Running in the Rockies

On the trail with 3 friends - SIX miles!! Wahoo!!! Of course, it didn't feel like that while I was running it. (hee,hee) I forgot my Garmin this morning, so I'm not sure what my pace was, and I had to have my friends tell me when I'd gotten to the 3 mile mark; the first 3 were with friends and then I turned around while they continued on. I haven't had a great past 2 weeks - only running 3 times each week -but I'm very happy I was able to add to my long run.

When I got home, I had some water, orange juice, and a few pieces of toast and then I showered and crashed on my bed. When I woke up, I had a huge headache and my body felt awful. So, my husband made me some Gatorade drink and I felt significantly better within 5 minutes. It's funny how I forget to replenish my system properly after demanding more than it's used to. Duh.

It is SUCH a gorgeous day today!!!! It's March 1st, but it feels like May or even June!! It's 67, sunny, with a breeze that gets a little too strong at times. But it was too beautiful to pass up, so we took the girls to the park and had lunch and played. And when that park started to get crowded, we got in the car and went to another park. So, on the way home ... all three girls were crying and grumpy. I guess mom and dad were more excited about the nice weather than even the girls could handle. Everyone is asleep right now except me. So peaceful ....

On the treadmill. As predicted (threatened) we had snow yesterday after our gorgeous Saturday weather. Plus, my little ones have not been very cooperative about naps, so it was another indoor run for me tonight. But I'm not complaining! I'm just happy to have a treadmill and be able to run even on days like this! ;o)

On the treadmill again while Mike was at Young Mens. It's funny running on a treadmill - it feels easier than running outside (with the hills and the wind), but if I run while watching a movie, my body keeps wanting to just stop because it's used to just sitting down while watching movies. ha!

Track workout - 6 x 400. Very slow today, but it was nice to be out with my friend. It had snowed 2 inches last night, but this morning the sky was crystal blue and the snow glistened like a million little diamonds. It really was stunning!

I was really worried about the run this morning because I woke up and I felt like my hands kept shaking for no reason; and while I was running the first 3 miles with my friends, I felt like my vision was a little weird. I don't know what was going on, but when I turned around at the 3 mile marker, I felt better being able to go a little slower and not stress out that I was dragging the other 2 women slower than they wanted. So, even though the run started out worrisome, it actually ended up feeling much better than last week's 6 miles. I took a gatorade with me the whole way, but didn't drink it until the end. Since I've never done any sports before, I always wondered what the fuss was with Gatorade, but I sure am a believer now! It makes a world of difference in recovery.

Later on this morning, I attended our Republican county convention as an Alternate Delegate. It was quite an interesting experience. I had been much more excited about politics when Romney was running (a moment of silence, please .... hee,hee ) so I thought I might be bored to death today. But it was still pretty interesting. This is my first experience with getting involved in the political process besides simply voting on Election Day. I attended our local caucus on Feb 5th, and asked a friend to nominate me for the county convention. Even though I majored in Economics, politics is it's own entity and it takes quite a bit to really understand the process. But it's still worth it - and I always get teary-eyed when I say the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a great land we live in and we owe so much to our remarkable Founding Fathers who led the way. God bless this great land!

What a day I chose to run early in the morning - the day after Daylight Savings Time. sheesh. I haven't seen the stars while I've run in a long time. Lynn's regular running partner is out of town for a while, so I told her that if she doesn't mind a slow partner, I'd be so happy to join her! So, she met me at 6:00 and showed me the funniest running path they take on Mondays - on and off of roads and trails, up and down hills, but actually getting in 4 1/2 miles (my distance was shorter because she came to my house). It was, of course, faster than I run by myself; but it's so good for me to have someone to push me. I'm really not good at pushing myself. I was able to talk (3-6 words at a time) the whole time - except the major hills, so I know I wasn't killing myself. But I'm probably not ready to run with her and Kirsten because they run even faster than we went today. But.... anyway ... I'm feeling great now and it's nice to have my run done so early in the day.

By the way, my 7 year old finally went #1 in the toilet last week!!!!! At her special ed classroom, they put her on the toilet every time they change her diaper (for about a year now), but she has never eliminated before. Until now. HALLELUJAH!!! So, we celebrated and took her to McDonalds (it's nice when they're young and the celebrations are still so inexpensive). She was so excited and keeps mentioning that we can go to McD's again if she poops or pees on the toilet again. We're still a long way off on being potty-trained, but any success after this long of trying/waiting gives me a glimmer of hope!!!!

Ran with Lynn this morning again. We took the first mile faster, though, and that always seems to have a draining effect on the rest of my run. But it was still a good run.

Today has turned out to be a BE-AU-tiful day! It's 61 degrees and my husband and I took our 2 little ones on a walk which turned into a hike in the open space behind our house. The pines smelled so nice and the weather was so perfect, it felt like we had driven hours to go hiking up in the mountains. I can't wait for summer - by then, our youngest will be walking!

On the treadmill - I kept it slow and shorter so I would still have some umph on my long(er) run tomorrow. My husband is going with the youth to the temple tomorrow morning, so I'm actually hiring a babysitter so I can go running. How funny ... sometimes I wonder ... if you told me last year that I'd be this devoted to running right now, I'm sure I would've laughed. (Granted, I was 8 months pregnant) It's a great thing to be running!!!!

On a side note, we went to McDonalds again tonight to celebrate my daughter's success on the toilet yesterday!! Instead of buying something for myself, I actually brought some All-Bran muffins and boiled eggs from home. Sasha would be proud! ;o)

Well, I wasn't able to go running with my friends this morning even though I had a babysitter lined up - we were up until after 1:00am with my baby who was throwing up over and over. It is the saddest thing to see a baby dry heaving!! Luckily she never had a fever and she seemed alright today except for a weaker appetite and a little more tired. She's a little angel.

Anyway ... I didn't want to subject our babysitter to a possibly contagious child. So, that meant that my long run was going to be on the treadmill because after my husband got home, we were going to get our family picture taken. That's actually a story in itself: get 3 sweet girls dressed and beautiful, show up 5 minutes late for our appt, find out we went to the wrong mall and there is no portrait studio at that JCPenney, go to Sam's Club while we're out, drop off the food at home and grab the camera and tripod, decide to try to take our own family picture since everyone is dressed and beautiful, take a few pictures that turn out mediocre, try a few more and make a scene with a screaming 7 year old, give up and go for a walk, head home and call it a failed picture day. Oh well. We'll try again soon. :o(

P.S. Six miles on the treadmill is not easy. That last mile, I was really fighting the urge to stop.

Miserable day yesterday (and into the night) with 2 children each having violent throw-up for about 6-10 hours. Luckily, Mike and I were both well and could take care of them. Since I was already up early this morning with the baby, I figured I might as well go running with Lynn at 6:00. I warned her that I was going to be as slow as a slug today because of yesterday and last night. She didn't seem to mind - bless her. I thought I would have to turn around early or at least walk a little, but once I started running, my legs just keep going. It was a weird and somewhat exhilarating experience.

I hope we're all able to get some naps today.

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Nice, long nap - feeling human again. My knee didn't like my run today, though. I iced it for about half and hour, and then wore my brace for a couple hours, but it still feels swollen and unhappy. Blast.

Well, yesterday I caught the bug that my girls had. I felt miserable all day! But I thought of Sasha running through his illnesses and actually went out this morning with my friend. I had a headache and felt dizzy occasionally. Plus I had to walk twice and cut the run shorter than usual. But it actually wasn't as bad as I had expected. I think Sasha is correct in saying that active recovery is better than passive recovery.

Track run with Lynn today. I took the heart rate monitor this time, and tried to fully recover between each 400. It actually took me longer than I thought - longer than I've been giving myself previously - so I'm glad I brought it. Since I actually recovered each time, I felt better after this track run than any other week. We actually ran the last lap barefoot in honor or Lybi. ;o) It was pretty fun! Luckily the day was warm, and there was grass on the inside of the track to run on. I think we might add a little barefoot to each run on that track from now on (weather allowing). It felt like being a little kid again and just running for the sake of feeling free.

What a great morning for a race!!!!  I'm in New Mexico to race with my beautiful sister-in-law, Kristina; and spend Easter and Spring Break with my family.  I met Kristina at the race this morning and we took a lap around the track to warm up and then stretched out.  It was an out and back course with a downhill in the beginning and uphill, of course, on the home stretch.  We started out at a pretty quick pace and I was worried that we might fizzle out; but the downhill allowed us to keep it up.  By the time we turned around, we were good and warmed up and ready for a harder push.  We had one lady pass us toward the end, but we kicked it up and passed her before the finish line! 

I was sooooo darn proud of Kristina!!!!  This was the longest continuous run she's done since having a baby - and she held strong the whole way!!!  She thought that she would be happy with 40 minutes, and really happy with 35 -- so, 31 blew us both away!!  I'm not sure if I was as good a pacer for her as Lybi was for me - but the results were still great!  Running with family brings out the best in us!!!  It was very fun to see both our families, her parents, and my parents at the finish line.  

 
Afterwards, I ran 3.7 more miles with my sweet husband to make today a good mileage for Saturday.  I think 7 miles is a bit of a round-up; the actual mileage was closer to 6.97, but who cares about a .03?  (hee,hee)

Bummer - I tried so hard to find a time to run yesterday in NM but just couldn't do it. So, we're finally back home and after unpacking, dinner, baths, and kids in bed ... (huff, huff)... I finally got my first run for the week in. Ahh - it feels good to be running again (in a twisted sort of way - hee,hee). Yet I'm so bummed I didn't run outside. It's absolutely beautiful, warm, sunny, Spring, happy weather!!!! It's good to be home - as much as I love visiting family. :o)

Wow, I slept forever last night! It was interrupted twice, but my sweet husband let me sleep in until 7:30!! Woohoo!!

Today was supposed to be a track workout, but after my first 400, I couldn't seem to get my heart rate back down to a reasonable rate, so I just ran around and around while Lynn did her track run. The last lap was barefoot on the grass - very fun. Thanks for the idea, Lybi!!! I wonder if I couldn't recover because my last run was only 12 hours before. (?) I've been reading a book about Running for Women and it actually says that I shouldn't even be doing track workouts at this beginning stage - I should wait till I've been running for a couple years. (oops) After I've been running a year, I can start adding fartleks or tempo runs. From the advice I've heard Sasha give others, I think he agrees with that. So, I don't feel bad when my "track workouts" aren't really impressive. I just do what I can do ... and keep running.

Rotten week - I only got in 3 runs, and I forgot to hydrate well after this morning's run so I had a headache most of the day. You'd think I'd learn!! ;o)

First time to do 7 continuous miles, and I was with Lynn and Michelle the whole time! Luckily for me (and unfortunately for them), Michelle was a little sick and Lynn was sore from doing weights yesterday; so the pace was one that I could handle. I only started lagging the last 1/4 mile, but I found my reserves and ended up right behind them.

Gotta get to bed - I think my husband has given up waiting for me. Our internet has been down for 2 days, so I've been checking e-mails and reading blogs.

Early run with Kirsten and Lynn. Kirsten has already been running for a mile and a half by the time she gets to my house, so she's fully warmed up -- which was a problem this morning because the first mile (MY first mile) was fast. Whenever my first mile is fast, it makes my entire run suffer. So, I think next Monday when I run with them, I'll run around my neighborhood for a little while at a warm-up pace before they get to my house. Maybe then, I won't struggle so much to keep up during the rest of the run.