Going With The Flow

AM - Really easy shakeout this morning to get some race soreness out of the legs. I feel okay overall, but my quads and feet are definitely feeling it. 

After about 3 months off from skiing due to terrible avalanche conditions and training, Jake and I finally headed up to Little Cottonwood Canyon again. We had so much fun - there's just something about the mountains that is mentally uplifting and refreshing. We skinned up Twin Lakes to Patsy Marley then toured around the ridgeline of Wolverine Cirque. Skied Wolverine Bowl, Stupid Chute, and the groomer back to the car. We definitely need some practice - our skiing abilities are terrible right now!!!

We continued our fun day with some bowling with Fritz and Amiee. Turns out Jake and Fritz are just as competitive with bowling as they are with running!! Not that I'm completely surprised...

Last up was a 5.5 mile bike ride with Jake during his afternoon run. I mainly tagged along to make sure Jake didn't throw in a 4:30 mile like he did yesterday!

Whew - what a day! Feels like last summer all over again with all the non-stop activity :)

AM - Shuffle-run just until I could manage a semi-normal stride. My quad muscles are really sore at the inner knee which makes running really awkward. Worked on some hip strengthening Myrtle Exercises then yoga for 20 minutes. Planning to do more mileage this afternoon, hopefully more graceful. 

PM - 5.6 miles in the Sugarhouse area. Feeling a little better - soreness should be mostly gone by tomorrow. 

I analyzed the SLC Half course with Utah Valley Half to see how they compare. SLC has 260ft uphill and 808ft downhill, UV has 168 uphill and 854 downhill. So my time of 1:18:13 on Saturday is about equivalent to a 1:17:38 at UV (based on Runworks calculator). I know these calculators aren't super accurate, but they do enable some sort of comparison between courses. This definitely makes me feel better because it means that I'm in equivalent shape, if not better, than I was in June last year :)

AM - Horsepark loop. Ran an easy, relaxed pace which was about 9 min pace this morning :)

PM - Two laps around the Sugarhouse perimeter. Felt terrible for 3 miles then all of a sudden not so bad anymore. 

Jake and I got our new team kits from Saucony! So exciting!!!

AM - Yoga.

PM -  Ran from Sugarhouse up towards campus and met up with Jake. We ran back and did a few 200s on the grass. I ran 4 x 200 in 41-42 seconds. I started a 5th one but my hamstring got too tight and cramped up so I called the workout. Ran a few slow miles home.

SLC Marathon/Half Marathon pictures are up on marathonfoto.com for those that ran and want to check them out. 

AM - Ran about 4 miles with Jake then back home.Yoga for 20 minutes.

 The last few days I have completely lost my appetite. I love to eat so this is really weird. 

AM - Finally broke the 8 min/mile barrier today, so I should be recovered enough from the race last weekend for a hard tempo run tomorrow.

PM - 2 miles easy.

Short article about Kim Smith and her struggles with the marathon . She is running the marathon at the Olympics and at NYC, and I really hope that she is able to perform to her abilities this year!

“It’s still a scary distance to me because there are so many other factors that come into it than just running,” Smith said. “I am worried all of the time about drinking enough, or having to stop to go to the bathroom. You just don’t know what is going to happen in a marathon. There is more of an unknown than with the other distances.”

Smith says she wrestles every day with internal questions as to why she has had such difficulty. “Maybe there is something about me that’s just not right,” Smith said. “Maybe it’s going to happen every time I run a marathon, that it won’t be as good as how I have run the half-marathon. Take someone like Ryan Hall, who hasn’t really had a bad marathon. I haven’t had any really great marathons. Maybe it’s my body type. Maybe I’m too skinny. In your head, you start thinking about all of the things that could be wrong. I just don’t know."

AM - Thanksgiving Point Half this morning. Jake and I decided to run this as a marathon pace tempo run after getting entries earlier this week. The rule was to run no faster than marathon pace since I ran a hard half last weekend and Jake ran the marathon 12 days ago. And if either of us could get in the prize money, that would be nice too!

The race started and I immediately let Julie Thomas and Arianne Brown set the pace. We came through the first mile in 6:23. Perfect!! I was so excited that they were running my exact goal pace (along with a couple guys as well). We cruised through the first few miles on the road. Then the course got interesting. We meandered through the gardens from miles 3.5-7, weaving around islands, running on cobblestone path, up hills and down hills, and with lots of turns. It was actually pretty fun!

Miles 8-12 were all on the golf course. This part felt like a cross country course! There were so many short steep hills and downhills with a significant turns at the bottom...brought me back to my high school days (although much more enjoyable). I lost the other girls through this section and ended up running the majority of the race with this guy named Dan Vargo (not Dan Varga from the blog, weird!). At mile 11, we were both ready for FLAT. The rest of the course was just that, and we both picked up the pace pretty significantly though the last mile.

I came in 1st with a time of 1:24:15 - right on for my goal. The overall time is a little slower than marathon pace, but the course is rather challenging and at altitude so it felt like the right effort. Splits were 6:24, 6:23, 6:11, 6:24, 6:39, 6:31, 6:35, 6:32, 6:33, 6:27, 6:49, 6:21, 6:26 for 1.1 (5:54 pace).

After a 1-2 minute recovery, Melody, Jake and I went for a long cooldown. It was so nice to finally meet Melody - she won the 5k this morning only 12 days after her marathon! We ran around 5 and I got 19 miles for the day.

The after-race party was super fun. So many friends there! I got to chat with Preston and his wife, RAD, Smooth (so nice to finally meet her too!), Toby, Scott Keate, the Altramaniacs, our very own Dan V, Melody, Lily (who got 2nd in the 5k!), Carina, Riley, Walter (1st master), Jake, and lots of others too.

Oh yeah - I got a sweet champion cup too!