Just one race at a time

Not my best day! 

I ran four easy miles ankle felt great!

Lifted for legs

Yoga - We did a pose called scorpion it looks like this

I have not been able to do this pose but I was getting close right as I was going up I knew things were not going well and I fell forward.  As I landed I heard a loud pop and my left foot (the healthy one) started to swell up.  I drove right to the emergency room had my foot x-rayed and you guessed it two weeks before Boston I have broken two toes!

 I guess I will be cheering from the sidelines this year!

Great run with great friends.  I have been very busy with Boston and vacation plans so not blogging much.  Highlights of the run were running with Tom Slick and Lowell.  They both helped me so much.  Forgot to start my watch after one stop so the last three splits are off and I only have 16 miles on my watch.

Splits: 9:50, 10:23, 9:14, 9:12, 9:01, 9:43, 9:21, 9:04, 8:59, 8:56, 8:36, 9:04, 10:04, 9:33, 9:08, 9:25, 

5.6 miles with Heidi love running with her!!!!  She is so happy all the time love love love it!  She is my ray of Sunshine at 5:00am!

Splits: 9:20, 9:25, 9:22, 9:26, 9:47,

Heading off to Moab for spring break, get home just in time to leave for Boston!!!!

Ran on a running trail in Moab.  Because I was alone I would run out one mile and then turn around and run back to James as he walked.  It was really fun to run here.  For some reason I couldn't run slow enough though I wanted to run around 9:30 and all my miles were under 9:00

Splits: 8:51, 8:22, 8:38, 8:28

These were not running miles just hiking all over Moab/Arches.  I think we did a lot more than four miles but my husband gave me "the look"  when I tried to put my Garmin on.  I think he was right it was great not caring how fast or far we had gone.

No lifting No running...love taper

Yoga - Ahhhhhhhhh!

Ran 10 miles of the SLC half route with Heidi.  She did great!  I think I am looking forward to her race more than Boston!

Splits: 9:42, 9:35, 9:13, 9:10, 9:31, 9:47, 9:24, 9:08, 10:22, 10:13, 

She want to run it in under 2 hours.  I am not sure she is ready for that but I didn't want to burst her bubble.  I think she is capable of under 2 but this is her first half and I think she may fade mentally at the end.

4X400 meter repeats at 7:03 (8.5)  Felt hard but it was nice to get my legs moving fast.  Heidi joined me on the treadmill beside me.  She yelled at me and told me I couldn't say anything negative about my race from now on.  She is right so I am only going to think positive thoughts about running Boston.  I have put in the training good things will happen.

I leave for Boston in 45 minutes.  I have not decided if I want to take my lap top or not.  If I don't I will talk to you'all in 10 days.

Schedule called for just two miles.  I wanted to do more but decided to trust the schedule.  Ran along the Charles river.  I would run out a mile and then run back to my hubby.  I concentrated on my form and the run felt pretty good I ran three miles and then walked the last mile back to the hotel with my husband.

Splits: 8:30, 8:33, 8:46, 17:32 (did turn watch off at stop lights but still walking slow!)

Three easy miles on the hotel treadmill.  The last .25 miles I did at 3.0 incline just to feel heartbreak hillish.   It is raining so hard here I am glad it is not race day.  

James and I drove the course today.  I got a few picture but because of the rain I didn't want to get out of the car that much.  I am such a wimp!  There were guys working to get the race together at the start. It was so cold and rainy I felt so sorry for them.  I looked like they had so much work to do and all in the rain.

This is going to be long so be prepared, Kimmy ask me to give her all the details.  If you only want to read about the my race skip to the heading Race Report. 

James and I left for Boston on Monday the 11^th, James was going to work all week and that left me time to sleep in and relax.  That is exactly what I did.  I think I got at least 8 hours of sleep each night and I may have even had one night with 10 hour!  I enjoyed several runs along the Charles River it is so beautiful.

On Wednesday we drove the course together.  I printed off the description of the course and would read it as James drove along.  I wanted to take a ton of pictures but it was raining really hard so I only took two.  One picture was at the start and then one at the John Kelley statue.

 I was lucky to go to the expo on Friday right when it opened.  There was no crowd at all.  I kept telling James “this took us hours last year”.  We were done in just under an hour but my feet still hurt.  I have to remember that I need to wear my comfy shoes not my cute shoes to the expo. 

Finally Saturday arrived and the crew started to come in.  We meet for the best Chinese food (thanks to Smooth and Larry) and great conversation!  Sunday morning went to brunch with Rhett and Doone again a great time.  I really think I do this just to be with all the great runners in our group!  After brunch we were off to church and then after church we went up to the North end of Boston for Italian food!!!!  I had ravioli and it was so yummy.  Because we ate so early we avoided the crowds, best idea yet (thanks Doone for setting that up).  After dinner laid out all my race stuff I was completely ready to go and it was only 8:00.  Took an Advil PM and I was out by 9:00!  

Monday morning I woke up before my alarm went off at 5:00.  We were meeting at 6:15 in the lobby so I got up took a nice long bath ate breakfast and headed down right around 6:00.  It is a good thing runners are skinny I think there were at least 20 of us in the elevator!   I was happy to see that Rhett had tried to squeeze in the same elevator it was nice to see a friendly face. We had a group of 10 of us I hope I can remember them all: Lark, Canyon, Smooth, Rhett, Tom Slick, Hillbilly, Bobcat Terry (a friend of Canyon) and myself.

As we were loading up on the busses Tom and Hillbilly got separated and had to take another bus but we told them to meet us in the usual spot.   We started to blow up our air mattresses.  Smooth and Lark blew theirs up right away.  I however couldn’t get mine to blow up at all.  I finally gave up even though it had hardly any air in it.  Smooth and I then started to make our way to the port-o-potties we did this over and over we were very well hydrated. 

Finally it was time to head over to the start.   Lark, Smooth and I were the only ones left in the third wave.  I kept looking around saying wow these people are all old, and then I realized I am old!!!!  I am going to try to work really hard to get into the second wave next year so that I can keep denying my old age for a while!  When we went to drop our bags at the busses it was a mad house.  I lost Smooth and Lark before the race had even started.  I waited for them for a while but knew I would never find them in all these people.

I hurried to the start and got there just as the gun went off. 

RACE REPORT

It seemed to be a lot more crowded this year and everyone was running a lot slower.  Maybe it was because Teena was not at the start running like a crazy lady and setting a really fast pace!  I had a hard time getting around people and I was tired of fighting the crowd.  Anyway my first mile was supposed to be 8:32 and it came up as 9:03.  Thirty seconds behind and I am only on mile one. 

I decided right then I am going to run by what feels good and see what happens. The splits for the next few miles are listed with the pace I should have ran in parentheses.  8:29 (8:40) 8:13 (8:32) 8:23 (8:32)

By mile 5 I have caught up and I even have gained an extra 30 seconds. I feel really good.  I am hoping that I have not gone out too fast and I will crash on the hills. Splits: 8:28 (8:58) 8:44 (8:34) 8:22 (8:40)

Still feeling great I hope I am not running to fast.  8:40 (8:45) 8:38 (8:40) 8:37 (8:50) by this time I am a minute ahead. 

I know I am going too fast.  I tell myself that for the next six miles I need to slow way down and I try I really do. Splits: 8:58 (8:50) 8:37 (8:34) 9:06 (8:40) 8:42 (8:40) 8:58 (8:45) 9:07 (8:32) oh no I have slowed too much and I find myself 30 seconds slow again and I am losing steam. 

I readjust my goal now instead of going for 3:50 I am going to try for 3:55.  This means I am now 4 minutes and 30 seconds ahead.  Unfortunately I am now heading into the famous Newton hills. Splits: 9:20 (9:11) 9:14 (9:11) 9:06 (8:45) 9:39 (9:01)

I am about to go up heartbreak hill.  I still have a few minutes in the bank but my legs are gone.  I now just want to qualify again anything under 4:00 and I will be happy. Splits 10:06 (9:16) 9:00 (8:45) 9:09 (8:45) 9:57

Two miles left I try to do the math I think I have qualified but my brain won’t work I give up 10:11 (8:45)

I see the CITGO sign…I think I can make it one more mile “come on Kathie you can do this” 8:38 (8:55)

I come in at 3:58:59 I just barely qualify, I hope I can get in next year just to see if I can ever run the last six miles of this race strong!

Four easy miles with Heidi legs still felt very sore.

Splits: 9:26, 9:30, 9:16, 9:06

6 miles with Heidi, we threw in a few hills just for fun.

Just Spin today

Six miles with Heidi and then two on my own.  The weather was great and half my neighborhood was out running.  Where were all these runners for the last 6 months!

Splits: 9:31, 9:28, 9:20, 9:43, 9:20, 9:23, 8:34, 8:59

Yoga, I may run tonight my legs just are not recovering very fast.  I want to be in the best shape to start my St. George training.  Not sure how I am going to run Ogden?

Ran with Heidi we walked up a one mile hill at mile 6 but after all was said and done I think she could have ran up at least part of it.  I need to push her more.

Splits:10:26, 9:29, 9:10, 9:48, 9:39, 14:45, 10:06, 9:22