14.37

Boo yah. My longest run of the summer today and I feel really good (perhaps that has something to do with the donut I am eating!) I love the run I did to hit the miles too, it was my first 13+ mile run two years ago when I was training for the Portland Marathon. It hits three of my favorite places to run in the area. First I headed up to the volcano, Mt. Tabor, ran to the top and did the circle at the peak (can I really call it a peak? Probably not.) then I meander my way down. Next up is Larelhurst Park, about 3 miles away. I used to live really close to it and would run the park quite a bit, I love the way it smells there. Next up is the run back to the Reed canyon, had a little altercation with some cyclists who weren't obserbing the rules of the road (or me for that matter), gave them an earful. Once I hit th canyon it started to rain which was a really refreshing end to my run. About 3/4s of the way through the canyon I hit 13.1 miles or a half-marathon distance. I have been aiming at running a sub 2 hr. half. So I check my watch to see where I was time wise 1:54:50 (YES!) Next came the hard rain which hit when I was under a dense tree canopy in the east end. The noise was amazing and I took my headphones off to enjoy it. After stopping my watch to walk/climb the stairs out of the canyon, I continued for the last mile passing a group of 20 people at our local park who must have been some sort of club as they all had little minature dogs, odd site. Being tired from the long run makes you think you aren't seeing things correctly and I had to question whether or not I was seeing such a heard of toy poodles, but I believe they really were all there. I got hoe 10 minutes after I hit the half-marathon mark and added the extra miles. It was a great run and brought me up to 38 for the week, another 2008 PR. I checked my marathon splits from 2 years ago and I hit 13.1 at 2:05, so I was beating that mark by 10 mins. Of course that didn't take into consideration my late start to the marathon cause I was in the bathroom. No we were timed with sensors so they knew just when we left, but I got stuck behind so many slow people and walkers that my first 5 miles were pretty slow (and zig-zaggy.)

I brought a gel with me and ate it at the top of Tabor. This was probably too early (less than 5 miles into it) and I could have used another. Next time I'll either bring 2, or wait. I tried a new brand (for me), the Powerbar double-latte. It was good and gave me a caffiene boost, but it was a little sickeningly sweet (then again most gels are.)

Go Will!

As I look out my front window I see my neighbor Will packing up his rugby wheelchair to be flow to Beijing. He goes from one package to another checking to see that everything is in order. Tools, several pairs of gloves, extra wheels, reading material for the long flight and more. I am not sure how favored the USA wheelchair rugby team is, but from what Will has told me about their training and tryouts, they are ready. Will appeared (though as he says, he wasn't a star, didn't even have a speaking role) in the movie Murderball, a great documentary about the sport and it's participants. Check it out!

This year the paralypics will be broadcast on one of the BBC channels and on the web at www.xable.com. They will be showing live as well as on demand events. I can't wait to see Will do his stuff, I am totally psyched. Here is the full Wheelchair Rugby schedule. All games are being played at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium:

Day 6	Friday:(12/9)
	Session WR01	Start: 13:00	End: 16:15
	13:00-14:15	Game 1 - Pool A - USA vs. CHN
	15:00-16:15	Game 2 - Pool A - CAN vs. JPN
	Session WR02	Start: 18:00
	18:00-19:15	Game 3 - Pool B - AUS vs. GER
	20:00-21:15	Game 4 - Pool B - GBR vs. NZL
Day 7	Saturday:(13/9)
	Session WR03	Start: 13:00	End: 16:15
	13:00-14:15	Game 5 - Pool A - CAN vs. CHN
	15:00-16:15	Game 6 - Pool A - USA vs. JPN
	Session WR04	Start: 18:00	End: 21:15
	18:00-19:15	Game 7 - Pool B - AUS vs. NZL
	20:00-21:15	Game 8 - Pool B - GBR vs. GER
Day 8	Sunday:(14/9)
	Session WR05	Start: 13:00	End: 16:15
	13:00-14:15	Game 9 - Pool A - JPN vs. CHN
	15:00-16:15	Game 10 - Pool A - USA vs. CAN
	Session WR06	Start: 18:00	End: 21:15
	18:00-19:15	Game 11 - Pool B -AUS vs. GBR
	20:00-21:15	Game 12 - Pool B -NZLvs. GER
Day 9	Monday:(15/9)
	Session WR07	Start: 13:00	End: 16:15
	13:00-14:15	Game 13 - 3rd Pool A vs. 4th Pool B
	15:00-16:15	Game 14 -3rd Pool B vs. 4th Pool A
	Session WR08	Start: 18:00	End: 21:15
	18:00-19:15	Game 15 - 1st Pool A vs. 2nd Pool B
	20:00-21:15	Game 16 - 1st Pool B vs. 2nd Pool A
Day 10	Tuesday:(16/9)
	Session WR09	Start: 13:00	End: 16:15
	13:00-14:15	Game 17 - 7/8 Placing - L13 vs L14
	15:00-16:15	Game 18 - 5/6 Placing - W13 vs W14
	Session WR10	Start: 18:00	End: 22:00
	18:00-19:15	Game 19 - Bronze Medal - L15 vs L16
	20:00-21:15	Game 20 - Gold Medal - W15 vs W16
	21:35-22:00	Medal Ceremony

Hardest run of the year

Yowza, what a run. Those who know my running distances are saying, wow Marco did you run 15 miles? 20? even? Nope, I only put in just over 5. Well you must have run it at break-neck speed then? Nope to that as well, I ended up running slightly slower than I usually have been doing at about an 8:45 minute mile. So what's the deal? It was hot and humid and even though there were a lot of clouds around, they never seemed to give me too much relief from the sun. I really had to push myself to get through this one. I think I may have also been feeling a tad tired and not totally nurished. I had a dr appt for a cholesterol check in the morning, so I couldn't eat and then I had an excrutiatingly long wait in the office as well. My lunch of leftover pasta after I got back turned out to be no good as it was spoiled (Mom if you a reading, yes it was that pasta we had) so I didn't it and had something else that wasn't as carbolicious. I did drink a full bottle of water on the run and actually even considered refilling it at the park but I was close enough to home to get some electrolite replacement drinks when I got there.

I did wear my trail shoes (I am convinced that the model of New Blanaces I got was not the one that Chi Running recommended, but an older version of the 800) and enjoyed running through several unimproved roads and then some trails. I like them a lot, I just wish they weren't so tight. I can almost wear them with no laces as there is no tongue, almost like a slipper. I wore them on my walk to the dr's office (I can't wait to say "When I was a boy I had to walk 2 miles just to see my doctor...don't know who I will say that to...) and they made good walking shoes. Now if I could just find some shoes that were somewhat attractive, then I would be set.

I finished the book onthe Bunion Derby, the transcontinetal foot race CC Pyle's Amazing Footrace. Great book and amazing story. Sadly it was full of hucksterism, but I think even the runners sort of expected that. The winners did get paid at the end, but the promised prizes throughout the race never happened. CC Pyle even made the 55 remaining (200 started) runners run a 26 hr. marathon around an oval in Madison Sqr Garden after the race was done in hopes of raising money to pay the atheletes from the Bunion Derby. His big finishing run was expected to attract tens of thousands and bring him teh financial windfall he was looking for, instead only 300 people showed up.

Two good runs

I meant to write yesterday , but I never got around to it for some reason. Yesterday I ran my volcano run. It was a beautifully cloudy cool day and I headed out for my big hill run. Its sort of funny, anywhere I go is really a hill run. We live on top of a high point which is great when it comes to flooding (for some reason we still have to waste money on flood insurance.) Its also good for getting in some solid hill stretches. Every run I do has a stretch where I am hitting the hills. This really helped out two years ago when I did the Portland Marathon. There is a murderous stretch around mile 17 where you run up a long slope to cross the St. Johns Bridge, once up the slope you have to continue the climb to get over the bridge. When I ran tons of people had to walk this stretch, whereas I, with my neighborhood hill training, was able to blow by around 200 (yep I counted!) runners (or walkers). It was a huge boost to me and I found myself flying across the bridge. I got into a small group where we went back and forth for the rest of the race. One guy blew away from us early, but I took the rest of them, even causing one guy to let out a huge gasp and say "oof, ok you win!" My last mile to the marathon was probably my fastest I ran the whole race.

Today, I ran my usual log route (9.5 miles). As I have said before, I run through the canyon at Reed near the end of my runs. Early in the morning I find that I am the first one up and through the canyon. I base this on the fact that I clear out the spider webs all the way through. Sort of my civic duty I guess. Must not make the spiders so happy though.

Both of these runs were pretty slow (8.45+ minute miles) which I attribute mostly to some foot pain I have been having on teh top of my left foot. It is a lot better, but it is still there. I wonder how much of it is due to the new shoes and the fact that I ran on both pairs without going for a short break-in run. That's what I get!

Still taking a break today, maybe

My foot seems to feel a lot better, if not fully healed after several days of running rest. I considered getting up early this morn and going for a run, but the Olympic gold metal basketball game kept me up till 1:30 or so. So I am continuing my rest, even though I would like to get over the 30 mile mark this week (I wouldn't need to do a long one...) I am heading to a movie which will feature four miles of walking or so, but maybe afterwards if the 70 degrees holds up, I stick in a short one. Tomorrow morning I am going to try to run with the senator and his gang, hopefully the rain won't bother them. I for one am looking forward to it.

Third long day in a row

I would say third times a charm, but after three long days in a row (9+) my weekly total is looking good, but my foot isn't. Actually my feet don't look any worse than normal (I apparently have inheritted my mom's feet, she always said they were ugly but I like them (oops that probably sounds weird...)). The problem seems to be with a pain (of the week) on the top of my foot. I noticed it yesterday, and of course I had to push it today. It isn't too bad and I am hoping for some comfort after some ice and a day of rest. It is odd, not sore to the touch or anything, but if I put pressure on it with my finger and then flex my foot it hurts pretty badly. Tomorrow's rest will be greatly enjoyed.

I am reading an interesting book called CC Pyle's Amazing Race about a promotor in 1928 who organized a running race across America from LA to NYC. These people were running like 50 mi a day every day with no rest. It amazes me the sorry condition that they were in along the way. The allure of cash prizes was enough to keep them going. Some of them had trainers helpingthem out, but mostly they starved and dehydrated along the way and relied on strangers in the towns they ran through to keep them going. They slept in tents through all sorts of horrible weather and were woefully unprepared gear-wise. At one point Pyle hired a cobbler to come along to repair shoes if the racers could afford it. Many ran barefoot until they could run no more. 200 started out and into Oklahoma they are down to 80 or so. It was a wildly popular even for awhile until people got bored with the shambling corpses pretending to be runners. In one funny story one of the racers donned a pair of bright red shorts hoping to seperate himself from teh other runners and gain some popularity. He didn't get too far before a bull in a nearby field saw him and gave chase. He set the record for the fastest time that day!

Running in the rain

Ahh, back to running. We had family in town for the past week and Ruthann was organizing our neighborhood picnic, so we have been very busy these last 7 days. No time for running or blogging, or anything else for that matter. My mom and her husband left yesterday, but I managed to get a good run in in the morning. I wore my brand new New Balance 800s. I should have run a shorter run with them first to break them in, but I kicked out 9 miles, I was just to anxious to get back. It was also rainy after several days of really hot weather. I was a little dissapointed that the traction on them was not the greatest. It was some of the first rain we have had in awhile, so perhaps it was the oils on the road. Today I went out again in the rain and decided to wear my old Mizunos, I couldn't bring myself to wear my new ones yet, guess I'll keep them prostine for another day or so. Plus I think I will go out with them tomorrow for a short run to break them in since they will be my primary shoes for the next 500 miles or so.

Back to the New Balance 800s, overall I liked them a lot. They really do force a mid foot-strike that was very comfortable. Oddly they don't have a tongue and are a little hard to get on, but not horribly so. They are very lite and comfortable. They seem like a small shoe in the sole, but they are supposed to be a trail shoe, so I imagine they are tough (I hope.) I did notice that my orthotics do not fit in them, so I would guess they run small, like say by a half size. I ended up using my inserts I just got in them for a little extra comfort. I do really like the way my feet land so flatly, I am curious to see how much I continue to enjoy that in the future.

Yesterday I took it pretty slowly and got passed by a number of other runners. I'm not so sure I like that! Might be the incentive I needed to get started on my speed work.

Light running coming up

I have some light running happening in the next week or so. Family is coming into town and we will all be enjoying our neighborhood festival, the Woodstock Picnic that my wife Ruthann has a huge part in organizing. I'll actually be doing a lot of running that day, but nothing that I get to log miles for, just running from booth to booth helping out.

My light week got a grand start when I decided not to get up this morning for a run. I got a late finish to my day last night and didn't get around to do my rebif until after 9:00. I like to give myself an hour after injection before knocking off for bed, but last night I was ready after 30 mins and was out no problem. It was probably a good idea to not run this morning as something is causing my allergies to go haywire. Before I was diagnosed I was convinced (well hopeful anyway) that my issues where allergy related. I noticed that the symptoms I was having (my spells especially) seemed to lessen if I took an antihistimine. I have read things recently that support this, but I also red an article the other day saying just the opposite, figures. Anyway, I took one today for sure.

Ugg, 98 and humid coming up Friday. My mom is gonna love that!

Running for office

Well, OK, not really running for office, but today I did run with a State Senator! I was plodding along not making very good time when I heard a couple of runners behind me. I moved over to the side of the road and guys passed me by. I congratulated them on their "nice pace" and then decided I'd keep up with them. Lately I have been running anywhere from 8 to 8:45 minute miles, these guys were cruising along at at least a 7:30 pace. But I though what the heck, we don't have too much further to go along the park blocks near Reed. Well it was actually further than I thought, but I kept up. As we neared Reed, I had plans to do my extra miliage loop through the campus. I figured they'd turn off and I would be able to slow down. Nope, they continued along my path. Maybe they will turn onto the foot bridge, nope they continued on my route. So at this point I said "I'm never gonna get to slow down if you guys keep going on my route!" They laughed and we started talking. Well the one fellow introduced himself as State Senator Rod Monroe, I was running with a celebrity! He said they run this route every Monday and invited me to join them. I really hope I run into them again.

On the subject of politics, (I think I may have mentioned this at one point) one of the indications of the economy that I, as a runner notice, is the frequency of port-a-potties at construction sites. The worse off the economy, the less there are. Two years ago there were tons of them on my route. If I needed to find one, it was relatively easy to seek them out. In the last year or so it has been increasingly harder to find them. Fortunately my normal route goes through an affluent neighborhood, folks there still have money to remodel and therefor I can find them if I need them. I actually have several mapped out in my mind! Today the need cam on while I was far away from any that I knew of. Fortunately I saw one at a dead-end at the bottom of a hill. I ran down the hill and found it locked! Then I headed to the park (which many times the bathrooms are locked before 7.) It was before 7. So I uncomfortably continued on my way. Oh good, there is one. Locked as well! Finally I got to one I had mapped in my mind, but never used. Well I should have, it was nice! Well, nice as a port-a-pot can be on the side of the road.

BTW, 34.5 miles last week. I doubt I will make my 30 mark this week or next as my mom is coming to town. She and her husband John are staying at a motel that I will get at least a mile or two in running to it to meet them in the morning. I think my body could use a little break anyway.

Good morning run

I had a good morning run today. As I was waking up and drinking a cup of coffee we got a little rain burst. It didn't last long, but ti made me think about wearing my Aisics Kayano shoes as they slip in the rain. Since it didn't last very long (the group barely seemed wet except for some big raindrops) I continued my change of shoe. Well apparently once I got off the hill we live on, it rained pretty hard elsewhere and I skidding along on them.

Speaking of shoes, I wish I hadn't purchased my new pair of Wave Riders as New Balance just came out with a new shoes designed for Chi Running and the mid-foot strike, the New Balance 800. Ok, I caved. I just ordered a pair I found on clearance. I can always save the Wave Riders for down the road (no pun intended.)

An odd thing happened on my run this morning. I was going alog and all of a sudden I felt this twinge in my back. I have had somethign similair when I was lifting buckets of water out of our goose pond. Fortunately this wasn't nearly as bad. I hadn't hit the slippery streets yet, so that wasn't it. It just happened. So I slowed to a walk and after a half block it felt better, better enough that I could continue my run. For the remainder of my time I focused on relaxing my back and that also seemed to help. I visualized the muscles being loose and relaxed, as if the tension I was now feeling was just slipping away. Ah, the power of the noodle!

Good news and bad

Bad news first, it has been confirmed by a second (and actually third and a 4th year OHSU student) that I have ms. The good news is that I didn't purchase this domain www.runwithms.com in vain. I'll run with the good news. Plus I would have felt awfully silly saying to you all that "oh BTW, I don't have ms afterall." So life goes back to normal (well normal as of late) and I can stand up and yell "Huzzah! I have ms!"

I almost didn't make it to OHSU for my appt. The paperwork they ahd sent me said to be there 30 minutes early and if I were 10 minutes late, they might reschedule me. Well it had taken me 3 months to get this appt, so I wanted to make sure I arrived on time. I checked our transit systems trip track (a great online utility that you plug in a start and finish location as well as a time you leave or arrive and it returns the exact (well mostly) busses you need to use to get there.) I discovered it would only take about 35 minutes to get there, no need to have Ruthann drive me after all. I had one connection to make and I'd be there.

So first off the bus was packed and therefor slow. Then I accidentally got off a stop early. The road at my connection is pretty crazy and busy, so to discourage people from cossing the busy streets they have tunnels under the roads (which by the way are one of the least desirable places I have ever been, gross!) So I take the tunnel and come out in completely the wrong area. I keep walking and see my stop, but darn it, it is going in the wrong direction. I 'm looking around and I see no other 66 stop and noone around me has any idea where I should go including a bus driver. So I cross a couple of streets and low and behold, there is my stop. So I sit down to wait for it, luckly I had my Murakami book to keep me company. I read and read and read and no bus. There is a schedule on the wall of the bus shelter, so I check it out an dfind out that the last 66 runs at 8:04 in the morning, apparently the bus I was to connect with that I missed. Arrg!

So another bus comes and I ask him if there is another way to get to OHSU. He says yes, get on my bus and get off at the next stop, then walk 3 blocks up to Broadway and catch the 8. So I do that, wait at the stop and get on the next 8. The clinic supplied me with a map whcih I think is designed to confuse. I get totally lost in my head and have to ask the driver wher I get off, I tell him I need to be near the tram (an actual tram that the city paid a ton of money for to take people from an area by the river that nobody can get to up to the top of "pill" hill where Oregon Health Science University is.) So he gets me close and I am looking around and at mu map and nothing is adding up. By this time I am way late, I don't even want to know the time. I stop a girl and she says "Oh the building you want isn't on the hill, it is down below, you'll need to take thr tram to get there." I think to myself crap, but at leat I get to ride the tram. You get a nice view of Portland and of the neighborhood that protested vehemantly by placing signs on thier roofs that said "%$#^ the tram". Unfortunately the signs were no longer up. When I finaly got the nuerology dept. I realized my fears where for naught and they got me right in. I didn't even have to wait.

So trip asside, the diagnosis was that I have ms. Dr. Edgar put me through all the tests and determined that I am not showing any signs of symptoms or that would send up warning flags that the ms is progressing. Basically I am your standard relapsing/remitting ms person. He did say I was in good health and that given that and how I responded to the testing that I have a good chance of no progressing quickly. He looked at my MRI with another Dr and student and they came back to say keep doing what you are doing, especially when it comes to exercise.

I had pretty much accepted the fact that I have ms, so I decided to try to understand as much about running and ms as I could from this visit. Both doctors assured me that running and the exertion wasn't going to futher the progress of the disease at all. I had been a little concerned that by pushing it and bringing on potential psuedo attacks (or incidents of elevated symptoms, in my case the spells), that I may be doing damage. They both assured me that all resaearch indicates that this is not the case. They have several ms patients who run marathons as well and they absolutely agree that exercise has a positive effect on ms patients. Hurray!

96 now, 56 when I ran

It is totally hot today. Good thing I went on my run at 6:30. After about 30 mins though it seemed like it went up about 15 degrees. I actually ended up pooping out at the end and cut it short by a mile, still a good tun at 8.5 mi although it was a slow one. My ankle was a little sore this morning but not bad at all. Certainly didn't keep me in bed!

I found a pair of Mizuno Wave Runners in my size online at clearance, so I went ahead and bought them. Apparently Mizuno has discontinued the model which happens with running shoes all the time. It really bugs me. One of my favorite shoes, Aisics Gel Evolution, was discontinued and the replacement model was awful. I read several reviews on it after I bought it that came to the same conclusion.

I am in the middle of watching a good Thai movie called Ong-Bak that has a great parkour scene in it. You can see it here over at YouTube. The beginning of the video is a scene from the movie where the main character leaves the village to try to return the head of Ong-Bak, a statue of their Buddha deity. After 45 seconds or so, it skips ahead to the parkour stuff, which is a superb blend of running and martial arts.

Tomorrow I go to get a second opinion about my ms, not that I think they will say anything different.

Back to it

After a good icing yesterday, on top of 5 days of no running, I returned to the roads this morning with a long 9.6 mi run. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that as one thing you definitely don't want to do after an injury is run the freakin' longest run you've done all year! One of my biggest mistakes I consistently make is powering through injuries. I have the hardest time easing back into running after attaining a level of fitness, especially when I am still close to that level when I return. In defense of today's run, I was well rested and the injury to my ankle was not that bad, but still...

Today was the first day I have run on my new OTC Sorbothane UltraSole inserts and I have to say they are great. I was looking for more cushion in general which they more than adequately provided and specifically more cushion on the balls of my feet, which they did to a certain extent. I realize that no insert is going to quickly fix a foot issue, but these did provide some relief. The store owner said they will last for 2-3 years, which I sort of doubt. Then again store owners generally want you to return to purchase more and will tell you that they will last less than you might expect. I picked them up at PaceSetters in Portland and I have to say I had a really good experience there. In the last couple of years I had stopped going to them even though they are in my neighborhood because the help had been rude to me on several occasions. This time they stepped it up and even gave me some samples of a replacement drink they are discontinuing. So I am back on the PaceSetters bandwagon, just in time to buy a new pair of shoes.

Speaking of new shoes, I am not sure I want to try another pair of Mizuno Wave Runners. They were a good shoe though, wide and very very comfortable. I have to say they are about the uggliest running shoe I have ever worn, but who cares (well I guess I do since I sadly seem to move them over to my normal daily shoes once they wear out for running.) I fear I am being a sucker for advertising. Why switch shoes if these work for me? Well those New Balance shoes look really comfortable, and the woman wearing them in the ad is really pretty. Or those new Adidas shoes have that springy looking sole, I bet that's comfortable. Ack, I should stick with what I like. Take that advertising!

Arrg, no long run for me today

Despite my goals and desires to run far today, I have let reason win out. I am going to stay in and rest my ankle. I did a lot of walking yesterday and didn't feel a lot of pain, I was hoping I'd wake up and it would feel good to go. I would be deceiving myself and body if I said it were. I even considered taking an aspirin and heading out, the ultimate deception.

Staying home will give me a couple more hours to read a book I just bought "What I talk about when I talk about running" by Haruki Murakami. I read a review about the book at a cafe yesterday and had to run out and buy it. I hardly ever buy new books, but this one beckoned. I have read several of his fiction books in the past and loved them. This one is a memoir on his running life and sounded really interesting. So far (40 pages) he sounds a lot like myself in that he runs not to be competitive but to enjoy his own self-accomplishment. When he does race, he races against the clock not others. He also runs about the same weekly miliage I do! I am really looking forward to this little book.

He trips, he falls

I have been feeling a little wobbly these last couple of days. I guess it is a good thing I haven't been running. I forgot to set my alarm Tuesday and I got up too late to run. I was bummed at first, but then decided I could use the rest. Yesterday, I was waiting for Ruthann to get back from work in teh afternoon. I got all dressed, stretched out, then I decided it was a little too warm to go. This was a good thing as, like I said, I have been feeling a little wobbly (I also forgot my dylantin the other night which I think contributed to the wobblyness.)

So I decided to walk to the running store as I wanted to get some cushioning inserts for my old shoes. As I was walking down the street and getting ready to turn into the park, I watched a couple of kids on bikes on the path I was heading into. I turned on the path and next thing I knew I was tripping and going down. I was fine, scraped my knee and hands, and popped back up a little embarrassed to fall in front of the kids. But they just ignored me (not sure if I were glad or irritated that they didn't even ask me if I were ok...) My first thoughts were my shoes and the slippery socks I was wearing. They are really thin and make my feet lide in my shoes. I had long decided to only wear them inside with no shoes but for some reason I had them on. My second thought was to an article I had just read in our local paper about a woman who has ms who basically denied to herself and others around her that she had ms, taking the path of avoidance. She was a trial lawyer and firmly believed thgat she was too great and too self important to have ms. I was completely irritated with her and the stry, I wish I had never read it (though I wish her the best of luck, she has now come out that she has ms.) Her "inspirational" was not working for me. Then again, I do think it played a part in me both telling this story and realizing that I may have fallen due to my ms. Then again I may have just tripped, but I can usually catch myself.

So I am behind on my miles for the week, I need to make up 13 this weekend. My ankle is a little sore, but I may try a long run anyway if it is able to bounce back. I have been wanting to try a half-marathon distance for awhile now, I think I am fully prepared physically to do it comfortably (well. with the acception of my ankle that is.) We'll see. I decided not to run today as I have a meeting I need to go to this afternoon, and I don't want to push my wobblyness (if it is still around today, so far I feel ok.) I also have a lot of walking to do today, which should be a good break.

I did get some cushioning inserts at the running store that I am anxious to try out. I had to get a larer size and then trim them down, but I am sure that will be fine. The brand I got is Sorbothane UltraSole, I'll give a full report as I test them out. I also picked up some gels that I have never tried before; one by Clif and another by powerbar. Its been awhile since I have done the gel thing while running long distances, but I always liked the carb boost. They are a little messy and as careful as I try to be I always seem to get it all over my hands, sticky mess. Further revies coming, hopefully this weekend.