All it takes is all you've got

Flew home from Vegas.  Got to the gate to board my flight and they asked me to be bumped for a $200 plus the cost of my flight, which was $160, equaling a $360 travel voucher.  I strongly hesitated as I was very tired and anxious to see my kids and husband.  But then I thought, hey this is a free flight for Aaron AND me to Houston in January or Boston in April.  Its worth it.  So I agreed and they confirmed me on a flight that didn't get to Denver until 10:45 p.m. Ugh. It was going to be a looooong day in the airport.  But then I had him put me on the top of the standby list for the next 3 full flights to Denver and prayed that I could get on the next flight just 50 minutes later.  My prayer was answered!!!  Someone missed their flight and I was the lucky standby person to get on!!  So I got a $360 travel voucher for just waiting in the Vegas Airport for an extra 50 minutes!  Score!  I got home around 4:00 p.m., gave my kids some little souveniers I had picked up for them and enjoyed the evening with my family.  Its SO good to be home.  And I looked online and discovered that my travel voucher will all but $50 cover our trip to Houston OR Boston, whichever I decide to use it on.  Sweet! 

Easy 9.5 around Standley Lake.  The water level is way down so I decided to run on the beach next to the water until my shoes had an inch of mud stuck to the bottom.  I scraped the mud off on a fence post and ran on the road after mile 6.  

I was super tired today after my weekend of staying up too late every night so I took a nice long nap while my girls were napping and Abe was at school this afternoon.  I love sleep.  Sleep is good. 

Ran with Boulder Running Republic this evening.  The weather was 50 degrees and holding all day until right as we started our workout, the temp started to drop, wind started to blow, and rain started to fall. 

We did a 20 minute warm up and strethched together.  Then we did some strides and started our workout.

1 minute at 5k effort-5:27 pace

1 minute easy

2 minutes at 5k effort-5:40 pace

1 minute easy

3 minutes at 10k effort-5:42 pace

1 minute easy

4 minutes at 10k effort-6:23 (uphill into the wind, hail pelting my face at one point...fun)

2 minutes easy

4 minutes at 10k effort-missed the split on this one. Watch says 6 minutes in 6:50 pace

2 minutes easy

3 minutes at 10k effort-5:24 pace (downhill with wind at our backs)

1 minute easy

2 minutes at 5k effort-6:00 pace (uphill and into the wind again)

1 minute easy

1 minute at 5k effort-5:14 pace

Jogged an 8:06 mile back to the car.  Watch said 7:40 ave for 8.3 miles.  At the end the rain was picking up and temp was  still dropping.  I put my rain jacket on and we all chatted for a few minutes.  Then I drove home and it started snowing as I was driving home.  Now I've taken a hot shower and eaten dinner and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable.  I really like that group.  There were probably about 15 people there tonight and a couple of the guys were really pushing me. I'm sure there will be more runners pushing the pace at the front once everyone recovers from their marathon. A handful of them did the Columbus marathon together last weekend so after taking the entire week off las week they were just running easy tonight.  My next workout with them is Saturday morning.  Looking forward to it!

See snow day pics here.

AM: Slow run this morning in the snow.  6 miles in 9:06 pace.  Felt like 8:06 pace effort though.  Probably because I'm tired from the evening workout yesterday and also because I was running in 3 inches of snow with wind that seemed to change direction so it could always be blowing me in the face.  Light snow was falling.  I was wishing I would have worn a hat with a brim to protect my eyes from the snow, but as it was I just pulled my beanie way down half way over my eyes and that helped a little.

Its SO beautiful out there!  I love the snow mornings.  I left my ipod home today because there is just something amazingly quiet and peaceful about fresh snowfall and I didn't want to interrupt it with music in my ears.  I didn't see any other exersisers out but I did see a few tracks from people who had walked their dogs.  I was suprised to find when I got home that all Jefferson County Schools have been cancelled today.  I told Abe and he's pretty stoked that he gets to stay home with us.  The roads really aren't too bad but I guess they are worried that the forecast says its supposed to snow heavily all day and they didn't want to mess with sending kids home mid-day.  Watever, I'll take it.  I have a Chiropractor appointment this morning and then maybe we'll go play in the white stuff and go to the gym later for a few more miles on the TM and some stretching/lifting.

PM: Went to the gym for another 4 miles on the TM.  Originally I resolved that it would take 32 minutes to run 4 miles (8:00 pace) but I kept getting bored and wanting to be done sooner as I pushed the speed up arrow.  Finished in just under 30 minutes (7:30 pace.)  Felt good to go faster than my earlier snow run.  After running I stretched and lifted weights for 40 minutes.  It was a good workout.  Looks like I'll be heading to the gym again today for running on the TM.  As much as I enjoy running in the snow, 2 feet on the sidewalks isn't condusive to running any sort of decent pace.  I hope I can get my car to the gym and I hope the gym is open.  Guess I better call first.  If not, maybe I'll dust off the snow shoes and go for a hike.

Another snow day for Abe's school. Here's a picture:

Went to the gym and ran on the treadmill for as long as I could until the child care people paged because Abe had a bloody nose and Ali was extremly tired and fussy. 

8 miles in 7:45 pace

9 miles on the TM again.  7:55 pace

Attempted to go outside this morning around 8:00 am but after running 0.1 mile and slipping 7 times, I decided I'd rather run 9 miles on the TM than ice skate my way to a broken collarbone.  I've broken my left collarbone twice so I have a small fear of falling on ice.  Gladly, I did not fall on the TM. And after I had run 5 miles, my friend Lindsey showed up and ran the last few miles with me.   Aaron also returned after being so kind to drive home and get Ali a bottle of milk (she would not go to child care when we first got there so Aaron volunteered to drive her home to get the milk and return in the hope that she would go to the child care if she had her milk.)  She did in fact go for that plan and we were able to get our workouts in. 

This afternoon was Abe's class party and Halloween parade.  I took a plate of fruit and joined them for the festivities.  Gotta love Halloween.

10 miles with Boulder Running Republic.  Thank goodness the sun came out yesterday and today and melted the sidewalks.  We ran on a clear bike path in Boulder in pleasant 45 degree morning sun.

20 minute warm up.  Stretching, 4X25 second strides.

20 minute tempo at half marathon effort - 5:56 pace (a couple of miles of  gradual downhill with a tailwind, then last 1.3 mile gradual uphill with headwind)

4 minutes easy

6 minute tempo at 10k effort - 5:50 pace (one hill and some headwind)

3 minutes easy

6 minute tempo at 10k effort - 6:03 pace (last .2 mile was pretty uphill and into the wind and I was very tired).

20 minute cool down

Coach Darren invited everyone in the group to race the Longmont Turkey Trot 10k together on November 14th in place of our Saturday workout.  I ran this race last year and I think I was barely under 40 minutes.  I'll shoot for sub-38 minutes this year.

We had a family vote yesterday while eating breakfast and it was unanimous...we need to drive to Utah next weekend to go to the They Might Be Giants family concert at the Murray Theater.  Immediatly after our vote, Aaron went online and purchased 4 tickets to the Concert.  Our kids are HUGE fans of their music; especially the new Here Comes Science album and also other kids albums, ABCs, 123s, Bed Bed Bed, as well as a plethora of other songs they sing.  Actually I can't think of a TMBG song that I DON'T like.  They pretty much bring it in every song they've written.  So Aaron and I are just as excited as our kids for the concert.  We'll drive out Friday, go to the concert Saturday, and drive back home Sunday afternoon.  Maybe I'll find a little 5k to race in SLC Saturday morning so I dont have to run my tempo run alone.  Anyone know of a good cheap race in SLC on the 7th?

Oh, and if any of you have young children and for some absurd reason you haven't yet been listening to TMBG, you really need to get your kids the Here Comes Science album.  It rocks.  It comes with a DVD and CD.  The videos are awesome too.  My son listens to the album quietly every night as he falls asleep and he cant help but sing along.  Its hilarious to hear him belting it out for about 4 songs and then he kinda trails off and zonks out.