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

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 :)

Tuesday Ten with the Newtons. Mike joined us for the first time today and the only downside was that we started late...later than we ever had and he had to cut the course short to get home in time.

I felt pretty strong on the run this morning. I hit the hills with confidence and I think I hit my best time ever on this route: 1:19:10 - 7:50AP. There was also rain and wind which didn't help on the hills (of course we ran uphill into the wind, typical Herriman), but I still was able to push through. I feel like I'm getting faster, but dang it all if I still can't keep up with any running group. I suck on the uphills. I really do. I don't know why I can't run uphill, it kills me! I do it all the time, so I should be good at it, but I can NOT keep up with people my pace on the downhill when we go up. Any suggestions on this issue would be welcome.

Went home and slept. It was lovely :)

AP: 7:50 splits: 8:14, 8:08, 8:50, 8:50, 7:26, 7:54, 7:20, 7:15, 7:12, 7:14, 7:16 (last .11)

Pretty consistent downhill miles and 8:50 on the two toughest uphill miles is good stuff for me...sad, but true.

As Boston nears I realize I've failed myself. I wanted to be faster. I wanted to be stronger, especially on hills. I wanted to hit a goal time, but goal pace seems to elude me. Unless I'm running downhill, which we all know is cheating. I guess that is just what I get for being a poor runner. Anyway, so I figured I'd try a few tempo miles today. Amy put together the route and I put together the workout.

1 mile warm-up (which was practically straight uphill...so I'm sure you can guess how that went...SLOW!)

6 mile tempo (1 mile downhill, 2 flatish/up; 3 downhill cruise - 7:28, 7:58, 7:52, 7:20, 7:17, 7:25)

1.6 cool down on the uphill back to Amy's house.

I tried to hit goal MP (7:30) for the tempo miles...ha! The flat/uphills killed me. I really want to figure this crap out. The 7:58 and 7:52 miles were SO hard, I had to hold back on the 3 downhill cruise miles to try and get them closer to 7:30. I was chatting and it was easy. What gives? Why do I suck SO bad on the uphill?!? I'm really frustrated with this right now.

It was a good run and I felt like the tempo run was a good solid effort to help lock in MP even if it wasn't spot on for a 7:30 every mile. I know the effort was more than there.

Came home, got ready for the day and went back to bed. Since Boston is so close I'm kind of avoid the Xtraining and weights. Not worth an injury right now.

AP: 8:02 splits: 9:35, 7:28, 7:58, 7:51, 7:20, 7:17, 7:24, 8:53, 8:38 (last .6)

So stinkin' freezing!!! The roads were wet and icy and it was like ice skating...isn't it supposed to be spring?!? I'm sick of the cold, so sick of the cold. My slowest mile was uphill on the pavement, because I was slipping all over the place. Once we got onto the dirt it wasn't so bad. That is saying a lot for this loop!

It was nice to have such a big group and to be able to enjoy the company of others today. Mike joined us again and was in stealth mode as he came up behind me so I didn't warn him about the dip. I heard him fall in the dip :/

It was a nice average run for me on this course 1:11:52 - 8:44AP

Slept afterward. No reason to go to the gym :)

I was supposed to meet Amy at the gym at 9:00...I was a few minutes late, but Amy had gotten there at 8:30 so she was done with her four miles :(

I just ran the track and then the Train/Lose Big group started doing intervals, so I started running with my other friend Amy, I like Amys. She has worked hard on her running and went from a 3:20 half to a 2:15 half! When she was running her intervals she was pushing a good low 8MM. I was so impressed. I've told her over and over again she needs to let me pace her to a sub 2:00 this year. I know she could make it!

So, I ended with 4+ when Amy was done and I finished up my fifth mile. Then I went to the TRX class. I was hoping for mostly arms, but as usually there was a lot of leg work too. I guess it won't hurt me :) Last good resistance workout that will be beneficial for Boston. Can't believe it is so close!
 

This run had been in the works for a while now. The plan was to run counter-clock wise around Pineview then up the Ogden course a bit to make it 20 instead of just the 15 around the lake. Miles 6-18 on the course (approx). Amy and Jerry haven't done Ogden before so it was a good preview of the hardest parts for them.

We all met at Chad's house and Dave drove with his bike rack on the back for Jerry to bring his bike. He is still struggling with his injury. It is nice to have him on bike support for our long runs though. We've decided we all need to take turns on the injury wagon to pull support :) 

Marci met us up there and Kim and Scott drove separately. Marci and I were just cruising and enjoying the chat, Scott had some tempo miles planned and Kim was just kickin' it and then the speedies (Amy, Chad and Dave) pulled the front. Jerry would go back and forth making sure all of us were happy and taken care of and to take pictures.

I wasn't going to do the out and back, but I guilted into it. I was ready to turn around and then noticed we were only .3 away from the turn around...fine. Marci and I were regretting it at mile 16 when we knew we could've been done!

Around mile 13-14 the leaders of the Striders half started passing us. We jumped onto the race course (but to the side) so we didn't confuse drivers with runners on both sides of the road. Hopefully we gave some of those guys a push thinking they were reeling in someone...ha! okay, they could probably tell we were super slow compared to anyone leading a race, but still.

We stopped at the corner in Eden and waited to see the first 3 females come in and many other guys we knew. I love cheering at races! Then we took on the last hill of the course and our finishing push to 20 miles. Chad and Dave took off and I just hung back and enjoyed Marci's company :) The last mile we decided to push it as hard as we could. I hit a 7:26. I was impressed with my effort despite the miles, I guess I do have a little speed in these legs...but it was still a downhill mile!

We took pictures, jumped in the party van and headed home. 6-7 hours for a 20 mile run, but it was somewhat Ragnar-esque. We all got our 20 miles in and a good chat/bonding time in the stinky van, plus it didn't cost $300 and 4 days of our lives!! :)

AP: 8:12 splits: 8:35, 8:16, 8:14, 8:04, 7:58, 7:54, 8:22, 8:40, 8:07, 8:06, 8:03, 8:09, 8:18, 8:00, 8:06, 8:19, 8:40, 8:17, 8:22, 7:26 TT: 2:43:56