These runs raise money for military charities, and the last one for the YMCA. For the runners, it's pure dirty fun. This was my fifth one. There are no prizes, except medals for the first 3 finishers in different age groups. I always loved being barefoot when I was younger, so started looking at the barefoot running websites. They tell you to just take off your shoes and run away from them. (I'm not a good or fast runner, just determined.) I started taking my shoes off near the end of my trail, a little earlier each day, then the same with socks. It's just as fun to run barefoot now as it was when I was young, and I'll gladly trade an occasional rock bruise for all the stuff the shoes caused, shin splints, foot pain, sore knees, and on and on. Jules, if you want to do this, the website is below. They post sign ups on or near New Years day, and all the races fill up fast. Linda Here is a link that might be useful: Camp Pendleton Races

Kudzu, LOLPMP and laughing some more!!!!! Fun Fun Fun. Glad to meet all of everybody!!!!!!! We finally got a camera from my son! He said, "all you have to do is download the software off of the Enternet". Hubs worked for several hours trying to make all of that happen. But we have to call my son and ask him to come and help anyway. Just use the pic above as a color sheet until we can get it all in gear. Susie

I have not been on this site for very long, but I want to say what admiration I have for all of you. Your camping is real camping. My husband and I are 'city slicker campers' I guess. We stick to the state parks where we have all the amenities. The last time I was close to a grown bear was in the 50's when I worked for the summer at Giant Forest Lodge in the Sequoia Nat'l Park. A few of the tips I have learned through the years are as follows: If you have an Aloe Vera plant at home, cut off a long leaf blade and wrap the cut end of it in tin foil. Keep it in a plastic bag in the ice chest. If you have a bite or minor scrape, cut off a slice of the Aloe and rub the gel over the affected area. Sorry, it doesn't seem to work on poison oak or ivy. We are Italian and have to have our pasta even in a camp- ground. Since we use Basil as seasoning for both the sauce and in salads, I usually just transplant a Basil plant into a 1 gallon plastic container and leave it on the picnic table. Animals aren't interested and it seems to do the plant some good to have a vacation. If you have kids with you and will be near a lake or river(at least in Central Calif.) bring string to catch some Crawdads. You tie some bacon to the end of the string and let it lie in the water near some rocks in a shallow stretch of water. When the crawdad crawls out to grab the bacon, wait until he has a good grip and then slowly pull the string up. A crawdad is so tenacious that he will not let go until he is dumped into a bowl or coffee can. The kids like to catch them, but my husband was the one who always had the water boiling. Crawdads are small, but delicious. Long ago when we went camping with other families, a friend showed us how to make hot water bottles from the bags that come from the "wine boxes". I don't know if they even sell the wine packaged in this way anymore. It is a cardboard box that has a spout in the side for pouring the wine and after it is empty, you tear open the box and use the strong "aluminum," looking bag inside filled with hot water. It stays hot all night and we never had one break. Sorry I am so long winded, it's the Irish in me, I believe. Lina.

I hang out on the Garden Junk forum, but just discovered this forum recently. I noticed that there are several people around my age (58), thinking of starting walking, running, etc. I had a very heavy lifting job for years and knew that weight gain would come with retirement, and it did, lol. I've now lost about 12 pounds and am not gaining, but am still probably 30 lbs. overweight. I love walking and still do it and am trying to jog, although it's more like flat footed trotting. My adult kids found out about the Camp Pendleton Mud Run, which is about 60 miles drive for us and we've done it 4 times over the last couple years. It's a tough, and really dirty 10k, but also a load of fun. I'm no world class jogger. We did it last Saturday, and it took me an hour and forty five minutes this time, seven minutes slower than last time. I placed in the 1700s, out of 2100 runners. My point (finally, lol) is that it motivates me to get off the couch to go train for something. Here's a link to photos, which is posted on the GJ forum conversations side. Linda Here is a link that might be useful: Mud Run Photos on GJ conversations