Andrea's Running Page

WOOHOO!!  Another great time at Hill Kills tonight!  The same 6-hill course as usual and the weather cooperated with us (rain was forecasted but it didn't rain).  So, it seems like when I have a Slim-Fast drink after work, I perform much better during my evening workouts. 

Have I mentioned yet that I love this run?  Great company on a nice course.  Plus, Johnny ran with Murphy so it doesn't look like I'm cheating all of the time with the dog pulling me by the waist!  :o)

What a perfect day in Emigration Canyon!  And a great turnout with 16 people and 1 dog.  I had intended to run all 20 miles with the rest of the group but Johnny and I were stopped by the watershed patrol.  Thank goodness he didn't cite us, but Johnny, Murphy, and I had to turn around and go back through Emigration.  Fortunately, it allowed us time to run the switchback hill twice!  And pass the back-of-the-packers in the 10-mile race a couple of times.  Johnny, Murphy, and I got in a total of 17 miles.  I'm so proud of Johnny and Murphy -- this is the longest distance they have ever run. 

In fact, Johnny decided to try his hand at the St. George Marathon.  I entered us as a team.  Now, we'll leave it up to fate.  Let's hope we get picked!!  :o)

Johnny and I met up with Craig, Tracy C., Tracy A., and Walter tonight at the Oval for some good speed work.  Wow, when the weather is nice, the Oval is darn-near empty.  It was great to have the track mostly to ourselves.  Craig definitely has a full-blown cold and he sounds terrible (I'm bound to catch the cold from him).  Johnny and I ran 3x200s and 5x300s.  Unfortunately, since I didn't have Natalie running with me, I didn't get a time-check on my intervals.  Oh well!  At least I know they were a big effort.  This speedwork seems to be aggrevating my hip a little bit.  I'd better another visit to the chiropractor.

I think we're going to take next Monday off from speedwork since Natalie, Craig, and Walter are shippin' out to Boston! 

Hmmm, I'm trying to decide what the highlight of my Saturday was: the Kearns workout or the Boston send-off party later that night!  It's a toss up. 

Saturday morning, Johnny, Murphy, and I ran with the group out in Kearns.  We had a pretty good turnout (~17 people and 1 dog), especially considering that Boston and the Salt Lake Half are next week.  We ran a bunch of drills: 10x50 meter sprints, followed by 6x~600 meter intervals, then 6x~300 meter intervals, and in case we didn't get enough, 6 hill kill repeats.  Coach suggested that we run a 1-mile tempo but I took it easy on the tempo (as did almost everyone else -- we were exhausted from that killer workout!)  Now that was good quality training, a total of 16.2 really tough miles.  And it was great to have Walter running with us this week -- a good running comrade for Craig. 

Later than night, we hosted a "Boston Tea Party" to celebrate the 5 runners who are Boston-bound (and Esther who is running her first marathon in Salt Lake)!  I was amazed to see how pretty everyone looks when they're all cleaned up and wearing civilian clothes (all the girls actually have long hair).  It was a pleasure to meet all the spouses, too.  Johnny mentioned how prompt everyone was.  The invite said 6:00; almost everyone was there by 6:05.  A bunch of punctual runners -- maybe a little hungry, too!  And the party wrapped up by 9'ish.  I think we all were so tired from our Kearns workout earlier that morning.  I'm already looking forward to another Boston Tea Party next year!!  You're all invited. . . and we'll have Boston Creme Pie in addition to the Boston baked beans.   :o)