Thanks guys for all the well-wishes. Much appreciated. I'll pass them along to my wife, as well, as she is most affected by the loss.
MG, nice job on those XC races, almost like being in one of those relays. I never look at age-graded times, but I do track my age-grade %'s, which I think do compare you against the history of those in your age-group. If age-grades are soft it is only because someone needs to come along and stiffen them up. Trail-blazers (e.g.-Kathryn Martin or Ed Whitlock) are therefore rewarded disproportionately in this scheme. We may find out 15 years from now that all those great times Ed Whitlock has run are in fact soft (I kinda doubt this last marathon will ever be considered soft, though, 3:15 @ 80? Geez!). We can only know once there is data. I suppose another scheme may be to look at the time progression of age-records and use a derivative method to come up with an asymptote to set an extrapolated 100% rating, but this would seem presumptive. Regardless, its fun to have a handicapping scheme to level the playing field in some venues, just so long as it is recognized for what it is, and isn't the primary award given. If awards are given, they should be based on highest age-grade percentage, times should never be corrected IMHO.
Skuj, I wanted to say that Wednesday workout starting every 2 minutes is one tough set. Those are pretty impressive splits for such little rest. You are definitely setting yourself up to pop a fast one sometime. Even though you abanodoned them, I'll bet that spate of doubles you did has had some positive impact in this regard.
Rtype, glad to hear that your knee is allowing you to do some training. I also found that my knee hurt less when I ran hard (thankfully, I'm pretty much pain-free now.) I think it might be that the fast you go, the less lateral movement/stress there is in the knee; just my sense. I'll be curious to see how this low-volume experiment works out. For me, the main issue would probably be weight management.
NLS! Nice to hear from you! Sorry that you've had to suffer a second setback on top of the stress fracture. Glad that it is allowing you to do some running albeit slow. Hopefully, the recovery goes smoothly and you'll be cutting some fast trails soon. Wonder how it will affect your snowshoeing?
I'm with Bushman (and vic and skuj and others) on welcoming Dick to the thread. I'll really enjoy knowing how the training is going leading up to Boston. From all accounts, sounds very promising, and I share your excitement.
We're under 2 weeks until the NYCM, hope you guys are feeling it and are ready to roll!
Cheers, everyone!