I agree with Krista, you go away for a couple of days and the thread(s) just fly.
Did my 60 minutes tonight and it was pretty slow. However, it wasn't the stonker it may have been. I've had a grand total of 15 hours of sleep for the last 4 nights and I didn't get to head out on the run until 5:30. It's definitely different doing the full run after dark as I changed my gait somewhat to the stability gait I use running in the snow. I couldn't see what the road surface was like and I knew that there were cracks, potholes, etc. So the slower pace was probably a combination of being a little tired and the running in the dark thing.
Saturday's 6 miles(or so since the Garmin chose to misbehave that day so I didn't run with it) was ran at the Mall. I did carry a camera and got what I think are good pictures of the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool by the Lincoln Memorial, and some pictures of the WW II Memorial. The last time I was in DC was a month before the WW II memorial opened and less than 2 months after my grandfather, an army air corps WW II veteran, had died so I really wanted to see that.
The conference was great. I need to sort through some of the information presented and summarize it and then I will post it here. Topics covered included hyponatremia, dehydration, heat acclimation, blisters, and many more. Working the race itself was awesome. I was psyched for running Disney anyways but more so now after watching/working the race this weekend. We were at Aid Station 6, shortly after mile 16 so far enough in for people to have problems. I got to watch the faster runners going by as we stood cheering them, handing out some vasoline, and tylenol. The last Clif Pace group I recall seeing go by was the 4 hr one and then we stayed busy for a couple of hours. The docs at the station let the student docs(there were 3 of us) do most of the assessing, diagnosing, and treating under their supervision so I got a lot of hands on practical experience. It was mostly cramping, dehydration, blisters, musculoskeletal soreness, so not exactly rocket science to treat but still nice to be allowed to do so.
So the best story of the weekend is how my classmate and I got back to the airport on Sunday. We took the blue line from Pentagon City to Rosslyn and switched to the orange line. We were headed to West Falls Church to catch the Washington Flyer bus back to Dulles. While trying to figure out which station was Dulles, a guy overhead us and said if we went one more stop he would drive us to the airport as it was one his way home basically anyways. So we took him up on his offer. Now the parents here are probably screaming in horror- "you took a ride from someone you met on the subway???" Yes, yes we did. See I kind of figured that someone with a MCM finishers medal around his neck that will be running his 7th WDW marathon in January was probably not a serial killer. He's not going Goofy this year as he's doing the 5 K with his 14 yo son but wants to for 2007.
My dilemma of the week: do the Osprey 10 K in Freeport this Saturday and then do a separate run of 8 miles later that day OR just do the 14 mile run and not do the 10 K.
MelR- congrats on your 8th place in the overall women's field. The pics are neat. You would appreciate the run portion of the Xterra East course in Richmond. You had asked a while back if I mtn bike- yes, I do. I've joked more than once that it's not a good ride if I don't return dirty, bruised, and bleeding. Seriously though, if you keep trying to ride more challenging stuff to get better, you're going to dump the bike on occasion. It's just the way mtn biking works and even the best riders crash. The single track here in coastal ME is incredibly rocky and there aren't many places to ride close by. I miss the amount of time I spent on mtn bike in upstate NY. I did have a great expereince at Pedro's Mtn Bike Fest in the Berkshires(MA) in August though. It was definitely on the list with some of the best riding I've done anywhere. In spite of the fact that I do race mtn bikes, it's more of a Zen sport for me. I love a ride in the woods on nice flowing single track that occasionally breaks out in a scenic vista. I even actually like climbing.
PD for the healing injuries
Keep up the work everyone