cheryl

We had decided to just run easy this morning because of  Steve's group tonight.   So met at 6:30am at the Jr. Parkway Trail at 9800 So.  Debbie, Michelle and Alan were the others there.  We just ran nice and easy along the trail.  I was practicing being less of a heel striker and more of a running on the toes, picking up the knees runner.  It seemed to help, I felt a lot less stress in my hamstrings and the run was definitely more enjoyable than usual.  I got out my book on Chi Running afterwards, seeing what tips I could glean from that.  I think that is the perfect way you should run, it's just a matter of learning how to do it correctly.   Any Chi Runners out there?

And then this evening we met with Steve at Riverton High and ran some 1000's.   I kept my times and then erased them accidentally, but I think they were 4:31, 4:41, and then 4:34.  We did a 400 and I remember my time on that was 1:47.  I checked my running journal from last year and last August I ran 1000's at one of our workouts in 4:07, 4:05 and 3:56.  So obviously I've lost a lot since last year.  I'm not quite sure why, but I hope to get it back.  We'll see.  Besides the heat, it was a fun workout.  We talked with Steve after about various running things and that was fun.  I could tell you his max heartrate, but I won't.

Because of the workout last evening, I did not want to meet with the group at 5:30am.  Made it at 6:00am and we ran a basically continuous run around the neighborhood just south of the high school, to Canterwood and Rustic Rds., back to the neighborhoods and then back to the high school.  Steve told us to run easy today but I found myself running just a little faster than I probably should  have run.  Oh well, we can't be perfect all the time.  Later on I put in some faster strides on the treadmill (16).  That was fun.

Met with Alan, Debbie, and Peggy  and we ran along the canal road for about an hour (1:02 to be exact by my watch.)  That was 6 miles according to Alan's GPS.  It was a comfortable pace, but I could have run slower and been more comfortable.  Bothers me somewhat that 10 minute miles doesn't seem super comfortable.  And I'm hoping to run 8 minute miles in the marathon...Hmmm....  Anyway, my legs were feeling kind of stale so I went to the pool later on and pool ran, hoping that would revive them.  I'm not sure yet if it worked.  I "ran" for 30 minutes, but I'm not logging any of that as mileage. 

Well, my legs, specifically my calves, were sore this morning, so I skipped my group run, thinking it was better to rest my legs for the WBR.  I did go to the gym and pool run for an hour, which was very enjoyable.  I've decided I'll convert my pool running into 15 minute miles, so that's how I came up with 4 miles.  If anyone else thinks I should do it differently, let me know.  Hopefully I'll feel strong and well for the relay.

I ran the Wasatch Back Relay with my Bingham Glute Kicker group.  I was the lead-off runner in van 2, so my first leg began about 3:15 in Liberty.   A guy passed me right off the bat, but I eventually passed him back.  I passed several other people who looked to be mainly recreational runners.  I ran that leg in 32:32, so if it was really 4 miles, I was happy with the time.

My second leg began about 11:00pm when I took the hand-off in East Canyon.   This leg was rated moderate, but I felt it was pretty difficult with a lot of uphill.  It was dark so I couldn't really tell that well, but it felt very uphill.  Two guys passed me during that leg.  My time for 3.9 miles was almost 40 minutes.

After everyone was done, we went to the middle school in Heber to spend a few hours.  I had a great shower, then probably slept for just over an hour.  I took the next handoff about 7:45am.  And then the big event of this relay happened.  I knew Sasha's team was starting at 5:00pm (our team started at 9:20am), and as much as I couldn't believe a team that started over 7.5 hours behind us would beat us, I knew we would eventually be passed by a Fast Running Blog runner.  So out of 12 people on our team, I was the lucky one who got passed by Sasha's team.  I felt so proud!  He was very friendly and we exchanged a few words, then he was off, a speck in the distance.  I finished that leg in 34:05; it was 4.1miles.  So I was done with my running early and got to watch my teammates run their legs and got to enjoy Ragnar from the van.  We finished in 26:50:10, with an 8:53 per mile average.  I thought finishing under a 9 minute mile pace was a great accomplishment.  Good job team!!