catherine's running efforts

Day 1 of trying to be at the gym at 5:00. Made it there by 5:30 so only got 2 miles in before I had to go back home. I'll probably go out again after work. 

With Melody's speedy crew again. 7:42 for all, so a bit faster than last time. I'm excited for when that's a fun, easy pace for me. I'm definitely not there yet, but these little jaunts into the land of faster runners have made it seem like a more realistic (though maybe distant) goal. 

Later - went to the gym with Eric to do arms and abs. 

I love my Launches. They're like little bits of heaven for my feet. I love my Kinvaras, too, but they made my calves hurt at the beginning and now I'm still afraid to wear them for more than a few miles at a time. 

Anyway, we tried that BST stretch again today, but I didn't get home in time to do the whole 6 miles before we had to come back for something else. But at least we got farther than last time. Then in between stupid online meetings we went down the street and back so that I could get an even 5.

A month or so ago we had a few nights where the carbon monoxide detector went off at about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. We opened the window and it stopped chirping, so since then we've slept with the window open. But last night was a little colder, so we slept with the window closed. Sure enough, a little before 3:00 the alarm went off. We opened the window and called the non-emergency police/fire number, and a little while later 4 or 5 fire/rescue guys were wandering around checking stuff. Everything was fine, so we're going to get a new detector and see what happens. When 5:00 came, I decided I'd do my run in the evening instead. Then when 6:00 came, I decided that really I *did* want to run in the morning, and I'd just drive to work instead of taking the 6:30 bus. And it was a great morning! I even got to drop Eric off at school (so domestic), and leaving at 8:30 meant that I missed most of the commuter traffic. But now I have to leave at 5:30 instead of 3:30, so I guess I'll find out if it was worth it. 

Another great morning spending a little more time at home. We lounged around until about 6:30, then saw the end of Sahara at the Cardio Cinema. It was okay. Two miles slow, with 3 .10 spurts at 6:00. And to finish getting ready for tomorrow, I'm having lunch at Himalayan Kitchen with work people and then dinner at Bajio with Eric. Ask him sometime why we can't go to Cafe Rio. 

I like this race because last year when I ran it Eric drove to all the aid stations to cheer for me. He bonded with Tigger and I realized how much I loved him. 

Anyway,  Eric and his sister Amy and I left Provo at about 7:00 this morning for the comfortable 9:00 start. The weather was perfect and we were looking forward to the race. Amy was a little bit sick, though, and I wasn't feeling like I wanted to push very hard, so I think only Eric was counting on a PR. (But it was his first half-marathon, so really anything would be a PR.)

After the first quarter mile I looked down at my Garmin and saw 6:20, so I tried to slow down. It was neat to be able to see Eric for a bit, though. My first mile was 7:27, but after that I kind of eased up and tried to think of it more as a faster long run. Also it started to be uphill, so my second mile was 8:40. I got passed by who I thought were girls 2 and 3 (really they were 3 and 4) when I stopped to drink the Gatorade at the first aid station in the middle of mile 3 (8:07), but I hung out behind them for the next couple of miles (8:05 and 8:19). Then I got passed by Amy when I stopped at the second aid station, and I spent the next few miles just running what felt comfortable (8:52, 9:12, 9:18 (some small hills), 8:37). A couple of other girls passed me around my stop at the last aid station in mile 10 (8:52), and all the water and the shot blocks I had been eating kind of made my stomach unhappy so I slowed down for mile 11 (9:18). But after a bit I felt better and even relatively rested, so I sped up just a little until the finish (8:23, 8:08, and 8:13 for .10), passing the last two girls who passed me and Amy, who was feeling über sick.

I had my old poop problem for awhile after the race, so I hung out in the bathroom while Eric (who got 2nd) and Amy ate hamburgers. But by the time we were halfway home, everyone was feeling better.

*After viewing results: I was 5/53 woman, 25/114 person. The two women ahead of me were about 3.5 minutes faster. And the awesome girl runner who chicked all but two guys was Morgan Haws.

I wonder how I could have done if I would have tried harder, but I'm happy about my 19-minute improvement over last year.

Last year and this year: