TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

Muddy Buddy, Austin, TX, teamed up with Karen Fuller. Bike & run race. We won the Masters division for 2nd year in a row, (out of 20 teams). We beat all 52 of the Masters & Beast teams. Preparation for Pikes Peak.

Monday night speed work at McNeil High School

Ran Williamson County Park, 2 mile mulch trail and 2 mile gravel trail.

10 easy miles up the Mt. Bonnell loop.

Ran McNeil High School.

Drove 15 hours from Austin, TX to Colorado Springs, CO

Jogged in Manitou Springs with my grand-daughter. Picked up race packet for Pikes Peak Marathon.

Pikes Peak Marathon, 7hr 8min 37sec; 16th place of 50; running while recovering from muscle disorder (Polymyalgia Rheumatica)on 8mg Prednisone medication.

Wednesday night at Williamson County Park. Warmups, then 1 mile on the track (100M & 10 pushups; 100M 10 crunches; 100M 10 lunges; 100M 10 jumps; repeat 4 laps); then the 2 mile loop on the gravel trail.

Monday night at McNeil High School. Easy warmup with Daniel Foland, great talk with Daniel. Speed work: 700M, 4 times, increasing pace by 20 seconds each set (paces: 7:45; 7:25; 7:10; 6:50). Ran with Andy.

Race: Payson Onion Days 5k, in Payson, Utah. 2nd place finish in age group 55-59. Time: 22:43. Still in recovery mode from Pikes Peak.

Went to Florence HS and walked with Lynn.

McNeil High School with Donnie's group. 1 mile warmup, 1 mile cool down, 8 each 300M speed work

Walked 3 easy miles at Florence High School with Lynn. Using my new Velocy shoes.

walked with Lynn. Sasha asked if I am injured. My reply is shown below:

Sasha, no I'm not injured. Once a year I take a month off for deep recovery after doing my late summer or early fall marathon. I did Pikes Peak on August 20th, and I'm taking September off. I do have an issue this year with PolyMyalsiaRheutmatica, a muscle disorder, that I am dealing with, which is why my Boston and Pikes Peak suffered this year. I'm tapering off from the medication, Prednisone, every two weeks. Next Monday I reduce it down to 5mg a day. Thanks for the interest. Paul

Still in my September month recovery from Pikes Peak, running only on Monday nights. Reduced prednisone medication down to 5mg per day starting today. What a fun Monday night at McNeil HS. 2 warmup miles, then Donnie had us do 3 progressive miles each one faster than the previous one. A fun workout running with Karen and Tam. Then Karen and I did a 1 mile cool down. Interesting, the 1 day a week recovery is easy, but after Monday night's run, my upper back of the legs are some stiff on Tuesday.

Recovery month is over. Tonight starts my return to running. Predinsone medication is at 5mg/day. Still feel pretty good.

Fun night at McNeil HS. 2 miles warmup. Donnie had us do 4 sets of 400M medium/hard, 100M jog, 100M hard, 100M jog, repeat for a total of 4 sets. I ran with Karen, she said this run felt better than any for weeks. No asthma issues at all. Did 1 mile cool down. Walked 800M with Daniel and Karen. We are all planning to go out to dinner Friday evening in Austin.

Power walked the Wells Branch trail with my measuring wheel. North loop around the pond is 4.2 miles. South loop also turned out to be 4.2 miles. I plan to run these loops on Tuesday's and Thursdays during lunch.

Feedback from the doctor office today, blood test from Monday showed all reading normal, good news. Still will do Prednisone reducing 1mg every two weeks. Next Monday reduce to 4mg per day.

Temp about 92 degrees. Ran at Williamson County Park with Donnie's Rogue Training group. Warmup 1 mile, then drills, then 3 miles medium, then 1 mile cool down. Ran with Tam, Andy, and Joe. Felt good to have my third day in a row doing something with fitness. Taking it easy these first few weeks of returning to running.

Ran Wells Branch north loop this morning before work. Took it easy, relaxing run. Upper legs a little tight. We will do 10 miles Saturday so this will be my first week of running 5 days a week for over 2 months. Taking it easy with focus on flexibility and base building for the first several weeks, just extending the weekly total.

6:00 AM met Karen F., Karen H. and Katie. Did the 10 mile Mt. Bonnell loop. Met up with Tom about a mile into the run. Took it easy, just wanted to get in the distance and get my 5th day of running in this first week back. Upper legs some stiffness. I was glad to be back when the run was done. Oops, I forgot to take my 5mg of Prednisone this morning, so I just took it as I'm doing this entry. Next run is Monday night at McNeil HS. Karen H said she will join us.

Resting heart rate was 48 this morning. Weight 160 lbs. Still 59 years old. Thinking about getting a Garmin GPS-enabled Forerunner for Christmas. $349.99 right now.

Reduced Prednisone to 4mg per day starting today. Ran at McNeil HS. 2.5 miles warmup with Daniel. His spirits were real good tonight. Then drills, then 2 800M with 200M jog, then 4 100M with 100M jog, then 1 mile cool down. Did warmup with Daniel, ran with Karen & Tam, then cool down mile with Karen & Tam. This workout left me feeling pretty good. Legs feel somewhat energized tonight. This is my 2nd week back at running.

Temp 90 degrees with humidity. Feel pretty good overall. Ran this evening on the gravel trails on the farm. Making sure I stay on track for 5 days running a week. Tomorrow run at Williamson County Park with Tam and Kent & Donnie's group.

Temp 90 degrees. Ran Williamson County Park. 2.3 warm-up miles with Tam on the mulch trail. Drills with Donnie's group. 2 miles with Donnie's group, 1.7 mile cool down with Daniel. Nice workout, 3rd day in a row this week. Overall the body is feeling pretty good. 3rd day on 4mg per day Prednisone, so far so good.

6:15 AM, Wells Branch trails, 74 degrees. Great conditions. Upper legs very stiff as I'm in my 2nd week of doing 5 days a week, and after running last night my legs were real tight this morning. Took it very easy, but really enjoyed the run. Ended up laughing at myself at the very slow times, but it still felt good to be out and on my target to get in 5 days this week. Next run will be Saturday's long run, either 10 or 13 miles.

As I ran this morning I was thinking of the runners doing St. George. I had run St. George the past 5 years, but didn't make the lottery this year. Maybe next year.

Ran 11 miles on the country roads here north of Liberty Hill, TX west of Florence, TX. Really enjoyed the run, with Lynn following me in my truck as a support team. I had drinks at the end of every mile. First 3 miles downhill, 4th and 5th miles mostly uphill, 6th mostly downhill, 7th mostly uphill, 8th and 9th generally downhill, and 10th mostly uphill. The pace was generally very easy as this finishes the 2nd week back to running 5 days a week, but I felt real good. Legs and joints (knees, hips) feel good.

Fastest mile was a relaxing 7:30. Slowest mile was 9:45 with the hills. I'm encouraged as I felt this run was smoother and easier than the 10 mile run last Saturday.

Wow, reading the St. George Marathon stories is so impressive. PR's everywhere with awesome times!! I hope I make the lottery next year.

Today is a day off. Age still 59. Weight 160, did body fat measurement at the YMCA last Thursday: 14.6%. Body fat goal for Boston next April is to be below 10%. Resting pulse as I woke in the morning: 49. Prednisone medication still at 4mg per day for one more week, then drop to 3mg per day. Muscles a little tight today after yesterday's run.

Ran at McNeil HS. Just did 7 easy steady miles, 4 with Tam & Andy, 3 by myself. All I'm trying to do is continue the 5 days a week running. Into my 3rd week of 5 days a week.

Also trying to figure out if the general stiffness and aches in my legs in the morning is from the ramp up of running, or from the tapering down of the Prednisone medication, down to 4mg a day the rest of this week. Next Monday drop to 3mg a day.

Ran at Williamson County Park. Ran 2 medium effort miles on the mulch trail with Ethan. Ran 2 easy road/trail miles with Daniel and Ethan. Ran a medium/hard mile with Tam and Andy. Then a cool down mile.

Called the doctor today about the sore neck in the mornings and aches in upper legs. He agreed I should raise the Prednisone medication back up to 5mg a week for a couple of weeks, then we will talk more. I will start the 5mg on Thursday.

Raised medication to 5mg Prednisone starting today. Neck and upper legs felt lots better.

Temp 90 degrees & high humidity. Ran Wells Branch north and south loops, twice each. Ran an easy pace just to get the distance in.

I was suprised by the heart rate being so high considering how easy I was running. I don't normally check heart rate, but after looking at the heart rate that Sasha had running St. George, I decided to start measuring my own.

When Sasha was blasting his sub 6 minute miles his heart rate was lower than mine today running in the heat, but running easy. I got up to HR of 168 while running an easy 8:24 and 8:52 paces, unbelievable. I'm going to pay a lot more attention to HR. My measurement method was a finger on the neck for 15 seconds at the end of a mile, then multiply by 4. I'm getting more serious about buying a Garmin 305 toy, so I can have a much better HR record.

Temp about 84 degrees. Heart rate was better than yesterday in the 90 degree noon temps. I didn't have any mile marker information on tonight's route.

Tonight HR was: Segment 1: 8:51 HR 152; Segment 2 8:41 HR 148; Segment 3: 8:49 HR 152; Segment 4: 8:46 HR 152; Segment 5: 8:47 HR 152; Segment 6: 8:55 HR 152; Segment 7: 9:01 HR 152; Segment 8: 8:47 HR 152.

Ran the road and sidewalk down to Parmer and around the block back over to Howard Lane and back to the parking lot at work, and then did an out and back past PN3 just so I could be sure it made at least a 4 mile loop. Then I repeated it again. Our I/T group did a patch tonight that I had to be back here at 7:00 PM to validate, so I did the run around this block.

Prednisone medication this morning: 5mg

Did the Juvenile Diabetes Walk at Dell Diamond and then walked the Georgetown trails with Lynn for about 1 mile. Saw Donnie O'Neil running on the trail. He said he was doing 10 miles at a 6:30 pace. He looked like the 6:30 pace was real smooth for him.

Temp 90 degrees. Ran McNeil HS. Easy running just for the exercise. Mile 1 8:58 HR 148; Mile 2 9:44 HR 148; Mile 3 11:05 with Daniel HR 144; Mile 4 11:28 w/Daniel HR 144; Mile 5 8:30 HR 156; Mile 6 8:00 HR 156; Mile 7 7:53 HR 164; (mile 3 thru 7 with Tam); Mile 8 11:06 cool down HR 148 w/Karen.

Prednisone medication at 5mg for PMR. Just trying to exercise the legs.

Temp 88 degrees. Ran Wells Branch loops. Easy running. Mile 1 9:48 HR 144; Mile 2 9:05 HR 144; Mile 3 9:05 HR 144; Mile 4 8:48 HR 156; Mile 5 thru 6.2 20:03 HR 160. Running cautiously just to work the legs. Prednisone medication still at 5mg for PMR.

Temp about 90 degrees, extremely high humidity. Ran at Williamson County Park with Donnie and Kent's group. 1 easy mile warmup with Andy and Scott on the asphalt road route. 3 medium hard miles on the track by running the straights hard and the curves easy. Averaged overall about 8 minute mile pace (9 to 10 min pace on the curves and 6 to 7 min pace on the straights). At the end of the last lap measured HR at 168.

Tam really enjoyed this run tonight. Also saw Daniel and he was in great spirits running with Donnie's group.

Nice temp about 70 degrees. Ran 4 easy miles on the trail on the farm. Mile 1 9:09 HR 140; Mile 2 8:48 HR 144; Mile 3 8:56 HR 140; Mile 4 8:55 HR 144. Legs feel pretty good.

Still on 5mg Prednisone for PMR. Primary focus is just to get out and run 5 times a week. Build on the base and when things get better with the PMR my base will be ready to push it for Boston prep.

Great Saturday run on the Town Lake trail in Austin. Met at the Austim HS tennis courts parking lot at 6:30 AM with Karen and Tom. Tom was only doing 5 miles because of the 1/2 Ironman he and Karen H. are doing next weekend, so we did the Congress Avenue loop with Tom, and then Karen and I did the 7 mile loop down to I-35 and back. Great temp about 70 degrees. HR at end was 140. Easy enjoyable run.

Had some great conversations about a giant woman I helped at work late Friday, and she told me that for an old man I was sure in good shape!! And Tom had a new guy who is training for his first marathon tell Tom that he probably wasn't an athelete, and then after reeling him in, Tom reminded him that he is doing a half Ironman this next weekend. The young guy ate humble pie. Tom reminded him not to judge a book by its cover. Now when he sees Tom, the young guy is asking questions rather than giving opinions.

Karen sprained her left ankle again today with about 1 1/2 miles to go. She had been in to see Dr. Spears a day or two ago about the ankle problem. I sure hope it heals okay. Lynn, Karen and I went over to Maudie's for Mexican taco breakfast.

We saw the stage setup at Zilker Park where Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones will perform today.

Temp about 75 degrees, low humidity, a beautiful evening to run at McNeil HS with Donnie's group. Did 2 miles easy warm-up with Daniel and celebrated his success on the 10 mile race yesterday, a PR and monumental success for his confidence. Also celebrated with Tam and Joe for a great race. And Donnie ran 10 miles at a 6:11 pace, an awesome race.

Ran 4 miles at an 8 min pace with Tam and Andy, taking turns to hold the pace at exactly 8:00. I paced us at 7:58, Tam did 8:00, Andy did 8:00, and I did 7:59. This was fun.

Then did cool down run with Karen and Tam. I felt very good tonight. Muscle isues were minimum. Still on 5mg Prednisone, but felt really good today.

Temp about 70 degrees. Went to the dentist this afternoon, and then went over to Williamson County Park and ran the mulch 2.1 mile trail 5 times. Did the loop in 18:50 HR 144; then in 18:12 HR 160; then in 18:27 HR 154; then in 19:01 HR 152; then in 19:38 HR 152.

I was done with the 10.5 mile run at 5:00 PM. This was a nice run and I had enough time to get in the distance. The rain forecast held off. I only had a few sprinkles fall during the run. Still on 5mg Prednisone.

Temp 86 degrees, high humidity. Ran Wells Branch loops 2 times each one; 2.2 miles north loop and 2.2 miles south loop, for the total 8.8 miles. HR pretty consistent at 156 to 160 depending on the uphill mile or the downhill mile. Ran between 8:34 and 8:50 paces, easy but with a little push. Sweat like a pig with the heat and himidity and sunshine. Still just building base. Still on 5mg Prednisone.

My Garmin 305 arrived yesterday. I charged the battery last night, and tonight I gave it a try running out the driveway onto Hwy 138, then west on Hwy 138 about 200 feet, then back, then back down our driveway.

The plot on the Garmin data did not show me actually on Hwy 138. It looked like it was off calibration about 20 or 30 feet. Also, the driveway and Hwy 138 are flat, but the Garmin showed 33 feet elevation gain, and 45 feet elevation loss. I'll have to see what to do about calibration.

Temp about 80 degrees. New Garmin 305 on my wrist. Ran the track at McNeil HS. First 5 miles alone, then ran 4 marathon pace miles with Tam, one easy mile with Daniel, one cool down mile with Karen.

The Garmin sure makes it fun to monitor heart rate and pace, and then to simply download the data to the computer when I got home.

Heart rate ranged from 156 to 163 most of the time, and then when Tam and I pushed it on the last 1/4 mile of our tempo run, HR went to 174. This is too much fun having the toy to play with.

I didn't run this weekend. At my ripe old age of 59 I realize I need some recovery days mixed in rather than trying to do 5 days a week running. I'm going to basically run every other day, but on the days I run try to make them longer, and then on the recovery day do cross training. Allow the muscle disorder to finish running its course and get off the Prednisone medication. Currently at 5mg a day.

Temp about 60 degrees. Nice evening run at Williamson County Park. Using my Garmin 305 toy, I love it. Ran the mulch trail 4 loops (2.15 miles per loop). Loop 1 pace 8:34 HR 151. Loop 2 pace 8:33 HR 152. Loop 3 pace 8:16 HR 155. Loop 4 8:37 HR 154. Ran a marathon goal pace mile on the track at a pace of 7:09 HR 161. Ran a cool down mile at 7:48 pace HR 157. Walked a lap recovery. Then jogged a easy recovery mile with Daniel just to have time to talk.

Daniel looked extremely good with his running tonight, and he was mentally feeling great.

I think this running every other day doing longer runs and giving me a recovery day is working for me. Still on 5mg Prednisone for PMR.

2nd place in my age group (55-59) out of 30 in our age group. Average pace 7:15. Just 0.7 seconds behind me our running buddy Joe Bernal finished 3rd in our age group.

Karen F and Karen H did great, finishing 10th and 8th in the women's 40 to 44 group out of 130 in their group.

Steve S finished in 21:12.2, Angel F finished in 21:22.5, Lou K finished in 19:11.9, Paul F finished in 19:24.0., Jason A finished in 19:19.4. Everyone in our Monday night group did a great job in this race. Tam ran 17 miles on Saturday so he didn't run the race today.

We ran as part of J's Crew. Karen F organized our team, in recognition of a friend of hers that has cancer.

Ran The Race for the Cure in Austin, TX. 5K race, temp about 65 degrees very high humidity. Great race, over 22,000 participants.

After fighting our way through the mass of slower runners over the first 1/4 mile of the race, the course went uphill for the first mile, up Congress Avenue up to the state capitol. We ran around the capitol, and then got into the downhill running back to the finish line on Auditorium Shores.

The uphill effort was significant, with heart rate steady at 163 to 165. 1st uphill mile pace was 7:35. 2nd mile around the capitol and starting downhill was 6:48 with HR at 166. My Garmin 305 lost the satellite signal somewhere as I ran through the tall buildings in town, because it only showed the total distance of 2.53 miles. But I believe the HR monitoring was pretty close. I sprinted in the last 100 to 150 meters, and the HR went up to 176.

After the race we all went over to Maudie's and had breakfast tacos. This included me, Lynn, Karen F, Karen H, Joe F, Angel F, and Paul F. We saw Steve S there too. The place was loaded and service was really bad (overloaded), but we still like going to Maudie's.

This felt good to get back into a race. We need to do this more often. I took my 5mg Prednisone at 4:00 AM this morning, hoping it would get into my system enough to help hold off the PMR muscle issues during the race, and I think it worked.

Temp about 75 degrees, humidity high. Ran at McNeil HS track. Started about 4:40 PM. Ran alone 5 miles, then Earl showed up and ran with him. Continued my own pace until I had 9.5 miles done, then joined Donnie's group to run with Karen F. & Karen H. & Joe. We did 3 each 1000 meters at paces: 7:15, 7:10, 6:57 each, with 200 meter recovery.

Pace for my first 9.5 miles was generally 8:00 pace, and heart rate was typically about 155. On the 1000 meter runs the heart rate averaged 154, 160, 163. Max HR got up to 171 at the end of the last 1000 meter run.

This was a great night of running. The McNeil HS football team was practicing for the first 9.5 miles of my running, then they turned off the lights when they left, so we ran Donnie's drills in the dark. No problem, a fun run.

Temp about 85 degrees. Beautiful day. Ran at Williamson County Park. 4 loops around the mulch trail, 2.15 miles per loop. Did a ladder method.

1st 2.15 miles at 9:30 super easy pace, HR 141. 2nd 2.15 miles at 9:00 easy pace, HR 147. 3rd 2.15 miles at 8:20 pace, HR 154. 4th 2.15 miles with Tam at 8:00, HR 158. Then ran 2 miles on the track at 8:30 and at 7:26 paces, HR 148 and HR 160. Then 1 mile cool down very easy pace 9:30, HR 137.

Good to see Donnie's group, and to run with Tam and run a little with Daniel. Daniel had achilles pain in both achilles, so after about 2.5 miles he called it off, protecting the injury.

Reduced Prednisone medication from 5mg to 4mg today.

Temp about 83 degrees. Ran alone at Williamson County Park. Did the 2.15 mile mulch trail 4 times then it was dark so I went over to the track and did 2 miles.

Mulch trail: 1st 2.15 miles took it very easy at 9:04 and 9:12 pace, HR at 139 and 145. 2nd 2.15 miles easy at 8:57 and 9:04 pace, HR at 141 and 149. 3rd 2.15 miles picked it up some at 8:36 and 8:05 pace, HR at 146 and 156. 4th 2.15 miles easy at 9:16 and 8:47 pace, HR at 144 and 151.

Then at the track I ran hard on the straight sections and ran easy on the curves for 1.5 miles, and then did a 0.5 mile easy recovery.

Then after running I did 1/4 mile very slow high knee lift steps to assist in flexibility. It took 9 minutes to do one lap of the track. A good flexibility exercise.

By the time I was done at 6:30 PM, the wind had picked up, the temperature began dropping as a cold front is moving into central Texas.

Looking forward to see the Texas Longhorns play Kansas State on Saturday night. It sure was funny to see Rutgers beat 3rd ranked Louisville, after all the media hype for Louisville.

Karen H. and I are going to run the Motive 1/2 marathon race on Sunday morning, but instead of race pace we are doing a weekend training run pace.

Medication at 4mg Prednisone.

Motive Half Marathon, Austin, TX. Temp in high 40's or low 50's, great for running. We picked up Karen H. at 6:40 AM and went over to start the race. Our goal was to run a fun run as a weekend training run, targeting 8:30 to 9:00 pace. Our official chip time average pace was 8:36, so we were right on.

Karen had just finished a great 1/2 Iron-Man race 2 weeks ago, so we didn't want to overdo it today. Karen's friend Casey ran with us for the first 5 miles or so as a bandit. Casey had run the 1/2 Iron-Man with Karen 2 weeks ago. Had fun telling her marathon stories. She wants to qualify for Boston and join Karen and me next April.

We had a great race telling marathon stories, and half Iron-Man stories. Karen is real confident looking forward for her first full Iron-Man next June in Idaho.

I wore the Garmin 305 toy and monitored our pace and my heart rate. We waited until basically all the runners had started the race, and then we started, figuring that anyone in front of us needed to be passed up, even though we were not really "racing" this race. This approach really made the race a lot of fun as we jabbered and ran very much in control for the first 8 miles, and then we started to pick up the pace for the last 5.1 miles. Paces and HR were:

1. 8:51; HR 146.

2. 8:17; HR 153.

3. 8:35; HR 150.

4. 8:33; HR 154.

5. 8:22; HR 151.

6. 9:11; HR 158. Into the hills.

7. 9:14; HR 153. Into the hills.

8. 8:30; HR 152.

9. 8:18; HR 154.

10. 8:33; HR 151.

11. 7:58; HR 154.

12. 8:05; HR 157.

13. 8:23; HR 157.

13.1 7:08; HR 160.

This fun run gave Karen 30th place out of 128 in her age group. It gave me 15th place out of 39 in my age group.

We didn't see Tam, but his finish pace was 8:01, so he had a great race. Also, we didn't see Daniel F., but he finished his first 1/2 marathon. Awesome for Daniel!!

Joe had a great race averaging 8:13 pace, finishing 12th in our age group. Angel had a awesome race averaging a 7:19 pace. Donnie O'neal was out of this world, averaging a 6:29 pace. Donnie's wife, Jill, averaged a 7:19 pace, awesome race. Andy had a 8:05 pace, great race.

Medication at 4mg Prednisone.

Temp about 80 degrees. Ran McNeil HS with Donnie's group. Did 1.4 warm-up miles with Daniel and talked about the 1/2 marathon yesterday. It was the first time he has run that far, and he did it at the same pace he had done a 10K a few weeks ago. Very satisfying for Daniel.

Ran the workout with Joe and Karen H. We did 2 miles, with crunches or push-ups every lap. A recovery workout after running the 1/2 marathon yesterday. 1st mile at 8:46, HR at 132. 2nd mile at 8:34, HR 142.

After the workout the traffic was terrible going north on Parmer. It took 45 minutes just to get to Hwy 620, due to an accident.

Medication at 4mg Prednisone. Do not know if muscle aches is all due to race recovery, or contributed to by reduction of medication to 4mg.

Muscles still hurting some. Seems to have a specific pain in left hip and lower back. Is it still from race recovery, or is it from effects of dropping muscle disorder medication down to 4mg last Wednesday? I don't know right now.

Also working late until 8:15 PM, so I took the day off from running.

Temp about 80 degrees. Ran 11 easy miles over at the Wells Branch trails. Nice day. Legs were still a little out of sorts, since doing the 1/2 marathon on Sunday morning, and reducing the Prednisone medication down to 4mg per day.

Ran at a real easy comfortable pace. 1st 2.21 miles at 9:07 pace, HR 143. 2nd 2.25 at 9:05 pace, HR 146. 3rd 2.25 at 9:06 pace, HR 142. 4th 2.22 miles 9:12 pace, HR 144. 5th 2.25 at 9:24 pace, HR 143.

I was happy to do the run, but I'm a little unsettled about not having the legs feel 100%. I'm not patient enough to put up with this nonsense. Anyway, it sure felt good to get out and get in a run.

Ran Mt. Bonnell with Karen and Karen. A really beautiful morning in Austin, TX. On the way back down from Mt. Bonnell we saw a steady stream of running groups that were headed up that way. What a great running community here in Austin.

Headed for Colorado about 2:00 PM Saturday. Stayed in Dumas, TX Sat night, and got to Colorado Springs about 12:30. Staying the week at Desiree's home.

I told Ethan that the 4mg Prednisone is marginally working. Every morning the neck is stiff, legs are tight and have some goofy aches. It is frustrating. The Poly Myalgia Rheumatica is my main concern right now. I'm probably going to back off on my running intensity, and focus on the PMR, but keep up enough running that I can sustain some kind of base. I need to reach a point that the sore neck and legs is not an issue, so I can increase the running intensity.

This past week Lynn and I were in Colorado with the family for Thanksgiving. We built a horse barn for one of Desiree's horses. Had a great time with the grand-children. I plan to run Monday night at McNeil with Donnie's group. Tuesday I fly to North Carolina and then to Tennessee for the rest of the week.

Ran Monday night at McNeil HS with Donnie's group. Felt great to be out with the bunch at McNeil. Ran first mile real easy warmup, then ran two miles about 7:45 pace. Tam was running 6 miles at about a 7:45 pace, looked pretty strong for his run.

I'm still on 4mg Prednisone for muscle issues. Right heel is still hurting. Being careful.

Ran Town Lake trail with Mike S., our ISO 9001 auditor from Boston. A great relaxing run.

Still 4mg Prednisone, achy muscles, and sore right heel. Poor old me.

Ran 5 easy to medium effort miles at Florence HS. Legs can feel the lack of long runs over the past month. The past two weeks we have been doing the ISO 9001 audit so I have been loaded with that one.

Still on 4mg Prednisone, achy muscles, sore right heel. But it was a beautiful day, temperature about 50 degrees with sun shine during my run.

When I got home they were doing a replay on TV of the Hawaii Ironman from this year. Very inspiring.

Ran McNeil HS with Donnie's group. Beautiful evening, temp about 63 degrees. Did a warmup mile with Karen, did drills with the group, then ran 1 mile at 7:15 pace, and then 1 more mile at a easy steady 8:20 pace.

Still on 4mg Prednisone, muscles achy, right heel didn't feel too bad on this run. Maybe the heel is showing some healing, I hope.

Tam ran 6 miles, it looked like sub 8 min pace. Tam's friend, Stewart, ran with us tonight. I told him he looked real strong when we did the drills accellerations. He plans to join us on more Monday night runs.

Ran Town Lake trail around the Longhorn Dam loop. Temperature about 70 degrees. Beautiful morning. Boy did we take it easy. My muscle aches and sore right heel. Karen has the pulled muscle behind the left knee. We were quite a site, slow, slow, slow. This is a run we will talk about some day with fond memories. We saw an 8 year old boy named Shawn that was running the 10 mile loop with his mom and a Austin Fit group, wow. Lynn walked the People Bridge trail.

We all went over to Maudie's for breakfast after the run.

Ran Monday night at McNeil HS with Donnie's bunch. Wonderful temperature about 70 degrees or so.

Ran with Daniel for about 2 miles, had great talk.

Muscles are still sore, still on 4mg Prednisone. Mornings are the worst, sore neck, very sore small of the back. Takes about half the day before aches in back are gone. Very frustrating. The doctor says stay on only 4mg medication until the end of December and then we will decide where to go.