cheryl

I ran 30 minutes on the treadmill at a very slow pace, easy, easy.  Then I took a short break, then ran for 30 minutes at faster paces, going fast, slowing down, going fast again.  That is always a fun run that I enjoy.

The group met at Bingham today to do mainly a track workout.  Peggy had us do a broken 5K, so we first ran a 400, which I ran in 1:42, then an 800, which was 3:34, then 3 1000s.  Peggy said to keep the times consistent.  My times were 4:20, 4:25, and 4:23.  Was that consistent?  I was doing addition in my head as we ran, and I knew that to make 5000 meters that we had 800 meters left to do.  I convinced myself I'd be able to handle that.  Then Peggy sprung on us that we had to do a two mile tempo run.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle that.  I don't know what it is, when I'm in charge I can handle the tough workouts, when somebody else tells us what to do, I'm convinced I won't be able to do them.   But you have to do them, so we headed off on our tried and true two mile route, thru Temple View, Bonanza, then Prospector.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my final time as 14:38.  The last time we ran that same route, a few weeks ago, my time was 15:09, so I'll take that improvement.  Then back to the track to finish those 800 meters.  We did a 400, time 1:36, then two 200s, times were 43 and 41.  It was all very fun.

Later I ran two very easy miles on the treadmill.

Hill sprints on the treadmill.  Really enjoyed it.

We are on vacation down at Mt. Carmel Jct.  For those of you who have never heard of this great little town, it is really just a junction of two roads, the road coming out of Zion heading east, and SR 89.  There are two of everything there--two motels, two restaurants, and two gas stations.  But only one golf course.  It is a very nice place, relaxing, and beautiful scenery.  For my run today, I ran up the road going to Zion.  I call it "running up the mountain" because that's what it seems like.  I ran up a pretty good way, then back down, then up for five minutes, then down, then up for three minutes, then down, then up for one minute, then down.  I wanted to get in lots of hill work, which I did.  I have no real idea of mileage, I just know I ran for 53 minutes, so we'll call that 5 miles.

Today for my run I ran on a little dirt road that is off the main road on the way to Kanab.  I went down it a little way, then found an uphill trail, so I ran that several times to get in more hill work.  I ran for 36 minutes, so we'll call that 3 miles.  Later in the evening, we went to the sand dunes that are just north of Kanab and I ran in them some.  Have you ever run in sand?  It's pretty tough.

No real running today, but does a really tough hike count as anything?  We went into Zion today and did Angel's Landing.  I've heard about this hike for a few years now from my brother-in-law who has done it a few times and likes to tell me how scary it is, sheer drop-offs on both sides, chains to hold onto on narrow strips of trails with those sheer drop-offs just inches away.  I figured that hundreds of people do the hike every year, and I've only heard of two deaths, one a woman whose husband "allegedly" pushed her off, and another a teenager who was drunk and was obviously not being careful enough.  So I figured as long as I was careful, no worries.  Just to get to the hard part is quite an uphill hike, but if you've run Suncrest, it really wasn't that difficult.  The people I was with have not run Suncrest, so they were struggling.  We made it to Scout's Landing, and then for the treacherous part.  I was ready to turn back several times, but my BIL convinced me it would be ok, plus both my daughters and my older son were doing it and I didn't want to seem like a wimp.  But I wasn't enjoying it one bit, I just wanted it over.  We made it to the top, "enjoyed" the views for a while, then back down.  I thought going back down would be worse because then we would have to see the drop-offs better, but going back down really wasn't that bad.  I was happy to be done with it and said I would never do it again.  Now a few days later I think "maybe" I might try it again if the circumstances were right.  I did run the non-treacherous parts of the trail a little, so I'm giving myself  two miles for the day, just to even my weekly mileage out to 30 miles.