I can do it!

I spent the whole day registering my six school-aged kids in the public school system.  Yes, we shocked and surprised a lot of people by this unexpected action, including ourselves!  What a nightmare.  Now I remember one of the reasons I've been a homeschooling mom for the last ten years...

This morning Ben and I had to get up super early to drive our 18-year-old son to Las Vegas, so we could put him on a plane bound for Honduras.  He'll be having a seven-week adventure down there.  I hope Honduras survives the visit...

When we arrived back home, we headed over to the gym to get in a quick run on the treadmill, before heading off to all the back-to-school nights and to do a bit of school shopping before they start school in the morning.  I did a 3.1 mile run in ladders, finishing in 24:49.  I felt surprisingly good, and now the day wasn't a total waste of a training day!  Yay!  :D

My running partner (my daughter) didn't get up this morning, since she was awake all night in anticipation of the first day back to school in ten years.  I decided to be lenient with her, so I left her in bed and laid around for awhile until it was light enough for me to go by myself.  I had a great run!  I did 5 miles in 43:37, including the three 50-second walk breaks I took.

Then this evening, we went to the Reservoir and swam the length of the dike with the tri club.  Since I waited for everyone to start, I ended up being almost late to the show, so that was a little stressful, but it was worth it.  I swam 1.1 miles in around 30 minutes.  :D

I woke up early this morning (what was I thinking?!?) and went for a bike ride with my friend Kim.  It felt like I was starting over, and I was SO tired from the short nights and all the running around over the last few days, so we took it REALLY easy.  We rode along the road to Gunlock, just having a great conversation the whole way.  The ride took us 1:10:34.

When I arrived home, I actually took the time to SHOWER and then headed out the door to finish some more school shopping...but Ben called me and said he wanted a lunchtime run, and was willing to push the kids in the stroller, so...THIS IS WHY I DON'T SHOWER!!!!  Just kidding.  I get at least one every day - haha!  Anyway, we ran at 12:30, just a 5K around the neighborhood, but even though it was an "easy" run, it was HARD!  It's been a long time since I've run in the heat.  It was about 90 degrees outside.  It took me 29:39 to do the 3.1 miles.  Now I need a nap!

Friday is Zumba/sushi day! And that's all I have to say about that... :D

What an incredibly fantastic morning for a 20 mile run!  I felt absolute joy as I watched the shooting stars, saw the sun rise over Snow Canyon, listened to the rhythm of my own footsteps, and shared in the energy of other runners.  On days like today, I’m elated to be a runner. 

We met up with a group from the Saint George Running Center at 4:30 AM to run the marathon course.  I took it pretty easy, since I'm in the middle of a cluster cycle and wanted to avoid having to run with a headache.  So I never really picked up the pace, even on the downhills.  I took all of my walk breaks, every 6 minutes, and concentrated on keeping my heart rate down.  I successfully made it to mile 19.8 before the headache started!  The next 2.5 hours were pretty harsh, but the joy of the run made it all worthwhile!

I was excited to finish the run in 3:07:46, since I knowingly kept it slow and I still look good for a 4 hour marathon!  Maybe, just MAYBE, I can pull the 3:50 I need to qualify for Bosten...although I'm not going to focus on that right now.