Patience; the new endurance sport.

Last night someone opened up my garage door at 2:00 a.m.  (they broke into my car and took a bunch of stuff, including my garage door opener).  Lucky for us, both my dogs were right there to greet whoever opened up that garage door and I'm sure they got a really big surprize.  It was their barking WAAAY down the street that woke me up. They're good girls.  Needless to say, my run today felt slow and labored.  I guess that's to be expected since technically it would be a 'recovery' run from Saturday.  But I averaged 9 m/m without trying.  I just leaned forward and tried to keep going without stopping.  I hope to do a little speedwork T/TH. 

8:51/9:03/8:39/8:55/9:00/9:10/8:49/8:45/8:10  At some point I need to start concerning myself with time again.  I've healed up pretty nicely and now I just need to get over the mental slump and fatigue of no-recovery catch-up running.  This week is going to be tough, but if I can get through it, I stand a reasonable chance of meeting my goals for SGM.  Does anyone else get Turrett's Sydrome while running?  When I'm really trying hard, pushing against the wind, or going up hill, or battling mental fatigue, I can not stop the steady stream of insane explitives that flow through my head.  I mean I can come up with some pretty bad ones, right in a row for a minutes at a time.   I tried really hard to replace some of it with my other Mantra's.  But those thugs just kept on knocking them right off the stage today.  I just think it's funny how well I can swear in my mind and wonder why it feels so right sometimes to do so. Well, one more day of Marathon Week under my belt. Whew.

I got up in the wee hours this morning to run on the treadmill until it was light enough to go outside (6.5 miles).  Catherine and I spent a good deal of our 22 miles on Saturday talking movies and tv shows. I waxed eloquent on the existential qualities of No Country For Old Men, and had a deep discussion about the film's major themes of choice vs. fate.  I now want to read the book for better examination of those themes and character development.  She said that was too deep for a 5:00 a.m. run on the treadmill, and told me all about Alias.  I NEVER, I mean, NEVER watch tv, except Saturday Night Live, unless it's on disk.  So Catherine was kind enough to loan me the whole series.  She claims all the butt-kicking Jennifer Garner does will inspire me.  So today I started out watching the whole first episode of Alias and then hit the trail for another 6+ miles. The trail was lush, wet, post-rain fresh.  It made me remember all those mornings my Dad would drag me out of bed before junior high school to do our little 4 mile run on granite dirt roads in the hills around our house.  The dew would drip off the eucalyptus trees and drip like rain.  The moisture in the air was so thick it would condense on your arms and face. The quail and jack rabbits would scatter into the the fog as you came upon them.  As I was thinking of this,  MichelleL, Josse, and Sasha were running toward me on the trail (FRB celebrity hour!).  Michelle turned around to greet/meet me but I was shy because I was wearing my crazy treadmill get-up which includes tiny compression shorts (trust me, not attractive in the light of day).  Hi Michelle! I am now fully dressed!......  Anyway, what a beautiful morning. 

I really thought today would be terrible.  Saturday's run was especially hard because my midweek run had not been long enough to physically prepare me for 22 miles.  So I was pretty beat afterward and a little sore in the hips/hamstrings.  Then Monday was like mud, Tuesday I did a little better and tried to push a few 200 Meter's a long the way and yesterday's mileage was fine.  Except the rest of the day, my legs and lower back were so tired!! Every time I got up, sat down, moved, I felt them fatigued and lheavy.  But last night, I got excellent sleep, waited until noon to run to put more hours between runs, and I had an amazing run!  You hope for a day like today on a race day.  Everything comes together at one time-- the rest, the training, the mental strength.  I guess, also, it felt like cake because it was only 6 miles.  But it was a decent, relaxed effort and I averaged 8:40.  It hasn't felt this good since July. Man, every day is different.  But sleep and recovery play a huge role.

I love Fridays.  No pressure, pure 'ice-cream & cake' miles.  I missed running with Sarah this morning. But she's busy at home finishing up the baby for his scheduled October debut.  I'll miss our Friday runs, but maybe we can play again sometime in late Winter.  So, my kids were out of school and I got to have my beloved morning hours to myself  while they slept in.  I was joyous as I went out the door but unprepared, however, for how cold it was.  By mile 2, I couldn't work my fingers or bend my wrists.  (Trying to blow your nose or manouever a VDP with CLAWS instead of fingers is tricky!). I did 4 quick miles, then I had to run inside and try to dial the phone (with those same claws) to make a quick phone call to KSL radio for work. Then I ran back outside for another 2 miles.  The cool humidity of the morning reminded me of the Mt. Hood area in Oregon.  It's cold like this in that mountain air, even in the summer.  I thought of it this morning because of my hands.  Every time I try to run in Mt. Hood, I'm always tempted to eat the black and rasberries that grow along the road, but the CLAWS make it hard.  I'm gearing up for 24 tommorrow.  Wish me luck.  I'm pooped.

I have had 4 long runs in a row building up from 17.  We all know this is a  bad idea.  It's especially bad when you are over 40, let me tell you.  It is also a bad idea to run two 22/23 mile runs on consecutive Saturdays. But I needed today's run to be the closest to 26 I could muster.  I'm not gonna lie, it was hard--as was the 13 miler on Wedensday.  I'm out of gas--just in time to start to take it down a notch.  Yay!  We met a guy on the trail this morning who ran with us for a bit who was visiting from Providence RI.  Since I spent a week there this summer I had a fun time asking him how he likes living there, what he was doing back here, etc.  He works for Coopers & Lybrand and is back at BYU recruiting fresh blood from the MAC program.  He also said he was training for the Breakers Marathon in Newport RI, one I've been dreaming of trying for 3 years.  From what I know of Newport, it looks to be a beautiful course, by the beach, by the mansions. Lucky guy, I wish I was a successful  fresh MAC grad looking for a job on the East Coast.... My greatest motivation to qualify for Boston is just to have a good excuse to BE there for a week next Spring.  I told him about the blog and said I'd look for him to blog there to see how the Beakers went.....I will be utterly useless the rest of today.  Days like today are when running feels most selfish --when it interferes in the hours of a Saturday that I should be running around with my Kids.  But I guess it's also good to give them a good example of how to perserver and keep goals.  I guess we'll know by way of admission, in some family group therapy session scheduled, oh, about 10 years from today :)