.

Check out the map below to see the parking lot 5k and my splits.

I'll write about my week in Vegas later. Not real exciting, but Amy and I did get to hear Seth Godin, Scott Bedbury and others. We got to go to a James Taylor concert on Thursday nite.

New Times 10k & 5k

Mile 1039, Tempe, AZ -
The New Times 5k and 10k races are probably the biggest races in the Phoenix area for these distances. It's pretty cool, because the 5k is run at 7:45 and the 10k is run 45 minutes later. You can run both races for just $8 more.

Last year I ran just the 5k in 34 minutes for a PR. I have since run faster 5k's, but I was hoping to do better than last years race, if my leg was willing.

On the map, the innner path is the 5k, while the 10k stays across the lake for a while. They played the National Anthem, which I wish they would at all the races and then we were off. Tigger was supposed to be here with his family, but I did not see him. There's thousands of people at this race. I started out pretty comfortable and was keeping right around a 10 minute pace over the bridge and back. Then we ran along the Rio Salado Parkway, which is the final mile in the PF Chang's half. It brought back fond memories. There was a kid that could not have been older than 8 sprinting past everyone and then walking. We would yo yo with him most of the race. He was hanging in there pretty good. Not sure when he finished. I finished under 33 minutes, but the official time is out yet.


You have to tell the chip removal team that you are running in the next race, so they don't take your ankle chip. I then had about 10 minutes to get a bite to eat and go to the porta potties. I got a blueberry muffin from Sweet Tomatoes. The lines for the can was incredible long. I ended up not going at all.

Check out the roadrunner statue in downtown Tempe. I thought it was pretty cool.






Here's a picture before the 5k. As I finished up the 10k racers were already lined up, so we got lots of cheers from the crowd.

Most of the runners do the 10k. I stood on the sidewalk at the start and just saw wave after wave of runners go by.

After a while, I jumped in and began my second race of the day. My leg was still feeling pretty good and I was hoping to get a good run in.

Until about a mile into the 10k. My calf started to bother me. Instead of agrivating it, I chose to do a very conservative walk/run pace.



This is a photo of the start of the 10k. The topless lady with the white headband must have been cold.

My splits:

5k mile 1: 10.00
mile 2: 10.45
mile 3: 10.17
1/10: 51 seconds at a 8.32 pace
unofficial time: 31.53
Official Time: 32.23


10k mile 1: 10.21
mile 2: 12.02
Mile 3: 13.26
Mile 4:12.34
Mile 5: 12.00
Mile 6:12.44
2/10: 4.19 for a 10.31 split.
unofficial time: 1.16.37
Official Time: 1:16:02

I was conservative for about a mile. I found Mark, a friend in the pack. He was nursing a sore knee, I was nursing a sore calf, so we ran and talked for awhile. We parted ways with about 2.5 miles left and I started running a bit faster. I continued to do a run/walk and talked with a few folks along the way. Again, there were lots of folks around the finish for my second run through. I ran a bit faster, but I kept repeating to myself - "Don't push it. Don't push it." I didn't want to do anymore damage to my calf.

Lisa ran the 10k with a friend, but I didn't see her either. The 10k race ran past the finish line of the full marathon. Each time I was on the marathon course I thought about Pokey, who's running her first half out at Big Sur. I hope she had a super day.

Rest Day #5

no mileage, Chandler, AZ - My leg is feeling better. Today is the 5th rest day in the past 6 days. Tomorrow I might do a short run to test things out. Sunday I have the New Times race. I was planning on doing the 5k, followed by about a 10 minute rest and then the 10k. My leg will determine if I run both or if I run at all. I will at least crawl the darn 5k, so I can wear the tee I got for participating.

Trivia: In Arizona what can happen on the ninth Tuesday before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November? Or - "El noveno martes antes del primer martes despues del primer lunes de noviembre" for those that only read spanish. And if you only read spanish, this must be a really confusing blog.

blog note: I'm trying to put my end mileage and the city I did it in at the beginning of each post. Kinda like what you might see in the newspapers.

Update: If you don't read Pokey's blog, now would be a good time to do so. Pokey is one of my running buddies. She's getting ready to run her first half marathon, the Big Sur Half in California. Today she wrote a great post which I'm sure a lot of us can relate to.

Pokey's Blog

Update Again: mile 1032, Chandler, AZ - I felt good around 8 pm at night, so I thought I would test my leg. I got in 2.2 miles and it felt great. I could feel a knot in my leg at the end, but it wasn't bad. I think I'll be ok on Sunday. It was a nice 26 minute jog.

4.6 miles for my 46th birthday

Mile 1030, Chandler AZ - Yes, today I turned 46. My calf felt better after three days of rest, so I figured I'd run 4.6 miles for my birthday. I'm hoping I can do this for the rest of my life. 7.5 for my 75th, 10.0 for my 100th. You, get the ideal.

Well, my calf let me get to 2.43 miles. I could have gutted out the final 2.2 miles, but I didn't think that was a good ideal for my leg and I want to be able to run the New Times races this Sunday. So, I DNF'd and I'm ok with that.

Afterall, next year I only have to do 4.7 miles.

Next week will be busy. The New Times Race on Sunday. Drive to Las Vegas for the National Realtors Convention on Monday. Run the Turkey Trot in Las Vegas on Saturday and drive home. I'm not really that big on casino gambling, so I'm mostly looking forward to the race. I wonder if they have treadmill slot machines in the casino?

Birthday gifts: Thorlo running socks, A book, "The Catcher was a Spy" about Moe Berg, The Stick, a self massaging tool, a cool jacket from the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon, "For The Love of the Game DVD and The DVD series "The Planet Earth".

Did you know: The Pillsbury Doughboy was born on this day too. I'm thinking about changing the name of my blog to - Running from the Pillsbury Doughboy. LOL

The Biggest Loser Week 9

Jeff passes Bob for the first time and Margie jumps up in the standings.

So what do you think about The Biggest Loser this year? Who's your favorite and who do you think will win?

And how come they can lose 5-15 pounds a week and I can't lose 1. Just one a week and I'll be happy.

It's Election Day!

It's time to vote for this years most bizarre run. If you'd like to review each story, click the links below.

Contestant #1: Pat's Bizarre Run
Contestant #2: Nancy's Bizarre Run
Contestant #3: J-wim's Bizarre Run
Contestant #4: Javamom's Bizarre Run



And since it is a day before election day, why not vote on a couple other issues.







Voting will end on November 8th

Runner's Lounge

have you checked out Runner's Lounge yet? Tom and Amy up in Iowa started it and it's a pretty cool place to go. I'm in two groups there. One is a weight loss group. I'm sure they're going to give me the boot soon, I haven't loss much. The other group, I started. It's a virtual 5k race.

here's how it works. If you run in a real 5k race or any race that gives you your 5k split you enter that time and run against your friends. This way I can compete with a fellow blogger like Obrats, eventhough we aren't in the same state. Of course, he'll dust me, but that's part of the fun. If you'd like to be apart of our virtual racing, check it out. There's winners every week!

If you visit RL, you'll notice I go by Meep Meep. It's the same name I go by when I'm posting on the Runner's World Forum. Get it, meep meep is the sound the road runner makes as he's passing that pesky coyote.

A Magical Run

He pulled into an empty parking lot. As usual he drove to the back of the lot and parked facing the empty tennis court. It was early, before the Arizona sun had a chance to warm things up. Pat knew he was the first one to arrive and the only sound came from his engine and the bee gee’s on the radio. He turned the radio off.

Pat was happy to arrive first. It gave him a chance to check to make sure all his gear was ready to go. Some runners are gazelle’s and don’t need gear. Pat is more like a pack mule. Slow, steady and carrying all the supplies. He was what you’d call a back of the pack runner and was happy plodding along at a pedestrian 12 or 13 minute pace. He checked to make sure he had a full water bottle, several gels to digest during the run, his phone. Not that he planned to call anyone, but his wife always insisted that he carry the phone. Which was ok, because it’s a camera too and as a good pack mule, Pat knew that a camera always made the run that much more fun.

As if, on cue two cars pulled into the deserted lot. For the past few months Pat had been running with Lisa and Karen. The three of them made a good team. All ran at about the same pace. All were happy to add the occasional walk into the run. Today would be different.
Pleasantries were exchange. Stretching was ignored. Garmin’s were turned on and the three runners started to walk to the canal. The canal that for the next hour and a half would be there home. This canal that winds through the east valley of metropolitain Phoenix goes for 56 miles. The trio would only need 3 miles of it. The plan was to run north under the new freeway and up to the gas station. There they could use the restroom and maybe buy a Gatorade. Then they would run back down to their cars say their goodbyes and get ready for the rest of the day. A nice 6 mile run on a cool morning in November.

The canal was actually on the other side of a four lane road. As the group waited for the traffic to clear, a van approached. It was one of those vans that had what looked like a big box on the back with a chiller above the cab to cool it’s contents. On the side it read, “Papa Bear’s Magic”. The logo was weather warn, so you couldn’t read the slogan underneath. All three of the runners saw the logo and they looked at each other bewildered.

The run started and they soon forgot about the truck. The weather was perfect. The sun was just peaking over the Superstition Mountains in the distance. The trail seemed like it was going downhill. About a half mile into the run, Karen asked what the pace was at. She was concerned that she was running so effortlessly, maybe we should be running faster. Lisa looked at her garmin but didn’t believe it. Pat looked at his. Both of them, in unision said, “Nine?”. No one believed it. All agreed that this run was going very good. No one wanted to look at the watches again. As if, ignorance was better than finding out that they were going at a 13 minute pace afterall. At the one mile point, Lisa dared to look at her garmin and it read 8:45. Pat confirmed it and Karen said , “let’s go faster”.

They crossed under the highway and started to really turn their legs over. 8:30 turned into 8:05 and then to 7:50. When they got to 7:30, Karen said, “I think it said something about feet”. Both Lisa and Pat knew what she was thinking about, because they were thinking the same thing. “I saw magic” added Lisa. “Did it say magic feet?” asked Pat. The three flew past the gas station, that would not be the turn around point today. Lisa led the group across chandler Boulevard, in front of low rider 1978 chevy impala and northward at a 7 minute pace. The driver didn’t slow down and neither did the three runners. At the five mile mark they turned around. Not because they were tired, but because the light at Warner Road was red and they wanted to run. No one had ever ran as fast as they were running this morning. 7 turned to 6 and before anyone realized they were running a 5:30 mile. In unision, all three yelled, “The magic is in the feet”. Not, because they could read the weathered side of that old dirty van with the Oklahoma plates, but because they remembered seeing the driver mouth the words when he drove by.

That day the sun came up too soon, the run ended too quickly and the runners ran faster than they had ever run before. As the runner’s stopped in the parking lot, dripping with sweat and smiling like kids on Christmas morning, they said in unision, “that was magic.”

I was motivated to write that after reading the excerpt in Runner's World from the new book, "Return to Carthage" by John L. Parker, Jr. I hope you enjoyed it. Karen, Lisa and I did run this morning and we did have a great time, but there weren't any sub 10 minute miles involved. Karen is getting ready for the Big Sur Half Marathon, so we practiced her galloway run/walk strategy. We ran for 3 minutes, but it felt like 6 and we walked for 30 seconds. We continued this the entire 7 miles for the most part and ended up running 85% of the time. I think Karen will do great at Big Sur. Visit her blog and give her some support.

My Calf

So, at the end of our 7 miler, I decided to sprint. Normally, this is good. Not after I took Friday off to rest a sore calf. My left calf hurt a bit the whole run. When I sprinted I felt a pull. It hurts much more now. I've iced it, elevated it and will rest until it feels better. I might not run for the next 2-3 days.

Environment

I don't do this every day, but I try. I pick up trash. No, not that kind. I'm married. When I'm running or walking I try to pick up trash at least once a day or once every other day. If everyone did this, we'd live in a cleaner world. I'm running out of things I do for the environment, so I might start talking about things I'd like to do.

Running in Chandler, AZ

Two neighborhood kids. their mom is really good at this type of thing.

It's an owl.

My wife's pumpkin creation

tigger's pumpkins, pumpkin pictures needed?

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I can't believe it is November already. 2.5 months from the PF Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon and I just cranked out a 105 mile month. I'm hoping to top 110 miles this month and 120 miles in December. Along the way I hope to shed some pounds so that my first marathon will go smoothly. Here's some data from RunningAhead, if you are interested. RunningAhead.com is a free site that will allow you to keep all your data. It's great.

Last nite I ran around the block and then I ran around someone else's block and continued that until I got my 6 miles in. I started off fast hoping to keep a 10 minute pace for more than a mile. Oh well, I did about 90% running and enjoyed the run. I put a reese's pb cup in my fanny pack and got to eat it at the 3 mile mark. It was pretty good. I did have a little issue with my left calf and my right quad. The left calf is still bothering me today. I'll take the day off and see how it is tomorrow morning when the Tumbleweed Running Club meets again to run the canal.

Friday afternoon I got to eat lunch with a couple of PF Chang bloggers. Karen, from the TRC and Eric or Tigger met me and my wife at PF Chang's in Tempe. We got to meet each other and talk about running.

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Once A Runner by John L. Parker jr is very much in demand. You can read about it in December's Runner's World magazine. It's selling for over $200 on ebay and is no longer in print. Does anyone have a copy? I'd love to borrow or rent it.