Decided to put some miles on my Nikes that I have to wear in Fargo. Becca wanted to get her long run done mid-week so she could practice pace with me on Saturday at Vigor, Big Cottonwood Half. It was my middle boy's 6th birthday today! So, I got him breakfast and off to school then Becca and I took off, because Dad was home with baby...yay! :) We did the Newton 20 mile loop. That thing is dang stinkin' hard! Especially after a 10 miler the day before and when it is SO hot! It was probably around 75+ at the finish and it didn't help that we'd started after 9AM and finished after noon (due to stops and slow poke-Rachel and having to stop at home for birthday stuff). Overall it was a wonderful run and I'm glad I did it! I want to do the HOMM challenge next month which is a trail half Friday and a hard full Saturday. I needed this to prove to my brain that I can handle it. I may be slow on Saturday, but I will finish...and probably in the top ten females. But only because there will be less than 10 women running the full! :) We were lucky to have my friend JoLynn drive past us on the hilly dirt road and offer to get us some water...oh blessed friend!!! It was the best gift ever. I owe that girl big time!! We were only at mile 13ish, but man was it hot...and I was tired :) Becca was a little mtn goat about all the crazy hills and pulled me up each and every one. That girl is ready to tackle UVM like a BOSS! The final downhill miles to my house were nice and I figured I'd probably have to stop to take birthday cupcakes to the boy, but somehow we got started a LOT later or something, because he was already home from Kindergarten :( I'd missed it. What a bad mom! Dad had tried to call, but I was so confident that I didn't bring my phone. Stink. Oh well, we made it up to him the next day. I did stop and get him his special birthday lunch on the special plate taken care of though :) The last 4 miles after leaving my house were SO hot and hard for me. I just kept dreaming of the slurpee I was going to go buy! This was by far the hottest run I'd done since September/October. I'm not used to the heat, that is a given. Becca was nice and patient with me and we finally made it back to the park/car where we started and we went and got that slurpee!! YUM. I've never loved a Dr Pepper slurpee SO much before...heaven! I was glad I got a wonderful long, mid-week run in with Becca and the birthday was even a success as well. Glad to have it done :) elevation gain: 2373 ft (according to Garmin) AP: 9:19 (with all the walking up the crazy hills I did, I'm not embarrassed by that pace!) splits: 9:09, 9:02, 9:20, 9:33, 8:33 (downhill? umm...yes!), 8:58, 9:07, 9:55, 10:17, 12:32 (walking? yes!), 9:12, 10:30 (more walking), 9:16, 9:32, 8:21, 8:19, 9:05 (starting again after stopping for 20+ min at my house...a little rusty), 8:48, 8:41, 8:23
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