Patience; the new endurance sport.

The most wonderful thing happened at Kidney Kamp. I just have to blog about it somewhere!  My daughter has a really good friend named Aubry at Kidney Kamp. A pretty young girl from Alpine who showed up to Kamp about 4 years ago because she lost her kidney function and had to go on dialysis.  The girls always swim and play raquetball and have fun the whole weekend together.  Although Aubry's13, she's the size of an 8 year old, but has a really sharp wit and a good attitude.  They look forward to seeing each other every year.  Aubry's whole family has been tested to see if they are a match for a kidney transplant but she's the only one in the family with her blood type.  So she's been on the waiting list for  4 years, doing dialysis 3 days a week.  My daughter, who is too young, has even asked me if she could possibly be considered as a donor.  But last night, her parents got a call from the pediatric transplant center and were told there would be a kidney ready for Aubry in 2 hours.  Tragically, a family lost a teenager in an accident in California on Friday, and that boy became the donor after his family made the decision.  It's such a heartbreaking choice. I can't even imagine what that would be like to make such a choice at the very moment you are loosing your child. But the generosity of that donor family in that critical moment will bless Aubry for her whole lifetime, and perhaps even ease some their tragic loss.  When we heard the news that Aubry was heading to Salt Lake to receive her new kidney the whole camp, of about 275 people went into applause and cheers.  All of the attendees either dialysis patients,  transplant patients,or kidney donors.  Before she left for the hospital, Aubry and my daughter hugged and looked at each other for a second. Aubry looked scared.  So my daughter looked at her and said "Next year at Kidney Kamp your new kidney will have probably made you taller than me!"  She said it with such confidence, conviction, and hope. I got choked up and could hardly look at Aubry's mother or the girls as they waved goodbye to each other.  Bless that donor family.   Aubry's at the U getting the transplant right this minute (1:00 p.m. Sunday).  I hope the transplant will be successful both for Aubry's sake, and for that of the family who lost thier son.  

This morning I woke up with zero pain in my lower back and hips.  It was a miracle after all I did this weekend.  Smooth taught me this little change in pelvis position during the last 2 miles of our run on Saturday, and since I have been very careful to hold that posture and think about it. It has been helpful not just to running, but my everyday sitting/walking too.  Those long runs become bainful toward the end, because I am holding, and pounding on bad hip positioning and posture.  It's such a small change, but  made a huge difference to my pain level and recovery. (Well, the chocolate milk really gets some credit).  I listened to music on my run, which was novel for me.  I got a new phone last week that has this feature called Slacker Radioon it.  It's kind of like Pandora.com and groups music you like in a never ending stream--like a personal DJ.  That was a fun discovery.  Acheiving negative splits was so easy today, I just felt better and better the more I ran.  I hated to quit.  But have to obey 'recovery' running if I want to keep pain/injury under control in the next 3 weeks before SG.

9:30/8:37/8:34/9:03/8:52 Ran again with Marsha.  It's nice to have someone to run in the dark with.  She assures me she gets up on her own at 5:30 so it's no problem.  She thinks running is hard, but she can churn out a few 8:30's no biggie.  Problem is, she thinks running long distances is boring. (She could be my new interval partner! She was a sprinter in high school).  At the end of the run she was getting tired and she said "I'll try to make it to the curb" which was about 300 yards down the road.  So I said "Let's sprint it!"  So I start running as fast as I could at a good pace.  She keeps running along side and says "oh, ok, I may not be able to sprint anymore, but I can stride".  Hey! I thought I was sprinting :( 

9:51/8:40/8:55/8:43/9:13/9:03/9:34/8:57/9:59/9:33

Man those splits do not reflect my effort.  I am too unfocused to do any regimented interval work without assistance.  So I use those triangles on the trail at every 1/16th and then make up random markers where there are none (that tree, where the road bends, to the shade).  Fartleking is about all I know how to do becaues it's less structured (unlike 440's, Yasso's, etc).  I ran one warm up mile, spent the second mile running, faster, fastest then recovery.  Lost the triangles on the lower part of the trail and so decided to run as fast as I could for as long as I could.  Then I tried picking up the pace wherever there was shade.  That only lasted another mile.  I thought I was going to die, huffing and vocalizing my efforts.  I tried to keep it down when others were on the trail... they might have thought I was having a heart attack.  I'm such a baby. I still feel like I'm going to fall asleep when I try to run fast, it's weird.  Then I tried to run a steady fast past, which took so much effort to focus on the pattern of my footfall and form--and then those two miles only turned out to be 9's.  Got back on the triangles and ran as hard as I could every other one, but was tired-- at least that mile was under 9.  My knee and glues hurt so I iced in the river.  Thankfully the water is much colder with that little bit snow water headed down the canyon.  Next time, I think I'll try striding quarter miles instead of 1/16ths.  I guess intervals/speed play is good for your heart/aerobic capacity but it is the most discouraging and frustrating thing I've tried yet.  It's hard. That said, I think I'm going down to the lower trail with a can of paint and mark out quarter miles so I can warm up with shorter bursts, and do the middle 4 miles of my work out on quarters.  I also need to learn to use my Garmin better, or switch to my Ironman watch for lap times on the days I do this.  I should have just tried to tempo run today--my times would have probably been better! 

The only thing inspiring about this run was shutting the door behind me to be bathed by the cool velvety blackness of a dense and starry sky.  The beauty and peace of the darkness was so intense as I began to run along, a deep breath was spontaneously pulled from my lungs.  I couldn't even see the outline of the mountaintops against the sky.  Eventually a tiny sliver moon, thin as a fingernail, rose just above the mountain line.  These cool, dry, clear, mild September sunrises fill my soul.  Soon will come the still, frigid mornings of winter and the crunch of fresh snow underfoot.  But not today.  Today dawned with the temperate, sweet, ripe satsifaction of a juicy autumn pear; which consequently I plucked and ate from my tree upon my return.

9:06/8:40/8:54/8:46/8:46--It was a pretty controlled run.  I just concentrated on getting it done.  Today is the 18th of September, Chile's Independance day.  Which at my house, means that I get to make alot of food today (empandas, pastel de choclo, brazo de reina con majar--in addition to throwing together my assistant's birthday cake--she asked me for peach cobbler).  Felt great to stretch out my legs and run long hard strong strides. Came back ready to cook up a storm.  P.S. got my new running skirt and I may never wear shorts again on a long run.  I LOVE it.  It fits my phone in a mesh pocket on the thigh hidden under the skirt so it doesn't bounce around.  I can take calls, listen to music, and call the police when they attack me.  Man I love that skirt.

I drove to Riverwoods and warmed up pretty slowly.  The first 4 miles, although up hill and against the wind, went pretty fast (I've got a lot on my mind I guess).  I was averaging 9:23's which sure beat last week's 10's.  Ran .5 past vivian park and decided I really like to run up hill. I have plenty of quad to spare, it's the hamstring/glutes I need to build and protect.  I got to mile 7 and hit stop for a second to breath.  I had run pretty well, and continuted to average 9:17's even up hill.  I wanted to really work the downhill, focus on form and speed and I was determined not to look at my garmin until the last waterfountain before the mouth of the canyon.  I wanted 5 good tempo miles.  So I hit it, focused downhill and did my best forward leaning, cross-country skiing' quick step.  The few times I lost concentration I began to slow down, but I could feel my hams and shins burn so I knew I was working.  I lost concentration again when two young men (around 16) drafted behind me for about half a mile.  They never talked, they just stayed on my tail.  It was making me crazy to have them behind me so I did let them pass because I was so close to the bathroom I'd been dreaming about for 2 miles.  So at the moment of triumph, when I looked to my Garmin to reveal that I'd run straight 8's for 5 miles I realized I never hit 'resume' at the top of the canyon.  Maybe it's better I not know so I can imagine that downhill I hit the 7:40's as I often do for a few miles at the beginning of a race.  I spent a lot of time on this run imagining getting the first 20 of St. George behind me and focusing my thoughts on the last 6.2.    You sure could tell how many people had been training for TOU today--it was a St. George or bust crowd today.