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

Nice little 4 miler at the gym to get the week started. Becca wants to run a mid-week 20, so I don't want to push too much! 1 on the track with Amy then 3 on the TM in 25:00 AP: 8:20. Not too shabby. 

Then I biked for 60 minutes to get a little extra cardio in! Plus, I need to finish "Life of Pi"

Easy 10 mile route with the Newtons. Chad slept in so it was just George, Curtis, Ronnie and me. Since George and Ronnie are tapering for Ogden we didn't do the hilly route and everyone was happy just taking it easy. It is SO beautiful outside! The sunrise was gorgeous and totally worth the early wake up call.

AP: 8:30 splits: 8:23, 8:19, 8:14, 8:33, 8:45, 8:37, 8:23, 8:35, 8:18

Went to the gym and did a little more bike time (45 min) before having to jet off to music rehearsal  with baby.

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

I was going to run with the Newtons, but my hamstring just above/behind the outside of my knee started giving me issues Tuesday and was just really exasperated on Wednesday's uphill 20 miler. So, I decided to play it safe and give it a couple days of recovery before pacing again Saturday. 

75 min on the bike at the gym...reading, talking on the phone and FBing :) 

Tired of the bike, hammy not much better, was going to go hiking outside in this beautiful weather, but got cancelled on so I'm back to the gym :( almost decided to just stay home! But, Kelli at the gym was appealing enough I decided to join her! Hadn't seen her in a while. 

TRX (a little bit of a mistake before a downhill half! My legs were a little sore :) ) a great class and good time visiting with Amy and Kelli. 

Then I went up and did some bike...again. Bike is getting old, but I still have to finish that book!! :) Amy also showed me some really good exercises to help my hammy. It really helped!

Oh my word! What a downhill course! I mean this thing was NOTHING but downhill. Okay, so there were about 30 stairs you had to go down, but other than that and maybe a couple flat spots this thing was screaming downhill...and my quads paid for it :)

Pacing the 1:45 group

I'd never paced faster than a 1:50 before so I was a little nervous. I knew it was downhill, but still nervous. Becca was coming to pace with me and the buses left at FOUR AM! Oh my word...seriously. So, I was up at 2:45 AM to get ready and meet Becca at I-15 and head up in time to meet the pacers.

Becca wasn't feeling well and I felt horrible! She thought it was nerves until she remembered her sister had had the flu :(  She made the good decision to NOT run, but that meant since we'd carpooled she had to sit in my car for 4 hours waiting for me while she felt like CRAP. I felt SO bad and wished I could've done more. Poor girl!

The buses took you up to the Solitude resort and you got to sit in the lodge while you waited. They had hot cocoa and coffee too, but the cocoa was watered down and gross, I had a couple swallows and that was all. We ate PB pretzels and chatted by the bathrooms until they kicked us out to go WALK the mile to the start line. At least the bag drop was there so we could stay warm until then...it was only SIX AM!

Lined up and before I knew it we were off. I had one girl with me and it seemed like she was breathing easier than I was :) Holly had never finished a half under 2:00 and remembered me from PCHM last week...crazy! I told her she was doing great and we chatted for quite some time. Around mile 6ish we picked up Sunny, a 15 year old running her 2nd half! Her other half she'd finished in 2:20...so another PR! She was running strong and I kept her talking and going until just before mile 11 where she had to stop and walk. What an awesome young lady!

At each mile marker I was picking up a few seconds. I tried to slow down, but it was hard. Especially having others around me, because I would just keep up with them! Then I'd have to look at my garmin and slow down. Crud. But, mile 11 all of a sudden I was 40 seconds late! What the crap?!? I was hoping the sign was just misplaced.

We then went down the stairs...weird! And I tried to hit some 7:50's just in case I really was that far behind, but not too much in case I wasn't. Just before mile 12 someone asked me if I was on time. I told him my predicament and that I was waiting until mile 12 to be sure. Shortly after that we passed mile 12 marker. I was 1:36:00! Pace band wanted me at 1:36:10...perfect! So, I told the guy who was just a few feet behind me that I had 10 seconds to spare. Just pull a nice even 8:00 and we will achieve perfection :)

The problem came when I crossed 3000E and saw the finish arch...and I was at 1:41:54!!! What the heck?!? I looked at the distance...12.72. Oh, I get it! Jonathan was running towards me and I asked what I should do. He said to wait, so I did. Just stood there for about 2+ minutes until I could run slowly to the finish and come in on time. 1:44:57 was my official finish time, not too shabby for a SHORT course! :( blech. Whatever. I hate short courses. Downhill and short will take away from anyone's PR or race that they'd put SO much into!

The finish line was great, "medals" stunk, but Jimmy Johns and raffle prizes already labeled with names were really nice. I grabbed some food and water, hit the pop and found Becca in the car more than ready to go home.

I was glad all the other pacers had the same issue I did with the short course. Frustrating, but I got plenty of people in by 1:45! Even Sunny ended up coming in while I was waiting! So proud of that girl! Holly is running UVM as her first full and I'm pacing 4:00 with Jonathan and that is what she wants to finish in, so I'm excited to see her again in a couple weeks!

Overall it was a nice race, but a few things could definitely be improved. Since we walked DOWN the canyon to the start it could easily have been the correct difference. They had some weirdo UFS or some kind of stuff that tasted like salt water instead of regular powerade/gatorade stuff, which for me didn't matter, but for racers may have. Also, the stairs...just weird!

AP: 8:10 splits: 7:58, 7:50, 7:55, 7:45, 7:50, 8:02, 7:52, 7:51, 8:09, 8:22, 8:25 (trying to keep Sunny inspired and knowing I've got some time to burn), 7:53, 10:39 (last .83 recorded) total descent on garmin: 3454....

QUADS ARE SO SORE!