Surf City Marathon!

THE STATS:

Overall:	131 out of 2353
Women:	14 out of 963
F 40-44:	3 out of 141
Age/Grade:	71.22% Place: 52
Finish:	3:23:40 Pace: 7:47
Tag Time:	3:23:40
Gun Time:	3:24:12

"Welcome to the pleasure dome" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was my opening song for Surf City. I think it was absolutely fitting and since it was a surprise it felt like a glimpse into a crystal ball. "Don't give up and don't give in" and "We're a long way from home...Welcome to the pleasure dome" pretty much sums up the 13+ minute 80's rocker. Needless to say it was fitting start to my fastest marathon time, yeah!

My high school friends and I have been reminiscing about all our antics as extremely energetic youth. Our high school days were filled with some serious fun and not much control other than our need for adventure. We can't seem to talk about an event without going over the tune of day as we blasted it in one of our cars doing things we shouldn't. I loaded my entire IPOD with 80's tunes and rocked my way though the marathon one hit after another.

When Cheri and I arrived to pouring rain and some pretty gusty winds we did nothing but roll are eyes and talk about how this would be just like home. We were pretty shocked to wake up on Sunday to a dark but clear sky and not much wind by the time we lined up. With 22,000 runners in this race it would be a busy one. To bring order to the event they had 2 start waves for the marathon. They started one group who was supposed to contain runners going for sub 3:30 finishes. One minute later they would start the second wave. When I went to line up they wouldn't let me in the first wave. It was full. That was just fine with me because that meant I was right up front for the start of the second wave. I was actually first out of the gate for about 10 seconds! I am not sure how they determined who got in the first wave of 500 because many of us caught a bulk of them within 40 seconds of our start time.

Andy came out to cheer Cheri and I on, crew us if we needed and run with me for 10 miles. It was a total gift having him out there. The course is flat and fast but winds around so much I had no clue which direction I was going. That played in my favor. It kept me distracted and focused on the moment. I honestly think a marathon all out effort should play that way. Staying focused on the moment is the best way to keep your mind on the task at hand...running as hard as you can without dying! I got in a groove immediately, strong and steady. I was a bit fast and my dream goal of 3:20 was looking pretty good. Even with some serious park path weaving, some sharp turns and a couple of tiny hills I felt good about my effort. By mile 14 the sun was bold and felt so good. The wind was calm and I was on pace. I saw Andy at around mile 13 smiling and snapping shots. He jumped in, took my shirt and asked if I needed anything. I was good to go and was anxious to get his company at mile 16. I carried 7 gels and 3 salt tabs. My lululemon running bra has inserts for support cups. I don't need them and I pull them out and toss the support cups in the garbage. However, I do use the slots for my gels! I stuffed 3 gels in each side. It was easy access and not at all bothersome. The only negative was the bizarre looks when someone was trying to figure out what was wrong with my chest. How come the lumps and bumps were so big and when I would reach in and grabbed one folks were nervous. Anyway, it worked perfectly! I ate a gel every 3 miles, took a salt tab at mile 10 and two at mile 19.

I started feeling the love in my hips and feet (metatarsals) at mile 16. I knew I was going to slow and started to do math in my head. If I could maintain an 8 minute mile for the last 10 I would have it. It seemed perfectly doable, right? Andy jumped in and we ran. Not a bit of talking as I was pushing and focusing. My lower back was sore, my feet were sore, my legs were beginning to feel the deep fatigue, it was getting hot. Those are all my excuses and thoughts. I just loved it though. Andy and I wrapped around onto the boardwalk for 6-7 miles. It was brutal. It seemed to go on forever. The beach is long! Lots of folks out watching and lots of people around made the race interesting. The amount of general people using the boardwalk meant keeping an eye out for a dog or a child while still running like a dead zombie with just one foot in front of the other at your current top speed. It also made for some great motivation as all the people cheered as they drank their refreshing cold beers.

At the turn with 5 miles to the finish I knew it was going to be tough grind. My heart rate was dropping and I knew if it sagged into the 150's I was not going to get 3:20. I pushed and pleaded with my legs to spin. Please, please, please go around faster. They really wanted to but couldn't. I was seeing 158 and I knew I was not going to pull under 8. I got a couple of them under 8 on the last 5 but not enough. The seconds added up but I never gave up. I ended my musical journey with "Bang your head" by Quiet Riot. I felt that was a fitting song for my final sprint to the finish. I truly spent it all out there. I held nothing back and it was awesome. I loved riding the edge, feeling wild and untamed. The cautious calculated planned rooster stayed home and I am paying the price today. My legs are swollen and my legs have various areas of pain. It's so cool.

This was around a 4-5 minute PR for me. I am really happy with the day but I would do a couple of things different in my training next time. The biggest issue I had was not my speed as much as it was my body's ability to handle the pounding at that fast pace. I have no doubt I could run a 7:36 pace on flat pavement for 26.2 miles but I need to put in some longer than necessary pace runs. I think my body needs to have more experience doing exactly what I want it to do on race day. Since I am asking it to step way out of my speed range I need to train it there longer. I don't need more prep time but I think I need a couple of 24 mile M-Pace runs on my legs. 18-20 will not do for this body. Although I think I would like to test my theory I'm not. I am simply too excited to start hill repeats in the gorge...another type of "pleasure dome"!

High Efficiency!

Tapering is leaving in a "High Efficiency" mode. Seems I get this feeling every now and then during a recovery week but the taper is giving me a max mode of efficiency. There is something truly satisfying about checking things off my list. I have lots of energy to buzz around right now. I think my family prefers me a bit more tired. I really love the feeling of becoming restored and strong. This has been a learned behavior. Tapering was never my strong suit but I think it has more to do with overtraining. I am banking on this sweet taper to help me pull of a PR on Sunday.

Cheri and I are super prepared for Surf City Marathon. This has been a great training session. Starting with base building in mid October was the perfect amount of time to remind my body how to run on flat roads. It's been really fun sharing workouts with a bunch of girls. Cheri, Trisha, Susan, Carrie, Kris, Lisa and Sarah have all been a pleasure to push through pain with. Thanks for all the camaraderie!

My plan for Sunday is to run a 3:20 or a 7:38 pace. I think this will be a stretch goal. Originally I thought I would take advantage of a pace group. I have never run in a pace group before and thought their knowledge and consistency would help me stay evenly paced. I tend to go out to fast rather than to slow so a pace group would be my solution to a good start. However, there is no pace group for 3:20! They have lots but the fastest is 3:10 then the next group is 3:30. Certainly the 3:10 is not going to work so I am left to my own wrist band.

Though I am anxious to run the race I am even more anxious to get training again. My first 2010 ultra will be Chuckanut Mountain 50K. Cheri, Gary and Carrie are all heading up to WA for the race so that means some more fun training time. After Surf City I am taking a week break then starting up again on 2/15. I have got a few other races on my schedule before Bighorn 100M. McDonald Forest 50K for sure. I am also planning on either Diablo 50M or Leona Divide 50M both in April. I can't decide which one I should do. I have done Leona before and loved it. The course is new this year so it would be fun to go back. I have always wanted to do Diablo so that might be a good adventure.

This weekend is the lottery for Wasatch 100M! I hope I get in but already have a back up plan if I don't. Micheal is signed up for Leadville! That means pacing duty for me. Sheesh....more thin air.

Let's get analytical!

Last Sunday I ran the Cascade 1/2 Marathon. My goal was 1:35. My outcome was 1:36:49. I know it's only 1:49 slow but I was pretty confident I should be able to pull off a 7:15 pace. Instead I was only able to run a 7:22 pace. It's taken me a bit of time to over analyze my race because of course I am going to over analyze it. No doubt I have been pondering why I missed. I don't have a ton of experience chasing marathon PR's. I have run a bunch of them (32) but most of them have been simply to run. I think I have chased PR's in about 8 of them. I have followed a strict training plan for 1. I should re-phrase that. I have always had a plan but only one other time have I had expert help. The rest were Rooster Plans! Last Sunday was a mixed bag. There was some good news and some bad news.

Starting with the bad news. Last year at about this exact same time I ran the Vancouver Lake 1/2 at a 7:16 pace. At that time I was training for the Muir Beach 50K. At that time I was building my speed and mileage. Since Muir Beach is held in March I wasn't booking a lot of miles in January but was doing a fair amount of quality workouts. I was rested for Vancouver. I was looking to establish a VDOT for the upcoming training so I went into Vancouver with fresh legs. I am in better shape right now or at least I feel like I am. I wasn't well rested for Sunday's run but I wasn't beat up either. I was ready and anxious to give it a good test. The weather was absolutely perfect for the Cascade 1/2 marathon. Only a bit of rain fell, it was warm and I was wearing shorts and tank for most of the race. Of course mile 1 was fast at 6:52 pace. I throttled it back a bit and found my pace for mile 2. I felt like I stayed there but mile 3 was 7:2???. Wondering if the mile markers were a bit off I felt no stress and forged on. The next mile was another 7:2???. Okay, I need to move it! Uh, guess not. My legs simply wouldn't spin any faster. I looked at my heart rate and see 168. That's way to low. I should be near threshold at 174 or at least knocking on the door at 172. I tried to pump my arms. Again, 7:20. At the turn around I tried to push harder. Wasn't happening. The legs were simply only going to spin fast enough to get me near 7:20. I did have a 7:13 but I think the wind worked in my favor because for the life of me I wasn't going to go faster.

There is good news! I think I could have run many more miles at that pace. After finishing we did a cool down run for about 4 miles. While running the race I was in full control, not overly taxed but the wheels were just not there. How many more miles could I have run at that pace? I don't know but would say at least 8-10.

Why did I miss my mark? After much thought and looking at training diaries I think I might have an answer. However smart I think I am I will qualify this by saying I have no idea if I am right. Here it goes. Since I train using the Daniel's method there are some key workouts. I have talked about them on this blog at nauseum! The M-Pace workout, the T-Pace workout and track workout are key elements. I have been doing them all. My lack of long true T-Pace work might be playing a roll. This method of training makes adjustments to the pace of a "Long Continuous T-Pace" run. When you do T-Pace workouts where you run continuously for more than 30 minutes Daniel's will adjust the pace. Since I am running so many long M-Pace workouts it made no sense to do long T-Pace workouts too. Why? Because my T-Pace would be adjusted and be very close to my M-Pace. Instead I have been doing my T-Pace efforts in the form of "Cruise Intervals" keeping my tempo work at true T-Pace (7:10). The intervals have been 10-15 minutes each and the total time of the T-Pace effort portion 40-60 minutes. Obviously I have trained my body to hold M-Pace for a long duration. My M-Pace is 7:32. On both workouts I have been hitting better numbers but not good enough to move them up a notch. The ultimate goal for race day is to have both workouts play a roll in hitting the PR. I should be able to run faster than 7:32 but not 7:10. I should be able to hit somewhere in the middle. Well, that's exactly what I did! However, I don't know if I will be able to hold a 7:25 pace for the full 26.2.

I am sure most of you have left the room by now. This is way over the top when it comes to numbers but it's important to what I am trying to do right now. What I have learned is I might have benefited from doing some longer Continuous T-Pace efforts. I might have gotten more spin out of my legs by pushing that limit. Swapping a week here and there may have been a good idea. Last year leading up to Vancouver I wasn't doing M-Pace workouts of 12-16 miles at a pop so I had some gruelling long T-Pace sessions. My T-Pace was adjusted down based on the length of session but it was still a bit faster than my M-Pace. I have not done any of that. The real question for the marathon is it a benefit to have more long M-Pace work and less T-Pace. Will I be able to dump lactic acid out my body super efficiently and just race in the strong controlled fashion I did last Sunday? I've got myself so curious now.

I only have one more big workout. Sunday is a 22-24 mile run with 16 at M-Pace. After that's it taper time. I won't have be curious for to much longer!

It's Ultra Season!

Ahhh the refreshing sight of seeing my name on a list. Could it really be this simple. Uhh, yes! When even local 50K's are closing in less than a day it becomes even more special to have the opportunity. At least that's how I see it. Bill signed me up for Chuckanut 50K while I was out on the trail dreaming about it, worried, and hopeful it would all work out. It did and I am excited. With Surf City just 3 weeks away I have some good training in my legs to start the ultra season.

Scott challenged me to raise my VDOT numbers one more to 48. That's 3 moves upward since mid October. In the Daniel's world that's a fairly aggressive upswing. Since I generally top out at 49 I am curious if I can push it to 50 by peak training for my first 100M of the year (Bighorn). This weekend Sarah, Cheri and I are running Cascade 1/2 Marathon. I am hoping for a 7:15 pace on this course. The weather looks good, rain and 50 degrees. Not the usual 25-30 degrees. I am nervous! I can't even believe I am admitting it but it's true. A measly 1/2 marathon is keeping me up at night (not really..I sleep like the dead). I have to attribute the nerves to self inflicted expectations. It doesn't help the Sean says he expects a PR and Micheal throws out paces I have never run but I am thankful for the vote of confidence. I can guarantee I won't leave anything on the road and I won't have anything left in my legs when I am done. However Scott did suggest, in his very nice way, that I leave it all on the course then run an extra 4-5 miles to make it a long run. Yeah, spoken like a true ultra runner. I figure the best shot I have of doing that additional 4-5 miles is to finish, not stop and turn right around and go back out. That's my plan!

This weeks track workout was 6X1000's. On paper that seems like a no brainer but after the 30 minute warm up and almost 4 miles at a 6:32 pace I felt it. It didn't help that my legs were still recovering from the killer leg workout which included 48 100 pound squats. These weren't the sissy, barely bend your leg kind either. These were close foot, deep and torturous ones. I would never do this without prodding but I handled it. It took me 3 days before I could sit down without an upper body workout but the strength in my legs is growing like crazy. I have been making a strong effort to change my leg strength and it's paying off. I am excited to see how those spring hill repeats go. I have put on some good muscle in the last 3 months. That's exciting and will pay dividends but I need to be sure and balance my weight for running. Seems like there is fine line for me. If I don't keep my weight around 110 no matter what it is, fat or muscle I get slower. Slower is not something I can afford no matter how much muscle I like to see. Ultra running tends to chew up a lot of my muscle so this year I am trying to up the anti in that department. The idea is to gain as much strength as I can before I start those crazy back to back long days and the miles and time on my body take it's toll. Don't be scared if you see me on the trail and I look like a line backer! Just know this is part of my master plan. :)

On the muscle/nutrition side of things. A few of us have been adding BCAA's to our recovery drinks. I have not only been drinking them post hard runs but post weight sessions as well. I am a critic when it comes to the magic bullet's advertised. I seem to always be skeptical of stuff like that. I can honestly say they have been amazing in aiding in my recovery. There is no doubt about it. As someone who is hyper analytical and sensitive to how I feel during training I know they are helping my muscles recovery and rebound. I am using a product called Chain'd Out. I like to way it mixes with water and it tastes great. Seems like there is a lot of good information coming out about BCAA's for athletes and expecially endurance athletes.

One more week of training for Surf City and it's off to sunny California in search of a PR. I am hoping to break 3:25 and closer to the 3:20 area. I should be able to do that.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes.....

"Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes" a saying said often by my good friend Micheal. Simple but so true. 2010 is already here. Another decade for the history books and I swear it was the year 2000 and I wondered what happened to the 90's. Of course saying goodbye to 09 and ringing in the new year begs the question, "What's your new years resolution". It must be in vogue to say, "I don't make New Years Resolutions", as if they were a thing of the past. I wondered this year what mine would be. I love changes. I truly embrace challenges both good and bad with an eagerness to see or feel a different way. It makes me feel alive and moving. I can't be stagnant for long. However skilled I am in taking on new or ridding myself of the old and unwanted it certainly isn't easy. Some changes are big and some are small but no matter the size the true gift in the end is to see real change. I think in order to make any you need to be honest with yourself, honest with your support group and honest with how much your willing to put into it. If you have family or a life no matter what kind of change you want to make it most certainly will impact others. All the habits, the words, gestures and our feelings we have regarding the topic has to change in order for real concrete newness to take hold. To pretend we are an island free to make and do new things or change old bad habits on our own is and mistake. That kind of thinking will surely leave us back to the same old same old. All the people we effect have an impact on our ability to make changes. For example, if we want to stop eating sugar we need to change lots of things. We can't expect the people in our lives to just give up sugar because we don't buy it anymore. We shouldn't expect to silently torture ourselves and not ask for help in resisting. Being honest with ourselves is key to making changes. Asking ourselves, "is this really a change I want to make or does it just seem like a good idea"? A great idea is nothing without concrete action. New Years Resolutions might be a thing of the past but it is a good time to reflect on your life, surroundings and ponder what real change takes. ACTION! NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES!

On the running front. I just ended another 4 week cycle and Christmas Camp. I am running strong and feeling really good about the marathon. I have had two break out runs. First a 25 miler which was 9 miles of aggressive warm up then 15 miles at M-Pace (7:40). We did this on the 26th right after some really poor fueling and not much sleep. It was hard but I had complete control to hold the pace despite how crappy I felt. The second was today's Yasso workout. I decided to do 3:20 and came in mostly at 3:16. Again I felt in complete control of the pace and walked away feeling good and no where near thrashed. My recovery has been awesome. The amount of speed work I am doing is more than I have ever attempted. I need to put my best foot forward when it comes to turnover so I am not holding back. The best part of this training has been the sharing it with the girls. The Tuesday workouts are long and hard nearing the 16-18 mile mark and it makes all the difference knowing others will be out there.

Happy New Year everyone! Christmas Campers Rock!

Time Flys!

I can't believe it's already December. I also can't believe I only have 6 short weeks of training left before I run Surf City Marathon. I am excited and nervous because it's been a really long time since I ran a road marathon where it's pedal to metal from the get go. Training has been going really well. I am feeling really strong and logging some good volume with all the quality workouts Scott has lined out. 3 quality runs in one week has been my limit but this last training cycle we pushed it to 4. I get one rest or recovery run in between. The goal is to push the recovery and lactate tolerance levels. So far my body has responded well. The M-Pace runs are in the 12-15 miles at this point. The T-Pace runs are pushing 45-60 minutes. The track workouts are building meaning the distances are growing while the speed stays constant. The long runs are still 3-4 hours of casual but consistent trail running. Even though there's no quality built into the long trail run I am still counting it as quality because it has it's own fatigue factor.

As of last week I am doing the track workout on Sunday after the long trail run. This serves 2 purposes. First it makes my body work when fatigued forcing the VO2 to it's limit. Second, there is only one day of recovery before the long M-Pace run. Last week was my first attempt at this new approach and all went well. I was a few seconds off on the longer intervals (800-1000's) but the real test was today's run. With the temperatures in the PNW well below 25 degrees Cheri and I hit the trails for a 15 mile M-Pace workout. I was anxious to test the new theory and my recovery from Sunday. However when my car read 16 degrees and I felt like my heater could not keep up I wondered if the sub 7:40 pace for that distance would be doable. The warm up felt darn stiff as my body adjusted to the immense amount of clothing. My legs were super cold even with full length tights. I tried to put on 2 pair but they were just to tight! As we did our warm up my face felt frozen. I was wearing an ear band an a hat plus most of my chin was covered but still my lips became immobile. I knew Cheri was in the same boat so the mumbling conversation wasn't weird. Reluctance seemed to be the mood of day as we dropped our gear and headed off for the M-Pace portion. Both of us seemed to give each other a cautionary, "we'll see" goodbye. Feeling like my body was in slow motion was irritating but the paces just kept coming most faster than needed. At one point my contact in my right eye seemed frozen to my eyeball. I reached up and put my hand warmer on my eye to add some warmth then remembered to blink feverishly from that point on. After 8 miles of sub 7:40's I felt the fatigue begin to settle in. My hamstrings were beginning to tighten but I knew I could do the rest and make my times. In the end it was one of those workouts you can put in the tool box. If we can do that many miles at M-Pace in those temps we can handle more than we think we can. Although, If Cheri wasn't as hard core as she is I am not sure I would have bucked it up.

Tuesday's have become a hairy workout day. Seems instead of planning for the long weekend back to backs I gear up for Tuesday's. It's really a nice change for now. After the long M-Pace workout I head straight to a leg workout then follow that up with hammered. I don't know how much longer I can sustain that kind of load in one day. I figure I can get up to about 17 miles before I need to drop one of the weight sessions. It's been super fun to share this tough days with the girls. I look forward to the run and seeing everyone who shows. It's really motivating and keeps me accountable.

The T-Pace runs are no certainly no picnic but I think the length feels short compared to Tuesday's. Perspective can so easily be modified. I love that. My weekly mileage is up in the 60's to 70's and that's high for me. Especially this time of year.

As the year comes to end planning for next year is on my mind. I didn't get into Western States so I will be going back to Bighorn. I also put in for the Wasatch lottery and am hopeful. Wasatch is my favorite course (Hardrock is in it's own catagory) and I want to go back and try for a faster time. I hope I get in. If I don't I am not sure what I will do on the back end of the summer. I am also trying to drop in some shorter stuff this year. I would like to do a couple of 50 mile races and 2-3 50K distances. I am definitely going to try to make the new Mt. Timpanogos Marathon held on May 22nd. I will use that as a training run and most likely do hill repeats on the back side the day before. I am excited about the opportunity to do that event. As for 50's thinking about Leona Divide or Mt. Diablo. Not sure yet.

As for blogging. It's been sparse. Mostly because I still struggle with Blogger and the Mac. I am going to go back to my PC for blogging. I can't seem to get pictures to upload using my Mac. I have to confess I am not sold on the Mac. Alex is begging to have the Mac and he might find it wrapped up nicely under the tree. The real problem is I have ADD when it comes to this tech stuff. I just want Bill to fix it for me. :) At least I am honest. he, he.

Do you have theme song?

I think the concept of a "theme song" came from the Allie McBeal show but I could be wrong. Well I have a theme song titled Don't Reach. I haven't come up with the full tune yet but have embedded the concept in my head after seeing pictures of myself power hiking and descending. Thanks to Tony C. who facebooked a picture of me climbing at CCC100M it was really clear I have an serious over extension issue. I don't know if comes from being short, trying to keep up with my faster friends or simply a technique issue but the over stretching on the push off portion of my power hike is not good. I wondered why my TFL and my Glute Medius get so fatigued during a long power hike. Well now I have the answer. I used to have this bad habit while running speed work as well. I wrote a blog entry about it last year. I worked hard on bringing in my legs and landing right under my hips. Instead of letting my leg travel so far behind then swinging it back into the front position drive more from the front of my body. This has been a big improvement.

Fortunately I now have a new project. The power hike don't stretch boogie. I also over extend when I run down hill but it's not as bad. During my break I got to walk at an incline on the treadmill. After talking about this to Dr. T (Drake Tollenaar) he suggested I count my steps and they should be in the 70+ range while walking at a serious incline. I was shocked at how many steps short I was. I think I was around 60. That's a lot of reaching and swinging. Not good form and certainly fatiguing to the hip region. I used my 5 week break as an opportunity to work on it and make my ultra running better which ultimately will keep my hips healthier.

I am just ending my first 4 week cycle of this training session. It's still base building phase. I am stoked at how well my body has adapted to running this year. With the large amount of quality work Scott slated I can firmly say I am faster. My VDOT has already moved up 2 points in 4 weeks. I am almost back to my peak phase VDOT. I sure hope this upside continues because I would love to break 3:23 at Surf City. According to my numbers I am already there but we all know how that goes. Running at near red line for 26 miles is just not the same as it feels for 10.

It's been a beautiful fall here in the PNW. We have been lucky to have many dry days which makes for some lovely trail runs. Tuesday's have been M-Pace work which is one of my favorite workouts. It's been especially fun this year because we have set up a standard meeting time and therefore it's been a group effort. After the M-Pace workout we head to SLEDGE for a hammered class. There are a gaggle of girls pushing around the heavy loads and it's really motivating and fun. I find myself looking forward to Tuesday's. Cheri and I are both doing Surf City so it's fun to share the hard training.

In my week I have 1 M-pace run, 1 T-pace run, 1 3A run with 100 and 200 meters sprints, 1 long run and 2 recovery runs. Every other week I have a track workout but in two weeks I move to having one every week. Guess when they are slated?? On Sunday after my long run. Sounds crazy huh but that's the plan. The long runs are causal social trail runs. No quality is included. That will change in December some time. The long trail run will be replaced with a paced long run. The last time I did those I got in great shape only to crash hard. This time I am going to avoid the crash or at least that's my intention. It's a fine line but I am getting so much better at distinguishing the two, crash vs. improvement.

All in all I can't say enough about the mental and physical break. For me has been such a great tool for motivation and strength in the physical sense. Having a purpose during the break definitely serves my "gotta have mission" personality. Since I have switched to a MAC I am so challenged it's ridiculous. Good thing I have a 13 year old who can pick up on new stuff fast. I have the worst time loading pictures into my blog. It seems to scramble the words and splits things up in strange fashion. If any of you has the trick can you let me know? I have refrained from throwing this lovely stainless thing many times I may be close to a breaking point. I might have to surrender and go back. So sad but there are just some things my brain can't brace.