Did I ever mention how much I love being a runner?!? Simply Divine! :) Finally stuck to a Saturday plan - even when the alarm went off at 5AM. The only snag this morning was I couldn't find my belly band. This is as essential as shoes to me at this point! I spent 10 minutes looking high and low for it. Finally concluded I'd left it at the gym, used an ace bandage as a replacement and headed out for a quick 6 miles. Felt good, was a bit overdressed. Last time I'd gone out early morning I froze, but I'd rather be overdressed than too cold! Since I'd wasted so much time looking for my band, I was late. This was another race, but this time against the clock! I wasn't doing an easy run, but I wasn't pushing myself all out either. Just a nice mid level run. Saw more bikers than cars, in prep for the yellow fork canyon bike race - honestly, that time of morning things were quiet, still, beautiful and on 'runners row' I could see the whole valley with the horizon outlining the peaks of the Wasatch Front. Totally worth it!! AP: 9:11 splits: 9:51 (uphill nastyness!), 8:51, 8:24, 9:08, 9:46 (hill of death), 9:05, 8:53(last .10) I got home with seconds to spare. Switched clothes and shoes and hopped in the car and headed down to Lehi for spin class. Luckily, they were also a couple minutes late so I didn't miss any part of spin! Good class, we did a 12 minute hill climb - YIKES! One song we did 20 turns up to near max, then we did a 7 minute song maintaining that. He did have us back off a bit about 2 min in and then ramp back up each min after that. Did some good intervals too! Back in the car to go home and finish off my miles before I had to be home to work at 10. I got home, switched shoes (didn't add any layers for this run, it was pretty warm...maybe 52) and was ready to hit the road again. I did get to say good morning and happy birthday to my sweet 3 year old before I left which made my day! I changed up the route a bit to try and avoid the hill of death, but I think I ended up making it harder :( I went downhill for the first mile, then looped back uphill for the 2nd mile - I could tell I was running on tired legs!!! By 3 miles though I'd hit my groove again and felt re-energized. Watching the bikers in the bike race was fun too. My last couple miles were still uphill, I only got about 3/4 of a mile of flat on the way home. I may stick to hill of death, but it was a nice change of route. The 2nd mile and the 6th mile were the same place (practically) and it's interesting to see the difference on the paces. AP: 9:16 splits: 8:46, 10:03, 9:19, 8:42, 9:02, 9:50, 9:26 I definitely felt better at the end than the beginning! True endurance runner I guess :) Now I'm off for birthday fun - chuck-e-cheese, McDonalds, cookies, ice cream, bike shopping...all in fun for the man of the day!!
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