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

My 2 year old has decided that 5:30 is a wonderful time to wake up, crawl in my bed and tell me he wants some milk. Nice... After trying to go back to sleep for the last 40 minutes until my alarm went off (which I wasn't really successful at with baby crawling all over me), I got up for a nice little run.

I did the big Juniper Crest Loop - 8 miles. But, I did it backwards...well, the way I least prefer. I went downhill for 3 miles, up the biggest nasty hill that I love to hate, then a little down/flat home. The last mile is always mostly uphill home, can't help it, but it wasn't too bad. 

As I started running I had Boston swirling through my head. I talked to hubby last night and he said that I could register. This may be the one and only time I do Boston, and I think I'm okay with that, but it is BOSTON! Maybe I'm in the minority here, but when I started running and finally figured out WHAT  a marathon really was (without having to ask or google it) and how fast you had to run to even have a shot at getting to Boston, it was a dream. In 9th grade I'd been voted by my gifted and talented (yes, I was a nerd) group "Most likely to run Boston" because at the school's 1.5 mi fun run just a couple months before I decided I wanted to run it and ended up taking 1st place in the school. Nope, didn't run track. Never ran more than a mile for PE, just didn't want to be one of 'those girls' that walk/runs because they don't want to mess up their hair or get stinky. Anyway, at that point in my life I had NO idea what it took to run a marathon, let alone Boston. But, as I've grown in the running world I want to run Boston. Just once. I want to live up to SOMEONES ideal for me from more years ago than I care to admit.  I don't want to be President of the US like I was voted most likely in HS, but maybe, just maybe I can run Boston :) There are many other reasons that I want to do Boston this next year and not put it off, but once I do it, I don't think I'll do it again. Once in a lifetime here! I'll be happy with that. Cross MA off the 50 states club...and move on. So, now I'm waiting for my confirmation email. I figure since they re-opened it today and it is qualifiers under 5min over qualifying time, I'm in like Flynn. I've got the fastest of the slowest qualifying times :) 4:59 over a BQ. That darn one second! I could've registered Friday if it wasn't for that darn one second! Anyway, now I sit and wait....

So, I digress. The hill went a lot better than I thought it would and in my mind it was my own little Veyo. SGM is heavy on the brain lately. My first few downhill miles I thought "I can't run a full faster than I did in Ogden, I'm just not there. Besides, right now you're probably running an 8:30 and this is how marathon pace should feel! You can't run 7:50s for 26 miles, you'll die. You're just not there right now." Well, when I got home and looked at my splits I'd actually had a 7:39 and 7:48 mile when those thoughts were going through my head. I guess if that is how MP should feel like I was berating myself for...I should be okay :)

Can you tell I've got a lot of heavy on the brain lately? Since very few of you even read my crazy ramblings anymore, I'm just letting them go today!

Got home and felt a lot better than I really thought I would after Saturday and starting my last week of heavy training for SGM. I can do this! Only 3 weeks left...

AP: 8:31 splits: 8:17, 7:39, 7:48, 9:00, 9:40 (hello hills!), 8:29, 8:39, 8:33

Rode the bike with Adam to the rec center and did spin class. Sometimes I can't understand exactly what the point of Bill's workout is or what exactly he wants us to do. So, I just fake it pretty well :)  Good workout either way.

Hit the TM for one speed mile afterward to get the legs moving: 6:35 (started at 6:58 and went progressive until 5:58 for the last .05)

60/60/60 planks, push-ups and stretching.

Grabbed Adam and took the long way home. Past my sister-in-laws new home and around the stake center to home. Beautiful day to be outside, and surprise, surprise...guess who fell asleep on the bike on the way home? Yup, my 5AM friend!

Thanks for putting up with my ramblings today...lots on the brain.

Did the regular ol' 10 mile loop with the Newtons today. We stuck together for the first mile, but when the temple hill came I got left in the dust. Thankfully, Chad was willing to poke along with me, since George seemed to have a vengeance for the course today and wasn't even going to stop to regroup and Ronnie just kept up his pace. 

I always feel like a turd when I'm the back of the group. I don't know why. I know I'm slower than most of the group, but I hate feeling like someone has to not get a good workout in just to hang with me because I'm the only girl and they are nice gentlemen and won't leave me to the mtn lions :) 

It turned out not to be a very badly paced run. You know me, I never look at the garmin unless I have to, so I didn't know time/splits until the end and that is when I figured George just had something to get out of his system today!

AP: 8:08 splits: 8:26, 8:02 (temple hill), 7:52, 8:17, 8:51 (Maverik hill), 8:30, 7:52, 7:43, 7:52, 7:50.

I really feel like I fell into a good rhythm on the way home, which is kind of nice to see that my splits were good 7:50's on the way home without trying to push anything or think about it! Nice to have some speed coming back. Chad and I did have to stop at practically every light and George and Ronnie breezed through, so that made the separation greater, but when Chad and I came rolling in Ronnie stood on the sidewalk as he walked home and cheered us on, funny boy! Just as perspective their AP was 7:46 for the 10 miles. Sheesh boys! It isn't a race...most days :)

Came home and after getting kids off took a little nap, which was nice because hubby was working from home! Then he had to take off at 9:45 so I got ready and Adam and I took a little bike ride to and from Music class. I figured 10 nearly tempo miles was a good workout for the day.

Tried to recruit some people to run my mother of a hill with me today, but only Chad was brave enough to try it out. 

I thought starting at 6AM we'd have a little daylight by the time we got there...nope. Stink. But, sometimes it is nice to not see what is ahead of you! For the 3/4ish of a mile for the mother of a hill it took me 8:36. SO slow, but dang that hill is nasty. Then I tried to push a little bit of a low 7's pace for the downhill, which seemed about right on the Garmin, but because my mile splits are half uphill half downhill they don't accurately reflect that effort. Then at the bottom of the Cove, we went back for more and did the hill loop one more time. I actually finished it in 8:33. Now, this is kind of guessing from the garmin data, so I can't be 100% sure it was faster, but at least it was approximately the same effort. Which for the second loop, I'll take! Finished pushing the downhill again and then got to just cruise on home, with just a little extra loop to finish at 7 miles. 

AP: 8:44 splits: 8:34, 10:44, 8:04, 8:14, 10:04, 7:40, 7:45

Grabbed a short nap before getting lunches made and kids out the door, then loaded up Adam on the bike and went to the rec center. I did 40 min on the bike, then my PT strengthening exercises: Band walk, big/little toe calf raises, lunges, skull crushers (for the flabby arms), one legged weighted bridge lifts.

Grabbed Adam from the nursery then took him with me while I sat on the machines to stretch. Then we rode home.

I had to break the gloves out this morning...l/s shirts, now this? sigh, I don't like cold :(

Urban Trail Loop with the Newtons. Chad, George, Kimberly and Ronnie. At the top of the hill in Daybreak Chad and I were all alone. We hadn't hit that fast of paces, so I was wondering what had happened to the rest of the group. Especially George, he doesn't like to be too far off the leaders. Turns out Ronnie is babying an Achilles issue that popped up on Tuesday and George ran another 6 miles the afternoon after his speed work on Tuesday and now has lead legs and they just wouldn't move. I was happy to be feeling good! So, at the re-group I ran with Kimberly. It is rare to have female company at the Newtons so I wasn't going to pass it up! Had a great run with her and when we hit the trail Ronnie spotted a skunk...so we let the gentlemen go first :) 

We had a great chat and at the next re-group George joined Kimberly and I at a little slower pace. I was loving not having to race with the boys back to the cars. The last 1/2 mile I decided to just push it out and picked up the turnover and my legs felt great. I thought after a good hard week of runs that my legs might not move, but they did and I felt good. Always a good sign!

AP: 8:34 splits: 8:49, 8:25, 8:16, 8:20, 8:58, 8:30, 9:01, 8:13

Came home and grabbed a little nap before getting kids off to school.

My TTT group was meeting for a ride at Butterfield Canyon at 9AM. I was planning on going to the gym and just doing an easy spin, but the desire for company overcame me. I rode with Adam on the mtn bike to the canyon and met everyone there. I was hoping someone would be nice and hang back with me and Adam on the climb. I figured I'd only make it a couple miles before everyone else turned and came down.

Heidi was nice and stuck with me (we started a couple minutes before the group) and we had a good chat when I could talk and before I knew it we were at mile 3 up the canyon. It started to get steep, but I pushed on the best I could. At mile 3.5 I told Heidi I was done and pulled off the road and she continued up. I caught my breath and grabbed a drink. I turned around and asked Adam how he liked that ride. He answered "more?" you little stinker! I guess I'm not done yet. So, I slowly made my way up another 1/2 mile on the bike having to stop a few times. One big hill I had to stop and walk up to the top, because I couldn't counter Adam's weight on the back and I was going so slow and it was so steep, I felt like I was going to pop a wheelie and fall over. So, I did the smart thing and stopped :)

After hitting mile 4 I walked the bike up about another 1/4 mile a little at a time looking for a good pull-out to wait for the ladies to come back down. Luckily, Heidi was one of the first ones to come back and so I hopped back on with her (after having Adam turn my pedals while I lifted the bike and shifted my gears UP, no way was I going back down in a super low gear!). The downhill for the first couple miles was crazy and I felt like I rode my brakes the whole way! The last couple miles I still didn't have to pedal, but it wasn't quite so scary.

Just a few minutes after Heidi and I got down the rest of the crowd came screaming down the canyon. We all stayed and chatted and ate some very yummy cinnamon rolls (Adam really liked that!), then after a little more chatter I rode home just in time for my kindergartner to come home. A great run and ride this morning with great people! I'm glad I got to ride downhill home...that is all I'm going to say about that! About 14 miles on the bike total.

Adam and I as we waited for the others to come down. The climb up the canyon was beautiful, but the company was even cuter :)

Slept in...finally! Rode with Adam down to the rec center.

Just a short run to move the legs. Easy day before the last SGM long workout tomorrow.

I just jumped on at 8:27 pace and ran. Listening to my ipod and enjoying the time running. All of a sudden I looked at the clock and realized I'd been running for almost 30 minutes. Shoot. I was only going to run 3, maybe I'm close. I was at 3.2 miles! I didn't even realize it! I would've thought I was maybe 1.5. Gotta love it when those miles just fly by! Especially at a decent pace (for me anyway). Bumped it up to 7:53 pace to finish off the last .3 miles then wiped up the TM and headed to the pool. I could've run forever! :)

Now, to explain what happened at the pool will take a story and little confession. I've been missing female running companions :( Seems like most of the time I end up running with guys. What happened to all my female peeps? :( Either I'm to slow for them, schedules don't match or we're too far. I've been feeling really abandoned. Maybe it is me and I need to get outside of what has become my comfort zone. I don't know. Either way, I was whining to my hubby and came up with an idea. I'd look through the Ogden marathon results and find females that finished w/in 10 min of my time that lived in Herriman, Riverton or South Jordan. Stalking skills at their finest :) Well, I found someone that lives in Herriman that finished just 2 min after me! Score! I knew this was my new running buddy!! But, try as I might, I couldn't find Rebecca Strain anywhere. She didn't even have many results on Athlinks. Poo. I was SO close. Where is my running buddy? :(

So, with all this fresh in my mind, as I go to the pool I see a lady (about my age) sitting on the side with her kids and she has a Big Cottonwood Canyon Marathon shirt on! This is her...I just know it! (see, I'm still stalking!) So, I ask if she is running that tomorrow...half or full (full)...Oh, I'm waiting for SGM. Well, we end up chatting about running! She is a trail runner and does Squaw Peak 50 and so hasn't run Ogden, but this will be her 10th full in SGM this year! So, it wasn't my long lost buddy Rebecca that I'd been searching out, but still! A running buddy! :) I don't know what her schedule is like or if anything will ever work out, but we talked about tri training, trail running and lots of other stuff. We both proposed the idea of running together sometime, because we don't like to run alone. She said she wasn't quite up to my speed, but runs more like 3:45 in fulls. Hey, pretty close! I told her that we could hit the trails and she can kick my trash there. That was the perfect plan. She prefers trails, but hates to run alone! Bonus! Then, in the mix of all this she asks if I run with the BBKs (after telling her my name). I said well, I get their emails and used to, but I haven't been running consistently with them for a while. She said she recognized my name from their emails! Awesome! See?!? We were already connected and didn't even know it. So, since we already had each others emails sitting in our inboxes we said we'd email and set up a time to run trails together...after SGM :) Maybe she was just humoring the crazy lady that struck up a conversation with her in the pool, but it seemed like she was as excited about having a new running partner as I was. I guess time will tell. Only problem? I don't remember her name. oops. great way to start, huh? I think it is Stephanie, but I'm not sure. I do remember her email and already sent one out to her. She hasn't ever run with the BBKs she just met Cheris at baseball, so we wouldn't have ever met before this. Crazy! Anyway, I hope I found a new friend :) (what a loser story, huh?!?)

So, long story longer I chatted my time for swimming away and thought "well, that's okay, I'll just pay for the extra daycare time." Jumped in the water and swam for about 5-8 minutes. Then all of a sudden it dawned on me that it was FRIDAY! Early out day for Kindergarten and I had 20 minutes to get out of the pool, get Adam out of daycare and then RIDE my bike home to be there when the carpool dropped off!!! Crap! So, I jumped out of the pool. Hardly worth even getting wet. Oh well, I got a few laps of pulling in anyway. When I took my cap off my hair wasn't even wet...seriously?!? Swim for 7 minutes? Not worth it!

Quickly changed, Grabbed Adam got on the bike and got home as fast as my legs would carry me. Still had about 5 minutes before carpool came - score! They were about 7-10 minutes late though :)

Anyway, crazy morning, but I think the lack of the swim was worth the pay-off of a new possible female running buddy! No offense to any of the guys I run with. I just need some girl time.

***PM***

Family Fun Run for the Elementary School Fund raiser. All my kids ran a mile and since they were all in different waves I ran with each of them. I didn't want to start out in the crowd, so I walked across the field and met them 1/2 way through the first lap. I only had my flip flops on, so I just ran in them. At least 2.5 miles total and all my kids did a GREAT job on their runs!!! Such a proud mama, always a proud mama :)

I really don't know what to make of this run. Is it a good thing or just a good day? 

Went to redeem myself in Provo Canyon from last weeks disaster run. Rode with Chad and George down to Sasha's home. Headed up the canyon with the lovely familiar head wind. I just tried to keep up. It wasn't until Sasha pointed out the 100M markers on the road and our time that I realized how fast I was running. I even said "I'd better let you go, I'm going to fast." But, Sasha said the uphill speed doesn't matter, so they kept with me...rather, I kept up with them. Pace didn't drop! :) 

The other 3 were doing 20 today and I only wanted 16 with the last 8 downhill at MP tempo to lock it in for the legs and build confidence for SGM. Well, after bidding them adieu at Vivian and wishing them luck up South Fork (enjoy!) I did just .25 extra out and back to get ready for the downhill tempo. Threw back a gu, grabbed some water, chatted with some ladies (c'mon...you know me!) then put my big girl panties on to take on the canyon.

I should mention that I glanced at my garmin...8:02AP for UP the canyon! What the heck?!? I don't run uphill that fast, and it didn't feel that hard of effort either. I would've put it more 8:20ish. This is when I realized the pace up the canyon didn't really slow much at all from my 'I quit' moment. Crap, if I'd run MP UP the canyon...what was I going to do down? Goal MP of 7:50 was definitely possible, I can do this...I can.

I didn't look at the Garmin on the way down. You know how that plays head games with me. So, I just ran a comfortably hard pace, or a little more so. Better effort than the up effort, but still sustainable. I kept thinking "if this is only a 7:50 there is NO way I'm running that pace at SGM!" But, I just tried to plug into my music and enjoy the downhill ride, the beauty of the canyon and the bazillion other runners on the trail :)

I decided I wanted to stop at Nunns, got there...nah, I'm good. I'll go to the ever flowing water. I thought about how this week these miles were flying by and last week it felt like crap and drug on FOR-EV-ER! Definitely a better run week. At the water fountain I looked at the pace...holy crap. I'd dropped the AP to 7:38 and my splits were around 7mm. Nice. I had 3 more miles (exactly, strangely enough) and decided to push on and try to keep it up. So, after a short chat with another lady at the fountain, I got on my way (can you blame me? I'm a talker and the guys were running FOUR more miles...I had time). Within about 1/4 mile I regretted not stopping at the bathroom.

about 1.4 later it was painfully obvious I needed to use the bathroom. I kept looking along the park (I was on the West side of the river, so there was a little park area) for a pit stop and couldn't see one. Ah! finally spotted one. Nope...false alarm, crap...literally! :) I knew it was only 1/2 mile or so to the start of the RHPC run and I KNEW there was a bathroom there. So, I kept up the tempo to the bathroom and the door was even open. Beautiful!

When I started back I had .5 to go to hit my 16. This made me happy, because I knew my detour to the bathroom had made it so I didn't have to finish up the back road to Sasha's house :) It took my legs a bit to get back into it, besides now going a slight uphill my legs I think thought I was done at the bathroom. Nope, just a little more! I ended with just .1 up the hill and then I walked the rest of the way up! Marvelous :)

I had kept a pretty good consistent pace (except the last mile) on the tempo on the way down, but even the last mile wasn't horrible! I think I might just be able to pull it off. At least match my Ogden time, I hope. But, SGM is a beast I have yet to tame...so we will see! I'm going to try and Neg split. Take the first half 'easy' and lock in for the 2nd half. You know...the way a marathon SHOULD be run?

When I got back, Chad and Sasha were already there! What the heck? I guess I'd talked waaaay too much :) doesn't surprise me. They passed me while I was on my bathroom detour, and my long walk up the hill didn't help matters. Anyway, we still had to wait a bit for George, so at least I wasn't last.

Had a nice visit and chat with Pachevs and was grateful for their hospitality in post run fueling! I now have a track workout brewing in my head...maybe Tuesday :)

AP: 7:33 splits: 8:23, 8:20, 8:08, 8:04, 8:02, 8:05, 7:50 (turn around); 7:26, 6:55, 7:00, 6:58, 7:03, 7:04, 6:55, 7:09, 7:21 (last 100 feet over 16 miles recorded at 7:06...so the finishing pace was good!).