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

Six slow, easy recovery miles around the track with various friends :) A lot of them like it when I'm slow, because then they can run with me. I'd do a mile; rest, chat, do another mile...it took me a total of 1:45 to do the full 6 miles. Yup. I talk too much :) Then I did 15 min of biking with Kristy before I had to go get Adam from chuck-a-child.

Tuesday Ten. No goals or anything today, just survive. Still fatigued from Saturday and recovering, but I'm sleeping a lot (since Sunday) and trying to rest well!

Met Amy again and Jerry came with us too. I was, again, slow on the uphill, but that is no surprise. Then when we regrouped and hit the downhill I just felt good and ran. Amy peeled off and we started to drop Jerry. My garmin died at 8 miles, but Chad said we were hitting low 7's the last few miles (7:06, 7:14). Jerry's AP for the run was 7:57 and I'd gapped him enough those last few miles that mine would've been lower than that, because we hit the uphill stride for stride. Nice to see some faster paces coming back at little effort. I was still talking a bit and I didn't feel like I was pushing the envelope...a LOT easier than last week's 7:30s anyway. Crazy. I guess my body just wanted to run more miles :)  Either way, I'm not going to complain.

Oh how I love sleep! My plan was to wake up for spin again (I LOVE Danielle's class) and then do 6 after, but...well, my alarm went off and I was tired...so I slept :) woke up at 10:00! Oh, how I am blessed with children that sleep in. I was STILL the first one awake. Only problem was, I had to get to the gym quickly so I could have at least 1 hour before the day care closed. When I got there they were full. What the heck?!? Seriously?!? Poo. What now? As I was there they had 2 people come in and get their kids, so I asked if I could then slip Adam in. Since I'm a regular and not one of the "resolutionists" they let him in. YAY! But, I had only 50 minutes to get upstairs and get going, run 6 and get back to pick him up. Crunch time.

Did a warm-up mile on the track. Then started at 8;40mm and increased .1mph every song until I hit 7.5mph (8:00) I then had just over one mile left, so I busted it out and finished the 5 in 41 minutes at 1% I did it! Jumped off the TM and went and got Adam then streched with him. Felt good to get some good paces in. Recovering some semblance of speed. Didn't think it could happen this week, but I'm not complaining.

Shaggy Mountain. I felt good about it this morning, carried the hills well and took the downhill too. I have NO idea the pace...thank you garmin that dies, but the last mile I felt like I was really cruising and so I turned the watch on just to see the pace and I was hitting a 6:40-6:50. I may have just run a sub 7:00! Nice. Too bad I don't have a garmin to tell me for sure.

I did go back to sleep, then met Amy at the gym to have an easy workout while the kids played in Chuck A Child. We did the elliptical for an hour.

I went home intent on showering, but then I saw Heidi posted that she wanted to get out on a walk or run. I told her that I'd be happy to walk with her. So, she came over and we went exploring. Four-ish miles and some trail/ice walking. A great day out to enjoy the sunshine!!

Finally a shower and a wonderful afternoon/evening.

One bad thing about not blogging daily is sometimes you forget :) I know that I ran 2 miles and did the bike for an hour, but I can't remember if I ran them track/TM fast/slow...whatever. I did the miles and then got to read my new book on the bike for a while. If I'm going to do a century this year I've got to start getting more bike miles in.

A nice little taper for tomorrow's pacing/long run.

Another Saturday, Another race :) Back to my regular ol' routine I guess.

I was pacing the St George Half at 1:45; which was nice, because I wanted a little speed work in my long runs and this was perfect.Enough to keep it steady, but not enough to exhaust me. I was a little nervous about pacing 1:45 on the hills, but after a few miles I knew it was going to be okay and I fell into pace comfortably. Strange how sometimes I can't run a 10MM uphill, but then I can pace this half at a 1:45 and still talk to people and encourage them.

There were a few people that stuck with us the entire time. Then at mile 10 I announced that the warm-up was over and now it was time to start the 5K race. Then a few more of my usual comments to get people moving. A girl turned around and said "we need you on a loud speaker to get us through to the end!" I told her she should be lucky I was pacing faster, because the slower I go the more I talk and annoy everyone :) We got to chatting and the last few miles just flew by. Kaylee was her name and she had been in a horrible accident where she was hit head on by a truck, then spun into the other lane and rear ended by another truck! She had intense brain injuries and she shouldn't have lived. This was just in October and here she was running her first half back and killing it! I was SO impressed with her that I felt it was practically my duty to get her in under 1:45. So, I kept up with her and told her at the bridge I was going to let her go and finish strong and I would need to finish on pace. I did have to wait a bit for Andy to get there, which means I was running incredibly too fast those last couple, but I felt the encouragement I supplied to those around me was worth it. We finished on the race clock just under 1:45. Chip time came out 20 seconds early, but I'd rather  be 30 seconds early than 2 seconds late when pacing.

I got to visit with some great friends that were running and I heard Toby's name called right after I finished. I KNEW she should've come with us! She did an incredible job and I am SO proud of her 9 min PR for the course. She has worked hard to get there and I can't wait to see what spring brings for her.

I chatted a lot longer than intended, but then again...this is ME we're talking about :) I left at 12:27 to start my 2nd loop. My garmin died around mile 8, so it was a good thing I knew I was just going to run the course again and I didn't have to worry about miles. I stopped for a few minutes at the first aid station (also the last one, so it was still set up) to take a GU and drink/refill my water bottle. Good thing I did. I was late enough I didn't get any other water stops and I was out when I got back. I stopped again around mile 6 to text Craig and let him know about when I'd be back. I made one final stop before the finish line, because my hands just felt sticky and gross and I wanted to wash them. So, I stopped to grab some snow on the side of the trail, but it was frozen and I couldn't grab any, despite trying :) Oh well, finished up just as they were pulling the barriers down. The volunteers cheered me in and I told them I liked the course so much I decided to do it twice. I then refilled my water one last time, grabbed my stuff from we-got-your-back-shack (they are amazing!! Last minute race stuff and bag drop! I'm in love!) and headed back to the hotel. I'd run the mile over to the race with Lowell and so I decided to not inconvenince the family and just run back. A couple extra miles at that point is nothin'...right?

Ended the day rock climbing with the family which included a mile+ hike to and from Turtle Wall climbing area, because Chuckwalla was full. Then we went to Paulas for dinner and Nielsons frozen custard...yup, ate myself sick...fantastic day!