All it takes is all you've got

Rolled out on the foam roller and Aaron massaged my calves last night for a long time.  This morning I was even more sore than yesterday. I guess all that rolling/massage losened all the lactic acid and now its still working its way out of my legs. ???   I finally started to feel warmed up after about 5 miles.  Wanted to go 10, but needed to be back by 7:15 so Aaron could get to an early networking meeting, so I cut it short a bit because my pace was slower than expected and I had to stop to stretch after a couple of miles.  As it was, I didn't get back until 7:20 but Aaron was still getting ready to leave so at least I didn't make him late.  Aaron and I talked last night about the possibility of getting a babysitter once a week so I can join a group for speed work in preparation for my next marathon.  I guess I'll start asking around to see who I can get to take good care of my kids for a few hours once a week.   I probably wont start doing this until the beginning of October though, so I have some time to find someone.  

I was going to do some tempo work today but my legs still feel pretty hashed from last week.  I couldn't seem to warm up until after about 5 miles and even then I still didn't feel very good so I decided to just cut the run a little shorter and try for tempo tomorrow.  Maybe I should start another session of pilates reformer.  The session I was in ended last week and now I am going without that nice stretchy hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

My route this morning was around Countryside and over by Standley Lake High School.  Ran on the dirt paths as much as possible, probably 5 of the 7 miles.  I love how every time I run by the High School in the morning I smell the powerful scent of freshly spritzed cologne.  Way to schmooze the ladies, guys.

Finally starting to feel recovered from my race last Saturday.  Ran out and back on the Big Dry Creek Creek trail.  5.5 mile warm up.  3 mile tempo at 6:18 pace.  5.5 more miles around 7:30 pace.

14 miles 7:13 ave.

Went to the Cheescake Factory last night with the ladies dinner club from my ward.  I ordered the yummy chipotle chicken pasta.  My new friend Callie confessed to me that she googled my name and had been stalking me on the fast running blog.  She then proceeded to express her amazement with my training/racing pace and distances. I knew she must be a runner by the level of understanding and excitement she was portraying.  Come to find out she is a St. George Marathon finisher!  And in all fairness I had to google her name too; so I found out she also has a very accomplished deep list of 10ks and half marathons she's raced too!  Calling all runners!  No more lurking in the shadows!  Confess your running fanaticism and join the fast running blog too (Callie, I'm talking to YOU).  :)

Easy 10 around Standley Lake and neighborhood to the East of the lake.  Felt pretty good, but a little tired.  Ali woke up twice last night but went back to sleep on her own.  I wish I could go back to sleep faster or at least be able to sleep through Ali's night wakings.  She is two rooms away from me and I still hear her.  Usually when I wake up in the middle of the night it feels like forever until I fall asleep again.  Probably only 20-30 minutes, but that is 20-30 minutes too long.  I'll be glad when Ali sleeps through the night without any disturbances.  My point is, I'm tired and am looking forward to a nice restful Sunday tomorrow.  I think I'll wear ear plugs tonight.

So I decided to run the Park to Park 10 miler this morning.  I actually registered at Road Runner Sports last Thursday which was a great option because they just gave me my number and shirt right then and I didn't have to do a packet pickup this morning, which was nice. 

The race was SO organized and well thought out.  I realized afterwards WHY it was so organized because it is co-directed by a woman, Maureen Roben (former elite marathoner now coach/race organizer).   I'm giving all the credit for the details that made this race great to her because sorry guys you just don't have the same attention to detail as us women.  I mean, I'm sure her co-race director, Alan Lind did a TON of coordinating and scheduling and millions of other things that go into executing a 10 mile race though a huge city, but I'm guessing Maureen added the finer touch.  The things that stood out to me about this race were CLEAN porta potties and PLENTY of them.  Also, tampons had been conveniently placed in each porta potty. Not that I needed one, but how thoughtful that was for those few woman that did suddenly need one!  Our race numbers had a little tear off tag with corresponding number on them so we could tie them to our drop bags and when I went to find my drop bag at the finish they were perfectly organized in numerical order, layed out in neat lines and I found mine in about 3 seconds.  Each mile marker had a worker yelling out cumulitive splits in loud, clear voices.  Each intersection had police officers blocking traffic (and there were many intersections, as this race ran all throughout downtown Denver).  Water stations had water and powerade with plenty of workers holding the cups as high and still as possible.  I was quite impressed.  As you'll read later in my report, I did have one little mishap in the last mile but I think I was just zoned out and a little delirious at that point, so I take full responsibility for my blunder (okay, I'll tell you now...I ran off course by 20-30 seconds...oops!)

SO here's the sum up:

Miles 1-4 - 6:02, 5:57, 5:59, 5:57  I ran with the lead ladies;  Uli, the girl I went out with at the Skirtchaser last week, Bean from the Boulder Running Republic group and a couple others I hadn't met yet.  Pace felt pretty comfortable.  The first 4 miles were pretty flat, maybe a few insignificant rollers.

Mile 5 - 6:14  Gradual uphill.  Other women started to slow a bit but for some reason I decided to stick with this guy up the hill.  There was a bit of a headwind and I think I just didn't want to lead a group, so I decided to let another guy pull me along.

Mile 6 - 5:56  Pretty signinficant uphill but also some downhill that I cruised down to make up for lost time on the up.  Wondering if I should have just stayed with the other women, pretty sure they're just 15-20 seconds back, but kind-of in a zone at this point.

Mile 7 - 5:44  Garmin says 203 ft. gain, 203 ft. loss, so I guess it was a pretty flat mile.  I think this is when I started seeing my husband Aaron.  He drove out with the kids and had borrowed our friend's awesome sports camera so he kept stopping to take pictures of me.  It was nice to see someone because I found myself running completely alone at this point.  No men in the visible distance ahead of me and I didn't bother looking back.  I don't like looking back.

Mile 8 - 6:00  396 ft. gain 375 ft. loss, so not flat.  Still alone.

Mile 9 - 5:55  Still alone.  This is where I got lost.  I guess I was supposed veer left to run on the road that drives through Washington park but there were tons of morning joggers on the trail to the right and I didn't see any racers ahead of me so I just kept going on the trail, which added about .14 to my total race distance.  I didn't even realize I missed the route until I was approaching 9.6 miles and there was no cheering or fast racers in sight.  I kept asking the joggers if they knew if I was on the race course but they either had Ipods blasting in their ears or just had no idea there was even a race going on.  That made me pretty nervous.  Finally one aware woman jogger yelled, "NO, you're supposed to be up on that road!!"  So I hollered "THANK YOU" and sprinted across the grass up to the road and immediatly started hearing finish line cheers.  

Mile 10 - 6:03

.14 more miles as I sprinted to the finish line.  Garmin says my pace for the final .14 was 5:13 min/mile.  As I was coming down the finishing stretch the race announcer said, "She has 12 seconds to beat the course record, can she do it?"  I certainly gave it my all and ended up tying the course record in 1:00:33.  Crazy how a 10 mile race can come down to the exact second.  Next time I'll try to pay more attention and not run off course.  :)  I'm sure it was pretty obvious which way to go I was just delirious being in the last mile of my race and all.

Aaron and the kids were there at the finish and we exchanged some sweaty hugs and high fives.   We ate post race goodies together, the kids jogged a little cool down with me and played by the pond while we waited for the awards ceremony.  I got $500 and a free Ipod Nano.  Very fitting, I thought.  I chatted with a few of the other lead ladies afterwards and was encouraged by the fact that a couple of them had been to the Olympic Trials in the Marathon in previous years and are running in the USA Marathon Championships in Twin Cities next month.  Another confidence builder and fun race!  

Easy 6.5 around Countryside.  My legs didn't feel as beat up as I was afraid they would...but sometimes two days after a big race is worse than the day after, so we'll see.  I slept pretty good last night but still feel pretty tired.  Hopefully I'll have time for a nap today.  Getting caught up on housework today after a weekend of play.  You know, 6 loads of laundry, vaccuming the whole house, cleaning bathrooms, mowing the lawn...all that fun stuff.

Easy run on the trails around Standley Lake.  7:45 ave.

My legs feel better today already then they did the whole first half of last week.  I think it is a combination of running fewer miles last week, no really long run last week, and also the little cool down I did after my race on Monday.  I did not do a cool down after the skirt chaser because the burritos were smelling too yummy, but I think a cool down may have helped me recover a bit faster.  Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the fast, tapered feeling.

Saw geese flying south in formation today.  The air was a bit cooler too.  My arms were pretty cold when I got back.  Is it already time to get out the long sleeve running shirts?!  Fall is creeping in upon us!  I love it!!  My favorite season.  :)

Best song on the ipod this morning:  Young Folks.  Gave me a little energy boost as I was finishing up my last half mile. 

Easy 6 recovery again and a pilates reformer class at the gym afterwards to help limber up.  

I'm glad to see Sasha finally got ads on the blog.  I mean he ought to be making money with all of the hours of work he's put into this!  Nice move, Sasha. 

Whew!  Busy day!  Ran 9 this morning.  Finally felt warmed up by mile 6...so the last 3 felt okay at least.  Still lots of residual fatigue in the legs from the race Monday.  

Went to pilates reformer again and lifted weights for 30 mintues afterwards.  Then I ran some errands which included putting my race winning checks in the bank...cha-CHING and returning my Comcast cable box because we NEVER watch cable anymore.  Facebook, fastrunningblog, and Netflix has outpaced and brutally defeated cable TV in our house.  Which is fine with me.  TV is just an annoying invitation for ads and unwanted messages to me anyway...never anything good on (except for most of the month of July when the Tour De France is on, which we'll have to find online next year.)  We didn't even get General Conference on our cable here in Denver.  I think you CAN get it if you pay for some gold platinum bling bling package that costs an arm and a leg OR you can just get the whole thing on BYU TV and LDS.org.

Anyway, that is the first half of my day.  Then I came home and put the girls down for naps and took a little siesta myself.  Now I'm off to walk Abe home from the bus stop, take him to his Karate class, and then go to a Fantastic Super Duper Friday activity at the Church.  Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, its going to be a SCREAM!  Or the next best thing: a bunch of women chatting it up and making crafty things together while the kids annihialate the nursery room. 

Easy 7 around countryside in 7:30 ave.  My legs are finally starting to feel mostly recovered. The last thing to feel great is the peroneous longus again.  But at least I felt good only after a mile today instead of 5.

Fall is in the air!  Its 57 degrees outside at noon!  I slept in today because Aaron went for an early bike ride with a friend.  Ali got up at 6 as usual, but Aaron just gave her a milk and changed her diaper and she went back to sleep.  She ended up sleeping in until 9 a.m. which is unheard of!!  She has NEVER slept past 8, and usually wakes up between 6-6:30 so this was pretty unusual.  Abe and Breanne woke up around 7:30 though, so that is when I got up.  It felt great to get some extra zzzzzs. 

Nice relaxing weekend.  Got a nap yesterday afternoon and lots of sleep last night.  My body is feeling really great!  Decided to do a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Fartlek (my favorite non distance measured sharpener).

Ran 5:20-6:18 average mile pace on each one, some were faster some slower because of hills.

Total average for run was 6:58 for 6 miles. 

We're watching our friend's 3 year old boy for a few days this week so they can go backpacking. Once you have three kids adding another 3 year old into the mix is no biggie.  The kids will love having a little buddy around and I'm looking forward to the payback when she watches my kids for a few days so Aaron and I can go on vacation without kids too.  Doesn't seem very fair that she leaves her one kid with me and agrees to exchange for a 3 day vacation while she watches my three kids.  Maybe I'll have to make it up to her by offering to watch her boy some more afternoons or another weekend.  Anyway, kid exchanges are golden.

Easy 6 miles 7:45 pace.

Got all the details for TOU arranged.  Flight to SLC leaves Friday at 4:30.  My sister-in-law, Ashley who is also running the marathon is picking Aaron and I up at the airport and my Mom is picking up the kids.  Mom will take the kids to her house in Bountiful Friday night and bring them to the finish line Saturday morning.  Aaron, Ashley and I will call for take-out at Robintinos in Bountiful and then eat and drive to Logan, pick up race packets, and stay in Smithfield with my BYU track buddy, Holly Haguewood (also running the marathon).  Aaron will borrow a road bike from Ashley's husband so he can get some exersise Saturday morning and watch/film/photograph parts of the race.  Our photographer friend, Eric Wynn will also be coming up to get some shots.  Holly, Ashley, and I will drive to the shuttle bus pick-up together before the race.  Mom will meet us with the kids at the finish line.  My brother Dave will be getting race updates through text and forwarding the texts to my other 3 fans (Mom, Aaron, and Callie).  Dave and his wife Christina will be appearing at the finish line with smiling faces and loud cheers.  After the race we'll go back to Holly's to shower, go out for lunch, and come back later for the awards at 1:15pm.  After that my siblings, Mom, and Step-Dad are getting together for a BBQ at Dave and Christina's in Layton.  And a few hours after that, Aaron's family is getting together for a post marathon celebration and games at his sister and brother-in law, Ashley and Matt's house in North Salt Lake.  Sunday we'll visit Aaron's sister, Emily at her newly purchased home in SLC and fly home Sunday night.  What a FUN weekend!

There is my pre-race report.  Now after the race I can just post my finish time since you all already know everything else that happened. 

Easy 5 around the neighborhood.  

Went to my massage therapist last night for some deep tissue trigger point massage on my legs.  He did not hold back; had me wincing in pain many times.  We found a nice big knot in both hammys and my glutes were super tight too.  So I was pretty sore on my run this morning, but I stretched for quite a while and am already feeling better.  I'll rest tomorrow, run easy and short Friday, and I'm sure I'll feel great by Saturday.

No running today.  Rest, foam roller, and stretching.  Went to bed super early last night.  By the time Aaron got home from work at 7:30 p.m. I was almost done tucking the kids in because I was ready to be finished being the Mom for the day.  I had given Abe a haircut which is usually not that difficult but for some reason he was FLIPPING OUT the whole time.  He does the same thing when I clip his nails.  Like hair and nails have feelings or something. I think he was just tired from running 20 minutes yesterday afternoon for his school fundraiser.  After the haircut he took a bath and decided it would be fun to throw water all over the floor.  When I went in to get him out of the bath I found 1/2 inch of water all over the floor.  Then he melted down when I told him to clean it up and he spend a long time in his room.  After that I asked the kids to go play downstairs while I made dinner and when I went to get them for dinner they had opened a box of cereal from the food storage room and spilled it all over the carpet in the basement.  I asked them what happeded and Abe said "Daniel tempted me to do it."  Nice try, buddy.  Asking them to clean it up just gave me three little blank looks.  So I resolved to just vacuum it later.  We ate dinner and I brushed their teeth, read them a book and put them to bed.  Aaron cleaned up most of the mess after he got home because I was trying to relax in my room.  He also gave me a back massage and I went to bed around 9:00 p.m.  All I had to do this morning was vacuum the cereal in the basement.  Gotta love kid messes.  My kids are usually pretty good at cleaning up their messes but I just didn't have the patience to enforce the cleaning up yesterday.  Today we've agreed to keep messes to a minimum because I have to do laundry and get packed for our trip.  

5.5 miles easy with a few pick-ups.  Just enough to come home and get a gooooood stretch.

Gotta get packed and take Abe to school, then as soon as his school is out we're picking him up and going straight to the airport.  Utah, here we come! 

What a fun day!  I'm just sitting here at my sister-in-law's house with Aaron's laptop while family plays Agricola. I'm pretty tired, I admit....but everyone else is hanging out, so I will stay up with them a bit longer.

The race went GREAT!  I was pretty nervous yesterday; not about my pace goal, more about the 26.2 mile distance itself.  After all, this is only the 2nd time I've completed that distance in my life, and I was pretty sure those last 5-6 miles were going to be intense.  

We arrived at my friend, Holly's house in Smithfield Friday night around 9:00 and chatted with her until 10:15ish, so I was in bed at 10:30, but just kept tossing and turning, thinking about the race, unable to shut my brain off. Finally at 11:45 I looked at my phone one last time and fell asleep shortly after that.  At 4:00 a.m. I spontaneously awoke, bright eyed and ready to get up.  Alarm wasn't set to go off until 4:30, so I just lay in bed for 30 minutes, resuming the race thoughts that were keeping me up 4 hours earlier.  Finally 4:30 came and I got dressed, ate some oatmeal and a banana, and Aaron drove Holly, Ashley, and I to the shuttle pick-up.  

Got up to the race start around 6:20 and stood in line for the pots.  20 minutes later, got out of the pots and decided to stand in line again. (3 women, lots of nerves, and nothing better to do, I guess).  6:52 a.m. out of the pots for our second round, announcer says the drop bag busses are driving off in 3 minutes.  We jogged about .137 mile down to the drop bag busses, took off our warm clothes, put them in our drop bags, and tossed them through the bus window.   

Chatted with a few FRB-ers at the start including my favorite FRB-er, Allie. Race started and I just went out at what felt comfortable.  Hands and feet pretty cold for the first couple of miles.  I recall realizing warmth in my feet finally around mile 2.  Started chatting with a young man, Daniel who said he was shooting for 2:45, he is 18 years old, turns 19 soon, and is planning on leaving on an LDS Mission this January. We ran together for the first 10 miles.  It was nice to have someone to chat with and pass the time.  Around mile 7 we came upon a guy who had his running shorts on backwards.  As I approached him I asked him if backwards running shorts were good luck or if he just got dressed at 4:00 a.m. in the dark?  "Something like that," he said, "I just noticed they were backwards at the Starting Line."  Oops.  

Miles 1-10: 6:10, 6:19, 6:16, 6:04, 6:09, 6:10, 6:11, 5:57, 6:02, 6:10

After mile 10, Daniel disappeared.  I ran with other men for a few minutes at a time, but from here on out, was mostly running alone.  Appreciated the Half Marathon clock; time was 1:20:45ish.  Aaron was out on his road bike to take pics, hand me more gu, and hand Sasha his homemade energy drink, which he disclosed the recipe for: Gotu Kola and Marionberry made into tea with honey and sea salt.  Did I remember that right, Sasha?  Right before the half marathon point, Aaron handed me another gu.  I had taken my first two gu's at mile 3 and mile 9 and I wanted another one for mile 13.  Nice tailwind brought us out of the last mile of the canyon.  Mile 14 brought lots of spectators as we exited the canyon.  I saw my former BYU teammate, Katie Moon (forgot your married name, Mooner, sorry...you'll always be Mooner to me anyway) on the sideline cheering, and was happy to see a familiar face.  Mile 16 ended with a quick potty stop (9 seconds, according to the lady who shouted it to me after I bolted out).  Mile 17 ended with another urgent, more serious potty squat next to the only available visual obstruction, a large trailer parked on the side of the road.  Only a female spectator with young child in stroller standing right across the street had to endure full visual of my squat.  I gave her a thumbs up and smile as I ran off and I'm sure she was laughing inside.  Saw Mooner (as in Katie Moon, not another squatter) a few more times.  Thanks for coming out to cheer, Katie!  Miles 18 and 19 is where the fun stopped and the pain train picked me up.

Miles 11-20: 6:16, 6:03, 6:09, 5:53, 5:47, 6:07 (#1 stop), 6:20 (#2 stop), 6:12, 6:30 (slight uphill), 6:35 (more slight uphill)

So the fun has ended, and the serious dig deep painful endurance has kicked in.  I start to feel quite lonely and pray that my final 10K is not disasterous.  Passed a Kenyan who has stopped to stretch (found out later he actually dropped out of the race).  Passed a couple of other men who were blowing up.  Just kept praying I wouldn't blow up too.  At this point I had about a 6:09 overall average though, so I was comfortable with the leeway I had given myself by using the downhill in the canyon to go comfortably fast.  I knew that I could run 6:30-6:40 for the final 10K and still get a decent time.  My legs were feeling quite exhausted so I just kept pushing as well as I could and telling myself I could do it. My brother and his wife were cheering at mile 23, Mooner showed up again in there somewhere, and Aaron handed me one last gu at mile 24.  I was grateful for the momentary diversions.  I was also glad to hear more cheering of the spectators near the end.  I entered a blurry state of delirium around mile 24 and just prayed my legs would keep moving forward and I wouldn't pass out.  Apparently I didn't because I do recall crossing the finish line to a bunch of cheering and looking up to see 2:44 and blur.  Yeah!  I  was finished!  And I  broke the course record!!!  After I finished my legs almost seized up on me, but I kept walking hoping that they woudn't.  Saw lots of family and friends with big smiles and cheers. Feeling SO grateful for the strength and support I received from family and friends, especially Aaron, and what a blessing it was to run strong, PR, and set a course record!!

Miles 21-26.2: 6:13, 6:25, 6:31, 6:31, 6:31, 6:41, .2 at 6:34  pace. Woah, three miles at 6:31, now that is even pacing.

26.2 miles, 6:15 average.  2:44:10

It was nice to meet a bunch of you FRB-ers in person!  Congrats to everyone who raced TOU today.  What a great course and beautiful day, eh?!

P.S. My race buddies Holly and Ashley both PR'd too; Holly ran 3:14 and PR'd by over 15 minutes.  My SIL, Ashley ran 4:04 and PR'd by 30 minutes.  Congrats, ladies!

Just woke up from my second nap of the day.  Ahhhhhhh.

My body is SO worked.  I  don't recall ever feeling this worked over from physical activity.  Post childbirth is the closest thing to it, but its not aches and pains in the same way.  The physical exhaustion is similar though.  Yesterday I almost passed out at Church.  I really struggled to keep my eyes open during the classes and then with only 10 minutes left I had to go find an empty classroom and lay down.  I probably should have gone to an earlier Church and planned on sleeping all afternoon instead.  Or I could have at least brought water and food to get me through the 3 hour block.  I did take a short nap when we got home from Church at 4:00 but then we had to eat dinner and get to the airport.  I was glad we flew instead of driving this trip because it was a quick trip home to my own soft bed.  I slept SO deep last night.  Thank goodness my kids are exhausted from the weekend also.  We've all been taking it pretty easy today and I've slept both times that my 1 year old has taken her naps.     

Slept in again today and upon rising, went immediatly to the dentist to get two cavities filled.  She gave me the tooth anesthesia and I thought my teeth were numb when she asked me if they felt numb, but then they didn't feel that numb when she started drilling.  I kept thinking in my head maybe I should ask for more anesthesia.....nah, its not that bad.  OUCH!  That was bad.  Maybe I should ask for more.  Nah, I'm sure she's almost done...clenching my fist and wincing my eye......argh...maybe I should ask for more anesthesia....oh that area didn't hurt....I'll just let it go...OUCH..maybe I should ask for more.  This cycle went on for a good 10 minutes, so I finally let her know it was pretty sensitive and she's like "Oh, do you want me to give you more anesthesia? 'Cause I'm finished drilling now."  Naturally. Just when you think you cant bear any more pain, the pain ends. So true to life.

I can now do stairs somewhat normally and my energy levels are slowly rising.  I feel like I could use some sort of exersise, but am perfectly okay waiting until next week to run; I think my body needs the rest.  Maybe I'll go to the gym tomorrow to stretch and lift weights.  And I do have my pilates reformer class Friday morning.  I also scheduled a massage Thursday night.  My body could really use a good deep tissue massage.

Went for an easy bike ride this morning because my body just needed to move.  Forgot to change the sport to biking on my garmin so apparently I ran a 3:58 mile pace for 10.39 miles.  Sweet.  

Finally starting somewhat recovered.  Not fully recovered, somewhat recovered. 

Went to the massage therapist last night and got a full body massage with a little bit of deep tissue on my legs, neck, and upper back.  My back was pretty sore this morning, but luckily I had my pilates reformer class to help limber up and decompress.  I attempted to lift weights after pilates but didn't have much strength, so I resorted to spending more time on the foam roller and stretching really really well.   Then I took Abe to school and brought the girls home for naps.  I took an hour nap and Ali woke up.  Then I relaxed in a hot epsom salt bath for 45 minutes.....ahhhhhh.  I'm just trying to do all I can to recover so I can feel good before I start running again.  I followed Sasha's advice and bulked up on the fresh veggies and fruit at Costco.  If any of you have ever bought the bag of Spinach at Costco, you know I have some work to do to get through it before it wilts.  So I have been pounding the spinach salads with all sorts of other yummy veggies, feta cheese, and shredded chicken......mmm.  I am also trying to focus on drinking a ton of water to flush my system and getting lots of quality sleep.  Luckily, Ali has been sleeping through the night all week so I've gotten some good zzzzzs.

Aaron is taking Abe to the Colorado Rockies game tonight so that means Girls night IN for me, Breanne, and Ali.  Maybe I'll paint their nails and let them eat chocolate chips.  (Thats about as good as it gets for sweet treats in my house right now).  Haha.  Good times! 

11 hours.  Hows THAT for sleep?  

For some reason I felt super tired today so I slept in, took a morning nap when Ali did and took another afternoon nap when Ali did.  The closest thing to physical activity today was mowing the lawn this morning, but since my lawn only takes me about 12 minutes to mow, it was barely even a warm up.  Actually I think it helped me loosen up my back.  I had this kink in my upper back muscle next to my spine and I couldn't seem to release it by pushing it to death, but now 4 Motrins and two naps later, its finally feeling a bit better.  I also had a rough headache this morning when I woke up, but the naps have diminished that too.  I think my body is probably fighting something because my kids and husband have all shared this nasty cold and my husband is still trying to kick his.  I hope I don't get it too. I'm certainly sleeping enough to expect that I can avoid it.   

First run back since the marathon.  I felt better than I thought I would, actually.  An entire week of rest doesn't hurt.  My legs were still pretty fatigued, but at least there weren't any nagging pains anywhere.

7 miles, 7:54 ave. 

8 miles out and back on the big dry creek trail.  7:53 average.  My legs are feeling a little bit better.  My right heel is still a little sore, but it warmed up and felt better after 3-4 miles.  The Fall smells are SO yummy right now. One of the houses that backs to the open space must have a wood burning stove because there was this strong campfire smell around mile 2.  Then the sagebrush was especially fragrant around mile 3.  And the mist coming off the creek was so beautiful too.  OH, I'm glad to be back running again.  I LOVE running in the fall.

Dropped my kids off at my good friend, Erin's house and drove to Denver to run and chat with Maureen Roben, Park to Park 10 miler race director, former elite marathoner, and running coach.  I wanted to bounce some ideas off her and get a little input on my training since she has "been there" and run in the Olympic Trials in the Marathon 4 times.  I REALLY enjoyed chatting with her and getting some good suggestions and recommendations.  She is very easy to get along with and SO encouraging and friendly.  She has a very similar running philosophy as me; family comes first, then running, Sunday is a great recovery day, its important to recover well and not overdo it on the weekly mileage; just because Deena Kastor is doing 140 miles a week doesn't mean I should.  She also thought that running the St. Jude Marathon on December 5 is not the best idea for me as it is not enough time to recover and then train hard again and try to match or exceed the all out effort I gave at TOU.  So I'm considering doing the half there instead.  After all, I would REALLY like to run some FAST half-marathons and bring my PR down at that distance, which I think will bring my marathon PR down too.  So I'm going to re-evaluate my 3 month plan and maybe just run some fast half-marathons and shorter races between now and Grandma's marathon in June, 2010.  I also want to get my weekly mileage up to 70-80 by adding a few PM runs per week and/or cross-training and see how my body responds to that.  

So while I was there, I did a little workout to see how resilient my legs are after the marathon. 

2 mile warm up

1 mile at goal 10K race pace - 5:37

1 lap jog

400M fast - 76

200 M. jog

400 M. fast - 79

 My legs are really starting to feel a lot better.  Yesterday after Abe got home from school I went to the gym and lifted weights for a bit and spent a lot of time stretching and on the foam roller and exercise ball stretching some more.  I think that really loosened up a lot of the fatigue in my legs and gave me back a little spring in my step.  Thank goodness!