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

Ate like a cow yesterday...I figured calories don't count on Mother's day :) However, I think they just got transported to today! I went to bed and woke up with swollen fingers, wrists and ankles. I will be drinking TONS of water today to get whatever it is out!

Went to step class this morning and it was another good class! I kept moving and was sweating all over my bench, it's good to get some cross training it.

Then I hit the TM where I was really feeling the binging yesterday...I swear I'm carrying an extra 10 pounds now! 3.1 miles AP of 9:40 and the last .1 was at my top TM speed 8:57mm. Walked about 5 minutes cool down. When I was finishing up that .10 I finally started to feel a groove - I've decided it was because Kelli had come out of class and I had some company :)

SO tired now... I will be taking a nap to function today!

long, cold, rainy, dead legs run this morning! I tried a new route, which gave me a bit of excitement to get out and run. The first 3+ miles were all nice downhill, so I figured I could pick up some speed by the time I started feeling good. However, by mile 2 I was still dragging. Quads and calves were sore and I felt like they just didn't want to move. I considered turning early to make it just 5, but I stuck it out....

Finally about 3.5-4 I got a little relief in in my stride and felt better. It had been sprinkling all along, but nothing horrible...until I turned for the first part of my big uphill home. I was running into driving rain, a head wind and uphill. I think it motivated me to go faster and push harder, because it felt better than the downhill! Remember...going uphill, pick up the pace, running into the wind, pick up the pace. I finally was feeling like a runner, a crazy pregnant one out in the driving rain, but a runner none the less! :)

The rain let up by the time I turned onto the hill of death, but it was still worse than the sprinkle at  first. I felt a lot stronger up that hill than I have in a long time, and when I turned to cut home felt like my uphill miles were probably faster than the downhill ones! It wasn't so, but it's nice to feel that way at the end of seven miles!

AP: 9:31 splits: 8:50, 8:58, 9:17, 9:47, 9:57, 10:15, 9:36 - funny, reverse progression run but I felt the complete opposite!!

Now I'm off to the gym for body sculpting...resistance class, then I'll read on the bike for a while until it's time to head off to the doc's for Running Bear's checkup :)

Oh, and YES! Ogden's a go this Saturday - Thanks Nan for the hookup!!! If anyone knows of one other person selling a 1/2 entry I know someone who'd be willing to take it.

Decided to take it easy today. Legs are feeling heavy and I want to make sure I have them for Saturday, so I'll take today easy/off and do a few tomorrow then Friday will be an easy reading day at the gym as well. 

Went to Boot camp - more legs and arms work...uggghhh. She did have us run our .2 laps outside, so I did get a mile in that way. It's nice to still pull near the front of the crowd while running them :) I think some people try to beat me simply to not let the pregnant lady out run them! I just pick up the pace a little and keep them behind me :)

Then I did the elliptical @ L8 for 30 minutes, pretty easy just to get some more reading done and keep the legs moving. It was a total of 2.0 miles when I finished.

Days like today make me wonder if I really can run Ogden on Saturday, but I know with a couple decent rest days and the excitement of it all will re-energize me...I'm just dragging today.

Waking up early wasn't my thing this morning, but I did it anyway. When I peeked out the window to make sure there was sun and not rain, I saw the most beautiful sunrise starting - helped me get out! 

Slow start to the morning. My calves are just SO tight! I need to stretch and roll like crazy, I've already spent 5 min post run stretching them this morning and I'm sure yoga will help too. 

Just a nice easy jaunt, tried not to even think about pace, but just get it done. The hill of death didn't seem so bad today, and when I got to 6 miles I decided to throw in one extra flat mile to the end of my street and back. A BIG change from what I was  feeling/thinking when I started. Lately, I drag to start, but NEVER regret when I'm finished, and feel like I could do more!

AP: 9:34 splits: 10:16, 9:22, 9:12, 9:38, 9:55 (hill of death under 10mm!!), 9:35, 8:59

I hope that last 'add-on' mile shows more of where I'm at than the 10:16 at first. Now I'm done until Saturday morning at the race....well, after yoga and bike/reading time at the gym today :)

yeah...got some sleep last night :) I feel asleep right after "The Office" on the couch and then didn't wake up until 8:00 this morning. I hope this helps make up for having to get up at 3AM for the race tomorrow....*yawn*

Went to the gym, just to get the blood flowing to the legs. 

45 min on the elliptical @ L6  Then 40 Min on the bike @ L2.

The best part was I got REALLY into my new book. I wish I had another 90 min block of time at the gym to 'read' so I could finish now....

Picked up 'my' race packet in Ogden, got some good free goodies at the expo and got to meet Bart Yasso! Actually meeting him I had to buy his book for him to personally sign - yeah, go ahead...call me a sucker! I figure I'll have a good 4 weeks of 'down time' that I might be able to get some reading in. He was impressed that I'd even consider running a 1/2 at 34 weeks pregnant, but he said it simply reassured him of his prediction that women are 'taking over' the sport and that over long distances (like ultras) women will and have proven that they run better than men. So, we may not run as fast...but we can run longer! That's what I tell my kids when they think they're 'all that' and try to beat me in a foot race :)

First words out of my mouth as I stumbled out of bed were...I'm either crazy or stupid! I was tired...3 AM comes much too quickly on a Saturday morning. 

Got to the buses and met Luz, Josse, and Erika. Once on the bus ran into BSRools - the awesome duo, and had a short ride up. Fire-side chats and potty breaks filled up the hours till start time, then we were off. Those three ladies were too much for me to handle after about .5 miles and I let them go, I knew I wasn't holding an 8:20! 

Honestly, the first 3+ miles were sheer torture. More than once I considered just walking. My calves have been SO tight, the front of my shins were burning with pain. Add in the up hill and lack of company and I was spiraling in the wrong direction. I quickly made up my mind to simply hold out till the dam (this was about mile 1.5 and I thought it was at about 2) and then decide after I got some good downhill rolling.

The dam wasn't until mile 4 or 5 and I had HORDES of people passing me (uh, huh..yeah, go ahead...pass the big, fat, slow, pregnant lady and feel good!) but I also had some GREAT conversations with a few different groups of people about my shirt and my 'situation' that kept my mind off the fact that I wasn't feeling in prime condition to continue!

Once I hit the canyon and could hear the river, birds, soft footfalls and my eased breathing I knew it was all going to be okay. I just let it go from there and REALLY started feeling good. I started picking people off and passing them, a couple of good downhill stretches I even hit in the 6 and 7 mm range (mind you for only the stretch!). It was SO beautiful, it was nice to enjoy it this year and not be in unimaginable ITB pain like last year. I also got a WONDERFUL lift of spirits to see Allie with my big "RAD" sign! You always see all of the signs on the side of the road, and I've never had one *sniff* so Allie THANKS SO MUCH! It was such an amazing boost! I'm glad I didn't have to wait till mile 25!

Then we hit the winding trail. The crowds really helped keep my spirits up, although the miles seemed to drag a LOT more than in the canyon. I was still passing people and NOT getting passed - feeling much more confident than those first few miles! I took that energy and the last 1.5 miles weren't my favorite, but I let the energy carry me and push me through to the end. I felt good, and it was good to feel good being 34 weeks pregnant finishing a 1/2 marathon under 2 hours!

AP: 8:55 splits: 8:58, 9:34, 9:44, 9:26, 8;51, 9:01, 9:04, 8:42, 8:36, 8:07, 8:32, 8:43, 8:42, 8:23 (last .25 recorded on my garmin...guess I wasn't too good about running tangents!).

It was a wonderful race, I got to see and meet some GREAT bloggers that made the trip and effort worthwhile. Thanks Josse, Ericka and Luz for getting me off to a good strong start. If I would've run my 10mm I may have missed my 2 hrs! Brent and Sylvie - you two are amazing, I had a wonderful time chatting with you and seeing you on the trail. Strong runners with hearts of gold - more commando points than I'm allowed to dole out! Allie, thanks again girl! It made me feel like a rockstar to have YOU cheering little 'ol me on! I also had the most amazing surprise afterward - to run into Lowell and then get treated to lunch with the amazing crowd of Lowell, Smooth (and Pres) and Marci! AMAZING day!!

stats: I was 86/342 women in 'my'/Kelly's division (35-39); 357/1546 women overall; 711/2273 men & women combined; That puts me in the top 25-30th percentile finishing - not feeling too shabby about that! :) Also, one interesting thing on the 'stats' was that I placed 12th in my AG for the final 5K time - I really was feeling good! Not too much to say about the first 5K time...