Denouement

Well my good intentions for an easy run didn't quite pan out. I ran up to pretty little road and stopped at the top of that nice little hill for some stretching after the mile warm up I had done. I started running down the hill and crossed paths with Kent and Pat, I turned around with them and complained about going up the pretty little road hill, which was nothing compared to the hills ahead. We proceeded to go up Harry's Hill (about .8 mile climb) at a fast pace for me (around 8 minute pace overall). Harry's Hill is a hill the SF running club does to prepare for the nasty Veyo hill in the St. George marathon. So they went faster up Harry's than I could muster, Pat got to the top first, then Kent and I was probably about 15 seconds behind Pat. We then ran toward Salem, then Kent informed me we were going to the Woodland Hills roundabout (.5 mile climb) then up Oak to Woodland hills drive (1.5 mile steep climb - 7% grade in places). Man, going up Oak is like doing a stair stepper. It stinks! They pulled ahead of me right from the get-go, but thankfully they stopped at a place up Oak probably .3 of a mile up. I stayed between Pat and Kent most of the time after that, though Kent would walk occasionally so I'd get a moment of being in front until he decided it was time to go again then he'd glide right by me. I ended up probably 8 sec behind him at the top, and Pat about 45 seconds back. They rested but seemed like they were headed up toward my house but I had to head downhill to get back to my car and home. So the paces were not fast on this run but the steep incline had me breathing hard and so I put it as threshold training.

Ave pace 8:25

weight 127

Evening: Ab workout, took walk with family to park and ran one mile with my new running partner, my son Benji. He did great! Paul ran with us too until he got bored with the pace then ran ahead.

This morning has not started so great. It started with me waking up half an hour before I needed to, after having a bad dream where one of the past BYU running girls wasn't impressed with me running one good race since college (Painter's 1/2). Well, so that dream stunk, to get taunted for my running mediocrity in my own head. When I woke up I thought I heard a child breathing difficultly, but checked the three munchkins and they were all fine.

My run felt sluggish at best, but for the first two miles my right ankle felt sore and unstable, I stretched at 1 mile as usual, then stretched at the 2 mile mark because it still felt achy. I started running on the wrong side of the road (with traffic) and that helped. I turned around at about 2.2, thinking I could try to run again this afternoon, but then my leg felt better, though I still felt generally tired. My leg felt achy again the last mile of the run so I stopped running right at 7 miles and walked the .3 or so mile to my car. I stretched some more when I got home and now am wearing ice around my ankle. Dang! I should have never woken up this morning (except I guess then my dream would still be going with me berating myself?!?). And to top it off, my weight is still 127. I guess eating chocolate cake is not a good diet tip. I made chocolate cake for my cat's birthday cake. Fluffy has been in our family for one year now.

Evening- ran one mile with Benji while Mickie played soccor, so the run was on the grass. I felt some pain in my right ankle but not much. 11:21 mile for him, 57 seconds off. We were in Salem so the air is thicker, but that wouldn't have helped us more than 10 seconds. I am proud of him~!

Met with MacK and JH in Salem. I wasn't sure whether my ankle would cooperate with a run today, but there is really only one way to find out. It fine as I got ready in the morning, and I did a little bit of walking when I got out of my car. Then we were off, and it felt fine and normal the whole run, with the exception of one minor twinge at around 8 miles. We also went a little faster in the middle because that JH is a speedy lady. We saw Kevin not long after starting the run and he joined us for most of it. We dropped off MacK after 6.5 (she cheated and ran 5 miles before us because she had to get home early) then I dropped off Jen at 7 miles, and I ran a couple more. The pain yesterday was real and really scary, but there may be some truth to Josse's comment yesterday. I guess the premarathon psychosis has begun for me! Watch out crazy lady on the loose!

Ave pace 8:06

Ran with Benji 1 mile in 10:59! He is an animal!

Ran with MacK in Salem to SF and back. It was raining and 44F when we started so I wore tights. Bad idea, my legs felt claustrophobic, especially since it stopped raining after a scant two miles. The farm country smelled good from all the rain we have been having. We talked about food WAY too much during the run, oh well.

My ankle felt good, no pain.

Ave pace 8:18

weight 126

I went to Dr. Brady in the mid morning. He worked on both my ankle and my groin, which he said is likely some tendonitis. He said groin injuries are really slow to heal and are often not taken care of because people don't want that area worked on. He was very professional and I think I kept my cool reasonably well. He did ultrasound and electroacupuncture in both my right inside ankle and groin, and of course deep tissue torture :)

I took a short nap but wanted to get up and work on some house projects.

I am getting excited for Ogden, but since I am building my miles instead of tapering right now, I am a little tired.

I had the most elaborate dream/nightmare about a marathon, which was a cross between Ogden and St. George only it wasn't like either at all, of course. And I ran with Marcie for the first half, and at the half way point we stopped for like 5 minutes, turned off our watches like it was ok to stop and stretch and shoot the breeze in the middle of a race. Then in the second half we were apart and I got lost and fell hours behind. At about mile 18 there was a tremendous downhill of like 25% then my husband Paul picked me up in the minivan and we went to the store, and he tried to drop me off at that point in the race (about mile 23) but I realized he had to drop me off where he picked me up or it wouldn't be a true marathon. So he was driving me on this crowded street, crowded with a bunch of recreational 6 hour marathoners and he was driving fast and I was like, "Paul stop you are running into people!!!" He wouldn't slow down, and I think he was mostly bumping them, not really running over people, but he finally dropped me off to finish the race.

Nice dream, eh?

Last night and this morning my feet felt a little achy, just some aches/pains in different places. It all shook off and had no pain in the whole run.

I met MacK and JH in Salem and we did a nice loop. Mack and I ran for a mile going up and down a hilly road until JH came, and that first mile was slow (almost 10 minute). Then I stretched and we took off. MacK was with us for three miles then turned around. After mile 1 the miles averaged just under 8 minute pace. I am feeling good! I had some Endurox when I came home because I want to recover well. I have over 100 plants (vinca major) I will be planting in the next day. It is nice to get out and do yard work.

Ave pace 8:06, had a 7:23 mile in there. JH is pretty fast!

I converted all my mile runs with the boys to only count half their distance, since the pace is so off my normal easy pace.  I will start counting them at their full length when they are below 10 minute pace.

I met with the SF group. It quickly became Alli, MacK, Josse and I since we decided to not go to bishops to save some time on the workout (MacK had to get to a 5k for her church after the run). We decided to start our tempo at the top of pretty little road for some downhill, 4.71 miles into the run. It's hard to find a long stretch of downhill in the SF/Salem farm country, but we did our best to patch one together :) Josse was going to tempo 3 miles and I was going to tempo 4. I was fine with anything from threshold effort to marathon pace (6:30-6:50).

Mile 1 - 6:25, this mile had the best/fastest downhill, marathon/half marathon effort

Mile 2 - 6:38, short downhill (Zephyr) then flat, felt like marathon effort

Mile 3 - 6:36, we turned left at powerhouse road, so gradual slight downhill, Josse did great and was done with three, marathon/half marathon effort

Mile 4 - 6:29, I turned around and did the gradual uphill mile to finish the tempo off. Unfortunately this mile felt harder, 10K-half marathon effort. I was glad to break 6:30 (even if by a second) on the uphill, though.

I then turned around and met back up with Josse. MacK and Alli did a tempo at a more moderate pace (6:40ish) but didn't turn left on powerhouse road so we didn't see them again. It was nice to run in SF and see lots of running buddies. It was great weather, it started at 38 and worked up to about 46. I am wearing shorts now so I need a new blog name. All my ideas are either not clever enough or too clever, so I am working on it. I had ice bath #2 for the year and Endurox.

Ave pace 8:04

I ran with the two kiddies just before lunch for a mile.  They did very well.  I'll count that as 1/2 mile.  I ran it in 11 min. pace.