<p>Jane- those are some amazing shoes! My zero drop shoes look like their babies!</p>
<p>Thanks, BB. What do you think caused your cramp?</p>
<p>Yay to MOWC and daughter!</p>
<p>I very, very rarely get muscle cramps, so I am really puzzled… The flight from CA was very short, I ate a ton of bananas and hydrated really well during the day… I did have a Mother Nature’s “gift” from hell this month, which lasted more than 10 days (!), so the cramp might have something to do with that unfortunate event. Oh, well. Scared the sheets out of Mr B, who thought I had a nightmare. I would have gladly picked a nightmare over that horrid cramp.</p>
<p>All this talk about shoes reminded me: I need to order some Husky colored running shoes, since my favorite Brooks are getting old. Ahhh, purple shoes! :)</p>
<p>Sounds like you need the Mizuno Enigma, BB.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Mizuno Women’s Wave Enigma Running Shoe: Shoes](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Mizuno-Wave-Running-Anthracite-Aquarius/dp/B005CKZNV4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348345458&sr=8-1&keywords=mizuno+enigma]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Mizuno-Wave-Running-Anthracite-Aquarius/dp/B005CKZNV4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348345458&sr=8-1&keywords=mizuno+enigma)</p>
<p>I was 6 of 58 in the age group, 641 of 2823 for females. There were just a handful of men in the race (charity group coaches and a few spouses in tutus). Not too bad considering the dead legs and rib issues.</p>
<p>Nice work, MOWC. :)</p>
<p>Tried out the gym today. Bikes, treadmill, weights – fine. Couldn’t figure out how to sync with the elliptical, lol.</p>
<p>Awesome job, MOfWC! What a stellar run! I bet the 5 ladies who outran you did not have any sore ribs or 21 milers. Imagine what you can do when you are in a 100% race-ready shape!</p>
<p>I found my shoes. :)</p>
<p>[Brooks</a> PureFlow® Neon Purple/Deep Blue/Black - Zappos.com Free Shipping BOTH Ways](<a href=“Brooks pureflow neon purple deep blue black brooks + FREE SHIPPING | Zappos.com”>Brooks pureflow neon purple deep blue black + FREE SHIPPING | Zappos.com)</p>
<p>^^^ Those are great. I have the purple and they will probably be my marathon shoe. I’ve been doing my long runs in them (including the fall…)</p>
<p>I’m back. Cats are glad to see me. Legs aren’t working very well. </p>
<p>Hiked my first 4000 footer today. Started up the trail just before 9:30 with the mountain shrouded in a cloud and misting, 48 degrees. By 11, the fog/clouds had burned off and it was a spectacular blue sky September day.</p>
<p>I got chicked, geezered, big dogged, little dogged, and boy scout trooped on the way up, but actually beat my goal by an hour. 3.4 miles to the 4300 foot summit (2000 feet of elevation gain) in three hours on the nose. Spent about an hour on the summit. Unbelievable views.</p>
<p>I had read in the guidebooks to allow as much time coming down as going up because this trail is so rocky. They weren’t kidding. 3.4 miles down took me 2:15. Every single step was either on a rock or trying to find a level spot next to a rock. Lots of wet sloping slab rock that made it challenging to stay upright.</p>
<p>Yesterday’s little hike to Rattlesnakes was glorious. Went to an excellent little restaurant for dinner. And the concert was really special. Stayed in a terrific little inn at Waterville Valley – vastly better than the Days Inn on I-93 for the same $150. I would definitely stay there again.</p>
<p>More later. Need a shower and some salad.</p>
idad–sounds wonderful! I am jealous. (of the hike, not the restaurant or inn). 
<p>I’m jealous of all of it. Glad you had a good couple of days, iDad.</p>
<p>Looking good!</p>
<p>I hiked in a short sleeve shirt. Just threw the long sleeve quarter-zip on when I was lounging around at the summit. A little breezy up there!</p>
<p>I hope that your ribs survived your half marathon today. My legs are toast. This was definitely a stretch today in terms of endurance.</p>
<p>Just did my YMCA weights today - I was very tired at the end of the week and didn’t feel like doing much today. Looks like some serious workouts from the group this weekend though.</p>
<p>iDad, thanks for posting the pics. That’s a ways up there at the summit. I imagine your kitty cats are going to have to really work at it if they want to try and wake you up for a 3:30 am snack tonight. </p>
<p>You bagged your first 4000! :)</p>
<p>This was #24 on the list of [48</a> NH 4000 footers](<a href=“http://www.amc4000footer.org/wm4.htm]48”>http://www.amc4000footer.org/wm4.htm), but one of the easier ones to climb. Quite a few of them will likely remain unachievable for me. Just too long and arduous.</p>
<p>I’m slow as molasses, but I was pleased at my ability to keep going today with minimal rest stops. The Appalachian Mountain Club Guide lists this hike as 2 hours and 40 minutes to the summlt. I’m usually 50% slower than the “book time” (that’s the target pace of the over-50 hiking group as well), so getting there in 3 hours was excellent. I’m working on going uphill using “the rest step”. Locking the knee and pausing for a split second to give the muscles in both legs a little momentary breather. Goes a long way towards preventing burning legs, which lead to huffing and puffing.</p>
<p>The only way I’m going to get stronger at hiking is from hiking. I must say that there are a lot of really fit looking people on these trails. Great exercise.</p>
<p>Best song dedication ever at last night’s show:</p>
<p>Steve Earle: “This one is for what’s her name, whereever the hell she is…”</p>
<p>Steve Earle, introducing the next song after that: “Same girl, different harmonica…”</p>
<p>^LOL.</p>
<p>Great hike, idad! </p>
<p>I was running errands and doing laundry all day, so by the time I had an opportunity to squeeze in a run, it got too dark to do it outside. Ran 4 miles today on the home dreadmill, 8:15 pace - my fastest dreadmill pace so far this year.</p>
<p>Post birthday event clean up, house work, getting house ready for visitors.</p>
<p>Cals 1302
Fat 89 g
Carbs 18 g
Fiber 0 g
Protein 103 g
Sugars 10 g</p>
<p>63% Fat
32% Protein
6% Carb</p>
<p>Just back from shopping. I went to get some coffee and they had free gingerbread cookies there. I brought my wife a cup of coffee and asked her if she wanted one and she said no. I wandered back over there to get some more coffee and before I got there, I saw a young girl with her hands in the basket. She was shorter than the counter so she reached her hands above her head and into the basket feeling around for cookies and took two of them.</p>
<p>Well, I’m trying to go low-carb anyways.</p>
<p>One thing I look at from time to time is calories/$. They had a mini-donut display so I had a look at the nutritional information. Basically, you get 12 mini-donuts for $0.99 and it worked out to about 2,600 calories/$.</p>
<p>I then went over to the baking aisle and checked out a 5 pound bag of sugar. You get about 2,800 calories/$. So the donuts are a pretty good deal if you don’t want to eat granulated sugar on a budget. Most foods are considerably more expensive on a calories/$ measure.</p>