Maybe I'll Blog, Maybe I Won't

5.3 miles really easy again.  Legs felt a little tired since I may have overdone it a little yesterday.  Felt good by the end of the run.  7:27 pace so just relaxed and easy.  I can go way faster than that in the Marathon.  Yeah!  I also reserved myself a blog singlet today from SGRC.  My mommy and daddy are getting it for me as an early birthday present since I'm so poor.  haha.  But now I get to be cool like everyone else.

Guide Orange:  243.4

3.1 really slow and easy today.  Legs still a little tiredish.  I'm going to make up an ice tub tonight and ice down good.  Tomorrow as well.  Good day and I feel ready though.  I am soooo excited!  Bring it on!

Guide Orange:  246.5

This morning my legs felt really good after icing last night.  Left Logan today at about 11 and drove pretty much straight through to Hurricane except to eat lunch in Provo.  400 miles.  My legs were sore from sitting in the car for 6 hours, so after I went and got my chip and stuff I went on a short easy 3.5 miler with 2 easy 100m striders mixed in.  Legs felt a little better but not perfect so I iced again, but not for as long or as cold as last night.  They should feel great tomorrow.  I am sooo excited to run my first marathon.  I can just visualize myself not dying at the wall and crossing that finish line under 3 hours with a few minutes to spare!  I am pumped!  Hopefully it all goes to plan.  I am going to run the first 1/2 with the 3 hour group and hopefully come through at 1:30ish then just keep relaxing and gradually building until I get to Winchester Hills and then give it a surge and try to cut off some huge time with that big downhill into St. George.  

Guide Orange:  250.0

Today was the day.  For now I'm just gonna say that I was VERY pleased with my marathon debut and I am officially hooked!  I had a freaking blast!  I think that was one of the funnest races I've ever done!  I felt good the whole time (well, up until about Mile 24) and it was just great!  2:53:43 is the official time...good enough for 50th place.  Don't yet know what my age division place was.  But I'm just tickled about the whole thing.  Thanks to Andy, (Riverton?) Paul, Matt (?) and everyone who was pacing together with us.  Y'all kept me from going out too fast, which, knowing me I would have done and definitely would have died.  And thanks to Paul Peterson, Cody, Jon, Dave and everyone else for all the great advice...it worked perfectly.  Great job to everyone!  

Here's the play by play:  Got to the starting line about an hour before the race started and was a little nervous, wondering whether I had trained enough and all that jazz because the last month had been less than stellar as far as training goes.  Tried to keep warm and jogged around a bit.  Then went to the right corral after Holt told me I was in the wrong place.  Continued warming up with everyone.  Found Andy and a few others who were shooting for 3 hours.  Race started and was feeling pretty good but wondering if I could really keep it up for 26 miles.  Rainy and a little cold.  First mile was 7:05 if I remember right.  I kind of had to depend on Andy to know what the pace was because my watch for some reason stopped after 10 minutes...don't know if I hit the button accidentally or what.  I couldn't see the mile markers for awhile anyway.  Anyway, so not much eventful happened.  Just ran and kind of enjoyed the first half.  Enjoyed the wet weather...easier to breathe although my arms got frozen and hurt to straighten them out.  Veyo hill wasn't as bad as I expected.   Dammeron Valley was worse than I expected but I just relaxed and it went okay.  Hit the half in 1:31:08 and restarted my watch to get the last half split.  After the half mark I started feeling really good for some reason...highly irregular based on my training runs.  Held off for awhile but was really feeling like I could take off easily but I didn't want to do it prematurely.  Hit that big downhill coming into Snow Canyon around mile 15 and just let my legs open up and carry me down.  Gatorade at that stop was gross...not enough water mixed in.  Yuck.     Anyway, after that hill I just didn't feel like slowing down much and just started to fly.  I felt unstoppable.  I have no idea where that came from.  I am usually DEAD after 15 miles.  Just kept going and started passing people like crazy.  No one passed me after mile 15.  I was worried that I was going too fast but I felt so good I just kept going.  The hill at Winchester Hills couldn't even slow me down.  Passed a ton of people on that one.  Just felt great!  Runner's High.  Enjoying myself and having tons and tons of fun.  Just pretended that I was just starting out on my run and put the last 18 miles behind me.  Mile 22.5 my shoe came untied and had to stop and tie it.  I had to take a leak really bad too...maybe that's why I was going so fast.  Didn't want to stop and lose time.  Came flying down the hill into St. George and was still passing people like crazy.  Mile 23 still feeling pretty good...wondering where this "Wall" thing is...Mile 24:  found out where the Wall was.  OH MY HECK!  That hurts sooo bad.  I felt like my muscles were being torn off my legs at each stride.  Still keeping a good pace, trying to relax and not look like I am even working.  That helps me.  Mile 25:  I am DEAD...just trying to make it that last mile...still going strong and passing people though.  Mile 26:  Can see the finish and just want to be there instead of 300m away.  Trying to get a kick in and feeling like I'm sprinting my guts out although I probably didn't look like it.  Looked at the clock and realized I was going to destroy 3 hours.  Crossed the line, tried to celebrate and almost fell over.  I DID IT!!! Legs feel like wet noodles and I have to go to the bathroom but can hardly walk to the porta-potties.  Went and ate some cantaloupe and got a massage and commenced freezing to death.  Negative split the last half marathon by 8:35 (if my math is right) in 1:22:35 don't know where I got that but I'll take it!  Anyway, very happy with the race and I'm gonna do it again!  2:45 here I come!! 

Type A2 Racers:  38.6

K- I've never been this sore in my life!  wow.  

Well, I feel a lot better but it's still a little ticklish walking up and down 4 floors of stairs to and from my place several times a day.  And it takes me forever to walk to class.  No running today.  Just gonna rest the ol' pavement pounders.

Still no running.  Just playing it safe.  I feel much better today though.  Downhill still slow.

Went running today!  Yay!  okay, it was a jog.  5 miles and I don't think I've ever run 5 miles that slow.  Walked up the hills so I don't stress out my muscles and get injured.  My legs are still shot.  Absolutely no "umph" in them.  They don't hurt...they are just blah.  But it was good to finally get out and enjoy some great running weather.  Oh, and I just found out today that I was 5th in my age division and they have a plaque for me that mi padres are going to pick up. 

Guide Orange: 255.0

3 easy easy today.  Legs are still dead tired but not as bad as yesterday.  first 2 miles felt fine but the last one was a chore so I just jogged it.  Ran up a hill and felt tired but not like I was gonna tweak anything so hopefully that's a good sign.  It was cold today too.  Had to wear a beanie and my new long sleeve SGM shirt.  So how long does this recovery thing usually take anyway?

Guide Orange:  258.0

felt much better today.  Still struggled up the hill to my place but other than that my legs seemed to have quite a bit of spring in them today.  Still easy recovery pace.  

Guide Orange: 262.0

About 10k super easy again today.  Legs felt pretty good.  I actually maintained effort (which wasn't much) up a hill today instead of pretty much walking and it didn't hurt.  Still, not gonna push anything for awhile.  I've got all the time in the world to rest up so I'm gonna.  This is the longest I've gone since the race and I felt good.  Legs are still sluggish and you can hear me coming a mile away because I clomp like a horse when running instead of being light and springy like usual.  Oh well.  I guess that's what happens when you do crazy things to your body like running marathons.  haha.

Guide Orange:  268.2

Oh, and today we had our first snow.  When I woke up at 10:15 (heavenly!) there was about an inch on the ground and coming down fast.  But it cleared up and melted off.  We are supposed to get more tomorrow and tonight.  But it was FREEZING today!  I am gonna die up here!  Like it was as cold today as the coldest days in the middle of January back home...and it's only October!  ugh.

No running today.  My feet have really been hurting me since saturday.  It's on both feet so I don't think it's an injury (unless I am very unlucky) but I figured I'd play it safe and avoid injury since I'm probably very prone to it for the next few weeks.  The bottoms of my feet underneath the 5th metatarsal feel sore and stressed.  Also the front outside of my ankles feel like the muscles and tendons in there are pretty torqued.  No idea why unless it was because of playing dodgeball until 1 AM on saturday.  That may not have helped.  Hopefully I'll feel less fragile tomorrow.

4 miles easy.  Felt a lot less sore than yesterday.  Starting to feel like I can sort of run normal again instead of clomping around like a clydesdale.  

Guide Orange: 272.2

3 easy today.  Nothing really special.

Guide Orange: 275.2

8 miles pretty easy to moderate pace with Jon.  Went up this trail in Green Canyon and it was pretty nice.  Gradual uphill all the way out and downhill back so we made pretty good time coming back.  Legs felt the best they've felt since the marathon.  Good sign.  Good run today.

Guide Orange:  283.2

Didn't intend to go this far or this hard today...Thought that the Bonneville Trail would be a little less hilly than it turned out to be.  But a good workout anyway.  Hope I'm not dead for tomorrow's run.  Oh well.  Moderate pace today.  Felt very good.  

Guide Orange:  291.2

12 mile fun run up and down mountains with Jon and Cody.  Lots of climbing...like over 2000 feet worth.  We went on the Ephraim's Grave trail to where some guy killed a huge grizzly bear that was 9'11'' tall (they had a rock set up that was as tall as the bear, and lemme tell ya, that's a big ol' bear)  And there was a paper there with a story about how the guy shot the bear and blood was squirting out of it's mouth or something.  Cool story.  Then we came back down the mountain via Steel Canyon trail which was fun and I almost died about 3 times tripping.  One time I jammed my finger on this big rock while trying to avoid smashing my face against it.  We saw quite a few hunters and they all stared at us with a look somewhere between disgust, hatred, and incredulity....the disgust/hatred because we were scaring the deer and the incredulity because we were running up these huge mountains out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but short shorts, 2 thin shirts, and a water bottle.  Anyway, very fun run.  And we ended up beating the "9 minute guy."  Cody and Jon run with imaginary friends and I guess I am one of them too since I decided to take up plumbing and hit the campaign trail with John McCain and I have shrunk to 3.5 inches tall.  I'm surprised I can keep up with them anymore since my stride has gotten so short.  Must be the weight I lost in the process.  Anyway, good day today and I felt pretty good the whole time.  Good elevation training without killing myself.  

Guide Orange:  303.2  

Stayed up WAAAYYY too late tonight.

10 easy today.  Legs were kind of sore and hurting from Ephraims Grave, but after I got warmed up is wasn't too terrible.  Just cruised out through Providence and also part of the TOU 5k course and some stuff and came back via Main and 4th North.  Actually felt kinda good and pushed a little after about 6 miles.  Still not too hard...was planning on more today but just didn't feel it.

 Guide Orange:  313.2

about 8 and a half moderate pace today.  Legs still kind of stiff.  This last couple of days has been a test to see how I was recovering and I'm obviously not there yet so I'm gonna take most of the rest of the week pretty easy and have a long run on Saturday.  Felt reasonably good though considering.  It was a little chilly and breezy out today.  Fall is definitely in the air.  The trees are all pretty though.  

Guide Orange:  321.8

Went and watched Karl and Hayden at State XC today...that was a nice break from the monotony of school.  ;)  They both did really well with the cards they were dealt even though neither got what they were hoping for...but they are champions in my book and I think everyone knows it.  Anyway, so I spent half an hour total sprinting from one part of the course to another and hollering at the top of my lungs.  Probably a total of 2 miles really fast.  Nothing hurt either so that's a good sign.  Jogged a little when I got back but I had tons of studying to do so didn't get much mileage in for the day.  That's okay, I wanted today to be easy.  

Guide Gold:   503.0

Went on a hard tempo run today a little over 4 miles.  Felt pretty good and legs felt strong.  Got in lots of hills and pushed them hard.  It was nice weather today.  Good for running.  

Guide Orange: 326.1

6 miles easy to moderate today.  Legs were a little tired from yesterday's hard run, but the good news is they didn't have that dull, achy, I-just-ran-a-marathon feeling so I think I am starting to recover nicely.  I felt really good though other than that today.  Felt smooth and relaxed and the pace felt fast but effortless.  Not plodding anymore either.  I actually have some lower leg strength again!  haha.  OH! and I hit a milestone today...1000 miles (actually 1003.1) in just under 6 months since I joined the blog on April 27th of this year.  Woo Hoo!  that only works out to roughly 6.5 mi/day over 155 running days (counting sick days and days I didn't run, but not Sundays), but you gotta realize I spent a good deal of that time trying to get in shape after 2 years of not running at all, so I figure that's pretty dang good!  Yeah!  Maybe I'll go get some Aggie Ice Cream as a reward...okay maybe not, but I'm happy about this.  Lets see if I can do like 2300+ for the year (ending in April). 

Guide Orange:  332.1

Today I went on another beastly trail run up a mountain with Jon and Cody. We also had another newcomer to our little group named Lisa.  Anyway, we drove partway up Blacksmith Fork Canyon and ran a trail called Leatham Hollow  up to the top of Millville Canyon then took a road for a couple more miles past a couple of deer hunters and one very stuck Land Rover.  Good run with lots of climbing:  3400 feet total elevation gain over 6 miles.  12 miles total.  Coming back down was a bit rougher than last week but only because of the last couple of miles which was in a dry creekbed full of ankle breaking rocks, one of which I had the good fortune of kicking into my shin which felt great.  Feet, ankles, and knees felt a lot better than last week though.  Ground was a bit softer.  Got down to the bottom and iced my feet in a freezing cold little river.  Felt wonderful.  

Guide Orange: 344.1

Well, I only meant to go 12 today but I didn't realize it was 3 miles from my apartment to the Green Canyon trailhead instead of only 2 like I was thinking.  So I ended up running 14 today.  Felt really good though.  I went slow the first half because my calves were a little fatigued from all that climbing on saturday and it was all uphill going out but I got feeling pretty good near the top and decided to go hard coming back down.  Got some great speed going on the way back especially once I got back on the road and didn't have to worry about where to put my feet.  Last 3 miles or so were good pace for a hard tempo run.  It only felt like 12 instead of 14 but the course tool says otherwise.   Oh, and I just got a call from my dad and he says that I got a letter from SGM saying that they made a mistake and I ended up taking 4th in my age division instead of 5th!  So that is way cool...don't know if it's affecting my overall place but hey, they sent me a new brass plate to put on my little plaque so that is all cool.  Anyway, so good day, good mileage, beautiful weather, legs feel awesome...yeah, it's a good day.  :)

River Trail with Paul and Jon.  Just easy pace.  Ran from my apt and met them at the trailhead and then we went about 6 on the trail and I ran back to my place. (a little over 2 miles each way)  Felt really good and relaxed.  It got a little chilly towards the end and when my hands get cold I can't type so this is all I'm gonna write for now.  Good run today. 

8.6 very easy today.  Didnt' work hard at all...just got out and got in some slow miles.  Felt good to rest a bit from the last couple of days but my legs still feel pretty good considering.  I think I'm recovering pretty well.  Will take the rest of this week very easy, try to PR in the 10K on Saturday, and then get a good week with lots of miles in next week.  Oh, and I'm seriously considering running the Ogden Marathon...but I was wondering if that's a bad idea where I've only done one marathon, and that being 4 weeks ago...my legs feel fine and I feel like I could easily do it but I was just curious if anyone knows anything I don't about this recovery thing.  It would be a good goal to shoot for and give me motivation to get me through the winter here.  Just curious.

AM:  okay, well I'm about to fall asleep in class.  But it was a good run this morning, although it's the earliest I've gotten up for a run in a long time.  It was wierd, we had like 5 people there.  Went about 5 very easy.  Felt good since my legs are a little tired.  Probably do another  mile this evening to make 6.

PM:  mile jog around the blockish.  nothing exciting.

Just 4 very easy today around town.  Resting for the 10K tomorrow.  Legs feel great.  Going to stretch out good tonight and try to get some sleep even though I probably won't get a ton due to Aggie Basketball and the Howl.  Thank goodness the race isn't early like usual.  I'm excited for it.  Goals:  Break 35 min., and if possible win it.