Patience; the new endurance sport.

I remember how easy 6.4 used to be on the river trail.  All the way along the river, down to the lake, and back.  Those days on the trail were so soul-nourishing and blissful for me--there was no season or weather that did not thrill me to my core.  This time of year I know the lake is melting and now the consistency of light green slush.  There may be steam that rises of the water in the eddies. I know the silent winter tundra is suddenly alive with the sound of waves washing on shore again.  I miss the tiny clouds of birds that fly like crazy loosed confetti in those first days of false spring.  I miss my hawks and owls flying low overhead to remind me that they watch over me.  I miss the ocassional egret and pelican.  I miss seeing the frozen lake and tundra come back to life in the tender early spring.  I miss the dozens of gosslings that gather at the inlet in the cow pastures and seeing how the geese protect them from the cows and dogs.  I miss the countless new calves and foals that teeter on new legs in the clumped up grass, standing close to their mothers.  I miss the sound of those sudden microburst winds hitting the treetops--the wind so deafening and powerful it would take my breath away.  Every single day, it was secret power and  source of inner strength.  I have become Sampson without his hair.

Jos reported the knife wielding man on the trail. It just makes me sad how many violent and scary things are happening with the homeless and mentally ill on the trails around here lately. I blame all the new and improved homeless services, and food coalition grants that have come our way in the last year. Utah is far too friendly to criminals and derelicts because they want the federal money that comes with caring for this group. Since last fall there have been 4 serious incidents that I am aware of on the trails. I don't have the means on this end of the trail to head up safety campaigns like I did where I lived before. If there were weird things going on (homeless people starting to camp out or drug addicts sleeping the nights on the sides of the trail) I'd start telling the neighbors to get out there with their dogs, kids, strollers, friends in droves--to call the cops when they saw druggies, or drug deals, wandering homeless, or cars parked overnight. I am without a doubt socially liberal and have mercy for the less fortunate...but when it comes to protecting the sanctity and safety of public outdoor space I am a heat packing, vigilante, and minuteman. I don't feel equipped to do anything on this side of the trail. Too many people come for different reasons and from different places (to long board, bike, run or walk). Maybe I'll start N. Rivertrail vigilante community that --save our trail, take our trail back group through Orem and Provo City. I'd totally volunteer to ride my bike up and down the trail twice a week during peak crazy hours looking for trouble. We used to have cops on bikes trolling the trail. I haven't seen those guys in over 3 years.

I was really tired after this run. I was planning to run 8, but just gave up.  Talked to Cath about National Marathon.  I really do hope I can hack it. They only give you 5:15 to finish.  I was seriously considering what it would be like to use up 6 full hours.  I took an alieve when I finished my and was glad.  My knees and piriformis are achy.

Ran easy, I feel achy in my hips and knees.  The old  kind of achy.  I've set up running on the wrong side sunrise with smoothie and co.  I hope to get 15 tucked under my belt by 9.  If I'm still alive, I'll kick in another 5 to make it 20.  We'll see.

I hitched my carcus to the Susanna and Rachael wagon.  I let them  haul me around and listen to my crap for 15 miles.  I kept up with the sub 10's for about 10 miles, but I called an end to that around mile 10 as I slowly dragged the whole group into the low 11's.  I could see the shock and sadness in their eyes as at what I have become since we last ran.  Even the multitude of new calves stading meekly next to their mothers in the fields and lovely green hue of the swollen Jordan river didn't do it for me. Could it be iron they asked?  sleep? exhaustion? No my sweet ladies.  I'm just slovenly, unmotivated and have trained and eaten badly since January.  I thought I could pull it out of the bag for a running party, but sadly I do believe I might be back to the low iron.  It was great to have company, but now I feel guilty because I couldn't keep up and they felt obligated to run back a few times to make sure the mountain lions and carion hadn't taken me out.  It was wonderful to partake of their energy and company.  It lifted my spirits to be reminded of their beautiful faces and graceful strength. 

I had the best run.  My legs felt great, which is good news that I've at least trained to the point a 15 miler didn't phase me.  So there's that.  I felt great.  Now it's dumping a ton of snow and my best friends are in Park City this week so I'll be skiing tommorrow.  I am giddy.  It's going to be like 30 inches of fresh powder.  I don't know if I can sleep.

I had such a great day....started out by running my standard 8.  My pace is faster when I know I only have to run a little over an hour: 9:30/9:13/9:34/9:20/9:13/9:50/9:50/913 and it feels pretty good although I'm still stopping for bathroom breaks every few miles.... bad habit, and...I am still on the treadmill most days.  It's just so easy to hit the machine in the basement instead of the road with the cars, weather, and people or whatever.  I've never done this much pre-race running on a treadmill except for the Moab half marathon and some for Boston last year when the weather was crummy.  I'm only running on the ground once or twice a week, and it makes the road running harder.  Anyway, today I headed up to the Canyons in PC to see my friends who were visiting and staying at a condo there.  There was so much fresh snow and sunshine.  We played and played all morning and afternoon; laughed on the chair lift rides up, sailed down mountainsides soft with fresh packed powder, jumped, raced like we were all 18 again when we'd all first known each other and used to ski together. The snow wasn't that deep so my quads didn't burn as much as they do when it's super thick, but I was suprized how beat everyone else was by the end of the day.  Backs aching, legs burning, everyone was sore....not me.  I felt guilty nothing hurt, and overall it had been a pretty easy ski day.  I'm glad I took the edge off by running my miles early in the morning because I was tearing it up and had plenty left over by days end.  But of course, seeing friends always gives me that extra bit of energy.  It was a glorious day and I'm hoping to use that feeling, plus the tulips coming up out of the ground as some extra fuel for the Naitonal Marathon in a few weeks.  It will be fun to run with Cath.

This was kind of a tough run.  I had to do it in the evening and chose to run around the streets.  I ran a lot of up hill and sidewalks up to the cemetary, up to Rock Canyon, down around the MTC and BYU.  I wish I could say it was good to be outside, and while I could feel spring thaw in the air, it was very distracting to  be running with cars. 

Spring is definitely in the air. It was so balmy.  The bunnies at the cemetary are out in adorable record numbers, the bulbs are are swelling their tuberous tips above the ground, my japanese willow has exploded with hundreds of veltety buds, the children are out on the driveways and running around their yards; and everyone wanted to pull their car over to say hi. It was a party outside.

Saved my gas today for a little night skiing with the kids and their friends.  I had a ball playing red baron with the tweens.  We need helments though if we are going to ski that fast in the dark.  Either that or I'm losing my nerve from oldness. Still, protecting your brain is probably smart.

Met Smooth, Kathy, Karen, Teena Marie, and their friend  Matt way up off 7200 South at a part of the Jordan River Parkway I'd never been before.  I hadn't seen Kathy since we started out at the Boston Marathon together last year!  She ran up with Teena like a champ--she's going to rock  Boston again.  Smooth was pretty bad when we got there, she could hardly breathe but a hit of the inhaler at mile 6, and a naproxin 7 miles later... I was cheering her on from about a mile  back. I thought I might only go 15 to 18 but the turn around point on the far North gets into some pretty seedy WVC territory: A stoner and flasher's paradise, the back of a prison, and a criminal youth facility where boys with teardrop and neck tatoos play basketball while a huge supervisor looks on to make sure no one jumps the chain link fence.  The further north we ran, the creepier the bike riders became (they carried their dirty garbagy looking stuff in baskets, had wobbely wheels, and looked generally like thugs on stolen bikes).  I stayed close until about 17 when the Alieve I gave Smooth kicked in and she no longer held back in the low 10's.  Karen tried to say with me, but eventually toward 18 she got a good lead and I walked a few 10'ths for mile 18 and 19.  I finished the last .5 ok, but I was in a lot of pain. Finishing up, even in pain, was pretty sweet though.  I've hardly run on the ground except on Saturdays and the week before last I put down that 20 in the snow and on the treadmill.  I just kicked my butt.  So last week and this week, even though I was the last one coming round the corner....I did it.  I have no idea how this will translate to DC Particularly since I really should have run 20 last week, and 15 this week then 8 next week (for a 3 week taper).  I've had 2 20 mile runs, and 2 50+ mile weeks in the last month.  I can only hope that will help me get the job done on the 26th.  Now I'm going up to Sundance to help my BIL with some chores at the cabin.  I wonder how the snow is holding up on the back mountain. AP 10:08 (I only ran the first 13 with any grace).

I opted for an easy recovery run.  My knees were sore all yesterday and so I wore ice packs strapped to my patellas for a couple of hours in the morning and night.  It worked, and also the epic PT hamstring stretching.  Hopefully I won't get that bent out of shape over a long run for the rest of the season.  But it was a great feeling to know the ice helped get me back to 100%.  I love my knees and feet. They take me so many places and do so much for me.  I hope they stick around for some more fun times togehter.

AP 9:34 This was such a great run. Had an extra a.m. hour and decided to call Jos to see if she and Ericka were hitting the trail with the babe. So we joined up and ran into the wind together. I felt so strong on this run, I know my decision to rest up yesterday was the right choice. I'm now upping my iron twice a day and taking it with minty fresh chlorophyll just in case what they say is true about it helping the iron asorbption. After the beating I took on Saturday, I am at least feeling more mentally ready to take on another marathon. It was a confidence builder and when I look at it in retrospect 10's were not a bad pace for me on a long run. It will be fun to run another marathon somewhere else and I'm getting excited about doing it. I may opt out of my other "spring" marathon (UVM) and head straight for NYC marathon in Oct. We'll see if I make the hit April 1st.

11:12/10:03/8:57/9:08/11:08/10:51/8:40/10:38/9:20  Can you guess which miles were uphill miles?  I have to run up so many hills around here that it's been hard to know what my true AP is.  Also, I did not intend to run 9 1/2 miles tonight.  I did this run last Wednesday and because my Garmin shut off and on during the run it counted it as 8.5 . Tonight it rained so hard and got dark so fast I never looked at my Garmin until I came home. The AP was 9:58, but it was a hard, downpour on many miles of up hill.  I'm not sad about it.  I love running in the rain, it makes me feel like such a champion. 

Last night, after I returned from my heroic 9.5 mile in the rain ,got right into my wonderful tub and immediately hit the celing when the water rose above my ribs to the place my skin had been rubbed RAW into a 10 inch thin, bloody, welted, red line under my bra.  It was a minor inconveneince last night. But let me tell you what, it was a real problem about a mile into my run today.  I spent 3/4 of a mile holding up my straps with both hands, pulling back my shoulders (as if to proudly display to passersby my ample bosom).  I really, really thought I would have to quit the run because the pain was so excrutiating.  I even tried to tuck my shirt between my skin and bra. I have not complained very much about being 6 pounds more than I weighed last year at this time, it is my own fault.  I havn't eaten as carefully, run as many miles, or trained with any skill.  But I will tell you what...when those extra 6 pounds are divided equally into each boob...I officially declare war.  I would rather starve myself than do this again.  It hurts, and I forgot until now.  I will literally need to run with moleskin across the top of my ribs until that raw red line heals and stops bleeding. ....Today, I wrote down my splits on a piece of paper on my way out the door, and then lost my paper.  My AP was something like 9:43 and splits ranged from 8:58-10:13 (on primarily uphill miles they are  20-30% grades at least).  For how strong I felt Tuesday and yesterday, I felt like the effort I put forth on the flat parts, did not match the times.  It was a little dissapointing, but I can't blame my body, I have done ZERO speed work, strides, or sprints, nada.  Good news, I found a great mile strip of trail by the river starting at the Red Hot Pink Chick's park, behind UCCU and those Riverwoods buildings.  It was nice to be so close to my river, even if it was only a few miles.

Saved gas to night ski with my kids and their friends tonight.  I had a blast throwing all caution to the wind and playing 'Red Baron' (tag on skis).  We need helments though if we are going to ski that fast in the dark, either that or I am getting scared because of oldness....it coulnd't be a bad thing though... protecting your brain.  I should wear my Garmin to see how fast I ski. We clocked some pretty scary fast races once the place thinned out toward the end of the night. I love being around 14 year olds who have no idea how many things can go wrong....they are so carefree.  I never got to be carefree. It's nice to feel that way sometimes.  

9:14 ap (Josse's Garmin said 9:04?) If a marathon was only 10 miles long, I'd be all set.  It was a great run. The downhill second half aiding in the oh so elusive negative slpits (10:00/9:15/9:59/9:24/9:58/8:48/8:41/8:48/8:43/8:45).  I felt strong and my hamstring only hurt a little toward the end and now that I'm cold. Josse and Ericka are always good to share their energy.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next week that the funness of seeing and running a bit with Catherine, being at my sisters and running the monuments and the DC parkway is enough distraction to keep me from remembering how much I will surely want to die at mile 22.  I have to run hard and earn my nephew's respect. One of the greatest pleasures of my life was being with my children at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. My son, especially.  He put his arm around me as we walked down Boylston Street together. I cherish the memory of riding the train out of the city, my kids faces shining with pride, as they took turns looking at my medal and hugging me and slighty aware of the smiles and support of the other train riders.  I have to do that for my nephews this time--even if my performance is less stellar, I have to finish strong for their sake. They really don't know me very well. They are now big, brooding teenagers (all of them 6'5 and taller). Not much captures their attention.  This is my opportnity to show them what's what in their own city.  I may not have many opportunties to gain these boys respect.  I will need it in these upcoming years. 

Today was impossible.  Because of tapering week, I underscored the mileage, and the amount of time it would take to achieve said mileage I made the mistake of billions of other Americans.....I didn't run first in the morning before the rest of the day hit the fan.  I ended up running at 9:30 at night with stomach full of mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini & cabbage--which had been delicious until it came up my throat a thousand times and distended my hernia from running full.  I woke up and my hernia was actually sore. I am so disgusting.  In my next life I'm going to be 33 (the height of my physical prowess) for the rest of eternity.

Wanting to avoid the SNOW and wind chill (prounoucned WindShul here in Utah) I did the treadmill and (unbelieveably) watched an episode of Weeds. The people who write for a show about pot are abviously smoking a lot of it, because if you watch it while you are not stoned, it's a dumb show. Maybe growing up in So. Cal with a bunch of pot smoking hippy left overs makes it more annoying than interesting to me.

They said when we crossed the finish, that there was a 20 minute disparity between gun and chip time? Here are my splits/time off Garmin the 4:23:something

9:30/9:27/9:11/9:00/9:36/10:05/10:11/

10:17/10:03/11:06/9:17/9:30/9:31/10:07/10:00/10:19/9:30/

10:02/10:01/10:16/10:19/11:06/10:23/10:35/10:54/9:40

First of all, we made the mistake of having my sister try to drive us to RFK stadium instead of taking the metro in at 6. So we got stuck in traffic 24 blocks from the start and had to get out of the car at 6:30 and run 1.3 miles to the stadium (or more). I've never run a marathon warm up before. It was hectic to find the start line, cars stuck in all directions and people streaming in from the metro. I made Cath come to my corral since she was forfeiting her pace to keep a safe pace with me and protect her stress fracture. The sun was rising just as we started moving toward the start line, it was very cold but the sky was clear. Running toward the Capitol building and down the mall was pretty cool. I love to be able to run down the road, we turned the corner at the bottom of the Mall and suddenly Catherine was searching for a POP. We tucked into a Starbucks and the small drama began to unfold there at mile 5. We ran a little while more, Cath's stomach in knots. We made about 3-4 stops, standing in lines for every POP we saw until mile 13 where I thought it might be wise for Cath to consider running the half marathon. But she's no quitter, and there's no stopping her and by the time she was arguing with me instead of turning white and looking for a bathroom she was feeling better. I had thrown away my gloves at mile 6 but it was so cold after stopping at the bathrooms that I had to pick up someone else's discarded gloves and I kept them on until mile 22. The course through 13 was picturesque DC and the majority of the runners were halfing....I would only suggest this marathon as a half. At th mile 13 the roads diverged and a pitiful amount of people carried on in the other direction after we'd looped back to RFK stadium. As we ran out toward Anacostia I remembered the scariest time I've ever had in DC when my sister's car was impounded and we had to go into this really skanky part of town to get her car out of impound. Guess where the race route ran....right past the impound lot, and deeper into the heart of crazy. Soon after we turned off the mall, under the bridge there were no 'motivation' or 'drink stations' just policemen. At first there was about a policeman every quarter mile. On the other side of the bridge we ran a pretty little waterway that is famous for floating dead bodies to the surface. Nevertheless, two Anacostia marching bands played vibrantly on either side of the trail. After the most ridiculous set of circles and turn around we finally ran into the very heart of darkness. The last drink station was on the parkway, and as we hit the neighborhoods where bars were on every window and door, the policeman became closer and closer together; Like 20 feet apart for about 2 miles. We passed a Baptist church that had about 70 people out front...all young people attending a funeral. It gave the impression it was a gang banger funeral. The cops in the area were no longer responding to the runners 'thanks for being here' they were focused on the funeral. A runner stopped to stretch up ahead of me, and the cop said "you can keep going" to which the runner replied, I'm just stretching. Then the cop said, well do it up there a ways if you can . I looked back at Cath who was taking it easy a little behind me and started to freak out a little that stray bullets would start flying from the direction of the funeral in progress. Then from about mile 21-24 there were no stations. No gel, no oranges, no portapotties, nada. Finally at mile 24 and again at 25 we had some more water/power aid. We finished running strong, a little tired and hamstrings aching but overall I felt pretty great. In retrospect, I think it was pretty cool I got to run through one of the most insane parts of SE DC with police every 10 feet. When else can you see that up close? We The course had a surprising amount of uphill for DC and the finishers chute was literally about .3 miles of incline which was pretty cool. They start kicking people off the course at 5:15. And we were both just happy to not be the last people straggling through Anacostia.

I never have done a very good job at post-marathon recovery.  I usually just go right back to my mileage, particularly after marathons where I didn't push any limits.  But just to be sure to prevent what happened to me at the end of last Summer,  I've taken 3 full days off, packed down the chlorophyll and iron, red meat (of which I can hardly gag down anymore), and a mountain of protein and water.  I've set up my Utah Valley Marathon run schedule on an excel spreadsheet and I'll be ready to resume regular mileage next Monday.  I need to get started eating better now too and drop my Witner 10 before the training gets rigerous.  It saps my energy to try and drop weight while doing any real training. I just keep mulling over in my mind the great time I had in DC.  The things Catherine and I talked about keep coming back to me, I've missed her.  The whole weekend, and the marathon experience was very moving.  If not for Cath, I would never have run St. George in 2007 so shortly after my Dad died. Channeling my grief, literally saved my life.  Of all the things marathoning has brought me these past years, I am most greatful for the patience, endurance, and the mental & emotional acuity running has excersized and formed within me.  I am a better person.  And I thank Catherine for that.   

Last days of skiing right here folks.  I am sad, we had a rocky start to the snow year, but the late spring pow was stellar. The skis I got this year revolutionized my skiing and I am just not ready to give it up. There's never too much of a good thing. Oh well, I hope I live to ski again another season.  Today, a little clean air and sunshine did a body good.  I had a nice lunchtime jaunt up to Rock Canyon and back.  I'm running with an old buddy friend of mine from High School on Saturday. Haven't seen her in years, she's driving down from Salt Lake to run 8-10. She did the Ironman in Florida last year and is pretty hard core.  Her Dad and my Dad hitchiked from Riverside, CA across America and worked a summer pitching hay in Wyoming.  They got paid in Silver Dollars and headed to BYU with thier pockets full of rolled coins.  A few summers later, they worked paving I-15 near Baker (home of the world's largest thermometer near Death Valley) and Barstow (in 137 degree afternoons).  My Dad used that money to buy my mother's engagement ring.  Her father is now buried in the cemetary I run around almost daily, and my father's ashes are scattered along the beaches of San Felipe in Baja.  I'll be nice to laugh about our crazy Dads.