Here we go again~

So, I woke up late this morning but decided to at least get on the treadmill and see how the legs were feeling.  Because I was short on time, I decided to just walk it out with intentions of running later tonight.  I got on and walked for 15 minutes and got a mile under my belt before the kids woke up and started in with the orders :). Hey, it was a mile, and 15 minutes to  myself, I am not complaining!

Later, I had a window of time after dropping my son off at piano lessons to run in the heat.  With Ragnar being this weekend and our start time being 2:00PM (YUCK), I really should have been running in the heat more but, it doesn't work that way sometimes. So, I decided to embrace the 25 minute opportunity and run 3 quick miles (quick not referring to my pace in any way).  Tyler ended up meeting me and watched the boys play at the park (while waiting for my oldest to get done with piano) so that I could go out on the roads of Bejmamin Utah!!  That was nice of him to meet me and let me run, and fun to get out in the middle of the day (5:00pm is the middle of the day for me anyway).  It was also nice to get miles in, despite my tired legs and know that I got to run today! Yipee. 

AP: 8:19

Feeling a bit more sluggish this morning but WOW, the weather is BEAUTIFUL for running!!  Ty got up and went out before me and then I met up with Heidi C for 5 mile square.  Tyler has a "meeting" tomorrow morning so I can't run tomorrow or Thursday (unless of course, I decide to Treadmill it) and I wanted to get some miles in before this weekend so I decided to get up! Now that I am done, I am awful glad I did.  It was nice to visit with Heidi and hear how she is recovering from the marathon Saturday! Now it's off to the normal hustle and bustle of the day! 

AP: 8:46 (nice and easy :))

My 2nd attempt at running in the middle of the day and in heat! I am not too keen on it! I prefer mornings, a bit of chill in the air, having my girls with me and talking along the route!! However, it was good to get it in before Ragnar!!! AP: 8:21

I am not quite sure how to post my actual stats of Ragnar so............I'm not going to worry about it!!! Ragnar 2010 was a complete BLAST!! I loved doing it with Tyler this year and we had such a great team and loved the people in our van with us!!  It's so fun getting to know people and spending 2 days with them!!  Our van 2 did hit a deer, and missed the exchange point which required Tyler to run a bit extra (after just running a very hard leg) but aside from that, we lucked out!  We started at 2:00PM (HOT). My first leg was 7.9 miles!! Turns out they re-routed the course this year and took on a trial through a park so the van got lost and didn’t' find me until mile 5, yes, I was dying! It was Hot and I needed hydration!! However, seeing them pull up all smiles was GREAT!! I got my water and carried one!! First leg averaged an 8:30 which I felt happy about given the gradual hills, heat, time of day, etc!!!  Cute little Madeline (18 years old and just graduated high school.  A complete DOLL) in our car tackled AVON'S PASS flawlessly and has to be commended!! Tyler (runner #6) had a very steep 8  mile, downhill leg amongst boulders, pot holes, and any other road hazard you can think of (He is very sore today), so they were my HERO's for Set #1 of the race!!!  We started out on our second set at about 10:00 at night! I was runner #1 so I got us started again!! Can I just say, THIS WAS THE FUNNEST RUN OF MY LIFE~ I had an 8.6 mile stretch.  The first mile was a pretty good uphill (averaged a 10:12, not very impressive), but after that point, it was down hill with quarter mile climbs every here and there. I think it was running at night, seeing the people ahead of me, the head lights blinking, the silhouette of the mountains, stars in the sky, the RAGNAR spirit, but WOW, it was SO dang fun!! And, for the first time in my life, I got 4 consecutive miles at a sub 7 pace (even a whole mile at 6:21).  Granted, it was down hill, but I don’t' care, I pushed myself to a level I never have before, and IT WAS FUN!!! Oh so fun!! Average pace for that leg was 7:24.  It was during this set that we learned about van 2 hitting a deer.  This was a sad moment! I felt bad for the van and they were borrowing the cute couple from our car's SUV so I felt bad for them!! Then because of the event, they missed getting to the exchange which made me feel bad for Tyler who was running, not feeling well and he had to keep going waiting for our team to arrive.  It was a hard moment :(.  In any event, the damage was hopefully minimal, our team was un-injured and the happy attitudes of all involved, kept us going!!  We finished our second set and headed for a resting zone.  We rolled into Oakley (the next exchange point) at 5:15 or so in the morning, rolled our sleeping bags out on some grass and CRASHED!! Man, I was oh so tired!! We got about an hour and a half’s sleep and were up getting ready for our last stretch!!  We started our last set of legs at about 9:45am (I think, the times are blurring together).  I set off on my last 4.8 mile stretch.  The sun was up and it was already Hot for the day (70 degrees).  This last leg was very hard for me (I am not going to lie).  I was tired, my legs were tired, I had no energy, had a bad cramp in my stomach and to be honest, just felt like I was ready to be done for the day :).  In any event, the show must go on, so I took off and ran my heart out (which resulted in a measly 8:45 AP).  The "ray of Sunshine" was coming around the corner, feet away from the finish and seeing Cute Amber G cheering me in (THANK YOU AMBER G).  Poor girl had the same leg as Tyler (the steep downhill with boulders, etc), only had to do it at night and she got some serious battle wounds to show for it. Man, she is tough!! Later in our day, Reed took it for the team running a grueling 8 mile stretch up hill in the blazing heat, not stopping one time!! Further, he was energetic, joking around and making it so fun for all of us!! He is my HERO for Set #3!!  In any event, is over and I have some Great Memories stored because of it!! I am so thankful to be a runner, Thankful to have the support of my husband and Thankful for opportunities like Ragnar to get to know new people!! What a fun weekend~