Dave

Not that I was ramping up for anything. That hamstring was a little worse than I thought. Went out for a test run on Monday (last) and got less than a half mile before I realized it wasn't ready. Gave it another try on Friday. Not 100% but good enough for an easy 4. Those 4 felt pretty terrible though. Either because I was going slow and running slow is hard, or it's related to this bug or whatever thing that showed up after Thanksgiving. Pain in the upper abdomen and some other issues I won't talk about in public because TMI. Getting Christmas prep finished has eaten into running time anyway, so it's just as well I'm not doing much of it. May have missed the best weather I'll see until spring. So, Christmas. Tree is up. Lights on the house. Decorations are out. Gifts are bought. I was going to make some personalized plates for some of the kids but decided not to add that workload. Finished the mint chocolate dipped Oreos on Sunday. Still need to wrap and ship the ones that didn't come from Amazon for the out-of-towners. That will be tonight. Some of that has taken longer than expected because we're helping T-Rex get through the last two weeks of the semester. She called in a panic last week, afraid that she couldn't remember anything from class and she was going to fail microbiology. Keep in mind, this isn't the normal kind of nervous anticipation college students get before finals. So we halted some of the things we had planned for Saturday and spent four hours going through the study guide, after an hour just talking her down from the edge of the cliff. One test was yesterday (thought she did OK - still waiting to see), the scariest one is tomorrow (another two hours with her on Skype Sunday), and the last one next Tuesday. Fingers crossed, prayers ongoing. Connor got moved into his apartment in Tacoma yesterday. Had the ex-SIL's, his sister and a couple of new work friends to help, so they were done sooner than expected. Think I'm going to pass on Atlanta. I've been thinking about it for what - a month? two? - and I just can't get excited about it. Hilly course, very early (still winter, in fact) race date. Not really looking forward to winter training for the second year in a row. And with the hamstring along with this gastrointestinal whatever, I'm not up to reasonable mileage to start a marathon plan this week - and that would be an abbreviated schedule. Not feeling it. Other options for spring then? April 18 - Garmin (in the land of Oz), Olathe KS - Not excited about the elevation profile, which is down 200 from the start to about mile 11, then mostly up on the way to the finish. But, it's a spring marathon so not a PR or BQ race anyway. April 26 - Glass City, Toledo, OH - Pretty darn flat. Within an hour from my front door. Tempting. April 26 - Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton, OH - Not quite as flat as Glass City. Not quite as close to home. April 26 - New Jersey - Long Branch, NJ - Pancake Flat. And there's a bunch in May: 3 - Ft. Collins, CO 3 - Carderock, MD 3 - Lincoln, NB 3 - The Flying Pig 3 - Providence, RI 17 - Colfax in Denver 17 - Sugarloaf in Maine Maybe I'll lay out a schedule first and pick the right weekend with Mrs. Dave. That's probably a good idea.

How much are those nox-gears? I've been tempted to look, but don't want to get spammed with any more ads about them than I already get. Congrats on the marriage. 50 isn't so bad.

Injuries should be gotten by bombing down the side of a mountain in a 100-miler, amiright? Prayers for a quick healing, Gumbo.

Fascinating.

You are always such a sandbagger! Nice race.

Kids... Good you smoked them both. Donuts.

The KidfromtheLou gave me a 2015 GO!St. Louis half marathon shirt when I stopped once while traveling. It's a large so I can't wear it running anyway. But I still have it and use it for a PJ shirt, alternating with my 2017 Rehoboth marathon shirt, which even though it's a medium is still too big to wear running. I don't wear my Boston shirts running because I want them to last forever. I do wear them at other times to impress anyone who knows about running. Last year I threw out all my white running shirts because the pit stains were embarrassing. Now I only have about 6 short sleeve running shirts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Gwen. She's perfect.

On Sunday I mentioned my decision to retire and the guy I was talking to (who, incidentally, didn't show up this year himself) spent the next 5 minutes telling me how he was going to make sure I didn't get hurt next year.

Didn't notice that until today. No clue.

She has some aversion to exercise that I don't understand.

After that dreadmill run I had three fun ones, since the weather got decent for a few days. An easy 5.5 out and back on the Target path, a slow uphill (150 feet) out and quick downhill (150 feet) back on Seven Mile. They've extended the walkway along the road for another half mile past Haggerty Road. Someday they're supposed to complete a walking/biking park all the way to Northville Road (2 miles), but this is at least better than it used to be. Fun to see a 7 in the pace - first one of those in a while. Had another one the next day running along the bike path loop to the south. Then it was cold, windy and rainy so there was another dreadmill run. 4 miles. Mrs. Dave appreciates that the machine I bought for her is getting some use. I hemmed and hawed the week before Thanksgiving about running a turkey trot or playing football. For awhile it looked like there wasn't going to be a game, so I checked out several in the area and found a 5K that wasn't too far for a quick morning race and had almost decided to register when I got an email about the football game. Spent the next day hemming and hawing about it again, and finally decided to go play. I'd run from the house to the field (3.5 miles), play for a couple of hours and then run home. That's a great way to build up a good turkey and stuffing appetite, no? The run down was good. I packed my cleats, a towel and some gloves I could catch with in an backpack and trotted out. It was about 35o with a brisk wind. Good for running or playing football on a Thanksgiving morning. There were only five guys at the field, but that was enough to have some fun, and a couple more showed up later, so 4 on 5 with an abbreviated playing field. Our first play was a short pace I caught, juked a couple of attempted tackles and ran in for a score. Good start. A couple of hours later, I'd caught a couple more TDs and was getting ready to think about calling it a game. I caught a short pass and ran across the first down marker towards the sidelines and my right hamstring decided we were done for the day. Wouldn't you know it? It wasn't too bad, but I knew I was finished and might have trouble running the 3.5 back to the house. Sat around a few minutes, changed shoes and packed the rest of my stuff, then started at a slow jog. It wasn't long before Sammy the Hammy said he didn't want to go any faster than a walk, so I called Mrs. Dave for the rescue wagon. I've took the rest of the long weekend off and think Sammy and I are up for a few slow miles this afternoon. We'll see what he says. 74 miles for November, most of them pretty easy. Depending on how things go today, I'll be ramping up through December and getting back on the training wagon. I'm sort of hankering for some Loopster company, so I may just have to try getting ready for Atlanta. I keep asking Mrs. Dave, which she says is a sign that I want to do it. She's probably right. She usually is. I've very much enjoyed the extra bloops the past couple of weeks. Many thanks to garbo for the contest. If I knew anything about marketing, it'd be great to have some new runners to join us and build up our group again. Remember when there wasn't time to read everything that was written on the Loop? Heady days. I fully intend to provide pie to everyone who posted. Let me know when you're coming by. Made a couple of extra pies for the neighbors who helped with the snow the week I was in WA. Mrs. Dave delivered one to the psycho neighbors and they accepted graciously, seeming to indicate they were harboring less ill feelings. Perhaps I should have made them a pie sooner. Perhaps they've finally accepted our story that there is no dog. Will I have to stop calling them the psycho neighbors?

Can I just copy gdionelli's reply? CIM's going to feel easy.

Nice to hear you're at 100% again.

Two Bangle bloops in two weeks. Nice. Injuries suck (you already knew that).

Life's like this, mostly, isn't it? Good parts and bad parts and everything in between. And sometimes the neighbor's dog poops on your lawn. (so I'm told)