Ran early (5:45 a.m.) Saw hot tub man. Its been quite a while since I've seen him. I guess he gets up earlier now.
Had to be at the Jefferson County courthouse in Golden at 8 a.m. for Jury Duty. I thought it strange that I got a summons since Aaron just had Jury Duty a few months ago. He was selected to be a juror on a case where a guy was intoxicated and got in trouble with a police officer as he wrecklessly drove his scooter around his neighborhood. Why some people deny their own wreckless behavior while they were drunk is beyond me. Pretty selfish to decided its worth wasting a day of time for the judge, two attorneys, all the court room workers, as well as six juror's, simply to deny what was obviously a drunken mistake. Anyway, luckily I didn't get selected to be on the jury today, so it only took a few hours out of my morning. As a family, we've served our civil duty to serve as jurors for the year and hopefully longer.
My last "work out" before New Haven. Did it on my own when Aaron arrived home from HIS FINAL SERVICE DAY!!!! HALLELEUJA!! Not that giving service isn't great or anything, but 100 hours within a 3 month block was pretty straining on his time. And now hes FINISHED!! Yeah! Maybe I should bake him a cake or something.
Anyway...
20 minute warm up, stretching, strides
4X5 minutes at marathon pace (5:56, 6:00, 5:43, 5:50). Probably a little faster than marathon pace, but my legs felt great.
20 minute cool down
Spent the rest of the afternoon taking Bre to the dentist to hold her hand as she got to breathe through a cool darth vadar-like mask, get sleepy juice squirted on her tooth with a high tech squirt gun, clean up the sugar bugs with a flashlight, and then be rewarded with a shiny princess crown in her mouth. Now doesn't that sound a lot more fun than going to the Dentist to be gassed with nitrous oxide, poked with two local anaesthetic shots, then having the entire pulp of your tooth dug out with a sharp, light-guided drill and covered up with a small cap of tin? Its all about how you present it. She behaved perfectly and felt like a princess as we left. $425 later and her toothache is gone.
Aaron went to run in the mountains early this morning and then we met him in Boulder Canyon afterwards for some rock climbing with friends. The kids got to enjoy their first experience actually putting on a harness and climbing. They loved it! After the climb I took Aaron's car, went to the park at the mouth of Boulder Canyon, and ran on the Boulder Creek path nice and easy with a few strides mixed in. Stood in the river for a few minutes afterwards. It wasn't very cold, refreshing though.
I'm off to New Haven early tomorrow morning. The race director notified us that the race will be broadcast live on www.usarunningcircuit.com starting at 8:40 a.m. E.S.T. I'm looking forward to a fun time meeting and racing with the elites!!
New Haven 20K (12.4 Miles) 01:08:38, Place overall: 3
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Total Distance
6.60
0.00
12.40
0.00
19.00
Wow! What a weekend! Where do I begin?
Well, I arrived in New Haven, CT on a tiny, very loud and bumpy plane Sunday afternoon at their HUGE airport of one terminal and two gates. I was picked up at the airport by the elite athlete coordinator, JT who took me on a course tour on the way back to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel ten minutes before an athlete meeting and I checked into my room and met my roommate, Amy Hastings. Walked to the meeting with Amy, met and sat down next to Lauren and Zoila. Heard some info about the race, the potential to qualify for World Half Marathon Championships, the expectation to be drug free and stay on course, and well wishes from mens and women's race liaisons. Also heard a little motivational speech by Steven Shay inspiring us to have heart and give it our all like his brother Ryan did.
Our hotel and the race start/finish was right by Yale University so it was a nice, clean spot of town. We walked a few blocks to a delicious restaurant and enjoyed dinner and good conversation with Zoila, Lauren, Colleen, and Jeff. After dinner, we just headed back to the hotel and went to our rooms. I chatted with Amy for a while (super friendly and fun to talk to) and we went to bed around 9ish. I was plenty tired from waking up early to catch my flight and the long day of travel. Amy asked me what time I wanted to wake up (the race started at 8:40 a.m.) and I said, "oh, I'm flexible....maybe 7 a.m. What do you think?" She looked at me a little crooked and said "Oh....'cause I was thinking 5:30 a.m." Haha. Maybe this is why I'm SO often late for races! Do I just wake up abnormally close to race start time as a general rule?? Apparently. Anyway, I obliged to her schedule with the assurance of an on-time race arrival and we went to sleep. The alarm went off all too soon and I woke up with a gift from the hotel bed: wicked little knot in my upper back. Thank you hotel bed. I really wanted that the morning of my first National Championship road race. I immediatley went to the athlete hospitality suite (still in my pajamas, barefooted, puffy eyed, messy hair and all) to see if they had a massage therapist or chiropractor on duty yet and as I walked in to see 10+ guys and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet sipping their coffee and looking all bright eyed and sharp in their race warm ups, I sheepishly grabbed a banana and slunk right back out. Saw JT on my way out of the room and he slapped me on the shoulder and said "WAKE UP!!" I must have looked pretty bad...but gimme a break, its 3:30 a.m. for my body. I asked him if there was a massage therapist and he said they were showing up at 6:30 a.m. at the outside tent by the race start. So I went back to my room, ate my banana and Luna bar and got dressed. Washed my face in an effort to get the puffy eyes to die down (I probably could have used some cold compress or something too). Then I told Amy I'd see her in the tent and I headed out to find the massage therapist who finally arrived around 6:50 a.m. and I asked if he could do chiropractic adjustments because I couldn't breathe very deeply without tightness and pain. He said "no but I do a good rub down" and was confident he could help me out. He worked on the knot pretty good for ten minutes or so and it started to feel a little looser. Those types of things usually take days to subside completely though, so I wasn't expecting a miracle or anything. After that I went to sit in the tent with the other ladies who were arriving. I met a few more runners and enjoyed chatting and laughing about the large open box with 200+ chocolate donut holes that no one was eating. REALLY JT? (Or whomever was in charge of getting the food). Did you really think 15 elite female runners would ever even come close to consuming 200 donut holes at any point in time that morning? LOL. He had the usual water, bananas, bagels, but the absurd amount of donuts were obviously out of place.
About 35 minutes before the race I went to warm up with Lauren. We didn't talk much, both obviously dealing with our own latent nervousness (it was her first championship race too) but it was nice to at least have someone to tap along the pavement with. Right as I finished my warm up and stopped my watch.....blank. Dead. No life whatsoever. Well, so much for relying upon good ol' Garmin to help me avoid the mistake of going out too fast and blowing up. Guess I'm on my own with that one. Tossed the watch in my bag along with my warm ups and went to the race start to do some strides and stretching. I was actually not upset at all about the Garmin betraying me. My naked wrist felt liberated and excited to just be forced to listen to my heart and lungs and let them dictate the pace. On the line, Colleen and Jeff came up on each side of me; it was just like any old day doing our workout in Boulder. We paused for the National Anthem, and then BOOM! The cannon released us.
Pretty much all fifteen women suddenly coagulated like gel with a few "foreign bodies" (men) mixed in and the race pack was formed. The pace felt very comfortable and I knew we were not going out "too fast." I didn't even notice the first mile go by, but figured it must have at some point and just stayed in the middle of the cozy group. I did see mile two at 11:03 and was comforted to know that we were averaging 5:31 pace already (a pace I was not afraid to go after). The pack still probably had nine or ten of us there with the race favorites near the front. The miles seemed to pass quickly and I felt smooth and comfortable. My tummy did start to get a little upset around mile four but it was negligible. The gremlin hiding in between my rhomboid and trapezius was not complaining too much either, thank goodness. A couple of girls tried to change up the pace and take off into the lead at times, but the group absorbed them again pretty quickly. As the miles passed I tried not to let the fact that I was PRing in every distance from 4 miles on up throw me into mental doubt and fear of the coming miles. When we came by 10K in 34:00 I still felt reasonably comfortable in the pack and realized it had shrunk down to only five women with Magda, Amy, and Stephanie working it at the front and me content to sit back and watch the race develop. My stomach started to complain a little louder and I had to work harder to mentally suppress the discomfort.
Just after mile seven I took about 100 calories of EFS liquid shot and some water, hoping it might settle my stomach or at least just give me some insurance for the final miles of the race. At that point it was down to Magdalena and Stephanie with me hanging on their heels still...but not for long. The 8 mile marker seemed to slap Magda in the pants or something as she just took off and dropped us like flies. Stephanie responded a little better than I did, but I tried to keep the gap as tight as I could. In Magda's post race interview she said she just ran a 5:06 mile on mile 8 and then went back to the pace we had been doing which means Stephanie and I must have been falling off pace too because Magda finished 57 seconds ahead of me and 45 seconds ahead of Stephanie.
Anyway, the last few miles consisted of me getting stomach cramps, mentally commanding them to leave, feeling okay for a few minutes, getting worse stomach cramps, groaning in my head, praying for strength, wanting to stop and relieve myself in the gutter but not wanting to embarrass the spectators or myself even more, keeping my focus on Stephanie so she wouldn't distance me even more, imagining Amy coming up behind me and kicking past me while laying everything on the line so that wouldn't happen, praying again that I wouldn't have an embarrassment in my shorts while willing my stomach to behave, and finally seeing the finish line and jumping for joy (in my head) as the crowd carried me home. It was a very long last couple of miles, to say the least. But finally, that mental anguish came to an end and I was rewarded with extreme mental relief and elation. My teammate Jeff had finished 20 seconds ahead of me and was the first to give me a sweaty hug and high five. Then I got some water, talked to the runnerspace.com guys and congratulated a few runners. Had a funny conversation with Kim Keenan-Kirkpacktric, the race liaison who was in the truck helping the guys film the race. She asked me a little bit about myself and told me how they were frantically searching online for any info they could find on me including the pronunciation of my name since I was obviously a dark horse, yet was up there running with the leaders until mile eight. Haha. I told her honestly I was just as surprised as she was to see myself in the final three. It was unfortunate how so many top ladies had an off day today. Amy, Colleen, Tera, Zoila, Kristen, and others all felt "off." Zoila put it into words so well in her post race interview. She said something to the effect of, each race is like receiving a gift. You have to unwrap it to see what is inside and sometimes its something you really like and other times its not. You can't dictate what comes though. You just have to accept it and do the best you can with it. I've had plenty of those days. And I've been overcome and defeated plenty of times. Today was not one of them. Today I received the gift of a much welcomed and appreciated huge breakthrough to give me the confidence and experience to keep my competitive flame burning bright. Others were not so lucky and had one of those days every runner has to experience, evaluate, and learn from. Its part of the journey. I am just feeling so grateful right now that God allowed me to feel that breakthrough feeling today and gave me that gift of endurance and strength to get me through even though I had obstacles I was threatened by. Keep pushing through! Breakthroughs will come and they will be SO worth it when they do!
Set my alarm for 4:15 a.m. (2:15 a.m. mountain time) to catch my 5:30 a.m flight home. Took a taxi to the airport and fell asleep as soon as I boarded the plane. Layover in Philly, ate a big breakfast and slept on that plane for another two hours. Got home around 11 a.m., chatted and had lunch with Aaron and the girls, tucked the girls in for naps and went for an easy, very slow run just to shake out the legs. My left achilles was feeling great, but now my right achilles is super tight. Apparently my achilles heel is my achilles heel. *wink, wink, cheezy grin
Coach called me yesterday to check in and see how I'm recovering. He suggested I take today off or just go for a bike ride. I opted for some road biking in the beautiful cool sunshine. Went up towards Boulder and back. 16 miles total. Felt GREAT!
I also went in for some A.R.T. from Richey this morning. He dug into both of my achilles and used his graston tools as well. Caused me some good grimacing. He also worked on my left hip since it is feeling a tad tight as well. I love A.R.T. Well, I don't actually love the pain while its being done, but the after affects are worth it.
With the ART yesterday morning and a deep tissue massage last night, my body was slow going this morning. It felt good to get it moving though. What a gorgeous fall morning!! Is it fall yet or still summer? Feels like fall some days.
Met my team at Tom Watson Park. Actually, I came 30 minutes early and ran 4 miles beforehand. Then I did the workout with the team. Coach told me to take it a little easy though as I am still recovering.
20 min warm up, stretching, strides.
10 minutes at 6:05 pace
2 min jog
4X2:30 with 90 sec jog between each (pace was 5:35, 5:40, 5:28, 5:30)
2 min jog
6XHill repeats. Odds were just 48 second push up the hill and jog back down, evens were 45 second push up the hill and steady push back down, so about 90 seconds. (pace was 5:36, 5:31, 5:40, 5:20, 5:38, 5:20)
2 min rest
5 minutes steady in 5:56 pace
20 minute cool down
After the workout Coach reminded us that it was 9/11 and we all had a moment of silence. I was glad he did that because I hadn't thought about it yet today. I still remember where I was on 9/11 though and the thoughts that flowed into my mind as I heard the news. I am really grateful for our country and all those who work hard or even give their lives in our defense.
6X50 stride pickups. Achilles still mildly tight, but warmed up after a few miles.
I've decided what race I will do for my three week pre-marathon sharpener on September 25th. Before last week I was having a hard time deciding because there just aren't any great options here in Denver on the 25th. But after New Haven a race promoter invited me to come run in the Cow Harbor 10K in Long Island, NY. The prize money is decent for a small 10K and when he offered travel assistance and free housing, I was definitely interested. Then I realized I could get a non-stop flight and only be gone for one night and two days, which is always a plus. Aaron and Coach both said to go for it. And then to seal the deal for me, the race promoter told me that Magdalena and Stephanie (the two gals who beat me in New Haven) would be there, which means it will be a super fast race with a potential PR time for me. Coach De Reuck says its not exactly a fast course because it has some good hills mixed in, but I'm pretty sure I can at least bring down my 35:50 time from Bolder Boulder. So I'm looking forward to a fun, quick trip back East again in a couple of weeks!
Colleen led the group of mostly triathletes with a few Running Republic runners.
I arrived early so I could jog an extra few minutes to warm up my achilles. Then we did a 20 minute warm up, stretching, and strides.
The workout was 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 with 1 minute jog between the 1 & 2 minute intervals, 90 second jog after the 3 minute intervals, and 2 minute jog after the 4 & 5 minute intervals. My pace was 5:38, 5:34, 5:38, 5:21, 5:51, 5:35, 5:28, 5:11, 5:03. Pace was all over the map because the trail we run is gradual up or down, and we changed directions a few times, but in essence it was a good 5K-10K effort for 25 mintues with some jogging mixed in. I actually stayed with Colleen for most of the intervals!!! First time ever actually staying with her in a workout. I couldn't quite hang with her on the 5 minute interval and also the second 3 minute interval, but other than that we were stride for stride. My legs were super tired though. Lungs felt pretty good, my legs just still have some residual fatigue in them. I'm feeling great about where I'm at with my fitness. Now if I can just keep my achilles tendons loose.
Easy recovery run followed by P90X core synergestics and ab-ripper-X. Yesterday after my workout I got another spasm in my mid back. Exactly like the one that sprouted up the morning of the New Haven 20K, only on the right side instead of the left this time. It must have been caused by the exertion in my workout. My back had that super unpleasant pinched nerve feeling all day and was starting to really bug me. Its frustrating that my back gives me problems so often. Luckily I have Aaron to whine to about it and help me blast out the knot. He worked it over pretty hard last night as I winced and whined in discomfort. This morning the knot was greatly reduced and my pinched nerve felt quite a bit better.
P.M. 15 miles in 3:42 pace (okay I was actually on my bike)
I was planning on doing a 4 or 5 mile run, but started to feel mentally fatigued at around 4 p.m. and decided I'd rather go for a spin instead. Aaron got home from work around 6:45 p.m. and I left on my road bike with my iPod blasting (I know, this is not recommended for safety reasons, but it was just one of those days and I needed it). It felt good to clear my head out in the beautiful evening as the sun was setting behind the Flatirons. I was singing loudly to my music as I cruised along the side of the road. Something about singing loudly to the tune of your own blasting earphones while oblivious to the actual notes you are hitting (most likely out of tune) and not caring if people overhear you is very liberating. An hour later I was in a much better mood and couldn't help but smile even wider as I got home to help the kids get dressed for bed and they all wanted to wear "big shirts" as their PJs.
Went in for some ART on my achilles and hip this morning.
P.M. 4 miles in 8:11 pace
Ran home from my son's soccer practice. Stomach not super cooperative. Achilles sore from the graston scraping earlier today. Felt good to shake it out though.
Finally got to my run at 6:30 p.m. after the race day hoopla with Aaron in the Steamboat 50. This morning after breakfast the kids and I went to the mile 22 aid station and hung out from 9:30-10:45 a.m. to cheer and take pictures of Aaron and his friend, Danny. They came through around 10:30 a.m. looking energetic and said they were feeling great, so we headed back to our condo. As I was driving back to the condo, I got a text from Allie telling me about her awesome 2:51:15 in TOU and I screamed for joy for her. GO ALLIE!!!!
Then I took the kids swimming for a few hours at the condo pool and at 2 p.m. we all took naps. When I woke up at 4 p.m. I saw a text message on my phone from Aaron telling me he decided to stop at mile 32 after 4 miles of limp running due to a super tight left glut/hip. By the time I got his text and woke up the kids to head over to the race finish, Aaron had walked home, so he took a quick shower and we all went to to finish together to cheer Danny in. It was a fun, relaxing day for me. Kind-of a bummer that Aaron had issues with his hip but I think he made the right decision to pull out and not injure himself more.
Legs felt great this morning. Right achilles virtually free of tightness, but now my left is somewhat tight again. I find it strange how the tightness seems to travel back and forth between each side. I stretched them both really well afterwards.
As my iPod shuffle came upon O.N.E. by Yeasayers, I had to switch it to continuous play and hear the other few songs I like by the same band. If anyone is looking for some new tunes, check out Yeasayer. My favorite songs are Tightrope, Ambling Alp, Madder Red, and O.N.E. I like how they use all sorts of funky sounds to keep you listening closely. Very unique and upbeat. Here's a little sample for your listening pleasure (sorry, no good videos, just a boring album cover)....
Ran with Kristen Fryburg-Zaits this morning. We met at the New Haven 20K a few weeks ago and agreed to meet up for a run back in CO since we live just 10 miles away from each other. She was kind enough to drive to my house and run 75 minutes with me this morning. My Garmin was flipping out the whole time either measuring fast or slow. Either my signal was thrown off by her Garmin or my Garmin was just having a bad day? Has anyone else experienced this with their Garmin? Time to re-calibrate? Maybe Google can tell me how do I do that. Kristen's Garmin stayed on track the whole time though and our run ended up being 10.35 miles in 75 minutes, so about 7:15 pace (mine said we did 12.04 miles in 5:20 pace...um no.)
It was nice to run together and get to know her better. She is super dedicated and definitely has the ability to compete at the highest level (she is competing in the World Half Marathon Championships next month). I'm sure I'll be seeing her at many races in the future and I hope we continue to run together when we can too. Its nice to have someone so close by to be able to run with and mix up the solo daily training routine.
Cow Harbor 10K (6.2 Miles) 00:34:38, Place overall: 3
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Total Distance
11.80
0.00
6.20
0.00
18.00
Flew into New York last night around 5 p.m. was met by a volunteer from the local running club, Pamela who drove me to my host-family's home. Enjoyed a very pretty 75 minute NY rush-hour commute to Ebbe and Eva Reker's quaint home they affectionately call their tree house set on a spacious, tranquil, tree-covered property in Northport, NY, a small village on the northern coast of Long Island. The Rekers, originally from Scandanavia (Ebbe from Denmark, Eva from Poland) had moved to NY 40+ years ago in their early-20's, met, married, and settled in Northport to raise their two children. And there they are still today, very involved in the local community, Ebbe the Vice Commador of the Northport Yacht Club.
Upon arrival I dropped my bags in their guest room and we headed to dinner at the Yacht Club where a number of other host families and athletes were meeting up. Dinner was very nice; Ebbe forgot to tell me about their "no jeans" dress code so I crept in behind him and sat down quickly. I enjoyed interesting conversation and delicious food while meeting a number of very friendly people (including a local Colorado runner, Wendy Thomas who lives 35 minutes away from me and also has a four and six year old). After dinner the Rekers took me back home and I prepared my race day bag and went to bed.
Woke up at 6:30 a.m., got dressed, and joined Ebbe and Eva upstairs for a fresh, authentic NY Bagel (cinnamon raisin). Ebbe drove me to the start and got situated with the elite athlete group in the school gym. Went to warm up with four CO girls who are all sponsored by Boulder Running company. I was the bright pink shirt jogging within the bright blue gals as the Sesame Street tune "One of these things is not like the others" played in the background.
The race started at 8:30 a.m. and went out FAST. Atalelech Asfaw, originally from Ethiopia, now a U.S. Citizen training in Albuquerque took it out in what must have been a 5:05 first mile. Stephanie and Magdalena were around 5:11 and I was 5:15. Granted, it was mostly downhill that first mile but I was unwilling to go any faster than that so early in a 10K race. I had the annoying realization very early in the race that I had not fastened my ankle timing chip properly (tight enough) because it had slipped down low on my ankle and the hard plastic chip part was grinding into the top of my left ankle bone as I sped up down the hill. I awkwardly tried to hi-step and slap the chip around to the back of my ankle but almost tripped myself in the process and not wanting to fully stop and fix it, I resolved to suck it up and just deal with it.
The second mile brought with it the biggest, longest incline of the race, James Street Hill which pretty much lasted almost the whole second mile; my split was 5:55. I was still within 7-8 seconds of the leaders (Magda and Stephanie were steadily reeling Atalelech back in). As a side note, the reason I chose not to go out WITH the leaders like I did in New Haven is because Magdalena had mentioned that she was going after the 32:32 course record and I, being a realist, didn't have any hope of hitting that kind of time on this hilly of a course at this point in my running career, so I just tried to imagine a thick rope tied around her waist to mine so I could at least stay in contact to some extent. The bad news was that my decision to not stay with Magda (and Stephanie and Atalelech who were running right with Magda) left me out in no man's land to pace myself and push the hills alone.
Mile 3 flattened out and I started to get into a rythym. I moved up and passed Atalelech while maintaining the 7-8 second gap Magda and Stephanie had on me. Split was 5:30.
Mile 4 brought some welcomed downhill but actually not that welcome because the grade was so steep that I found myself having a hard time increasing my cadence and lifting my knees quickly enough to really use the hill to my benefit and it actually felt like I had to put on the breaks in order to not fall on my face. Not to mention, my ankle was taking a pummeling from the timing chip. Split was 5:21 while I lost a few seconds on Magda and Stephanie.
Mile 5 was a long slow gradual uphill alone into a mild headwind with the sun coming out of hiding and the humidity commanding my attention. The low-point of my race mentally as the leaders seemed to feel more distant. 5:54
Mile 6 had just one more short little uphill and then a nice gradual downhill to the finish. I just hung on and enjoyed watching the race unfold in front of me as Magda threw in a surge and overtook Stephanie in the final mile. My split was 5:35
Sprinted the final .2 in 65 seconds (5:25 pace) and immediatly after finishing, had a heavy canvas American flag thrown over my shoulders with people demanding to take pictures of the top three finishers. How patriotic! But really I was just sweating like cow (pun intended) and the last thing I wanted was a thick canvas coat on my shoulders. After a few pictures, we took our flags (coats) off and headed into a bar on Main Street where they had put our bags. I ate some strawberries, grapes, and lots of water, texted Coach and Aaron, and headed back out for a long cool-down in an attempt to top off my mileage to 20 for the day (my last 20-miler before Baltimore). Wendy Thomas (mother of two from CO) was kind enough to join me for 7 miles as we jogged back through the course to partake of the water stops and run those stupenous hills again. As we got back to the finish line (for the second time) people cheered us in (again) and we gave lots of thumbs up and went to get our bags and head over to the park where the awards ceremony was scheduled to begin 3 minutes earlier. Has there EVER been an on-time awards ceremony in the history of road races?? Don't think so. I asked Wendy to watch my bag for me while I jogged some more and the awards ceremony announcers stalled some more. Staying within ear's reach of the announcer, I only got up to 18 miles total before they started the awards. I was hoping for a couple more but after standing around and sitting for a few minutes during the awards my right achilles tendon and left ankle bone refused to run any more. My left ankle was sporting a nice purple/blue puff-ball look after being defeated by the timing chip and my temperamental right achilles was pleading for some love (ice) after the 18 miles of punishment it had just endured. So I called it a day and walked back to the car with Ebbe (not without him treating me to some authentic pastry from the Danish Bakery of course).
In review, I have to be happy with my race. It was a TOUGH course on a hot, humid, and somewhat windy day. I finished 39 seconds behind Magda and 27 seconds behind Stephanie. After the race Magdalena was saying how much she really respects that course record (she fell 87 seconds short of breaking it). Those steep hills really took it out of my legs and I just tried to manage the best I could. I think there is a reason they don't post their elevation profile online. Considering the circumstances I am pleased with the fact that my time was a minute+ faster than my previous PR set at Bolder Boulder earlier this year. And I came home a few pennies richer. :)
The post-race party was fun and I met some more really cool runners. I also enjoyed the hour long drive back to LaGuardia Airport with Andrew Carlson from Flagstaff as well as Matt Levassiur and Stephanie Bylander (with their adorable 1yo daughter) from Alamosa, CO. I had a really funny conversation with Andrew Carlson as we were getting into the car to leave for the airport. He put his bag in the car and said "Sorry about my BEG, its taken some abuse." (His bag had a nice rip on the side). As soon as I heard him pronounce BAG as BEG I thought to myself, "Hmmm, this guy is from either North or South Dakota.....I bet he knows Jessie Kindschi." Jessie is a former BYU teammate of mine with the cutest little North Dakota accent ever. So I introduced myself to Andrew and sure enough, the next words out of his mouth were, "Hey, didn't you run for BYU? Do you know Jessie Kindschi Dorais?" I laughed so hard!! That is exactly what I was about to ask him!! Come to find out Andrew had actually dated Jessie for a period of time in college before she transferred to BYU and he really had a lot of good to say about her and her husband Andy (who now live in SLC while Jessie finishes up medical school). Anyway, just another funny "small world" experience.
Nice recovery run. Legs pretty tired. Weather was a little warmer this morning and I came home very thirsty. As I was guzzling a large glass of water the strangest thing happened. I was lifting the glass with my right arm and must have twisted it in an unusual way at the same time as having some unusual muscle spasm (maybe caused by being dehydrated) because I'm not kidding you, my right shoulder suddenly dislocated. Now, I know I am a "chronic dislocator" and all but seriously?!?!?! Drinking water!?!! That is BY FAR the most ridiculously SIMPLE activity that has ever dislocated my shoulder. Its not like I even put any muscle power into it. I was just lifting my arm in a completely normal way the same way I do fifty times every day. But today that shoulder seemed to have a mind of its own and decided to revolt against completely normal activity. So there I am standing in my living room, arm suspended in mid air unable to move, half glass of water in my hand while I moan in pain. My girls wondering, "Whats wrong, Mommy?" So I did what I always do when this happens. I leaned forward, (dropping my glass of water on the carpet) grabbed my right hand with my left, and pulled it down and over. Sure enough, the shoulder slipped right back in and I just had to lay down for a minute to relieve the dizzy feeling that ensued. Strange. Very Strange. And now I have that weak, stretched out feeling in my shoulder again and can't really do much strength work for a week or so. At least my legs and lungs still work properly.
Did the workout alone this morning as there was no morning group with my team and I have P.M. commitments. Coach suggested that I could meet up with Colleen at 9 a.m. but I thought it might be better for me to just do my workout alone at my own pace anyway since I'm still recovering from my race.
20 min. warm up, stretching, strides. I did a little multi-tasking on my warm-up; stopped by Abe's school to sign up for parent teacher conferences since I rarely go by the school anymore now that he rides the bus to and from school every day.
10 min. at 6:09 pace
3 min. jog
2X4 min. at 5:53, 5:42 pace w/2 min jog after each
8 min. at 5:56 pace
3 min. jog
2X2 min at 5:23, 5:21 pace
10 min cool down
After my shower I sat out on my back patio with my lower legs immersed in an ice bucket and ate left-over ancho-tortilla soup with chicken, avocadoes, tortilla strips, lettuce, cilantro, cheese, and sour cream mixed in. Yum.
Legs felt pretty tired this morning. Went in for some ART on my lower legs and left hip. Richey says its actually my bursa, not achilles tendon that is inflamed. I iced afterwards. Aaron also did some trigger point massage on my legs as we watched a few shows on nbc.com. TV is such a waste of time. At least we were spending it together though (and I was getting some much needed muscle work done on my legs). 30 Rock is hilarious.
Early morning long run today. After that trigger point massage last night it took me a solid five miles to really start moving this morning. I should have stopped to stretch earlier. At mile five I stopped to stretch and take some gel which really helped. It was a pretty quiet morning on Big Dry Creek; mostly just me and a hundred fat prairie dogs eating to their heart's content in preparation for the long winter ahead. I iced on the back patio again after my run. This time with a bowl of hot oatmeal.
