Recently, I discovered Steve Runner, aka, www.SteveRunner.com (Phedippidations: The PodCast at SteveRunner.com). I was reading the Sept. 2007 issue of Runner's World and they mentioned Steve and his PodCast. Wanting to mix it up a bit and find something new and different to listen to on my iPod , I downloaded his August 2nd cast of "Running over 50". I was hooked. Steve is great; very entertaining and informative. Something to capture my interest while, no - not running, but doing some eliptical cross training. I still like music (60's rock and 70's disco [great beat; try it before you knock it]). So now I have subscribed to his PodCasts and have about a dozen of his earlier PodCasts in my iTunes and iPod. Gotta try listening to them while on the road one of these days.

This morning I went out for a 9 mile run at 7:00 am; 60 degrees, sunny, dry, cool; just gorgeous. In April I had the same revelation that I was carrying 10-20 pounds too much, as I mentioned in a previous post. Since then I have dropped 20 pounds -- what alot of work; I'll get into that another time; but I was right; 20 pounds less makes a huge difference. While out today it was great; some of my best running in years. The roads of Syosset, Woodbury, Muttontown and Old Brookville are wonderful to run early the morning -- traffic is light, particularly the back roads; lots of varying greenery and terrain; beautiful homes and an occasional runner or biker. I love passing a house where the grass has been recently cut. The smell is so earthy and varies depending on whether the lawn was cut very recently or a day or two ago.

Today's performance and the encouraging commentaries from www.SteveRunner.com have me seriously considering going for the Hardford Marathon in October. My thoughts keep drifting to how I can stretch out my long runs between now and then so I can have enough "base" under my belt. If I can continue to shed few more pounds it will help get through the "training". So far so good.