Nancy--I was just thinking the same thing! A MONTH! WT F?!?!? And NO, my fat a$$ did not compress the padding in my bike shorts!
I haven't used them much. Bought new last season and if you remember, we had SO much rain that I didn't get much biking in at all.
Jo--Nancy is right about ibuprofen. Literally, I treat it as a food group and take multiple servings each day. It is a necessity. Make sure, though, you go with ibuprofen as opposed to tylenol-based pain relievers. And yes, stretch! OMG, religiously. So important.
Kat--WTG on the loss! WOOT! I am sure that is all you need to get you motivated again! As for the running and the pain--think, really think, about WHY you want to run. Because if you hate it, then you may want to stick with other cardio that you LIKE. I mean, it is one thing when you are training for something like the Princess that you really, truly WANT to do. But when you are talking about making it a lifestyle and part of your regular workout regiment, well just like anything else--if it is something you hate to do or causes you pain, it will end up in sabotage, right? So think about it. There are many people here on WISH who only run for the few months it takes to train for the specific race that they want to do and then the rest of the year they just do other forms of exercise. And that isn't all bad as the change up, as you know, stimulates weight loss.
For me, for example, I am sure that part of my frequent plateaus is not only that I am at the last few pounds but also that I don't vary my routines nearly enough. Once you body adapts to running, it becomes what is called "more efficient." Which means that eventually you get so conditioned to a certain amount of running that your body burns LESS calories than it used to for a specific run length. Suckfest, I know. But I am addicted to the high. And I like to push myself to see what else I can do. And it took me so. freaking. long. to get to a certain point and I never want to backslide, if that makes sense.
Someone asked about Liz. She's here, just super busy. And she has no laptop anymore. She used to post to the thread in the evenings, curled up on the couch with her laptop. But now she has to sit at a desk to use her desktop, and she doesn't like to sit at the desk in the evenings, so she just isn't posting as much. She's reading when she can and posting when she can.
I know you meant communion. 
I hate rosacea. Da#m Irish genes. Rosacea and DRINKING genes. 
with a little of this 
It's October 11 I believe, it's Columbus Day.
<booooo> Columbus day is out of the question for me. I work at an apple orchard. Columbus day to us is like Black Friday at the mall. We'll just have to find another one.
So happy for you!
I'm still working out, just not with the same intensity and enthusiasm as before the 1/2 Marthon.
