I respectfully disagree camlan. Opening an old post and adding a comment or question does get attention. Some old posts have valid info & adding a question may illuminate the older posts. Yes, often the OP is long gone, but if I see an old post date come up to the top of the list, it may have something new I want to see in it (it may also be a spammer adding a link to sell something but that's a whole 'nother issue). This forum is full of dreadfully old posts, but that's because it's an inactive forum. I do look at refreshed posts form 2003. Maybe I just have a comment to someone else's comment that doesn't warrant a whole new post. I'm pretty sure I don't need a tutorial on how to create a post.... Now if you're saying folks are opening old posts & putting totally unrelated stuff onto them, then I agree with you, but that doesn't seem to be the problem you're complaining about.

fly: glad to help, keep me posted as to how it is going. Utahman: I have done the Wasatch Trail run out there and remember well being at Wheeler Peak , 12,000 ft and looking out over the vista...breathtaking. This was on trails. Since you have a good base of 15 years of running that is a great start. If you don't already train with weights I would sure add that in since this is a rigorous race. I looked it up and read the course description etc. I see they have a training schedule for runners. It looks good also. The weather will certainly be cooler in June so that will help. Running at altitude , if you don't already will be a necessity. I found that taking a ginco biloba + supplement for a week prior to the race, since I live in Alabama ,made my high altitude run no problem at all. It thins the blood ( not dangerously) and increases the O2 carrying capacity. I really think it works. I didn't start it sooner than a week and stopped it a week after the race. Part of your training will also include running at night to acclimate to that. Also sleep deprivation and eating on the run. That is no small problem for a lot of runners. You would not believe the folks that drop out due to their gut ! You will need to get used to eating and running. Also drinking lots and figuring out how you are going to get rid of this food and drink ( not to be to delicate but if you are not used to this it will ruin the run). You tried to increase your pace during a race in and in hot weather....a bad idea. Increasing your pace will have to be done over time and not under stress. You can do track repeats gently to get your legs started turning over faster. You have to "feel" the difference and get used to it. You also need to train to run longer than the distance expected of you in the race. I have lots of friends that never ever train at greater than marathon distance and then woonder why they die the last 5K of a race. Your body gives what is expected if trained to expect it. It doesn't like surprises. Train carefully for the longer distances. Adding 1/2 miles and making sure to rest and do weights. There are very good training materials out there for increasing distance. I would copy one out that you can live with and follow it. PLease feel free to write me , we will probably get moved to Conversations asap by GW so you might need to watch for that. I think that you do 3 /5 mile legs right ? So your sleep and food priorities will have to be addressed. Make sure and don't neglect that. A long run is usually way more about the stuff you didn't think would "bite you in the butt" than about the running !! Caroline me at Cheaha Mt. in August last year...100 degrees !

Do you by chance recommend a specific landscape program, Ron? I'd be interested in checking one out but they all seem to have "meh" reviews. My last few days have been insane busy but once I have more time again I can see myself doing the Juxtaposer (that's the app's name) thing for many hours, ha. And yes it's on my phone (iPad too, and easier to edit on the bigger screen but I've done so many on the phone that I'm kinda used to it). Before your suggestion of the landscape program got me to thinking about it though, my edits were pretty much just to switch people's heads, or replace them altogether with animal heads ... never fails to make me laugh. When husband saw what I used it for this time he smiled and rolled his eyes and said "oh here we go" : ) That ACS thing is hysterical. I did actually join the real ACS last summer and love the magazines, though I've yet to do anything other than read it. I'd love to visit some of the local-ish members' gardens sometime but so far it hasn't worked out time-wise. Kids are little, makes mama busy, and time is what there's never enough of. They're both starting to love "helping" though and that's awesome. The 4-year-old just puts on his gloves and saves all the worms that get dug up, but I'll take that. Worms are precious after all! Nicole

Sometimes you wish family had stayed away. Three of my DH's cousins came from two states away to his mother's funeral. The casket was closed, but they asked to have it opened because, " We haven't seen her such a long time." (She had been in a nursing home in our town for several years before her death in her mid-eighties.) Following the funeral luncheon at a restaurant near the cemetery, they came to our home to wait until their flight departed. Two seconds after establishing that he wasn't inheriting from her will, her nephew was on the phone, ordering a taxi to the airport. My MIL left *nothing* to any of her relatives. She had been generous for decades, helping with school expenses, mortgages, hospital bills, gifts to her siblings, their children and their children's children. She had given this particular nephew a large diamond for his bride. I invented stories to accompany some of her possessions when I sent them to some of her relatives, saying I was sure she'd wanted them to have the necklace/figurine/whatever.