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

Went to the gym for a good step class and Ab's class. Took it easy, because I think any bacteria or virus that was within 10 feet of me this weekend is now growing in my body! I'd rather take it easy for a couple days than be down for a week or more being sick! Ragnar was amazing and taught me to appreciate myself and what I can do, I loved it!!!

Here is a short story from my daughter's swim coach that I just loved! A little inspiration for all of us, it's intended to apply to children, but I think it hits home with all of us!

That’s Not It

Last week, we had a Mom come to us and “inform us” that her 13-year-old daughter would be gone for two weeks vacation in late June, maybe another week after that.

Her daughter was not much of an age group swimmer, but she has some endurance capacity and comes regularly to workout at 5:30 am and again at 5:30 pm daily. She works hard, demonstrates little talent, but lots of determination.

Her mother is not athletic and clearly does not value athletics. We expressed our dismay that she’d be missing for 2-3 weeks in the middle of the most important training of the summer. Her mother’s response?

“Who cares, she’ll never be an Olympic swimmer, so what does it matter really?”

This is a dagger in the heart to any swimming coach, and it is to me.

If we only cared about and worked hard with, those 52 people who will eventually, once every four years, go off to the Olympic Games, it would be a small, empty and meaningless sport.

My response was “That’s really not it.”

What is it?

It is the fact that young people need to learn to dedicate themselves to something that is difficult, something that requires perseverance, guts and the daily determination to get your butt out of bed and go out and push your body till it can’t go anymore.

Why do they need to learn this?

Because their lives are too easy, too soft, too catered-for. Too many people carry them, make excuses for them, never allowing them to try to be “heroic.” Is it “heroic” to get your butt out of bed and go swim at 5 am? It is if you haven’t done it before. Is it heroic to “make” 10x200 fly on 4:00? It is if you haven’t ever done it before.. Is it heroic to finish your swim and turn around and cheer for the teammate who is even further behind than you are, and is struggling to make the set? Need I say it? It is if you’ve never done it before.

And that is what “It” is about. About doing what you haven’t done before. And learning that sometimes you succeed. Sometimes you fail. If you fail, you go again until you learn to succeed.

It’s not about being an Olympian.

It’s about being Olympian. Learning to be a hero.

And what it takes to learn that.

Or, you can Be Comfortable and teach your child that its more important to be Comfortable.

So, if that’s your choice, I only have one question?

What will happen to your child on the day when they are made “uncomfortable” by life?

Lazy. Decided my body needed sleep more than running this morning so I slept in and missed the BBK run. I was really looking forward to hearing all about the WBR relays, but sleep overtook my need to socialize :) Took the boys in the jogging stroller on a good walk, but then decided to get some run in as well and did a good couple (no garmin...no idea exactly, just an estimate). I forgot how hard it is to run in good form and with any speed pushing a jogging stroller and having a dog tied to it as well! Lauren rode her bike with her friend as well, so we looked like a mini-parade as we wound through the neighborhood. fun easy day!

Does a 1/4 mile of lunges count for any mileage? Good Kick-box class this morning, then ITB stuff and Ab's....good workout, but ready for a nap!

Should've gone to bed earlier, but I still drug my tired bum out of bed to get to group; however, it was my PT appointment more than running that woke me up :) Met at a new church, did the warm-up then ran out to daybreak. The group did some speed work, but I was already having to head back to the car since I had to leave early for the appointment. I was still dragging my lead legs and not ready for speed anyway so I did the temple hill and then headed back to the car 2 miles away. Eric needed to get back early as well, so I was happy to have the company back to the church. I took 'er easy today, made sure HR was low enough I could easily talk - I never had a mile under 9mm, and the AP was 9:32. Seems about right for how I was feeling - still drained! Went to the PT appointment and this will be my last one (pending no pain in the next month)!!! Got a few new exercises to work on throughout the month, I'm really enjoying them, because as I do it I can see the weaknesses in the areas I need to strengthen to be done with IT pain. Came home picked up my baby and went to yoga, I was so tired I took yoga easy as well. Lots of nice stretching! I think I'll take another nap today :)

Another big 'null' on the miles today - seriously, am I ever going to get enough sleep to feel better? I'm just dragging all day and when I do run I feel like I've got lead legs! How long does WBR pull the energy out of you?!? I did go to the gym and did a cardio/weights class, it was good but nothing hard or strenuous. I'm running the Herriman 10K tomorrow, with the way I'm feeling I'm hoping for an AP of 9mm! I'll go to bed early tonight and see how life is treating me in the morning.

So, I get to the race and despite feeling like crap (and eating like crap) all day yesterday I'm actually feeling okay, tired but good. Then my competitive nature takes over and I start scoping out the competition....lots of runners, but do I have it in me to beat them? Due to computer glitches the race started about 30 minutes late, but I had good company to hang with and I was already awake :)

Lined up at the 'start' line and we were off, the first 200 yds in a hill to get out of the park and I knew it was downhill after that so I just pushed it, but as we turned the corner I was done and ready to walk, ooops I still have 6 miles+ to go! The next couple miles actually felt okay and I passed a few people and there were some that passed me (they were going SOO fast, I thought for sure they must've started 5 minutes late!).

The first 2.7 you have some 'rolling' hills, but its a NICE downhill path to warm up on (you loose almost 300 ft of elevation). Then we hit the hills, the course is a loop so you have to recover everything you loose! I actually started feeling good around 3 and was ready to conquer those hills! Funny, but WBR has ruined my perception of hills. I can finally say "That Hill ain't S*@T!!!" I acutally passed about 3 or 4 people on the hill and was gaining on everyone I could pick out. I LOVED it - yes, I honestly truly loved it no sarcasm in the statement! It was great to feel good and run strong up the hill as I saw others struggling. So to my lovey BBK torture squad - THANK YOU!!!! 

The only problem was that at about mile 4.5 I was done, I contemplated walking but the competitive side kept me running and pushing. I had passed one woman on the hill and I knew she wasn't far behind, so I pushed on up another slight hill to the turnaround. Just before that I passed a water station and they started cheering for me and said "yea! nice job! You're the 2nd woman!!" I couldn't believe it, I thought there were 4 or 5 women in front of me...this just increased my mental push, we're almost done let's just kick it home!!

I saw the 1st place lady at the turnaround and she was probably a good 3 minutes ahead of me, so I just concentrated on pushing past some of the men in front of me. Felt good again until the last uphill push (THIS hill was comparable to Ragnar, but only 100 yds or less!) I turned the corner grabed some water then saw Kelli. I was SO happy, I knew she would push me to the finish and keep me strong despite the fact that I felt like I couldn't breathe! At least I wouldn't hear her say "come on, you're not even breathing hard!" :)

The course flattens out then the last .15 or so is the downhill back into the park and I let it go, I couldn't sprint like I would've like to and one guy I'd been leap-frogging sprinted past me, but I pushed to the finish! I was surprised to see that the time was 47:40, because I felt like I had relaxed a bit on the downhill and didn't push nearly as hard as I had on the Bluffdale course a couple weeks ago. I guess it was all my 'tapering' this week :) I was kind of bummed to get my card and see that the 1st place finisher was in my age group (24-35) and so I got 2nd in my AG as well - DANG!! I ran 5 minutes slower last year and still got 2nd in my AG, that's a small town run for you I guess.  

AP:  7:46mm splits: 7:27, 7:30, 7:26, 8:05, 8:00, 8:10, 7:31 (for the .2 finish) Total of 667 ft of elevation gain and since the finish is just beyond the start the elevation loss is 687 - so I guess this was a 'downhill' run - lol!!!