Met RRBers at FAC for hills repeats up and down Lehigh Street. Legs felt pretty flat so I took it a little easier than usual. I was averaging around 5:40-5:50 pace for the up/down intervals. 5X4 minutes (2 min. up, 2 min. down) and 5X2 minutes (1 min. up, 1 min. down, last one 4:42 down.)
Was going to head out for my second run around 4 p.m. but I hit a wall and decided to put the kids in front of a show and take a nap instead. Woke up 45 minutes later feeling much refreshed. Stretched for a while, jumped on the trampoline with the girls and made dinner. Green waffles, green eggs, green spinach and fruit slush, green key lime pie yogurt as a topping on the waffles. Dished up dinner to the kiddos and headed out for my second run. Passed at least eight bikers wearing green jerseys. Also passed some green runners. The mandolin, banjo, and folk singing of a band I've really been digging lately, Mumford & Sons put me in a happy Irish mood (see below.) Now I'm eating green food and considering watching part of Robin Hood tonight while I fold laundry after the kids are in bed. I don't even remember the last time I watched a movie. Short on leisure time these days.
For those of you (myself included) who think that looks like a bunch of meaningless numbers, basically my half mile intervals started at 5:36 pace and progressed to 5:12 pace and my 1.5 mile intervals started out at 5:50 pace and progressed to 5:26 pace. I ended up with 8 miles of interval running and 13 miles total for the morning. And I was tired.
I want to say these were easy miles, but they weren't exactly easy. I was tired. My legs were trashed. Could have something to do with the fact that I just completed my biggest week ever on tired legs after just running a huge PR in the 15K last weekend.
We had a birthday party for Breanne this afternoon and it was a BLAST!! Lots of friends came and brought side dish to share so we had a large smorgasbord of food to enjoy. With church friends, running friends, and reading class friends, the house and yard was full of awesome people. Aaron put together a scavenger hunt with clues leading the 15+ kids all around the house and yard to find "treasure boxes" (shoe boxes) full of loot! The kids all got to fill goody bags with fun little toys and candies as a reward for their hunting. Nothing like a crew of little pirates scavenging around your house for clues and treasures...so cute! They also got to enjoy jumping on the trampoline, playing on the play-set, and stuffing their faces with cake and ice cream. Good times! After everyone left, Sara Vaughn stayed a while longer so Kiki and Bre could play and I put my feet up and enjoyed catching up with Sara. Then I took an hour and a half nap while Aaron cleaned up the mess. What a champ!
Still tired, but it felt good to get out and move. Went in to see Richey for some ART on my hip/glut and achilles. Also had him blast out the tightness in the arches of my feet. Took a nap this afternoon which was heavenly.
Took the kids hiking up to Mallory Cave up above NCAR (2 mile drive from out house) for family home evening. It was a blast! They were so cute. I hiked up with Abe and we chatted about all sorts of interesting things. Man, 1st graders sure know a lot! Bre giggled and bounced alongside Aaron while Ali rode on daddy's back for the 1.5 mile up. Once we reached the top the kids all scampered around on the rock and we had a snack. Ali wanted to hike the whole way back down so I held her hand while she laughed every time she slipped. She said she was "dust-boarding" since every time she slipped it was obviously on purpose and she was building up a nice dust patch on her bum.
Aaron and Dan kept me honest in my effort and kicked my bum in some intervals. We did a bunch of shorter, faster intervals. Some hills, and some flat. Mild wind.
Amazing massage with Erin afterwards. She blasted my left hip/glut really deep and I was already feeling better when I got off the table. I also took about an hour nap this afternoon. Abe is out of school for spring break so I told him we always take naps at 1 p.m. and he agreed he could use a nap too, so we all just went to our beds and fell asleep for an hour or so. Beauty.
P.M. 6 miles on the treadmill at FAC. The wind started picking up after our workout this morning and with the 60+MPH gusts going on around 4p.m. I wasn't up for the battle. Treadmill was kind to me. Slow and peaceful. Lots of hip/core work (cannonall routine) and weights afterwards.
Met Colleen, Katie, and Coach D at FAC for a 4X2 mile repeats on the Creek Path. Started out conservatively and then got faster as we went along. 2 mile repeats were 11:22 downhill, 11:29 out and back, 11:12 out and back, 11:09 half mile down 1.5 mile gradual up. Solid workout and pleasant time with great people.
After Ali's gymnastics class we met up with Colleen, Tara, and Tasmin at the park. We were pushing the little kiddos on the swings for some time and Colleen was prompting Tara and Bre to pump with their arms and legs while I was working with Abe (I've been working with Abe for three years now and swing pumping still hadn't quite "clicked" for him.) Well today was the day!! Bre all of the sudden got the right motion and started flying high. Of course this egged her brother on and the next thing I knew Abe was flying even higher than Bre!! My kids can finally pump on the swing! Thank goodness. Ali on the other hand didn't have such a stellar day. She wanted to go as high as her brother and sister but started to get tired and ended up falling off onto her back...ouch.
Took a nap this afternoon and now we're headed to a "send-off" reception in Castle Rock for my midwife and friend, Jean and Mark Dhority. Jean has felt God calling her to serve the Tarahumara Indian tribe in the Copper Canyons in Mexico for quite some time now. The infamous "running people" spoken of in the book "Born to Run," Tarahumara's have one of the worst infant mortality rates int he world. Jean's mission is to serve, teach and train Tarahumara women about prenatal care, birthing, and postpartum recovery through a birthing clinic. Apparently the current method of birthing among Tarahumara women is just to go off into the wilderness alone when the time comes and sometimes the woman comes back alive with a living baby, sometimes the baby dies, and sometimes the woman never comes back at all. At some point they must have lost their ancient wisdom of midwifery and Jean is on a mission to restore it.
Jean was my angel and facilitator throughout Breanne and Ali's amazingly empowering, peaceful homebirths. I'm excited to see Jean one last time before she leaves and send her with support, well wishes, and prayers. After serving as a direct entry midwife here in Colorado for decades, she has made an impact here and will be an amazing blessing to the Tarahumara people. Jean and her husband, Mark have been tying up their affairs and trying to raise enough money for a couple of years now and they are finally financially prepared to leave American civilized life as they know it and "retire" to the rugged life in the Copper Canyons in Mexico. God be with you, Jean and Mark!
