Believe to Achieve

nike pegasus 29.  i guess it is up to them to take me to the finish line. no time to break in any other shoe right now and my mizunos have almost 600 miles on them!!  took 1/2 and ambien that kim gave me saturday. took the other half saturday night too late (2am that it only gave me 3 hours of sleep). I took it last night at 930pm and woke at 225am-- so five hours then I tossed and turned until I got up at 515am and ran 4.5 miles before meeting up with my neighbor/friend Donna who lets me run real slow :D (9:30 to 10 pace) for three miles.  Then another 1/2 mile home.  Achilles is really angry and causing my left calf to burn as well.  I think I will have a professional massage this week.    AP today = 8:36 for 8.   Warmed up two miles and ran two at "who the heck knows" pace -- 6:40, 6:41 (hilly both miles more uphill second mile).  With the ambien on board I really felt in coma-mode and medicated so that med is out the window for being used again this week.  I just want to fall asleep without medicine!!!  And I want to sleep THROUGH the night!!!  I work the next two days-- going easy and short before work and not running one of the days.    BTW I just looked up my BIB number for the ST. George Marathon---  5084  :D.   

nike pegasus pink.   6 miles easy 8:25 pace.  First mile 9:31 :D.  Last mile 7:29.  Besides my right leg taking over my left legs role as a whiner, I feel good.  Could be because of that BIG 8 HOURS of sleep posted!!  Oh yah!! meds needed however.  Birthday bash yesterday for my 12 year old for four hours with eleven 12 year olds gave me enough anxiety.  LOTS of Drama!!  I decided that holding a birthday party for twenty 6 year olds would have been easier!!  We played 10 party games with 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  Who knew that a girl would cry for not winning????  Oh and that just made it so several of the other girls played into her emotional "game" and it just escalated from there.  It was fun but in a dramatic way.  I had to have a few "time outs" (not lecturing just animated) about who the heck cares who wins and loses skittles in a game???  We had plenty of extras to hand out later I told the girls.  OH MY!!!  my little briefing here can't even quite give you the picture!!  It seemed that half the girls were PMSing ; D.   The other half had all their ENERGY combined and I mean ENERGY!!!  (actually two girls were quite calm!!) Of course my daughter is happy so that is all that matters in the aftermath.  No one hates each other (at least I think so).  Just warning any parents thinking of a 12 year old girl party.  Perhaps limit it to 6 party guests.  

nike pegasus pink.    stop watch that can't be seen in the dark so ran until I thought I ran five miles then just barely course tooled it at 5.11 miles.  AP 8:17.  easy.  no garmin race day for sg for me.  just my stop watch that i won't be able to see in the dark for the first 5- 6 miles so running by "feel" and not really overly going to stress pace until the second half.  first half is controlled. 2nd half hopefully i can get it in gear and try to run the race but if i can't i won't and i will still be the okay : D.    sleep not so good last night.  arguments with your companion in the late afternoon cause undue anxiety even if resolved by bedtime.  felt bad that i flipped a gasket.  need to relax.   doing well now :D.   so hopefully i will sleep tonight and tomorrow night.  peaks and valleys right now when i think of my prep or lack thereof for this upcoming 26.2 miler.  lovin'my shoes.  so cush.  

ran at 11am had dr. appt with endocrinologist in the morning.  in less than two minutes he proceeded to tell me my problem was not endocrine in his sieran accent.  it was not helpful that two of the three secretaries had on the strongest perfume that immediately when I got in there i had a whopping headache and nerve pain down my arm and my nose was burning.  then to hear him (because i point out my "allergy" to perfumes first because they happen to be staring at me in the face) he says that.  I was about to tell him what I thought in a rude way....and i calmed myself enough to after further history and symptoms (wow he started to hear me) he realized why i was there seeing him.  holy flip!!!  first impressions mean a lot dude.  i really wouldn't recommend him to anyone.  dressed very nice but bedside manner very abrupt-- he seemed impatient at first until he learned my history, blotchy skin, steroids causing intense pains in my body, tan looking skin even in the winter (remember i run in the dark all the time), anxiety, insomnia, racing heart rate, leg cramps constantly-- I could see a light bulb turning on in his head.  ADRENAL insufficiency.  i have a bunch of lab work to be done and can't do them when i have something stressful coming up or it alters the test outcome.  also he is checking me for high tryptase levels linked to mast cell disease that causes me to overreact to allergens like perfume- causing intense fatigue, inability to concentrate, racing heartrate and  confusion/headaches.  Fascinating.  I honestly had to say a quick prayer when he was so abrupt at first to not lose it on him.  I told him "you are the expert, find what is wrong with me".  Gee whiz.    Obviously after "i die" at sg it won't matter (hee hee) I am really just kidding.    I just can't find out until after this stressor is gone.  So in the meantime come on let's get this marathon over already.   MY RUN---  ummmm....am I running a marathon in less than two dayS???  from all that perfume my muscles and breathing was suffering but I ran with my stop watch and just course tooled it-- thought I was at 8:30 pace but luckily it was 8:00 AP for 4.12 miles.  Now time to clean both my cars.  Yup they are an eye sore to the planet!!  Is there such a thing as "nesting" before a marathon?  I think so ; D.   last thoughts-- i really don't want to run the marathon.  just sayin'.

zero miles.  intense burning pain down right leg and right arm.  drove to sg with kim and jane.  they gave me permission to go  easy on myself with running sg  (run easy up and whatever i can do down).  was worried the burning pain would not subside but it dissipated after several meds-- celebrex, soma, 1/4 xanax and benadryl.   goal pr for sg and nothing more.  3:07 the goal.  plan-- no garmin, just stop watch that i can't read in the dark : D.    bed at 10pm.  pizza at costco with berry sundae.  so do not want to run but signed up and going for the 10 year club and wonder why since my health is not getting any better.  some day : D. 

just ran with stop watch and by feel.  couldn't see my watch until mile 6.  think at 10k I was at 43:50.  ran veyo conservatively but surprisingly as fast as last year-- i am an uphill runner :D.  don't have my splits, i got too much water on my watch that is not water resistant and the screen went blank the last mile and has yet to dry out.   i didn't even talk except once to ask the group beside me if they new if strawberry cliff shots had caffeine-- i couldn't read the small print, my up close vision has been going this past summer---Jenn Hughes was apparently right beside me and said she would read it for me but i had already tossed them aside.  i ran up veyo two to three seconds behind her.  this marathon felt like a TRAINING  run  (TIME FLEW BY) until mile 23 when the 3:05 pacer guy passed me with a herd of people and i had an anxiety attack.   i only wanted 3:07 but he was flying so fast that i thought crap i might not even get my 3:07.  and how did i forget about running with him??  i started in the elite corral and the pacers have to start after that.  i was having an out of body experience even getting to the starting line.  lack of sleep for the past four weeks was showing.  i forgot some of my gus in my bag and only ran taking ONE gu in the race and 5 gu chomps.   the cliff gus on the course all had caffeine so i had nothing else.  HENCE the last two miles of a solid WALL-- 8:30 pace for the last two miles.   I wanted to pull over and end it all.  It hit suddenly but evidently it was lack of fueling.  no leg cramps however thanks to taking three salt tabs.  I had TONS of nerve pain down my spine and both arms and down my back and to my hamstrings-- all nerve-- no muscle pain whatsoever.  AND for the first time NO blisters at SG and NO CHAFING!!!  not even a lost toe nail.  I was surprised how well i felt at mile 19 compared to last year!!!  I came in at 1:34:3x at the half and so that means a 1:33 second half.  Three minutes lost in the last two miles.  Silly me and my lack of preparation.  i don't really like to plan out my fueling.  it has been a bad habit of mine.  jane gave me the salt tabs last night.  i bought gu at the expo but lost two in my bag.   All in all i am pretty happy with my pr considering my training started mid august and my state of mind has been a real downer.  i really did not want to run today so i am just glad it is over.  met master runner speedy woman--- allydia barton who was 5 seconds ahead of me at the finish-- and in the past has run sub3 several times.  very nice.  we met on course when she offered her water bottle to me around mile 11.  she had those special bottles to pick up.  i prefer not to worry about ever having special bottles--- but i would prefer sunglasses at mile 20.  the sun's glare was working on giving me a headache.  I also had a reaction to the new tar they had just poured at mile 24 diagonal street-- the fumes made my heartrate sore and my brain became very fuzzy.  the smell was making me sick.  i saw the mile to go clock at 2:59:xx and had a hard time doing the math that should be real cut and dry.  i couldn't even figure if i had a pr or not--- but now looking at it-- if i could read my watch i would have tried a little harder for a 3:06 :D (especially seeing that 2nd and 3rd in my division were 3:06:43 and 3:07:13-- but unfortunately when i run i have no killer instinct-- i am just happy with a pr) .  I pretty much ran real slow to the finish.  i remember seeing carina pass by me and was like "hi carina" in my head but i don't know if she noticed me or not.  i was so excited to see her and have someone i know be next to me at the finish but never saw her again.  i stayed in the shower for at least 5 minutes.  she chipped me by a lot-- so cool, post baby speedstar!! :D.    next year after getting my health in order i will attempt another pr (3:06???) even though the last two miles today sucked badly that i thought of quitting.  have to make the 10 year club.  WON 100 dollars-- first utah county master :D.    not sore yet so will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.   drove home at 6 pm with kim and jane.  they rocked sg with 2:57 each.  jane had the flu on monday and iv fluids thursday.  she thought she was dying at mile 11 and nearly passed out on the course-- -NO WATCH!!!   kim was her watch and her guardian angel.  she was badly hurting and never in her running career ever felt that crappy-- her legs cramped up at mile 18.   but still-- 6:30 pace for the last two miles!! :D.  i love it!!  they run 50 miles a week and work out at the gym with spin and are amazing to behold!! :D.   

Insomnia again.  Slept 9 hours Saturday night.  But restless sleep all last night.  Sorness almost gone.  General Conference was so nice to hear.  We sat on our couches with our kids and relaxed all day in our PJs yesterday. 

Only one regret (besides the whole year of plaguing injuries and forced runs)-- FUEL.  Seriously ONE gu (15th mile ) the entire race and 5 pieces of chomps(9th mile), luckily 1/4 of a banana at mile 19 along with aspirating on 1/4 of a protein bar handed out by friendly volunteers :D.  The problem with not taking in nutrition is that if you don't FORCE yourself to take it (if you actually had some that is ; D), when the wall hits, you don't think straight to even know what is hitting you except the fact that you can no longer move like you were.  So 3:04:18 became 3:07:18 rather quickly.  But I PRed and it was miserable year and I suppose I will be back once I am healthy.  :D.  The first 23 miles were really quite wonderful, some niggles (hamstrings were bugging since mile one- but I tuned them out) but nothing like last years ridiculousness.  I felt strong up Veyo and awesome coming down at mile 15.  Splits pending the drying out of my watch.  I think mile 21 was a 6:27!!! 

burning nerve pain is keeping me from being myself.  really wish i was cured magically.  neuropathic pain sucks!!    burning from my side of my face, down my shoulder and neck to my butt and down my leg.   so done with the chronic pain.  i walk on eggshells because i don't know what is setting it off.   lab work pending.  love fall running but taking a full week off so no excercise for me.   the same burning pain that was in my leg just before the race is full force intense now-- A MIRACLE I tell ya that God helped me run the race I so badly did NOT want to run.    I persevered with some help from above.   

another lazy day.  tried out tart cherry concentrate to try to get my circadian rhythm back on track.  It is very high in antioxidants and naturally high in melatonin.   no working out.  right leg has been healing-- the pain was magically gone for the marathon but back in a vengeance.  nothing that a little time off won't cure and I plan on just that.  work tomorrow. 

back to work after 8 days off.  wow, that was nice.  busy day however and LOTS of burning pain-- mainly from perfumes and essential oils.  Midday I could hardly move my right leg.  By the time I left the reaction was gone.  I am so done with burning pain!!  I would never wish this pain on someone but sometimes I think if I could let someone feel what I am feeling they would understand why it is driving me insane!!!  It seems unfair to not get answers or relief but then hey I am not burned over 80 percent of my body and I can move and I just ran a marathon PR.  I can overcome right????   BIKED to work 1.1 miles and back.  Biked over 10 miles yesterday. LEGS FEEL GREAT biking.  Not sore (just burning pain). 

back to the precisions.  not sure how i even ran the marathon in the nike pegasus.  they don't even feel good on my feet now.  but i was blister free so i can't complain.  but i wonder if the heel lift and cushiness made my hamstrings the target at that race.  Heels cause your hamstrings to shorten.  Just had to run today. I think six days off was enough-- today was six 24 hour periods of not running ; D.  Absolutely no foot pain!!  Alleluyah!!  finally!! THAT marathon knocked my feet back in place!!  I could sense fatigue in my hamstrings the entire run but nowhere else.  But it felt more like tightness I guess and nerve like to my lower back.  No niggles anywhere else and honestly the hamstrings just feel tight not painful at all.  Need a really good sports massage to stretch them out.  AP 8:25 for 8 miles.  Took my garmin off auto lap for the mile.  VERY liberating to NOT see mile splits!!  AHHHH!!!  Felt better and better the longer I went so I just did my usual eight.  Weather great.  Fall in the air.  Wore shorts, long sleeves.  Hmmmm....this is going to be a long winter waiting for next spring running!!  I guess I will fill it with aerobic base building running easy pace miles and a couple of small races around the holidays. 

Wowsers-- I guess yesterday's run took more out of me than I thought.  This was like a recovery run from my easy run yesterday!!  Felt worse today-- hamstrings and tired legs.  Weird.  So ran a lot slower.  I think the first mile was 10:00 minutes!!  miles are not shown now so just average pace (I peaked at my watch around where abouts a mile would be and the ap said 10).  I do this so i don't focus on going faster each mile by hearing my watch go off and showing the split.  Ran up into cedar hills and down behind loan peak high school.  Was actually entertained with what looked like the final runners in a Halloween 5k--- costumes and numbers on.   Fun.    Leaves all around.  Just jogged it.  No pushing it at all.  Now I feel good-- post BYU football game and all and some ibuprofen.  First time taken since just after the race on Saturday.  That did the trick.   AP for 8 miles = 8:55.  

Watch will not revive.  Showers at finish line and cups of water on head ended its life.  So to memory (and luckily the new splits at 10k, 13.1, and 30k mark) I will write them--- didn 't look at watch first 6.2 miles (43:50 memory but clock on site says 43:47-- close enough :D),  then Veyo-- 7:29 :D, 7:22ish, 7:11ish, 7:22ish, 7:12 ish(miles 8-12),   then mile 13???  I think low 7s (7:08??), 14-- 7:02, 15- , 6:36, 16-- 6:37, 17--6:44, 18-- 6:45,  19- 7:14, 20-- 7:02ish,  21-- 6:27 (remember this one),  22????  23???? 24-- 7:18,  25???? (8:2x??) , 26.2 -- 8:30ish based off mile to go sign at 2:59:XX.     Just writing this down for me for next year.  Really feel if the 3:05 pacer didn't pass by with his balloon I would have run better at the finish (and a FULL GU would have been a great blessing at that time).  He just kind of freaked me out-- element of surprise.  It was then that my breathing was difficult.  But I am not worried now as I am quite happy with my PR under the circumstances. 

done with the pegasus from nike.  back to my 550 miles plus mizunos the last few runs.  ahhhh.   Ran up to the canal and ran on the canal paved and unpave areas until  I got past Art Dye Park and on to 200 north in AF.  Ran home.  Easy pace.  No mile splits still very liberating for the controlling runner!!  Did peak at watch at about 1.7 miles --- 9:01 pace (steep up hill up 1100 north to the canal).  Feeling very good. AP for 10.17 miles 8:07 :D.  Legs are fully recovered but not speed for another week!!  yippee for no foot pain!!!!!!!! Still wearing shorts.  loving the weather with the fall leaves!!

nada but I did work for 13 hours!!!   move move move.   oh and insomnia again.

woke at 440am unable to fall back to sleep so ran before work 5 miles-- mile mode off, ran nice and easy no knowlege of pace.  ran a timed run.  ended up with 5 miles at 8:42 pace.  took a sleep aid last night so the run was zombie-like!!  work very busy again. 

butt freezer run with Rachelle and Rachel starting at Willow Park-- out and back.  8:08 miles ---8:11 AP.   Showered for 30 minutes to thaw out!!!  Thanks Rachel for lighting the way!!  Best part of this run (sorry girls) was driving my car with a new (used) motor--- it PURRRSSS now!!!!   seriously if you could have heard the before sound-- well everyone did in our neighborhood any time we were driving it-- it is so cool to just listen to a purring sound :DDDD  instead.  ahhh!!  and today we had our carpets cleaned for the first time in 7.5 years, just three rooms (high traffic) and the stairs.   Zero Rez.   He did a great job. He is leaving right now.  What a week!!! 

mizuno precision-- last summers   hee hee.  too cheap to buy new shoes with huge payment for car repairs and carpet cleaning and I JUST CAN'T seem to FIND the RIGHT shoe for me!!! arghhh!!!  I tried two pair and had to return them.  okay--- after carpet cleaning guy left our carpet was wet longer than he said and I got seriously fatiuged smelling only a light cleaning smell.  I fell asleep at 945pm and was comatose until 630am.   But then I had to vacuum the carpets (yup who knew the carpet cleaners really just surface the dirt-- my vaccuum got a lot!!!  My carpet look like new however and this is the first time cleaning them since we moved in 7.5 years ago.  Soooooo when I finally got out for a run around 1030am each mile I got achier and achier (is that even a word?).  Now all my joints hurt including in my wrists and fingers so I am sure it from the fumes, since I have chemical sensitivity.  Man that run was hard fighting off the urge to want to lay down and not feel all the joints in my body complain.  AP 8:12 for 9.51 miles.  Got a little too far from home and figured if I ran I would get home faster.  Shoveled in food as I arrived as my body started to shake from apparent low blood sugar.  Took two ibuprofen, hoping that will tackle the joints well enough.   Gee whiz!!

7.22 at 445am before work.  Pressed for time getting up late (ha ha late??) so tried for 8AP but got 7:19 AP!!!!  for 7.22 miles. Now  I am awake.  Sure wasn't when the alarm went off and the first mile!! Off to work now.  Long work day weekend!! 

put on the ol' mirage 2 and headed for the rec center.  I have only run on the TM twice since last March.  My revisit with  the TM went like this "oh its YOU again"(TM).   My RESPONSE??  BRING IT ON!!    JK.   After waiting for 10 minutes for someone in the only upstairs potty to come out (not kiddding here).  Four flushes giving me "hope" every time that soon it would be my turn to pee and keep me thinking I can wait rather than go down stairs. FINALLY!!   That was like 1.3 miles on the TM that I could have had done already. Geez.   My plan was to run 8 easy and 2 fast.  How I was going to run my 8 easy changed with every minute of my first mile on the mill.  I decided I would up the pace by 0.1 mph every mile starting at 7 mph.  I ran until the mill was about to stop (it stops at 60 minutes)-- so 57 minutes for 7 miles (1% incline).  Then ran to the fountain.  I was parched.  I had eaten so badly this weekend and my salt was thick coming out of my pores.... hmmmm lets see--  NEW YORK CHEESE CAKE FACTORY cheese cake -- on triple chocolate piece that weighs a half a pound all to myself. Then when  I got home Troy had mad the lazy family's dinner--- of frozen fries and chicken patties.  Oh what the heck I had one.  That was Saturday. Then Sunday-- cheeseburger and fries for lunch  and I got home to spaghetti and meatballs for dinner with french bread!!  I also brought home two pieces of the leftover cheesecake and we SPLIT them between five people!! and to think I ate a whole piece to myself the day before.  My kids were so full after their 1/5th portion of the two pieces.  What is wrong with me???  Slept great with my tart cherry juice concentrate.  Legs felt awesome (but the recurring niggle of the right achilles pain that has been lingering for years but just so happened to be gone when my left foot was doing all its business this summer).  I was SOOOOOOO bored by mile 3 I wondered if I could bring my relationship back with the TM.  With each increasing mile pace it got easier to bear and especially the last 2 miles.  I stretched briefly and was only off the TM for minute before restarting for the last three miles.  One at 7:47 (1% again) then down to zero incline for one at 6:31 (felt like 7 mm used to feel) and one at AP of 6:23.  The last half mile of the last mile I increased the mph to 9.3 to 9.8mph by the end (6:06 pace).    I felt very strong and was wondering  how great I will feel by Ogden??  I am going to have to take a break.  I am doing low mileage weeks (40-45 miles) until the end of November.  In December I was toying with the idea of running just 3 miles a day midweek and 6-10 on Friday or Saturday depending on my work schedule, with LOTS of crosstraining--- elliptical, spinning, and weights.  Then bring up the mileage to 50 in January, 60 in February and 70 in March and 80 (haven't done that yet) in April.  BRING IT ON!!!    AP for 10 miles = 7:46.

restless sleep.  winter in the air.  ran at 830am with watch in hide mode and no auto mile laps so guessed the whole run how long I had been running and how far-- wanted 8 miles.   pace easy/recovery.  When I got home and pressed stop and reviewed my time-- 66 minutes and 8:31 pace soooooo I started my watch again and headed out for two more minutes (8 x 8:30 pace = 68 minutes).  Pace ended right at 8:30 for 8 miles.  Legs tired from yesterday on the mill with shoes I hadn't worn in a while.  Then topped it all off with marathon shopping at Walmart-- -I timed our shopping-- we were halfway through check out when  I saw my watch at 2:42:XX and commented to my husband-- "Amber Green would be coming in from running a marathon right now!!"  hee hee!!     Didn't leave the store until 2:57!!!  lots of unpacking while talking to Kim on the phone.  She left for Hawaii three days after SGM and just got back Saturday.   Talk about a reward for her efforts!!  

heavy trail shoes revisted.  they are a workout!!  AP for 8 miles = 7:53.  THEN my dear husband had a colon test done and found out he has Crohn's disease.  It is an automimmune disease of the bowels.  Not good news but better than cancer.  Actually the Dr. said he is pretty sure it is chrohn's because the colonoscopy was very revealing of many ulcers but the biopsy is pending.  Big bummer for my dear husband.  His grandmother had ulcerative colits and was on prednisone for years and passed away over 10 years ago.  I do not like this diagnosis.   He will start on three meds-- one antibiotic, one antifungal and one new med for ulcers specific to the bowel-- azacol.  Kind of bummed.  But I know quite a few people who have it and live just fine with it.   

zip o.  which was the plan but i couldn't sleep at 4am and thought about it a while and then just hung out in bed wondering if i should and then too much time passed and then as i drove to work i realized it was snowing and thought that i would have been quite surprised to get all dressed up to run in snow falling.  as i drove passed where i used to meet kim to run i thought-- i bet kim wouldn't run in this and then i turned my car toward the hospital a mile from my house and saw two runners-- it was jane and kim!!!  seriously funny since I predetermined they would definitely not run on this day and i have NEVER run into them on my way to work-- and on this snowy day of all days!! we had a good laugh!!  then i drove off to work in the dark.

run before work???  no, just too cozy in my bed.  two days in a row.   hibernation takes over.  35 degrees!!  whatever!!  running with Rachlle in the morning down Provo Canyon. 

new shoes arrived in the mail when I got back from work last night.   a little too eager to try them out.  not the best decision.  my feet hurt the entire run-- all the joints on both feet.  it was really bugging my plantar fascitis and was worried running would take a hault again but they seem fine now after some ibuprofen.   I drove up to the mouth of Provo Canyon for a ride with Julie E and Melanie (with Rachelle) to Sundance Ski resort to run the Halloween Half.  Rachelle and I wore our bathing suits over our racing tights and I wore a sign on my back that reads" where's the Beach?"    My plan was to stay with the 1:30 pacer.  He started before me so I didn't catch him until mile 1.5 or so.   I peaked at my watch the first mile-- 6:31 pace for the first two miles then I didn't look at my watch until mile 12 and kept the autolaps in off and the time hidden.    My goal is to run races by feel these days and this run was very liberating.  I have no mile splits as I had my watch in this mode but my pace at mile 12 was 6:44 and the AP remained that way to the finish-- I stopped my watch right outside the final stretch (where the metal gates were holding people in and I veered off to the grass just after a girl in yellow passed me.  So I will be able to get my official time when I see her time as I met her after the race.  I got 1:27:56 for 13.03 miles and I know that garmins are off through that part of the canyon so I am willing to bet this course was pretty accurate.  AP for 13.03 miles =  6:44 :D.   I was really hating my shoes that felt like I was running barefoot and became really loose around my feet making contact with the ground even worse but cardio-wise I feel great.   I did not race this all out, I just ran it by feel-- comfortably hard pace.   : D.  Mel and Julie stopped at mile 12.  If they continued on they would have been 2nd and 3rd.  I would have been 6th overall woman. 

seriously funny-- the new shoes, which I am sending back, I wore for the first time at the Halloween Half made me work muscles that have been in hibernation since the last time I did 100 squats!!  I  was more sore than after the SGM in my quads and inner thighs and my dang feet!! My feet were creaky and joints were aggravated.  The shoes look cushioned but I can tell you they are not!!  oh my.  I knew in the first few miles of the run Saturday that I was going to have to run comfortably hard and not push it at all in order to not risk a complete massive injury.  I concentrated more on form and effort since I didn't look at my watch for 10 miles.  That is self control for me!!  Well, I would have had to press a few buttons to peak so that made it easier.   Instead I looked ahead and thought about where I was going.  It was hard to get muscles in hibernation to pick up the slack so I must say I was glad when that run was over!!  Walking back to the car was painful-- my feet were sooo mad.  So obviously the shoes are going back.   They are Brooks Ghost 5s.  I got them on Ebay.  I suppose I could see if any of my co-workers would want to buy them. They would make great work shoes!!  and probably great running shoes if the person wearing them had fatter feet.  Mine are bony and skinny.  The size was slightly big too and my ankles were slipping out of them.  Oh well. Live and learn.  Thankfully I was not racing.  I like a good challenge so that was good enough for me at the moment.  Today I ran with my watch in time mode only and hid the time from viewing.  I ran what I felt was 8 miles and got back I was at 7.83 miles so I just ran 1:30 minutes more and got in 0.2 more miles.   It was without music in the cool crips fall air mostly on sidewalks.  Man was I sore, like an ol' lady!!  AP 8:36 for 8:03 miles. 

nothing but work for 12 hours. 

3ish   miles this morning.  just couldn't get out the door as planned at 430am.  reverting back to my old ways.   I was reading my blog from when I first joined in Aug 2008 (four years really??)  and totally laughing at how I was running only 28 to 34 miles a week!!! hee hee!!  I have come a long way!!  That is pretty much how many miles I ran when I trained for my first marathon in 1995.  LOL.     I used to not care about skipping days at a time.  It is time to not care for a while!!    I finally got out at 510am when time was NOT on my side any longer--  I ran 25:47  and called it good.  Probably 3  miles as I was rushing at the end when I ran out of time to drive to Utah Valley hospital form my 6am shift!!!