Work will win when wishy washy wishing won't

It was nice today to wake up feeling better about the world than I have the past few Monday's.  Coach Tom had a 5 1/2 mile tempo run planned for me this morning.  We warmed up for 2 miles and then did the 5 1/2 with some cool down miles to take us back home.  I think it went quite well.  The first mile is always the hardest to find the right speed.  We had a window from 8:15 -8:45 to shoot for.  

1.  8:42

2.  8:14

3.  8:04

4   8:07

5.  8:02

1/2.  3:55  (7:52 pace)

Over all average pace  (8:12)

Time for 5 1/2 miles was 45:06 

Lots of nasty smells in the air this morning!  Yuck!  I don't even like good smells when I'm running and these were definitely not anywhere near "good"smells!  Here's to good smells the rest of the day!  Happy smells to all of you! 

This morning I ran 3 miles with Tom as he warmed up for his turn at the tempo run.  We parted ways at that point.  I kept things easy with an ave. pace of 9:35.  I hardly saw anyone else out this morning.  We did see 5 cute teenage deer right off the side of the road.  Three of them had fuzzy little antlers growing.  They weren't a bit scared as we passed them.  They just watched us pass.  

I'm going to buy my marathon shoes today.  I'm really getting excited about things!  Tom and I are hoping to go to St. George for our anniversary next month.  For part of our celebration we want to run the last half of the course so I can have an idea of what I am getting myself into.  It's crazy to think of really running 26.2 miles!  Do you think I will ever want to do it again?  I wonder if I have caught the marathon bug?  I know I have caught it for this one, but I wonder if it will be cured by this or inflamed for more....!?

Today's run was suppose to be 11 miles down Payson Canyon. It has been open since the fire, but for some reason it was closed when we tried to get up there this morning. So our crew of 11 or 12 had to come up with an alternate plan. The plan we ended up with involved much more up hill than we were expecting. But it also gave a some good down hill. We went over and up into Elk Ridge. It was a very invigorating workout. It took a while to change the mental outlook of what we had planned. I guess it's good to have to change things up a bit and see how mentally tough we can be.

Our van broke down yesterday. Today we will find out how big of deal it will be to fix it up. Not sure how much money we want to put into it at this point, but we also don't want to buy a new vehicle yet either. Hmmmm. What to do.......?

I finally have a minute to blog.  Tom and I ran our easy 6 mile loop this morning.  It was fun to have our friend, Kay join us for half of it.

Our family had such an enjoyable evening last night!  The Adachi's from Japan were able to join us for dinner.  They also had a friend and 2 students with them.   The Adachis are a wonderful couple who feed the missionaries often in Japan.  They have had our son, Camron, over to their home for dinner.  It was so fun to meet them.   They had great things to say about Cam!  They said he speaks Japanese so well!  We took some fun pictures that they will take back to Camron.  I wonder how it will make him feel to see them in our home with his brothers and sisters and parents and dog?  Tomorrow we will meet another Japanese friend of his who happens to be visiting Utah right now!  What a fun week! 

I ran 18 miles today! Woohoo!

This was my first 18 miler EVER! I felt better at the end of today's run than when I ran my first 16 miler a few weeks ago. Tom was just running a couple today in preparation for tomorrow's 1/2 marathon. So I got out at 5:00 and met Kay. We ran about 6 1/2 together before she had to go. I went a few alone and then picked up Tom for his 2. Then I was off for the rest myself. I wasn't sure what I would do today. I was planning on 12 -16 but I was just feeling it today and decided that I would get my first 18 in this week instead of next week. At about 15 1/2 Beth E. joined in with me for a little less than a mile. It was fun to have a few people to run with along the way.  Tomorrow I will just get a few gentle miles in as I watch Tom and lots of other friends do the Provo River 1/2.

Tom and I get to go to lunch with another friend that our son has met in Japan.  He is here in Utah for a few days.  We look forward to meeting him.  And I think I'm gonna be HUNGRY for lunch!  So Coach Tom, don't be picking anything off of my plate, I want it ALL today!

I am just so excited about today's run!  I hope the rest of you had a great run today, or I hope you can live vicariously through my runner's high I've got going! 

After my 18 miler, (in case you missed reading my blog yesterday....:D), I promised Coachy Boy that I would keep it nice and easy today. I also knew I was approaching a 50 mile week for the first time. So anyway, I ran 1 1/2 alone and then 2 with our very own fastrunningmommy! It was great to run and visit with you Sarah! You are always a joy to be with!

It was fun to cheer on all the fastrunningbloggers at the Provo River 1/2! Great job to all of you! Even to those of you who didn't finish quite like you had hoped!  It was great to meet a few more of you and see some that I haven't seen for a while.