JustaMom - you are doing great. Congrats on losing the holiday pounds!
SalveMater- My S goes to school in the UK. At first he was “never coming back”, but that has worn off. Give him time.
Walk with the pup this morning, both on and off the beach. Things were cut a little short by a short passing rainstorm. Then a walk to the weekly Farmers’ Market. We bought a few things, but honestly, stuff was pretty expensive.
XC skiing today, the snow was great! I took a lesson which was great but I am worn out. And I got a big blister on my heel for no apparent reason.
Next week the weather is going to warm up which is very disappointing. Once we get snow I like it to stay. This warming up and melting and then freezing is for the birds.
Hugs, @SalveMater . I have a nomadic kid, too - I guarantee he will be homesick and happy to come home by the end of his study.
Walked all over the city… Checking out the new bus/walk route to a potential house now. 
Fell asleep on the chaise lounge in the pool area today for 1/2 hour. Felt refreshed! Ran 5 quick miles on the treadmill afterwards.
Haven’t had this happen before. I did a 40 minute cardio/core training today - a combo of all kinds of things - stretches, jumping jacks, lunges, push ups, squats, etc. - when I finished I had a Fitbit notification congratulating me on my “40 minute elliptical workout” - so odd! I don’t know if I’ve ever had it “guess” what I was doing!
Lol. Abasket!!! Mr. got a similar message after pedaling his recumbent bike for 45 min. Must be a new update.
Tried another longer run today. I managed to go 8 miles at a 9:36 pace. I felt like I was not doing very well, but my feet did not cause me as much pain as before. If I can do this for the half marathon, I think I can probably make my required qualifying time, as I would only have to go about 13 minute miles for the next five (if I got my math right). Blisters started to hurt around the 7 mile point.
@nottelling, I don’t know that the blister filled gel pads that you linked actually are available any more. Do you get them from Walgreens? I ordered from two different places on Amazon, EXACTLY as you linked, and got two different orders of the wrong thing…Band-Aid Blister Gel guard for heels. When I go on the Walgreens site you linked and go to the specific description, that is also what I see, not the Advanced Healing Blister Ampoules. None of the three Walgreens I visited had it either. How do you find that? Or do you get the Gel guard for heels?
I just got mine at CVS. The important thing is that they have the gel in them and that they are not the tiny ones for fingers and toes. Mine are definitely the healing ones. Im surprised they dont have them because I go thru boxes of them. I will have to check the specifics. I think the heel ones should work.
Topic du jour… Hydration. I KNOW I’m not getting enough water. Every morning, a co worker and I go to the cafeteria and fill up our water bottles, every morning, I end up dumping out all of yesterday’s water before the fill up. I just can’t seem to remember to drink, even though I know how important it is!!! What are your tricks?
3+ mile early morning walk on the beach, this time WITHOUT the pup. Found quite a few interesting shells and lots of shark’s teeth. By later in the day the other beachcombers have picked over all the “good” stuff.
Congrats on the weight loss, NMinn!
@JustaMom5465, back in June there was a lengthy discussion about hydration. Rather than try to recap it all here, you may want to go back to those posts. Lots of divergent opinions about what constitutes adequate hydration. There are also issues of electrolyte balances and hyponutremia if you engage in frequent strenuous activity, particularly in heat. Bear in mind that hydration can come not just from liquids but from the foods you consume. While drinking adequate water is the mainstay of hydration, eating foods containing water, like fruits, also can contribute significantly to getting adequate hydration.
Thanks for looking at them. I tried the heel ones and they didn’t seem to work, but maybe I’ll use them for healing, if that is helpful. What is weird is that the box looks completely different from the one advertised. I’ll check out CVS also. I have a Walgreens generic on right now that looks similar to what you linked.
I don’t drink much water. I’m not good at it. I think I get dehydrated overnight, but I get up enough to pee, so I’m really not interested in forcing more fluids.
Bus- I’m worried about how painful it is going to be for you to actually do the Pike’s Peak race. Besides your foot pain, there’s the fact that it’s straight up- not to mention the altitude. It’s humbled a lot of runners I know who are very used to difficult trail climbs.
10 1/2 miles for my longest run in awhile. I didn’t look at my splits at all, and wound up a little too fast overall. I felt OK, although I overdressed. 49 and humid to start and it wasn’t supposed to change much, but it actually got up into the high 50s. I started with the thin Oiselle windbreaker and at mile 3 I rolled it up into it’s pocket and strapped it on my arm. Still had a long sleeved shirt and tights. I actually felt pretty decent for a change. I had no water, but I did OK. Took a Huma gel at 5 miles without water, which isn’t ideal, but it worked OK.
My Palm Springs movie-themed 5k is done. Second in my age group, a photo with Elvis (young Elvis, cardboard) that I may or may not buy, a tiny Oscar statuette as the finisher medal, not a PR (the middle mile had a nasty uphill bit and I slowed way down) but my 2nd fastest 5k, so not that bad either. Garmin said 3.19 miles–I never know if these races are inaccurate or my Garmin is. Next week I have a 5k on an USATF certified course, which I entered just so I could calibrate my Garmin 
Congrats dmd! And I would definitely spring for the Elvis picture
I’m glad to have the 13.1 mile “virtual half marathon” done! We had freezing rain overnight so there was a glaze of ice on portions of the trail that made for dicey running. The first 2 miles (and consequently the last 2 miles since it’s a straight run down the trail, turn around and come back) had the most ice. There are two bridges on the route where the trail has an overpass over main roads below. I was very aware of “Bridge freezes before roadway” (or whatever those signs say!) because they were both a solid sheet of ice! So it was careful walking up and down those bridges, holding onto the handrail all the way. The middle miles, from 2-11 of the run were pretty much just wet pavement with only the occasional ice patches. I’m so glad that run is over with, it was really hard. Not just because of the ice and running in a light freezing rain the whole time, but I think from having several reduced mileage weeks from weather and being sick, I’ve lost some of my stamina as well as my legs getting sore. So overall it was a much slower overall pace than usual, but I’m really happy to have gotten it done!
dmd77 - your 5K sounds really fun! Great job on placing 2nd in your age group and having your 2nd fastest 5K!
CBBBlinker - your beach walk sounds so lovely! How cool to find shells and sharks teeth! How big are sharks teeth?
Busdriver - it’s really a shame that you continue to have so many problems with the blisters. I admire your perseverance.
MOWC - great job with your long run this morning! You definitely have warmer temps and it’s hard to dress for a long run when the temperature varies so much from start to finish.
Woo-hoo, dmd! Go for the Elvis picture.
Yay dmd. Good race. Courses are measured the shortest route- so you need to hug the curb and run the tangents to really hit it accurately. Garmins do have a margin of error, too. I can usually tell if a course is way off or if it is a weaving or Garmin thing.
C3B- way to get the half done. The ice sounds terrifying.
Way to go DMD! Haha on Elvis!
I’m not a good water drinker either - I just don’t drink a lot of any beverage. A way that I try to get some water in - the first thing I do when I come downstairs to the kitchen in the morning is I grab a glass fill it with water and guzzle it down with my calcium pills. That’s one good glass to start the day. I also drink water with all meals - again, not a lot but it is water.