Christina's Running Blog

AM: I rode my bike to work today.  Very hot outside!  I took a shower when I got to work. 

PM: I rode home from work. Much nicer at night--no traffic and it's cool!

A nice, easy run in Murray Park. Brutally hot, since I woke up late, but it was over with quickly.

I biked to the gym in Sandy this morning.  I'm still getting used to a bike, so I hit a pothole in the road and crashed into a cement wall.....I have some nice road rash on my leg, but nothing too serious.  I also almost got hit by a big truck making a right hand turn...he wasn't paying attention. He missed me by a second. Another car was stopped at a red light and was watching the whole thing.  The people in the car threw their hands over their faces because they thought I was going to get hit.  So......I'm not dead yet, but there's always risk on a bike.  It doesn't help that I'm so accident prone.....

When I got to the gym, I did some upper body and core work.  Then I rode to work.

 PM:  I rode home from work and was more careful this time!  I made it home in one piece.

I ran in City Creek this morning.  I had only run about a half mile when I saw Alisa running as well.  She was a gal we recruited on the Runamok Divas Wasatch Back team.  I don't know her well, but we decided to run to the top together.

It was great having her there--it made the run go by so much faster.  She told me how she just loved meeting Coach Bill and was so impressed with how selfless and giving he is.  She tells everyone about him and the influence he's had in her life!

We also talked a lot about spiritual things--we've both had a lot of similar life experiences and perspectives on life.  We both have seen the hand of God in our lives so many times.  I am so grateful she was there this morning and that I got a chance to get to know her better.  I hope she can come out to some of our group runs.  She's a little intimidated right now since we're right in the middle of some intense training, but I told her after the marathon is over, we tone it down a bit. :) 

Some of my coworkers are really getting into running.  One of them mentioned to me the other day that she gets that runners high.  Her husband loves it because then she's in a really good mood and just loves everyone and doesn't care if the kids are fighting or messing up the house.  It's funny how that high can affect us so much.

Rami wishes he could run but he has some issues with his feet--some sort of neuropathy.  So, he just spends his time watching Arabic soap operas.  They actually have a lot more drama than our soap operas--he almost got me hooked!  But not enough to miss a run!

My friend Emily and I went to a spin class at the rec center.  Then we jogged a mile around the cemetery.  She was having a bad day, so I figured a run would get her endorphins high and get her in a good mood.  We went swimming afterwards to cool off.

Provo Half is this weekend.  I am excited to run it, but not excited to wake up early!  I will miss Tracy 1--we usually sing U2 songs during a run to keep our minds off of the pain!  She will be at Bear Lake relaxing and living it up on the beach!

Beautiful day for a race.  I wasn't sure what to expect since the course had been changed so many times.  I talked with Curt Catmull last night and he said he measured the course about six different times to make sure it was accurate.

I stayed the night with Miriam's parents in Orem. We met Hildisvini at the packet pickup and ate at Subway. This morning I woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.  We met up with the runamoks to get on the bus to head up to the canyon.  I sat by Tracy A and Luke on the bus.  Tracy told me some funny stories about his step-father-in-law and had me laughing the whole way up.

As was expected, there was some disorganization at the beginning.  I wanted to do some warm-up sprints, but a man kept yelling at us to stay on the side of the road since busses were coming.  No one quite knew where the start was, but  we saw Curt in his pickup truck shoot the gun off, so we figured out approximately where it was.

My splits are as follows:

1- 8:24

2- 7:59  Renae caught up to me and we ran about 4 miles together.  We talked about how weird it was that Tracy1 wasn't with us!  She opted out of the race today.

3- 8:04 

4- 7:59

5- 8:12

6- 8:03

7- 7:32  I felt pretty much "in the zone" from this point on.  My breathing was comfortable and my legs were on cruise control.

8- 7:10

9- 8:24

10- 7:27

11- 7:42

12- 8:00

13.1- 8:09   Coach was near the finish line and yelled "200 meters left--SPRINT!!"  I took off as fast as I could.  It was actually about 400 meters left.  I saw him after the race and said, "You lied to me--it wasn't 200 meters!"  He smiled and said, "I know, but I got you to run faster."

It was a PR for me today.  We were all very pleased with our times.  We call Miriam "MIR" (most improved runner) since she is knocking the socks off of all of us.  So many of my friends were there and I loved chatting with them and enjoying their success.  It always gives me such a high to run with them and share in this experience. 

I feel like I have a hold on the half-marathon distance pretty well.  It's the marathon that I feel like I haven't quite gotten the jist of it yet.