OakLeaf, Congrats on your 5k! What a treat to be able to "skritch" doggie ears at the end. Anyway, sounds like you really packed in a little of everything today. Hope you get to take that hot bath.

kelownagirl, Crankin, and emily_in_nc, Well wishes and hope you feel better soon.

solobiker, I'm with you on the stretching. I have to schedule things like dance classes (ballet and lyrical for me), yoga, etc. to force myself to stretch. I'm just not very good at getting myself to do it otherwise.

yellow, I haven't heard of Crossfit, but it sounds like something I'd be interested in. Is it something you do at the gym or something you can do at home? I've started doing some "body sculpting" classes at the gym to ease my way back into the weights stuff. During marathon training I backed way off and was doing only PUPs. This class hits all the major muscles in an hour. I think I'll outgrow it soon, but it's doing the job for now. Hope the air clears up for you soon!

Syndirelah, I remember those below freezing days in Chicago! I didn't do much running then, but what I did do was on the college treadmill when it was that cold out! So you are/were a figure skater? Me too! It's been years, but I do still have my skates . . .

Jolt, Glad to hear you're making progress. I have a similar problem in that everything concentrates on one side (the right side for me). I'm still trying to figure that out too.

As for me, I haven't been doing much running lately. I put the bike back on the trainer and have been doing Chris Carmichael and Coach Troy dvd's. Also the body sculpting classes at the gym I mentioned. And ballet and lyrical classes. But today it was absolutely GORGEOUS outside, so I had to get out there and run! Unfortunately, the 65 degree, clear, sunny, no breeze weather did me in. I overdressed and overheated. I got a new iPod for Christmas and the new earphones won't stay in! So, I got the brilliant idea to wear my cycling skull cap to keep the earphones from popping out. I think that's what really did me in overheating-wise. Also, I didn't get out the door until about 12:30pm and I didn't eat or drink anything prior (I usually run first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and that works well for me, but no this late in the day). So, I think I got pretty dehydrated. I was soaked when I got home, but my mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls. I downed a whole 48 ounces of water with lemon juice as soon as I got in the door. Now I'm sipping on hot tea as I'm still feeling a bit queezy (sp?). Anyway, I did 8.5 very gently rolling miles. I started out fast (at least it felt fast), but could feel myself deteriorate after about 5 miles.

Normally I don't run two days in a row, but if the weather holds up I just might have to get out there again tomorrow and try something different to keep the earphones in (my dh would suggest duct tape -- ha ha) and make sure I really hydrate tonight.

Oh, the other problem I experienced was lots of right side upper body pain (neck, shoulder, rib cage). I've had TONS of stress at work this week and lots of pain on that side from the computer. I really didn't expect it to flare up so terribly while running though.