Patience; the new endurance sport.

Love the thunderstorms and cloudy skies.  It enabled me to sleep in while it rained, and to run later on in the morning.  When I was almost home from my run, I saw out in a farmer's field near my house, a llama leading about 50 sheep in single file.  It was so funny, that llama, just kept on walking in circles around the field with all those sheep following behind him. Ran into my daughter on the way back from XC.  She's on the soccer team, but is running the meets that don't conflict with games.  She did a 22:45 minute 5K w/ no training.  She's pretty tough.

Man, I have been bad at logging miles since school and soccer started.  I've been averaging 25-28 miles a week (4-6 a day).  I still have to switch it up a lot (treadmill, walk/jog/yoga/yoga/yoga).  I've been running the mountain bike trails behind Sundance and a few trails in the American Fork Canyon. Lots of LOUD elk up there.  I saw one with huge antlers that felt like they were 5 feet long. I was worried he'd rush me when he saw I wasn't one of the mules he'd been calling.  The last two weeks in the mountains has seen a breathtaking transformation. The beauty of the changing leaves against the sunrise, blue sky, or the lush wet trail after it's rained is so intense I have to stop and let it overcome me.  Terri says I'm like that You Tube guy who videotaped a double rainbow, and he's so stoned or whatever, that he starts crying and asking the Universe "what does it (the double rainbow) mean?" Yeah, I'm that guy.  But I am unashamed. Nothing makes me feel more free or at peace than being outside.  I miss the days I used to have the desolate beaches of Baja California in my life, but the solitude of the mountain and the quiet of the red rock Utah desert has been a good second.  Lately, I'm feeling my legs stronger and stronger (though my cardio strength and energy level is still lacking).  But I am happy to report having found a happy medium 9:50-11:00 minute pace that (mostly) does not hurt my lower back, hip, ham, or patelar tendons.  I think back on how hard I trained to qualify for Boston, how hard I learned to run and how dedicated I was.  I am proud to have done that. But I am also happy to have found some peace, even when I am not able to make my body perform as it used to. 

10:30/9:13/9:13/9:00/9:13--9:30/10:30  gangamtreadmillstyle

See how non-OCD I have become?  I ran 5.9 miles and didn't even feel the need to run an extra .10   Saw Josse on the trail, had a little chat about blood sugar, dogs, and the Huntsville Marathon. I dragged the rest of my run thinking it was the power of suggestion (the chat about low blood sugar) had caused me to feel dizzy and dragging;but when I came back my blood sugar was in fact really low (55...oops).  I have to remember to eat before I leave.  I think it was because I ran two miles in the PM before bed, and then didn't eat breakfast. I hate having to strategize eating.  It was the one thing I really hated about marathon training (what to eat, how to eat, when to eat/drink).  I've felt so free of it, but the low blood sugar thing is a problem so I have to deal with it.