cheryl

Where to begin?  What a difference a year makes.  Last year, after running a disappointing 4:01--disappointing because I ran 3:35:37 the year before--and wondering if this was it, if the inevitable slowdown that comes with aging had finally hit--and then today, at the ripe old age of 51 and 364 days old to set a PR, that was quite satisfying to me.  I really didn't have any realistic hopes of bettering my time of two years ago because my training was quite a bit less this year.  I should say I ran a lot this past year, but didn't do the traditional marathon training of long runs.  The longest I ran continually was one 16 mile run.  For some reason I just dislike long runs, plus I'm afraid they might lead to injury.  So I avoid the long runs, and basically the most running I do is with the BBKs, all awesome runners who help push each other to better and faster times.  So I have to give all those great people credit for helping push me a long.  The other thing that made a difference is just a few weeks ago I got some tips on how to run more efficiently, and  just making a few tweaks in my running form made a big difference in the outcome today.  The main thing was staying relaxed, not trying to power up the hills or really doing any power running, just staying more relaxed and finessing things more.  That helped a lot, although I did find myself falling back into the old tense, tight way several times, and I had to keep correcting that throughout the race.  I must say by about mile 17 or so I was thinking I need to learn to love the long run more because I could feel the lack of them hit about then.  My legs got tired, I had no knee lift by the end, and I was in survival mode.  I even felt like the legs were going numb with about two miles to go.  So I'm thinking maybe next year I'll do things a little better and maybe try for that elusive sub-3:30 time.  Then can I call it good and just run the marathon for "fun?"  (Is that possible?  Please tell me it is!!)  It was great to see how well everyone in the group did.  It made me happy to see how many  PR'ed today or even if they didn't pr, they still had a great time.  So I guess in spite of the pain of the race, it was a fun day.

I thought I should log today just to have a record of my marathon recovery.

Sunday I was pretty sore, Monday a little better, and of course every day it's a little better.  I actually think I could run today, but am not going to because I've read that after a marathon there is lots  of damage done that you need at least a good week to recover from.  So I'm trying to keep from running for at least a week.  I have been walking every day with my dog.  That is always enjoyable.  I'm going to count that as one mile just so I get off the zero thing.

One other note on the St. George marathon:  I noticed my age grade was 76.6%.  The overall women's winner was age graded at 82.4%, so I'm not too terribly far off that (or maybe I am, maybe each percent means a lot, I don't know).   When you get to be my age I think the age grade thing becomes your favorite statistic.

I

I ran 3 on the treadmill just to see if I could!  My calves were bothering me by the end.

I went outside to run with the dog.  It was so windy that I got discouraged fast.  So then I went to the Rec Center to run on their track.  The tight turns were bugging me though.  I ran as fast as I thought I could just to see how fast I could run a lap.  My fastest was 35 seconds, my fastest for two laps was 1:15.  I then went back home and finished everything off by riding the stationary bike for 30 minutes.

Back at it with the group.  We've decided to take it pretty easy for the next little while.  So we ran around a lot of our favorite streets, Temple View, Bonanza, Bridle Oak, etc., etc.  It was fun.  My legs hurt a little at first, by the end they felt a little better.  Maybe running slowly helps to work things out.  This evening we went to Nancy R.'s house to help her celebrate her birthday.  Apparently her husband was able to keep it a total surprise.  It was a fun get together. 

Treadmill work--fast sprints, other things.  Felt good.

Met the group at Parkway Palisades and we ran around that area.  Hit a few hills, but nothing too bad.

 ran twice today.  Here are the details:

1st run--I took my dog and went to the canal road and ran for 30 minutes straight, at an easy pace.  Just tried to keep it a very easy run.  It was a great day to be outside--no wind, shorts and t-shirt weather, I just really enjoyed being outside--it was about noon when I was out.  We don't seem to get a  lot of days like today.  It seems like it's windy a lot of the time, so I'll savor non-windy days when we get them.

2nd run--the fun run.  My friend Michelle White left a post on Facebook a few weeks ago about a 5K her sister was in charge of that would benefit the YWCA.  She asked that any runners would try to support it.  So I figured I hadn't raced a 5K in a long time and I wanted to help out Michelle and her sister, so I signed up.  I was pretty sure it would be one of those small events without many speedy people there; not that that was important to me, it's just easier when there's not a whole lot of pressure to really push it.  I wanted to just kind of push it.  It was at 4pm.  They first had a little fun 1K where people, mainly men,  ran in high heels.  Then the 5K.  We took off, and there was a woman running with two men who took the lead, plus a couple of women.  I passed the two women, so then I trailed the woman and two men.  They seemed to not be really pushing the pace and I could tell they were talking to each other, so it didn't  look like they were intensely racing.  I trailed them until about mile 2, when I finally caught them.  Then one of the men took off, and about 30 seconds later I heard steps and thought it was probably the woman trying to pass, but it was the other man.  At that time I knew I was the lead woman, but had no idea how far behind me was that other woman.  So from not really wanting to push the paced I knew I needed to keep at it if I wanted to be the 1st female.  So I tried to run that last mile as hard as I could, finished, looked behind and there was that woman not more than 10-15 seconds behind.   Then for the really good news--they gave $100 to the first man and woman, so I won some money!  That was pretty exciting.  I had no idea they would have money prizes.  I'm glad I didn't know before the race because I probably would have panicked and blown it.  It's always nice to win a race and to win some money at the same time.  Next year maybe some of my group will show up if they know about this, then they can battle it out for the 1st place prize.  I'm glad none of them were there today because several of them would have beaten me.

Up early to run 10 with Cheris, Julie, Michelle M., Eric and Alan.  We did a route we've done before, mainly in Riverton I think.  I'm thinking if I can regularly run 10 miles on Saturdays, that maybe in the spring when we start our serious marathon training the long runs won't seem so daunting to me.  I enjoyed the company today.  It did seem a little hard to get that 10 miles done; my legs felt weak and numb at the end.  Maybe in a few months it won't seem that difficult, at least that's what I'm hoping.

Some running on the canal road with the dog, some running on the treadmill without the dog.

The group met at the church at about 120th So. and 1300 W.   Then we ran down by the trail and then over to the area around 700 W.  It was a nice morning, not too cold, no wind.  I could run comfortably in shorts and a t-shirt (after warming up).  Pretty good size group, it was fun to run fairly easy, plus hit a few hills.

Did a little treadmill running.

Tlhe group met at Swenson Farms subdivision.  Cheris led the workout.  We ran around there, and basically ran 3 2-mile loops.   Kept things fairly comfortable.  It was fun, as always.

Did some warm-up, then ran a fast 5K on the treadmill.  I always like doing those because it gets me sweating and feeling really good.

Today was the Pumpkin Run out in Riverton and Herriman.  I ran this two years ago, coming off a PR at the St. George Marathon, feeling like I was running the strongest I'd ever run to that point, and totally had a bad race.  My time was 41:20.  It's still a mytery to me what happened that day.  It was windy and a little cool and overcast, but that shouldn't have affected me that much, considering that everyone else I knew and was at least as fast as ran a lot faster than me.  Anyway, I returned today to see if I could do better, plus it was a good way to get in a quality run, which I sometimes have trouble doing on Saturdays.

The day was nice, no wind, mild temps, shorts and t-shirt weather.  Cheris, Julie, Rachel, and Eric were the ones there from the group.  Lisa was helping organize things.  So we took off and ran.  One thing I'd forgotten was how difficult the course was.  It's an out and back course, with the out having a lot of downhill, and, you guessed it, the back having a lot of uphill.  I tried to keep a steady pace, trying to keep my form correct, keeping things feeling comfortably hard, with the emphasis more on hard.  It was quite tough on the way back, dealing with all those hills.  I wanted to stop and walk a few times, but resisted the urge.  I  finished in 37 minutes flat, so it was quite an improvement over two years ago.  The others from the group all ran really strong, Cheris won, Julie 3rd and Rachel 4th (for the females).  I wasn't too far behind all those young whipper snappers (Cheris I think was 35:56), so I felt pretty good about that.  I'm hoping if the coming year can be the first year in like over 10 years where I don't have to deal with health issues (no more thyroid problems) and if I can keep from getting injured, that I can develop even more strength and speed.  We'll see.  For right now in this particular race, I was the fastest over 50--of course, there were only like two of us over 50, but I'll take it.