Believe to Achieve

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.