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

Ahhh, early moring! I hate setting the alarm clock starting with a 3! However, things went very smoothly and kids got dropped off in the right places and bye-wing, her son and I got to the race on time and got to visit with Carolyn as well before the start! Perfect! Oh, and since Quiet Pirate was the only sibling missing, bye-wing and I made QP signs for our backs and pinned them on so she could be there too! I was a little concerned about the drag from the paper, but after threats of getting my pony tail cut off if I complained about it I shut up :)

The race was on! I really didn't think I would do much better than 47-48 minutes, the way my legs have been running lately that was an honest prediction. Barely under my 51 min from last year when I ran 4 weeks postpartum. 

The first mile was weaving all over tarnation trying to get around the walkers and joggers at the start. This is such a BIG race, but that is part of what makes it so fun too. I saw the mile 1 split at 7:12 and thought...all right, there was your speedy mile, now just try to hang on as best as you can for another 5.

The rest of the race was rather uneventful and I didn't stop at aid stations, just grabbed a cup of water, threw it in my mouth/face and hoped for the best :) Not pretty, but I don't profess to be so! I was encouraged when as I neared the finish I could still see a 46 on the clock! I knew I was over a minute back from the start, so I knew I'd done okay. Better than expected, and I felt exhausted. Now that it is all said and done with I think I could've run faster...but don't we always?!? I was about 90 seconds from a PR, so I blew all hope of that one, but like I said, I knew my body wasn't in that great of shape lately and I didn't really expect it. Honestly, I'm impressed with my legs for giving me a 45! I guess I need to pick up the pace on that speed work now...or just run it downhill :)

AP: 7:21 splits:  7;12, 6:55, 7:26, 7:16, 7:23, 7:51, 7:38 (last .21) I was impressed that my 2nd mile was the fastest and that NO miles were over 8! Even that last 1.2ish of uphill after the screaming downhill.

After I finished I ran back on the course and got to see Matt and chat about his race and then as I saw Carolyn coming in I ran with her in, walked back and ran in with bye-wing, then ran back on the course almost a mile to run my kids in who were doing the 5K with bye-wing's family and grandma. My 10 year old was out in front and I ran almost the last mile with her, and I must say for her first 5K she did AWESOME! She had to walk a bit, but we would go just the length of the intersection (white line to white line) and she would pick it back up again. I could tell from her face she was exhausted, but I just kept encouraging her! By the time we'd finished and I was ready to go back and grab my 7 yr old son, he was practically finished, so I cheered him on to a fast finish to just beat out his 'twin' cousin. Funny thing was that the 10K/Marathon finish line looked much more grand than the 5K finish, so he kept on running into the corral until we finally got him to come back. The last ones left were my 4 year old and baby Fartlek in the stroller with Grandma. I had to go back almost a 1/2 mile to pick them up and I got my 4 year old out of the stroller and he ran the whole way into the finish with me!! What a trooper! He got the most cheers and I had the biggest grin holding his hand and running with him :) I then turned back the 100 yards or so to grab baby and run him in...just like last year. Grandma sure was a trooper to push them most of the way! I got almost 3 miles in running back and forth - fastest (time flying by...not literally fastest) and happiest 3 miles I think I've ever had! Love those kids and all the work they put in!!

Then I made my kids stay and cheer in marathoners until about 4 hours. I did get to chat with James, Allie and Rossy after their finish, and rode the bus back (Tradition!) with JeffL, Kelli and Wendy (Kelli and Wendy got stuck with me and the kids cheering in finishers as well). Man those guys are fast and amazing!! I love cheering at the finish and watching the different athletes as they come in! SO inspiring!! Congrats to all who raced today, it was a perfectly lovely day to run with a few hundred of our closest running pals :)

Have to update just a bit. Saw results and I finished 10th in my AG!! I can't believe it! Top 100 in overall females and 10th in my cruddy age group. Nice! :) A PR would've gotten me 5th...but, bygones be bygones. Next year!

No running this morning...it really was a mess of a night. Didn't get to bed until 11:30 due to party and fireworks, then my baby woke up at 4:30 screaming and crying and it took about an hour to get him back to bed. I think he was in pain. He'd gotten his big toe shut in the door (on the hinge side) and the door was completely closed with it in there earlier that evening. I gave him some tylenol and then it was just a matter of time before he went back to sleep. Poor kid!

So, I knew due to sore quads from the race I was going to pass on speed work with BBK's this morning, so I was planning on a loop by myself, but when the alarm went off I decided to bag it and sleep. First day of school for the 2 older kiddos - yay for year round school! Got them off and then bye-wing came and we did a nice bike ride on the road. I used the mtn bike with the baby seat on back and she got my new bike. We rode up to the reservoir (holy hills batman!) then the tri course to Butterfield Canyon and home - 15 miles, more uphill than expected, glad I did a trial run. Averaged about 12mph, and I figure with the first hills and the baby bike out of the factor on Saturday I should be able to do closer to 14-16 during the race....maybe, well, hopefully.

Grabbed the kids and then went to Club Hollywood (the gym) to swim. I love how fast bye-wing swims. She could do 12-13 laps to my 10! I'm just a lazy swimmer :) She then had us do some drills. I've never done stuff like that before in the water and I kind of liked it. Best part was I could swim faster than bye-wing on the speed work! Okay, so I had fins on, but still! Finished up a mile of swimming (32 laps, assuming this is a 25M pool and not 25 yds) and from my timing it looks like I swim about a 12min 500M in the pool, so I think Saturday I may get away with a 15 min swim time...maybe, well, hopefully.

When I picked the kids up from chuck-a-child at the gym my baby looked like he'd been mauled! Scratches ALL over his face and some pretty deep. I asked what happened and all I got were bewildered looks. NO ONE knew anything about it! What the heck?!? Really?!? c'mon people! I thought you were supposed to watch these kids. I know it is an inherent risk of dropping your kids off there, but I just assumed there would be adequate supervision and that the child responsible would be monitored...or they would at least let me know what happened. Oh man, I just need to stop. Anytime I look at my poor baby it just makes me mad. Toe smashed yesterday, face mauled today...and I get to take him to the doctor for a 'well child' visit tomorrow. Shall we just write up the DCFS report now? Sigh. Poor little guy :(

Anyway, I feel pretty good about Saturday, but any and all tri tips would be GREATLY appreciated! Transition areas, what to bring, how to set it all up...these are the things I'm mostly worried about. The actual physical parts not so much :)

I'm getting lazy...always tired. I think I need to be better about taking my multi-vitamins and iron! 

Slept in, but knew I could go to the gym (even though I wanted to put baby in a bubble when I dropped him off due to yesterday's craziness!). So, off to the TM I went. My goal was to finish 7 miles in 60 min. I now know my legs will handle the speed, so they better take it and stop complaining!!

I started at 8:57 pace for the first 1.3 and was surprised how easy my breathing was, that hasn't happened for a while. So, I upped it to 8:41 and stayed there for the next few. I don't remember when I increased it again, but went progressive and for mile 6 I kept it 8:12 or less the entire mile. Impressive for me lately - especially with a gentle incline. Mile 7 I decided I needed to go a little downhill, since I'd been going up for 6 miles it was only fair, right? :) I had 8:00 exactly left to finish the mile and so I went to 7:30 and just pushed through the last bit. As usual, I started just wanting it done so I increased the speed a little at a time and finished the last .15 at 6:58.

I felt SO good when I finished and even had 40 seconds left to hit an hour. Legs are still tired, but my breathing and HR felt under control which hasn't been the case in quite some time. AP for the entire seven: 8:30.

Finished up with my PT/core work and tried out Allie/Bonnie's heel/toe walking and I too think I'm going to add it to the regular routine. I really feel my 'shin splint' muscles working and I think it will help them in the future. Stretched the last 15 minutes and picked up kids - no maulings today.

I did talk to a lady there that I feel really comfortable with that had even asked what  happened to Adam when she saw him. She filled out an incident report and it sounds like Adam's situation may be getting to the ears of management quickly. I just want to know he'll be safe and supervised when I drop him off.

Early morning BBK run. Met up and did the warm-up miles and then a 5 mile 'tempo' quads said NO though, so tempo isn't quite the right word for it. Anyway, had a good chat with Cal and Debbie as I sludged along the parkway and tried not to eat too many bugs. 

My legs were yelling at me something fierce and the plan WAS to do my long run early Friday morning (just 15 miles - because I have the tri on Saturday) but, I may have to reconsider. Okay, I think I'm a fool and I'm finally coming to my senses. My legs need some recovery if I'm going to try and compete at all on Saturday, so Friday is going to become a rest day. 

AP: 9:16 splits: 8:58, 9:04, 9:07, 9:07, 9:33, 9:00, 9:20, 9:06, 9:41, 9:38 I think it's rather sad when your fastest mile is your first 'warm up' mile in a tempo run!!!

Went to yoga at the gym afterward, I do love that class! But, alas. I cancelled my membership (not effective until Sept). Went to pick up baby Fartlek and despite all the craziness on Tuesday and reporting it on Wednesday, he had blood on his face and shirt. I think one of the scabs just got ripped off, but really?!? if a baby has blood all over his face and shirt wouldn't you maybe pick him up and see where it was coming from?!? No one had any idea what had happened, again. Plus, it was all dried and crusty so it had been there for a while, which to me means no one had looked at my baby for quite some time and/or no one cared about my baby. Either way, I'm done. If I can't feel like I'm leaving my child in a safe area - I'm not leaving them and I'll find somewhere else to go!

Rest and some good carb loading with Smooth and Lowell for lunch! Can't wait to hear about the Sogonopmit tomorrow!!!

So, the first tri is in the bag and I tell you - it feels SO different. I feel like I worked hard, but I don't have sore creaky legs like after a hard run. Probably because I didn't run hard :)

Got set up at the park, met Brent and Becca and rode up to the reservoir. Blech, getting there late was yucky. Had to rack the bike Waaaay back on the beach which meant pushing it across the sand nearly the whole length for transition. That really stunk! But, I got a good spot next to the wall to be able to sit and put my shoes on.

Started in the 5th wave, so 15 min after the 'start' with my AG gals in the water. It wasn't so bad in the open water and I didn't mind it at all, except I was so nervous about the race I was hyperventilating and couldn't get my breathing under control (this was happening all morning, it just became horribly apparent in the water). So, I pretty much dog paddled :) I was keeping up with and passing others doing free-style so it wasn't so bad, and I would free-style when my breathing felt under control too. Without seeing times I'm sure I was probably one of the last ones out of the water for my AG - definitely the slowest part for me. Legs felt like rubber as I tried to stand and run the last bit out of the water.

Got back to the bike and grabbed my shoes and put my helmet on and threw the rest of the crap in the bag (like a bag drop for a race, but you just leave it there). Then, right behind me was bye-wing! Holy Moly she swims fast! She started 3 min behind me in the next wave and got out maybe 30 seconds or less after me. Yeah...swimming isn't my strong suit. I decided to take my shoes/socks to the asphalt and put them on which meant kind of 2 transitions for me, but I didn't want sand in the clips or shoes (ha!) so I thought I was being smart. Well, I couldn't get the sand off my feet (left my towel in the bag) and I wanted to just get going on the bike so I threw my socks on over my sandy feet and just hoped for the best.

Well, after finally getting on the bike it was awesome! Great downhill for about 3-4 miles until we hit the uphill section. blech! When I run this route I call it my hill of despair, and it is about the same on a bike. I felt strong though and passed quite a few people! Even on my cheap ol' hybrid bike. The best part was passing guys that had started 6-9 minutes ahead of me :) The hill up to Kennecott was a bugger, but I just kept thinking "this is MY road!" I run it so often and it is SO close to home (I got to see my house a few times) I had to take the home field advantage and push through! Then, the downhill - wheee! THIS is why I cuss out bikers as cheaters when they pass me. Runners still have to work on the down hill, but when your bike is going 35mph and shaking like crazy, you aren't doing much work - just along for the ride, thanks gravity! The uphill back to the park from the HS wasn't as bad as I had imagined it, thank goodness. I also got to see my cute family waiting for me and cheering me on! Lifted my spirits a TON. I saw Brent on the run as I was finishing up the bike and warned him I was out to get him :) On the last stretch to the park I saw Becca in front of me. I couldn't believe I'd caught her on the bike. I knew she'd smoke me on the run, so it was nice to see her and say hi. Dismount out of the clips was nice and easy! Then running in bike shoes to my transition rack was a little strange, but still fast.

Threw those running shoes on SO fast, grabbed my visor and I was off. I even forgot to put on my shorts to cover my thunder thighs on the run. I don't want to see the pictures! Legs felt fatigued and a little off balance for probably the first mile, but I just kept pushing through. FINALLY just before I got to see my family again they started feeling normal. Still no speed, but felt normal. Oh, and in that first mile I think I passed everyone that had passed me on the bike - or at least that I remember passing me. I knew I just had to wait for the run :)

I never got passed in the run and over took a ton of people. I kept Becca in sight, but she was a good minute or so in front. We had a last uphill push to the park on finishing the run and I was finally feeling some life come back into my legs and I was ready to pour on the speed, but then I turned and well...there was the finish line. Stink. Oh well. A slow 5K, but at least I got done. There was only one other woman clear up by Becca that I could see as a potential to catch, so I honestly kind of wish I would've had a little more motivation to push that last mile or so, but I just didn't have anyone around me.

Finished in a good time of 1:35:21 - good enough for 10th in AG (out of 40+ I think) and 36th in females (out of 250ish?). About 20 minutes after finishing I was ready to go run some more :) You feel tired, but your legs feel fresh! I really wish there was a 10 miler at the end of the bike, I might be able to catch some more people :) Chatted with Becca and Brent (never caught him dang it!) and then went to wait for bye-wing to come in. She had her usual amazing sprint to the finish and was looking strong!

Saw some people I'd met in the process of getting ready for all this then waited for awards. Bye-wing took 3rd in her AG when she thought she was 4th, so we had a nice celebration about that! Then waited for Brent to get his award as well and cheered extra loud for the people that had left :) Then we got to see Kelli who was at the park for football and got a GREAT recap on her race. It was SO fun!! Plus, I don't feel exhausted like I usually do after a long run :)

Swim time: no idea...I'll have to wait for them to post *11:10 swim - a lot better than I had originally thought! I was 17th in AG on the swim out of 39...not horrible.

T1 time: 3:43 - yikes! was this a race or a nap time? :)

Bike time: garmin said 52 minutes for 14 miles -so avg 16.2mph (just checked splits and I am happy with my uphill times! Kept them about 10mph, which is MUCH faster than I anticipated). **52:49 official time. 11th in AG on bike - right on the $ practically with placing. Interesting, but I think this is honestly where the race is won/lost.

T2 time: 1:24 - not too bad, but the people that know what they are doing are under a minute here!

Run time: 26:09 - ha! see, slow run on jelloish legs (AP: 8:20 splits: 8:11, 8:38, 8:11, 8:08 - last .15) **26:18 is official run time and I was 4th in my AG on the run....yeah, uh huh...I think this is my strength :)

Overall, in hindsight, I feel really good about this. I wish I could've gone just a liiiittle bit faster (3rd place in my AG was 1:31:35) and I feel like I have it in me - better transition time from swim to bike and better swim time. Now I want to 'tri' it again :) I guess maybe it's just the novelty of it as well right now. Too bad I don't have the money to buy all the expensive fancy stuff to help me go faster as well. But, I really did have an amazing time and a wonderful morning!!!