I'm not crazy...I'm just bored!!

Lake to Lake Ultra relay with Lisa Western. This was my 2nd SGR race to get into SGM. I LOVED it! I finally think I found a relay I like :) It was a fantastic weekend hanging out with Lisa and we busted this one good! My legs held up despite my mis-givings about having a huge week.

Leg 1&2: 11ish miles @ 7:48 pace

leg 3&4: Lisa

leg 5: 4.0 miles @ 7:52 pace - a nice huge hill to climb and flat with a short downhill finish.

leg 6: Lisa

leg 7: 5.2ish miles @ 7:58 pace - more hills and flats and relatively no downhill stretches, but still not breaking the 8mm barier.

leg 8: Lisa

leg 9: 5.6ish miles @ 8:38 pace. The hardest leg of the entire race (supposedly) dirt roads with lots of fun climbing. Reminded me a lot of Shaggy Mountain, but with only a .25 mile downhill push at the end instead of 3 miles :) Happy with the pace.

leg 10: Lisa hitting headwinds for 2-3 miles and hills and flats around the lake and over the dam, we ran in together.

An incredible finish and we were both around smiliar paces for our respective legs. I loved how we broke up the legs and that we were so evenly paces together. Just seconds apart on our APs each time. Perfect partner to Ultra with, then we took first place in the Ultra division at awards ceremony and got embroidered towels and a plaque. I felt like a superstar!! Finished off the highest mileage week I've EVER had with some awesome paces in a marathon length distance. Rock on.

5 miles at the gym alternating TM and track just a nice slow recovery pace with some weights mixed in afterward to round out my time in the daycare.

Tuesday ten with the newtons. Normal ol day with Rachel draggin butt behind everyone else. Except on the way home I had to stop 3 times in fear that I was going to puke. Decided not to go back to the gym, but slept and tried to recover my yucky gut afterward :/

Still ended with an 8:10ish AP - I think. I need to download the garmin!

7 miles at the gym, because I didn't want to wake up early :) Did 2 warm-up on the track then did 1 min on/ 1 min off - 10.1 on and 6.1 off X13 I'd only thought about doing 10, but convinced myself to go to 13 repeats and then finished off the miles to do 5 in 37 min. 7:24AP for the full 5 miles, not too shabby having 13 min of it at a 10mm :)

I'm feeling like a pirate, because my 3 year old gave me a black eye Monday night. Everyone stares at the gym - so after my miles and planks/push-ups and bosu stuff I went and did some punching bag stuff. Give 'em something to talk about :)

Classic Shaggy Mountain loop. Kept strong on the hills and didn't stop on a one of them. Finished in a much shorter time than I have in a while 1:09 ish - 8:26AP

Kim helped push me the last few, I tried to keep up with Chad, but I quickly realized my legs didn't want speed...afterward I realized Chad was running a 6:15 and I was pushing 6:50s....yeah, I guess my speed was fine! Speedy guys making me feel lazy. Kim and I pushed and answered and finished the last .2ish in a 6:30 pace battling for the finish. Felt great!

A wonderful sleep in run with Amy courtesy of my daughter watching the kids on her day off! We were in shorts and the sun was out and the rain letting up...until we walked out the door into a snowstorm! What the heck?!? Seriously irriatated, but thinking it would quickly pass we powered through. It let up the further East we went, but then coming back the rain/snow was like little daggers in our face and legs and our hands went numb from the cold. Only took a few hours afterward to get feeling back :) So much better than a TM though! 8:26AP

Ran to Butterfield Park met Amy, Curtis, Kim and Jerry.

Ran the Herriman Half course. Not as bad as I thought. Other than getting ditched from people all feeling the need for speed and me just hanging (I still finished the route in 1:48, so nothing all THAT slow) and no re-grouping going on, it was a great run.

Finished up with a 5 mile victory loop with the group at a nice slow 8:50ish pace.

Ran home, nice finishing push the last 1/2 mile or so.

21 in 3:00:00ish - an 8:30AP for that many miles just hanging out...yeah, I'll take it.

2 on the track with Amy (then 4 laps until she evened her miles)

Hit the TM - 4 miles in 34 min (8:30AP)

1+the last 7 laps from the warm up to round out miles - 1 lap fast/ 1 lap slow. Nice little push after some good average running paces. Felt good to get a little turn-over going.

A good 45 min of strength training, arms, core, lunges and bosu stuff.
 

Despite bad weather forecasts we hit the Tuesday Ten and the weather was actually nice! No moisture falling from the sky and wind at our backs up the corridor. We did get a head/cross wind on some of the donwhill, but you can hardly complain when it is that way and AT your back on the good uphills and downhills.

Hit a nice AP of 7:58 for the miles and had a great pace up the hills...no miles in the 9MM! That is a big deal for Slow Hill Rachel. Felt good about the run.

Spent the rest of the morning/afternoon walking around the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah with my 4th grader and his class. First time on an elementary field trip for me in MANY years. Totally worth it :)

Speed Work. Last week I did 13 repeats, but this week I knew I could do 20...it was just a mental hurdle. I convinced Amy to join me on the TM for some speed work - we were both plugged in and hitting it with having each other to be accountable to! I committed to 20 and I was going to do it.

I didn't get my normal 2 mile warm-up on the track, but I was hoping that would give me more energy :)

5 min warm-up at 7.0 and 1% - dropped the incline and went for it.

1 min on (10.0) 1 min off (6.2) X20

repeats 18&19 I did at 10.1 then decided to shoot for 10.2 the last one. I did and and after the recovery decided it was bonus round day. 10.3 for repeat 21. This put me at 46 minutes for 6.3 miles; an AP of 7:18, I'll take it. This means I ran 21 minutes at a sub 6mm...yes, it was all broken up, but that walways makes me feel like a rock-star. I ran a 19ish min 5K baby! If they'd just stop the clock between 1 min intervals so I could recover that would be great :)

I finished off at a progressive speed to 7.0 miles in 52:00 - an overall AP of 7:25, heck I certainly will not complain.

Then I chatted with ladies on the track to finish my last cool down mile. Ahh, a great day. So, why not do a little more? :)

Arms, core, and some stability and glute/ham work. I really feel good today! I hope this doesn't mean tomorrow will suck.

Shaggy Mountain 1:10...on course for faster than last week, until about .75 out from the end I was blinded by a truck approaching and stepped off the edge of the road and bit it hard.

The wind was knocked out of me and between that and my HR being high and then I stop moving I just couldn't get my bearings to stand up. I laid on the side of the road for 3-5 minutes until the world stopped spinning and I felt like I could stand up. I wasn't hurting on my body so much, I mean a few aches and pains, but mostly just needing to catch my breath. I was about 10 feet behind the group (we were all in single file as the cars came past us) and so no one saw me go down and I'm sure they just thought I'd ditched out to find a bush or something :) But, what was concerning to me was that THREE cars, including the one that was blinding me passed as I lay on the ground not moving a whole lot and not a one stopped to help. Now, I didn't want them to, because I knew I was fine, but what if I wasn't? Even the driver that saw me go down in his headlights didn't stop. I wonder how long it would've taken before someone stopped. At least my friends knew something was wrong and sent Chad to come back to look for me after I was much too far behind the group with no reason. It was just crazy to me that you see someone lying on the road and you don't stop...I had my blinky light and my reflector and everything, just strange.

I gathered myself up and slowly started running the finish. It certainly wasn't as good as I had been looking forward to :/ I wanted to chase Kim down and finish him off this time! But instead I took my long slow hobble back home. I still ended with 1:10 which, unfortunately, is faster than some of my other times, but I was excited to run it even faster. Poo. Next time.

So, I now have  skinned pinky finger (pretty sure I'll lose the nail, because the cuticle and the skin beneath the nail to the knuckle are gone), torn up L elbow and bruised and chopped up knees. I guess it all just matches my black eye now. Shoulder and chest are a little sore too, but not too bad. I just have a new theme song...RAD

9:01, 9:12, 9:24, 9:04, 7:52, 8:56, 7:01, 8:23, 8:08 (last .2) - that 8:23 for the last mile makes me mad, because I was running closer to a low 7 and hadn't hit the good downhill yet! grrr! But, the low 9's for the starting miles is good for me, so I can't complain I guess.

Now, since it is my anniversary today I'm done :) enjoying celebrating the 15 years I've been married to the most wonderful man for me!

I really need to keep up on my blog better. I get so far behind it become a task to record it all, then I download my garmin and can't remember the run anyway...sigh.

Well, this was a 6 mile run, early in the morning with Amy, because no one else runs with me at 5AM :) 8:23 AP

What an incredible day! Leslie Mitchell from Iowa flew out Friday to enjoy a weekend of running and exploring Utah. It was her first time here and so I suggested we plan on Canyonlands and she planned her trip around it. Marci Wood was pacing Canyonlands and so she hitched a ride with us and split hotel and we had an incredible girls weekend! SO much food...oh, the food intake was incredible, I think all we did was run/hike and eat. Nothing else. Leslie kept telling us that she never knew that food consumption was why we could run so fast. I kept trying to tell her we were on vacation and enjoying it, but I don't think she bought it.

Our hotel was walking distance from the start/finish so we got up, had breakfast and easily made the buses at 8AM. A 10AM start is good for sleeping in, but I don't think I've ever started a race that late. Crazy! It was chilly and breezy, but nothing horrible at the start. It was incredibly beautiful more than anything. We all sat and chatted, Marci ran warm-up miles, but Leslie and I were good to chat with Team Edward (a chuck sweatshirt she'd bought to stay warm in). The start seemed to take FOREVER! Plenty of time for multiple pop stops before lining up. When we were off, we were off and it felt great! Leslie was taking a good low 9mm pace which put us right on track to finish around 2:00 - her goal, but due to extreme cold this winter she wasn't sure she'd hit it due to lack of training.

The course was beautiful and the race well organized. Not a single complaint! The few hills weren't horrible, but the wind...oh, the wind! There was a point it actually blew SO hard into me I had to stop running or blow away. No joke. I've never been in wind that bad let alone run in it! The only saving grace was running at the bottom of a butte and then the wind was at our back the last couple miles in town along the highway to the finish.

Marci and I would get water/gatorade/gu for Leslie as needed and catch up to her so she didn't have to stop at aid stations and we took good care of her! Marci was loving the race so much (she got out of pacer duty thanks to Walter forgetting she'd signed up, so she just ran with us) she even stopped at one point and had half a brat! We were laughing non-stop at her antics and she was our paparazzi taking lots of pics as well.

Leslie finished SO strong. I was proud of her last mile+ push. Probably the fastest mile-ish she ran the whole race. I know she has a sub 2:00 in her, but the wind and elevation made this race a non-qualifier after around mile 4. I would keep pointing out people for her to push and pass. Giving her motivation to keep running and pushing and not stop and she responded so well! Once she even said "I feel like I'm going to puke!" I responded "good! That means you left it all out there, now push through to the finish and barf!" Later she told me there were moments she hated me :) But, she loved it in the end...that is what a pacer is good for! Make you hate them just enough to push you to the end! I did my duty well.

We visited with some other runners afterward and then walked back to the hotel while Marci ran some cool-down miles. We all showered, had chocolate milk and then took off for an afternoon/evening of hiking!

First up was Coronoa/bowtie Arch. A 2.5 mile hike, relatively easy. We just walked and chatted and enjoyed the scenery and company. There were people swinging off the Arch when we got there...so scary to watch them. We didn't want to witness a death!

Went to early dinner...Mexican Food, of course. Ate ourselves sick, then went into Arches to do the quintiscential sunset Delicate Arch hike. We timed it perfect and despite the wind still had an incredible time and the views and pics were unparallelled! Leslie said she'd never seen anything so beautiful and even got choked up a bit as she sat alone contemplating...yup. Totally worth the WHOLE trip!

Went back to the hotel, did some shopping then wanted to find some dessert. We'd seen a little Greek place by the hotel on the walk back from the race, but we kept trying to find something else. We finally decided we were just going to do the Greek place...cross our fingers it was still open. It was their GRAND opening day! SO many delicious stuff on the menu we didn't know what to choose...and we didn't do just dessert either :) We had dips/hummus with breads and a poached pear with Turkish cotton candy (holy WOAH! SO incredible!) a chocolate mouse and rice pudding. It was all SO incredible. Seriously. I said I'd give up sex for the rest of my life if I could eat there once a week. It was that good. Like I said, hiking/running eating. That was all we did.

After a good nights rest we got up, had an incredible warm breakfast at the hotel then after checking out went to Negro Bill Canyon. My favorite hike in Moab! It was a beautiful morning and we just loved every minute of the hike. I didn't want to leave so soon, but Leslie had a plane to catch and Marci and I had families waiting. So, we started home. We stopped for treats and snacks and well, we outdid ourselves again, but it was all good and fun. An incredible girls trip for sure! I'd love to run Canyonlands again. No complaints at all about the race, except it is over spring break weekend and the hotel prices are worse than St George marathon weekend!! by like $200!! Ugh. Anyway, totally worth it.

Leslie left early Monday morning. Wish I could've had another 3-4 days with her. I guess now I need to find a marathon near Quad Cities and have her show ME around!

TM/Track miles with Amy...we both wanted to sleep. Then I climbed stairs up and down the one flight at the rec center for 30 minutes. Yes, people think I'm crazy, but I've got to get some practice in for my "race" Saturday.

Tuesday Ten with the Newtons. 8:03AP - not too shabby, but just enjoying the run. I was surprised at the pace. 5 miles under an 8MM and 4 of them under a 7:30, I guess I'll take it :)

Having a hard emotional day. I think all the wedding crap (thanks to my mom getting re-married for the 3rd time) is catching up to me. No gym, just sleeping and trying not to eat my weight in food to apease my brain. Crying and moral support from my sisters rounded out the day.

Met Amy for an early morning Wednesday. Didn't feel like doing speedwork at the gym thanks to my mental attitude. It was nice of Amy to save me from myself :) a solid progressive run despite the uphill finish 8:26 AP

I went to the gym afterward and did arms/core and then another 30 minutes of stair climbing.

Shaggy Mountain Loop. I didn't stop on the hills, but I didn't push the downhills like I normally do, so the pace wasn't spectacular, but it was just average. 1:11 total time 8:40AP with 7:24 and 7:14 finishing miles. Did I ever mention how much I like downhill?

Last day back to the gym for practice stairs. One full hour of climbing, yup, I remember how to do this! Bring on Saturday.

I'm putting this run on Friday, even though it was Fri/Saturday.

I slept in and watched Amy's kids so she could sleep in and run outside in the daylight! I attempted to clean and get the house ready for my nephew to stay over and get the family ready for the wedding (insert HUGE eye roll!). Things went just fine until about 1:30 when I was supposed to get Lauren from school. Everything just started taking about 10X longer than it should've! UGH. I just knew at that point I was going to be late to the wedding. I didn't disappoint. 3:30 arrival instead of 3:00 - yeah, I'm THAT person!

Anyway, we had a nice 90 second ceremony, signed the papers and ate dinner. We had the wedding at Aristos Greek restaurant and it is SO good! I'm grateful for my connections that made the wedding there possible...so I could eat there :) Only a small group there, Aaron Aysa (my nephew's gf), Bryan's daughter and her hubby, my kids and hubby bishop and his wife. Small intimate gathering. I didn't know she hadn't told anyone else about the wedding (outside of my sisters), until the next day when as she left for the cruise other family members starting inquiring about my mom "eloping to the bishops office" oh man...heaven help me. I really wish I wouldn't have had to sign that license saying I witnessed that wedding. If you're ever on a long run with me and want to hear some good stories ask about my mom and her wedding and Mr Magoo that she married...ugh. We'll need at least a good 10+ miles.

After the wedding I took my kiddos to Grandma and Grandpa Moody's house for them to stay the night while I had an escapade of my own! Craig was working "out of town" - just in SLC, but had to be onsite, so he was staying in a hotel which was a huge blessing...give me a minute to explain. After that I grabbed some Mtn Dew, Coke and Chocolate Dunford Donuts and headed out to Antelope Island.

I had the wonderful pleasure of pacing Scott Wesseman for miles 50-70 of his 100 mile race! I was SO excited for this opportunity and since it was my first pacing assignment in an ultra I just wanted to make sure I did it right. Showing up at the start/finish area in heels and a dress probably wasn't the right way to start out, but it got me a few good looks :) and the unofficial award for prettiest pacer! Other than having to recruit someone to unzip my dress for me before I attempted a clothes change in the back of the car, my change was seamless from Wedding to Pacer. After that I gathered all the stuff Scott had requested of me and waited for him to come in, I got to see lots of friends and visit with lots of people while I waited and it made the time quickly pass. Scott came in right on time! 9:15! I was impressed. This was a 50 mile PR for him and now he was ready to take it on again, I was in awe! He loved the Dew, but the donut was a pass (not surprised, he could eat it later). After a short stop we were off. Quickly after that we made another quick Ultra necessary stop, but it is all part of the game. I got to enjoy staring at the horizon and the stars. It was a perfect night! Not windy, not too cold, just perfection.

Then, we were off again. Scott had been hauling so well during the first 50 I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up, so when he power walked the first climbing hill I was relieved! But, then when it started to flatten out I started making excuses and reasons for him to run. He figured out my tricks pretty quickly, but we kept a good pace regardless. About 4 miles in we saw MattVH coming toward us. He was done with the Elephant Head loop and headed back into the start/finish area. Holy Crap that guy can run, and run and run! We were around 54, he was around 66!

Hopefully I kept the chatter up well enough to distract Scott from the task at hand and kept the right fuel coming at the aid stations. It is an art to pacing ultra runners!! I loved the trails, the company and just about everything. I really had NO complaints what so ever and was so incredibly impressed at how well and fast Scott was moving for just running 50 miles. I'd be sleeping back in the tent :) I tried to keep track of the hours to keep on top of his gu intakes and we made our goal on pee stops, so the hydration was good too. He ran nearly every step of the last miles from EH aid station to the finish. I seriously had the time of my life!

I did get a headache, but I think it was from watching the light on the trail and lack of sleep. A caffeine gu took care of it though and I was back in good shape. I didn't realize how late it was until I'd gotten him back to the tent, settled and off with his last pacer doing 30 miles with him. A girl that Rachelle was pacing came in after Scott and I watched the fine art of everyone buzzing around her, taking care of her and chatted with the few people left I knew. Then, I headed back to the car and when I started the car I realized it was 3:10!!! What the crap?!? I was going to crash at Craig's hotel and then do the stair climb at Wells Fargo at 6AM...in less than 3 hours and I still need to drive to SLC?!? Oh man...heaven help me.

I got to the hotel, clothes changed and in bed at 4:15AM. I set the alarm for 5:40 and drifted off to sleep SO grateful for Craig's hotel I could crash in and that I didn't have to sleep in the car or try to drive all the way home. Only problem was Craig started telling me about the ghosts that haunted Shilo Inn as I was falling asleep...thanks dear, thanks a lot....

(cont from Friday)

The alarm went off at 5:40. I got up and went to the bathroom and I could hardly focus my eyes and walk straight. The 6AM start for the stair climb seemed like Mt Everest. I wanted to do the full 6 hours to see if I could match/beat my record from last year. If I didn't go at 6:00 I'd be forfeiting top female and a push for any record I could match/break again. I was just too tired. 90 minutes of sleep just wasn't enough. I'm not that big of an ultra junkie yet. I need sleep.

So, after a HUGE back and forth conversation and a lot of rationalizing and contemplating in my head I set the alarm for 6:40 and went back to bed. Five hours of climbing would have to suffice.

I felt a lot better after that "extra" hour of sleep. I brushed my teeth, packed up my junk, said good-bye to Craig and headed over to Wells Fargo. It took me until about 7:20-7:30 to get all my stuff situated and to start climbing. The first trip up I got to floor 8 and wondered if I should've slept until 11:00 :) I was tired, exhausted and the volunteers were so perky and positive...and this was only my first ascent of the 24 floors. Time to settle in for the long haul.

Around 9AM I got tired and bored. We need a stair well with windows or something! Staring at the concrete white walls and grey never ending stairs is enough to drive one crazy!!! So, I took my phone out and started texting and catching up on FB. Your feet really get into a consistent patern climbing and turning (oh the left turns...endless left turns!), so I didn't have to pay attention to them. I'd put the phone away to drink and refuel on the elevator ride down to start over again. I did have one gu and my bottle of coke a swallow at a time to keep the caffeine flowing, but other than that I'd just grab a water or gatorade that they had out. I then discovered the rye bagels. They really just hit the spot! I couldn't eat the half in an elevator ride down, so I had them cut the half in 4 pieces and I'd grab one every other time up. It was perfect! Didn't upset my stomach and just enough to keep me going.

I did the same thing I did last year...just kept going. I don't go fast, but slow and steady wins the race, right? I climbed through awards ceremony and the raffle. I was kind of ticked off about that. Wondering if I had won something good, but not getting it because I was in the stair well :/ but, I was there to climb and not linger.

Around 11:30 a volunteer came up to me and handed me an envelope as top female climber. I told her "oh no. I started late. I'm not the top climber!" She responded "you're RAD, right?" "yes" "well, you currently are 2 ascents above the closest lady and she is done and has gone home." I was in shock! I didn't think for a minute I'd be top female again starting so late and being tired legs from the 20 the night before. So, that helped fuel me to get those last few climbs in!

They had posters in the stair well that told you the vertical equivalency of the number of ascents. Basically, when you reached the top of the empire state building, the Grand Canyon, Mount Hood, Mount Kilimanjaro etc. I'd passed the Grand Canyon which was around 8 (I think, I don't remember) and I had Mt Hood in my sights, it was 28.99 ascents. I could do that! Plus, if I got to 29 I'd have to round out to 30...so I started to push. With about 10 minutes left I knew it would be a good push to get UP the stairs and down the elevators and start my last ascent before they closed the stair well at noon, but I was determined! I went as fast as my legs would carry me and I ran from the top of the stairs to the elevator. I told all the volunteers I passed from the bottom to the top that I was going for ONE more! When I got to the entrance of the stair well they had deflated the arch, but I yelled "I'm coming, let me in!" as I ran toward them (the door is on the exterior of the building so you have to go out the lobby to the street then enter again). They said "we've got it for you!" and flattened the arch near the door so I could step over it and head up my last time. It was amazing. I'd made 30 in an hour and a half-ish less than last year.

I really think I could've contended to break my record this year had I gotten a full nights sleep and started on time, but I made that decision and had to live with it. I still got top female though :) Which means no one came near breaking my record. We need to get more female climbers willing to push through this 6 hour ordeal and challenge my record!

It was a great day and when I picked up the kids from grandparents and got home I crashed hard. I slept until around 7:30 which I was grateful for my 13 year old picking up the pieces for me all day! I treated the kids to Smashburger for dinner and then went back to bed...we were all tired and ornery, but I certainly felt accomplished!

This was a sad day. I wasn't into it. I think my legs AND brain were fatigued from the weekend's activities. I got there late, because my boys are off track and I didn't have to wake up. I only got to run a half mile with Amy before she was done and then I chatted with her for a few while she did weights. I then went back to the track thinking 5 or 6 for the day would be plenty. After about a mile I passed Erin on the track and said good morning. She asked about the stair race and so I stopped (fully intending to walk a lap or two and then get back at it) and walked with her. Well, about an hour or more later I'd had an incredible conversation with Erin and I just walked the whole time. It was a great day, but in 2 hours I only ran 1.5 miles...well, that was awfully slow :) I was moving the whole time and really needed the pick me up for my brain, so I'll call it successful despite not quite starting the week off with the right mileage.

Typical Tuesday Ten with the Newtons. Had a good group and Kim even joined us! I stayed stronger than normal on the hills, but was still dragging behind. Except for Jerry. He was hurting really badly and you could tell :( I thought he'd cut it super short due to his injury not losening up, but he perservered!

The finishing miles were good too. Kim and I chased each other for quite some time and I loved the extra push it gave me to finish strong.

1:20:07 - 7:56 AP splits: 8:32, 8:15, 8:39, 8:52, 7:38, 8:01, 7:34, 7:18, 7:04, 7:24, 7:13 last .15

Then, I went home and slept :) no more gym for the day!

I wimped out of speed work last week so I decided to man up and do it this week. I told the kids I'd take them downtown to swim at the hotel if they got their stuff done and I wanted to go to Trader Joe's so I figured I'd better run early. I recruited Amy to do speed work on the road with me. Mile repeats with 1/2 mile recovery.

Warmed up 2 miles then as the uphill started, so did the tempo: 7:17 - wow, incredible for me on an uphill. The next one was all gentle downhill: 6:35. Third mile was a mix of downhill/flat/gentle uphill: 6:53. The last repeat I knew was going to suck rocks, all uphill - well, the last .1 we got to go downhill, but at that point it hardly counts: I think it was around a 7:40. Amy had a 7:20 and I was about 15-20 seconds behind her. I'll still take it for a hard uphill push at the end of tempo workout.

Then we just cooled down to her house and finished off 8.5 with an AP of 7:50. Can't hardly complain about that.

Went home and slept and then it took the boys forever to get chores etc done, so we didn't get to go swimming, but I did get to see Craig and go to Trader Joe's. Worth it.

We had a good group for our Shaggy Mountain run even though we started a few minutes late waiting for everyone to get there. Poor Kelli is used to starting on time and was worried we'd all left her or she was in the wrong place. Thankfully she didn't leave (since my dumb phone wasn't getting texts, although I didn't know it!).

Kelli was nice and hung slow with me on the uphill. My legs were toast. I even walked a couple of the uphills which isn't my regular anymore. Speedwork sucked the life out of them! 

I love Shaggy Mountain and the course didn't disappoint and the company was even better than normal. So, a slower 1:12:28 AP: 8:50 for the course wasn't a horrible thing. I was still able to hit low/mid 7's on the way down, so no complaints from this downhill runner :)

Went back to bed and just slept...no gym for me. I think I'm getting lazy with off track time.

After dropping Adam off at pre-school I headed out on a ride with Heidi. First group bike ride of the season! I don't know why my garmin didn't download the data, but it didn't. I'm pretty sure it was around 21 miles. To the end of MVC and then up Rose Canyon. Only problem? I got a flat on the way home. It wasn't bad, so I tried riding down the canyon. It deflated VERY quickly. I stopped and just pumped it up instead of changing it. It barely lasted until home, but I was able to pick up Adam on time from pre-school...the sacrifices we make :)

Gym again so I could sleep in, well kind of. Craig finally came home! He got home at midnight then had to work for 2 hours...ugh. Finally I gave up waiting for him and went to bed. Luckily he wasn't too far behind me and I got to enjoy going to bed with my husband for once this month, because he left at 9AM for China. The life of a work widow. So, since I wanted to spend time with him, I stayed home until he left.

That got me to the gym at 9:40...a little late :) Adam got to do 15 minutes of his big kids class and I got 2 miles in before Amy got there at 10:00. We then did another 2 together on the track and 2 on the TM. I finished the two on the TM in 17:00, so a nice 8:30AP. No complaints.

After saying goodbye to Amy I went and did weights. Tried to burn my arms out and did some core and squats to break it up. Oh man! My butt and inner thighs were screaming from the few squats I did...I think I have some work to do there. My arms were shaky, but never got sore, I don't know if that is a good sign or not. I want strong arms! Picked up Adam and headed home for a restful afternoon.

Then my nephew wanted to go hiking so I decided to explore up South Mountain! It was only 2.5 miles one way, but a GREAT vert climb....especially with a near 4 year old on your back. Holy Moly. I was excited I finally got to the top of a mountain I've stared at for the past 8 years of living here. Highest peak in Herriman.

Today was NOT my day. It took me until 9 or 10PM to decide what to do. Lauren was doing baptisms for the dead and needed to be at the church at 6:30AM and the runs I was deciding between were at 6, 7 and 9ish. Only problem with the 9ish was Lauren also wanted to go to her friend's mother's funeral that died unexpectedly Sunday. That meant I needed to be home and ready to leave by 11:00. Oh the dreary life of a responsible adult! To top it off my heart just wasn't in running. Friday had been hard and I didn't really want to, Saturday was just worse.

I decided to do the 6AM run, but that meant leaving Lauren high and dry to walk in the dark to the church. I contacted a leader to pick her up, but it wasn't until 6:05 that I got a response! Talk about mommy guilt :/ Then since Lauren and Craig were gone I had to lean on my nephew to be able to help the boys if needed before Lauren or I got home. So with that all in play I figured the earlier I get home the better and the 6:00 run was close to me and earliest.

My heart just wasn't there. I always have a bad depressed day after Craig leaves, this was just unfortunately it. I was bad company. I didn't want to talk. I had nothing to talk about. Running wasn't making me feel better - I suck at running. Seriously. I hate constantly being in the back of the group lately and sucking it up. I was in the back again having a pity party and poor Amy was stuck with me since she was the driving force behind me being there. I finally got moving and took off on the little bit of downhill and flat, but guess what?!? by the time the hill came I was at the back again. Yup. I suck. I'm just getting tired of it. Kimberly was nice and tried to run and chat with me, but I just wasn't in the mood. Just get the damn run over with please. I wanted to be at home in bed. I didn't want to run. I wanted to eat and have a pity party. Running wasn't changing it.

I felt bad because there were a lot of new people I really liked and wanted to chat with (in hindsight) but I just didn't have it in me. I hung out at the back like the runner I'm intended to be and just did my own thing silently. I was NOT good company. I was having a bad day, to say the least. The new people probably think I'm the grumpiest person they've ever met. Oh well. Hopefully I can change first impressions.

One of the girls had done water stops and Jerry rode the bike behind us all and it was an incredibly well planned run! I was NOT doing their 5 tempo miles at the end and was just going to run the same pace, but Amy said she was fine with 13 miles and so we just looped back to Danielle's house and called it quits. That meant forfeiting the donuts and chocolate milk, but fortunately I wasn't in the mood to socialize so I didn't feel bad leaving them.

I came home showered, got ready for the funeral and slept until I needed to get my dress on and go. Boys were all still asleep and it was actually a pretty normal Saturday morning (as far as I'd assume, I'm not usually around Saturday morning). Luckily, I got my waffle luv waffle after the funeral and just pulled my head out and felt a little better by the end of the day. I still have runners guilt over getting out of the last 5 miles, but I'm dealing with it.

TT: 1:52:00 AP: 8:16 splits: 8:23, 8:17, 8:36, 8:43, 8:57, 8:14, 7:51, 8:41, 8:53, 7:11, 7:48, 7:44, 8:06, 8:11 (last .5)

My daughter didn't have piano, because she rescheduled lessons since she didn't want to wake up for 5:30 lessons. YIPEE! This means I can run early outside with friends :) So, I did.

Kelli and I met at Amy's house and we ran our speed work course, but without the speed work. Just a nice easy pace for all of us...except me, sucking it up the hills and always in the back - I know where my place is in the running world.

After we finished that loop Kelli wanted a few more to round out to 10...well, we ended up doing a little bigger loop and finished with 11.0 - okay, I'll take it :) It was a nice Monday shake out run and SO worth getting up and not going to the gym! Thanks ladies for a great run.

AP: 8:20 splits were pretty consistent except the first at 8:59 and a few around 7:50 on the downhill.

I went home showered to get warm (a very cool morning), then went back to bed until the kids woke up. Heidi met at my house at 10AM and we and Justin (my work) went and hiked South Mountain to the peak again. SO much easier without Adam on my back! It is a good climb, but easy enough my 6 year old did it. I love this new hike and will probably do it much more often now! Another exciting morning activity in the bag and made my work time fly by. Who gets paid to hike? This girl :)