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

Did someone say sleep in?!? Why yes. Since the days are a bit cooler I like sleeping in and then taking Adam with me in the jogger after kids get off to school. Much better than the TM and paying for daycare.

I ran my new 8+ mile route with the jogger and it was good, except running up Juniper Crest Road. Running may be saying too much...fast walk/jog?!? But, if I go down then it is uphill both ways after that. So, I take the short uphill and 2 long downhills :)

I thought I was keeping a good pace and could possibly get fastest and longest time with a jogger. Nope. Those hills must've killed me. Plus, the flats take more out of you than you think too. I'll learn how to push a stroller sooner than later.

AP: 9:19 splits: 10:07, 8:58, 8:52, 9:56, 9:42, 9:08, 9:45, 8:18, 8:32, (last .22) I had a few good paces in there.

Man oh man oh man. I know I need to get some speed work/tempo in, so I decided to grab the bull by the horns and get it done (a bit) today. I asked Chad to pace me, after the first 4 miles of hills, at MP for the last 6. My legs were tired. I wasn't sure. If I hadn't have said anything the night before on the group chat I would've chickened out.

We stopped at the top and I just brought the HR down, grabbed a drink, then took off. I expected Chad to then just pull/push me as needed to hang on to MP. HA! He let me do the guiding (which in retrospect I'm grateful for!). The first mile was a 7:20ish,  and then it just got better. The next mile has flats and some hills in it, so hitting a 7:42 wasn't a surprise. I still didn't know what pace we were running. I was just pushing myself and trying not to doubt that I could run this for 26 miles! Then, a couple people turned onto the street but on the opposite side. They were carrying a pretty good pace, but I wanted to show them who was faster. My pride got the best of me. So, I surged enough to pull ahead of them so they could tell I was running faster :) No, I'm not competitive, why do you ask?!? Then the last 3 miles have a pretty good downhill slope. With about 2 to go I got out enough to tell Chad I felt like I was falling off the wagon. He laughed "maybe that is because you were never ON the wagon." Crap. Seriously? I was running that slow. Craptastic. Oh no. He told me that only the 2nd tempo mile had been above 7:20. WHAT?!? No wonder I was falling off the wagon. I was tired and my legs knew it. But, I tried not to let that play head games with me and just push through. I did pretty good, but probably let it get in my head more than I should've. I know had 'time' to relax and still hit the goal. pbbbttt!

Finished and ran home to catch my daughter before she left for school! Love that girl. Then, went back to bed!!! I'm tired.

AP: 7:56 (fastest time for this course!) splits: 8:20, 8:21, 8:54, 9:22 (yes...those last 2 were the big hills!), 7:21, 7:42, 7:11 (competition), 7:17, 7:17, 7:26 (flat and a little uphill home). The last 30 feet recorded it says were at a 6:01 pace...I like that!

Yes, I did the classic today. Yes, I stole it from someone. BUT, all  that said, I'm glad I did this. It was nice way to meditate and think of that day years ago. Listen to the planes overhead and remember when the skies were quiet for days. Pushing my 3 year old, but remembering holding my 9 month old as I watched in horror what played out on TV. Seeing the flags and remembering how seeing American flags on every doorstep 12 years ago brought me to tears as I drove to my MIL house to can tomatoes. Remembering. Honoring. It was my little tribute, if for no one else, my own therapy.

I did sleep in. I had a rough day yesterday and didn't get to sleep until 1:30 or so. I was awfully tired. Got kiddos out the door and then left around 9:20 for my first loop with Adam in the jogger. I also thought it was interesting that I did two loops of 4.5ish each to get to that mileage. Coinsidence? Yes, but reflecting on it I'm glad it went that way. 

I got home and grabbed my scriptures and a jacket and ran over to the church for our mid-week institute class. A nice break!

Then, I headed back out for my 2nd loop with Adam. I'm really starting to get used to and liking pushing the jogger!! I did a little different loop, but made sure to again finish at the cove to get a nice downhill finish.

The miles really flew by. I didn't feel fatigued or tired. A little hot, but it wasn't bad. I finished at noon too. I was ready to be done, but if it was cloudy may have gone for 11.9 :) just to be different.

AP: 8:41 (it was 8:34 after my first loop. Look at me! Near 'normal' paces with the jogger. I'm getting this down. Fastest and furthest journey so far with the jogger). splits: 8:29, 9:14, 9:07, 7:52 8:04 (last .54 on that loop); 8:29, 9:17, 9:22, 8:35, 7:37 (last .57 on that loop). It is nice to see some good paces with the jogger. What doesn't kills us...right?

Classic Urban Trail Loop with the two Newtons groups! It was great to have Kimberly there. I love having girls to run with :) No offense to the guys that kick my trash and make me work hard, but girls are just different.

I remember when these hills were hard...now that we do Shaggy Mtn on Thursdays These hills were a little easier than I remember :) Had just a great easy run, but since I screwed up my Garmin and stopped when we started and started when we stopped I don't know the AP. Just a great run with good friends...and made some new ones in the process too!

I mowed the lawn in the morning and then took Adam to pre-school in the jogger to get a couple extra miles in for the day. One there and one home. What is worse than pushing a jogging stroller? pushing an EMPTY stroller! The looks are incredible :) I wonder what was going through the minds of people watching me pushing an empty stroller with Lucy on the leash..."maybe the dog ate your baby" :)

Holy Heavens. This was the best of times and the worst of times. My mom took Adam for me so that I could meet Becca at the Legacy Parkway and do a long run together while she was in town for her BIL wedding. I was SO excited to run with Becca!! It was SO good to see her and have her back.

We had a great chat and run. The only problem was there were NO water stops along the parkway. Yes, it is flat, but it is exposed and next to the free-way. Not my favorite. We ran to a gas station in Centerville to refil water around mile 8. Crossing the freeway interchange was exciting! blech.

Both Becca and I were starting to lose it around half way. Well, at least I was. I was done. But, I knew I had a GU and at 11 we turned and headed back. I could do this. It was cloudy and cool. Only 9. Those Nine took FOREVER! I was draging and it was a huge mental feat to keep moving. We pawned some water off a guy starting his run. We asked if he knew of any water stops and he said no, but had some water in his car and refilled our bottles. We went through that too quickly and luckily we found a park a few miles down the trail. My back was killing me. I don't know why. It hasn't ever done that before!! I sat on a park bench and drank some water. I really didn't want to finish, but knew I needed to.

With just one mile left to go we stopped the last time. I sat on the bench on the side of the trail. My mind was more than willing to push on, but my body was just done. I think my fuel was just more than empty. It is a good thing I had to get back to the car and quickly to deal with kids and meeting Craig at home as he FINALLY came home after being gone for a month. Becca and I were so done that despite being a half mile from the cars once we hit 20 we stopped and walked :) Despite being done I was pleasantly surprised at our AP. When I turned at mile 11 we were at 8:24 and at the finish we were at 8:27. That really surprised me.

We went to 7-11 afterward and got our traditional slurpees. As soon as the sugar hit my mouth I got giddy! It felt SO good to have FUEL. Yup. I was low. I had my slurpee and a chocolate milk and on the way home started feeeling much better. Train low and race high, right? It was hard to say good-bye to Becca. I know it will be a long time until she comes back to Utah, but hopefully I can go visit her in TX and we can hang out there. I'll need a winter escape!!

AP: 8:27 splits: 8:27, 8:22, 8:16, 8:24, 8:19, 8:11, 8:20, 8:47, 8:24, 8:35, 8:26, 8:39, 8:30, 8:14, 8:22, 8:34, 8:28, 8:27, 8:47, 8:34. We must just like a nice 8:20-8:30 pace :)

Proud Mama! Yup. My 12 year old daughter has worked hard to get ready for her first full length (okay, extended length) tri! 1000M open water swim, 15.5 mile bike, 4 mile run.

It was nice that it was a later start time, but with mom forgetting her goggles (and having to go back) then forgetting her helmet (going back again) we got there a little later than I would've liked. But, still felt like we had enough time.

Checked in, started getting transition set up and they had you assigned by numbers, so we weren't together :( I guess I figured we had more time than we did. Bike pump was broken (thank you little boys) and so we had to take our bikes over to the Sheels tent to get them pumped up and then the pre-race meeting started. Crap. Got our wet suits on while they were doing the meeting and since it was Lauren's first time putting one on it took a little longer than expected. Getting a theme of the morning?!? They said they would shut down the transition area at 10 min to the start of the race and so I just kind of waited and did my thing until they kicked us out, but they never did. Hmm, we headed down to the water...what the?!? The pink cap wave was just starting...that was MY wave! CRAP!! I ran down to the water, but decided to just wait and go with the yellow wave (Lauren's wave). Well, I thought she was right behind me and then they did the count-down for the yellow cap wave and I looked back and she was just standing about 30 feet behind me. LAUREN! I started yelling at her to get in the water...this was her wave. She thought it was mine that was just before hers. I felt SO ill prepared and that this was NOT the way I wanted this to go.

Once she got that this was her wave her jumped in the water and took off. I couldn't keep up. Nope. Mama stinks at swimming and she is a little fish. Not only did she kill the swim, but mom had to be redirected TWICE by the kayak guy to get back into the main swim line, because I was SO far out. Then I went so far into the triangle that I could see the swimmers in front of me, but no bouy. I looked and looked, with no luck! Then I realized it was at like 7:00 behind me!!! ugh, too far the other way. I think I swam 1600M, not just 1000M! I finally got through the terrible swim (the first time I could FEEL waves coming over me), and despite being passed by 2 other waves, I at least got done and ran up to transition. Lauren was long gone. No where to be found! So, I got on the bike as quickly as I could and set out to find her, so that I could actually do the tri with her...like I'd planned :)

After a few miles and surveying the bikes in front of me, I figured she was SO far ahead of me I might not catch her until the run. I was a little bummed. The bike went around Pineview Reservior, counter clock wise, so if you've done Ogden marathon (or half) after the hill and then to the dam is where we started...going the opposite way of the marathon (we were at a beach about a mile from the dam). It took me until past the half start in Eden to finally catch Lauren! She had put on a biking jersey, so I was looking for a red tank, but never saw it. I was glad I'd finally caught her and although it was difficult to not break drafting rules trying to stay near her, she did a great job on the ride and averaged 16.0MPH for the ride! I was SO proud of her effort. The wind heading back to the dam was quite bad, but she pushed through and made it in good time. Such an awesome little girl!!! Okay, young woman :)

At the transition she was ready before I was (I'd brought crappy shoes I had to untie and tie) so I told her to go ahead and I'd catch up to her. We both knew I could :) It was fun as I chatted with some people behind Lauren as I caught up to her. They were amazed. One lady was only running as part of a relay and was impressed that a 12 year old in front of her was doing it all. There was a clyde that was near Lauren and I as I caught up to her and he had a good time razzing Lauren. Up one of the last hills before we took off onto a trail he said "yeah, don't let the fat old man pass you up!" You should've seen Lauren take off up that hill. It made us both chuckle...and the guy next to us. I was glad he was willing to give her some motivation.

Just before mile 2 we took off the road (again running the opposite way of the Ogden course) and went on a trail that parallels the road and started back to the beach. It was amazing to watch Lauren just work it like crazy on that trail. She wasn't into pushing the downhills, but she would push the little uphills! The trail was relatively flat, but did have some elevation change along the way. I started calling her a little mountain goat :) I motivated her to pass a guy that had been in front of her the whole time I'd been with her, but that she'd gotten closer to on the trail. She took the challenge and passed him. I loved it! She didn't pass anyone on the bike, but she took out a few good men on the run! Lauren just kept on running and pushing through. I was SO proud of her as she passed a group of boys walking (15-19). She knows how to do it. The miles were getting long and I could tell that she was getting a little tired, but she just kept pushing through and the last guy she had caught started running and gaining on her, but she wouldn't let him catch her. She has a little of her mama in her :) Then as we hit the last 50 feet of the run and pavement to the finish that girl just took off! I couldn't even keep up with her. She finished in front of me and I couldn't have been prouder to watch her from behind.

Lauren worked hard for this one and I'm SO proud of my girl! The run took her 42:XX and although I know it is no land speed record, you have to realize that this is about what she runs a 5K at! It was 4 miles and after swimming and biking. She is so resiliant and amazing. I love that girl! After grabbing some food, we checked results and she was 1st in her AG!! YIPEE!! So, we had to hang around for awards. We got some warm clothes on, I chatted with Ladies that I knew from TTT there and then waited for awards. They did oldest first (which is a nice thing to do!), but that meant Lauren was last as we were waiting in the cold rain. When they called her name, it was for 2nd place :/ I couldn't figure out why, but the girl that took first must've been in the wrong AG. She did finish a half hour faster than Lauren, but was at least 17yrs old (the AG was 19 and under!) and this was obviously NOT her first tri. I guess 2nd out of kids 5-7 years older than you isn't all that bad :) It was a little disappointing to not get the 1st place, but holy cow! 2nd?!? in that AG? For her first full length tri?!? umm, yeah!

Afterward I took her to get lunch and then run errands. She wasn't into eating much, which told me she'd worked her butt off! SO proud of my girl. SO proud.