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

6 mile walk and chat with my sweet daughter. We walked to the library and home...had books to drop off, so why not? She took Lucy and I pushed Adam in the stroller. We left the crazy boys behind at home with dad.

Funny part? got home and needed to rush off to choir practice at the church, so I drove the .25 mile there. HA! I can walk to the library and back, but I need to drive to the church :)

I think the end of my week is going to be a little heavy on the miles, so I keeping the first part easy. Still not 100% recovered from my Ragnar adventure either. Better safe than sorry, right?

5 TM miles. I was only going to go 3, but I decided I would run 9 songs. First 3 songs at 7.0, next 3 at 7.1, then the last 3 I went progressive to 7.5 each song. When I finished I had .15 left to finish up 5, so I did 7:47 and then 6:53 pace to finish up. A little longer than expected, but I had a great run.

I walked to cool down and chatted with my friend on the TM next to me, and then we walked a bit on the track with another friend. I stretched and then was going to leave when I spotted Sara just coming into the gym. She has wanted to do a specific upper body workout with me for a few weeks now, but we've never coordinated schedules well enough. So, I figured I could leave Adam in the daycare for another hour and I went to workout with her.

I got my butt handed to me! Back, shoulders and arms. I couldn't tell you everything we did...but don't ask me to pick up my kids for the rest of the week! I feel stronger already :)

10 mile classic loop with the Newtons...well, George and Chad. It took me until mile 6 to finally start feeling good and warmed up, don't know if that is a good sign or not...maybe it was because that was the first of the downhill miles :) 

AP: 8:29 splits: 8:17, 8:29, 8:37, 8:40, 8:54, 8:41, 8:17, 7:54, 8:29, 8:31

Then I came home and slept for a bit...I love a good morning nap cuddled in a warm blanket. Oh, also on my Christmas wish list? An electric blanket :)

Adam's music class was canceled this week because of Thanksgiving, so he could finally go to swim class! He was SO excited. I was going to do some spin first, but by the time I got my act together and got to the gym I didn't want to pay for just 20 minutes - they charge by the hour. So Adam and I walked around the track and punched the punching bags until class started.

A nice water aerobics class for me then swim time for him. Besides being freezing cold he loved it!

Then I got to visit with a good friend that moved 6 months ago in her new home and my family and I went out to dinner to my dad's favorite hamburger joint - Ab's - and we got a FAT boy. Best burger around and even my boys ate theirs up and loved it. Dad had great taste in food, knew how to eat and ate well! A wonderful day to celebrate a wonderful man. I lost my dad 6 years ago today. Always a bitter sweet day. I love that I texted my sisters in the morning and then when I checked my email at home later they'd both already sent me a sweet message. Yup, Bye-wing, QP and I have one of the best fathers around...yes, he is still around :) and his kids are pretty darn great too! He left a legacy to be admired.

Yes, I'm the cute little baby on daddy's shoulders. They love me best :) You can fight over whic one you think QP and Bye-wing are.

Nothing...unless driving all over town 3 times, running around the school 5 times, baking 4 dozen rolls and 2 hand-made pies (chocolate mousse cheesecake...long time!), and cleaning up mess after mess from my 2 year old and the kitchen is worth something.

Lovely morning half marathon! Ran with Jason who has run Wasatch Back Ragnar and LV Ragnar....and nothing between. It was his first half and AT Ragnar Kimberly and I convinced him he was wasting his running gift and that he needed to run a half. This wasn't the best to start with, but now all the rest will seem easy!

The wind was crazy and around Thanksgiving Point the hills aren't always easy, but Jason pulled through in GREAT fashion for only running 9 miles at the most beforehand. He ran the whole way and never walked. He grabbed water and drank at a couple aid stations and had one gu at mile 8, but that was it. Stellar performance! Now, he needs to do more!!! :)

My hubby and kids did the 5K, but results...well, what results? The awards were crazy. The guy couldn't see on his laptop (because we were outside FREEZING!) and he finally just said "here is how this is going to go. If you are here, you won, take a pie." Whatever. I know I didn't win anything, but since they had a bounce house and the kids were happy I froze for the raffle...which ended up not existing anyway. But, we got a Costco HUGE pumpkin pie from leftovers at the 'post race feed' table. Awesome.

Everyone had a good time despite being cold. A wonderful morning for sure!

AP: 9:41 splits: 9:03, 8:50, 8:55, 9:10, 8:57, 9:55 (aid station stop), 9:29, 10:38 (another stop, but slowing and into the wind), 10:02, 10:01, 10:32 (hills and wind - Kimberly and I tried to make a wind block, but he was slowing too), 11:02 (aid station walk and HILL), 9:39 (ahh, wind at the back and finish line ahead!), 8:06 (finishing sprint the last .2 on garmin).

Before and After the race. We stayed in Kimberly's truck before so that we could stay warm as long as possible!

Black Friday Run with Peeps! Rachelle, Kelli, Chad, George and Christine all met me at a park by the Mtn View Corridor and we headed for the hills. When everyone took off up the first hill TO the road I knew this wouldn't be a walk in the park! I guess that is what I get for inviting crazy fast people. My legs were a little trashed from yesterday too. Not horrible, but not fresh either. 

We had a great run and chat and we did the rollers out to Redwood, at the Jr High we spotted Amy and she ran from there to the turn around with us....then we climbed the mother hill back UP from Redwood. Christine was coming toward Redwood just as we finished at the top of the hill. We invited her to come back with us, but she wanted to take on the hill too! So...we let her :) 

The run back I just ran out of steam. I don't know if I was too hot or didn't fuel properly or what, but I was lightheaded and dizzy. Thankfully, Rachelle was willing to stay back with my slow butt! We chatted and Kelli stopped at the pop and Amy cut off to go home. So, I ate a couple jelly beans I had with me and drank some. I knew I only had the wonderful downhill to finish, so I was golden. Still didn't feel on top of the world, but doable.

Finished up 13 miles...rounding out a full marathon in the last 24 hours. I LOVE holiday weekends! Then I drove Chad and Kelli home (they'd both run to the park) and Kelli invited me in for some yummy Great Harvest bread and Hot Cocoa. That girl knows how to refuel! After some more chatting I headed home for a relaxing weekend. Love lazy weekends!

AP: 8:35 (for how I was feeling and the 1000ft of elevation gain from the hills I'll take it!) splits: 8:39, 8:47, 8:59, 8:27, 8:22, 8:21, 9:10 (mother hill from Redwood), 8:33, 8:32, 8:48, 8:02 (DOWN!), 8:22, 8:31

Thanks everyone for a wonderful Black Friday RUN! Much more preferable than shopping...uggghh, I hate shopping.

Well, I finally put my big girl panties on and joined the boy's club (Scott and Jun) for a run up Lake Mountain. I had to bring a posse with me, so I didn't feel so out of place. Kelli, Scott (her husband) and Chad and I all carpooled down to Saratoga to meet Scott W and Jun and their friend (Nate?) for the adventure.

Now, I'd like to say I got some trail running in on the way UP, but that would be a lie :) Okay, so maybe the first mile or so, but dang it! It gets steep and with my long legs it just got to the point where a long walking stride was easier and faster than a short running stride. I loved it when Jun (who was the sucker that got stuck with me at the back of the crowd) said "I can't keep up with your power walk!" and went into a slow jog. Bonus. I love long legs :) 

My heart was beating out of my chest and I was working hard, so the fact that I wasn't exactly running wasn't an issue for me! As we neared the last switchbacks I could see we were near the top and my jubilation couldn't be contained any longer! I started yelling wonderful things as I made my way up the last little dirt trail to the radio towers. How enthralling it was to get such an awesome view for the morning effort! I felt like I was queen of the world...once my HR came down.

I was the last one up, but made it in 1:07:40...which I was told was a pretty decent, respectable time. Still the last one up, but at least it didn't take me 2 hours!

The way down was crazy business! I didn't realize how absolutely steep it was until I went down. Waaaay too steep to run, I felt like I was going to fall on my face just trying to walk down. Kelli and I stuck together on the way down and took it easy so that we didn't die...yes, we were the princesses of the group. After a mile or so the trail finally gets runable. It was here Scott and Jun and Kelli's hubby Scott met up with us and we all had a great chat and easy run down. It was still pretty darn steep and I knew my quads wouldn't be happy afterward, but compared to the top it was at least runable! Finally, the last mile on the approach road came. Perfect downhill running! Just enough to give you the advantage, but not enough to kill you :) I just plugged in and let it fly!

Finished the round trip in 1:48:00 - again, a respectable time from what I understand. At least I didn't collapse and die. That was my only goal!

Well, as I went to get my key out of my pocket I'd realized it wasn't there. Crap. I'd gotten a phone call about 1+ mile from the bottom, but when I saw it wasn't important I just threw my phone back in my pocket and zipped it up. I thought I'd felt my key in there when I'd zipped it up, but I was wrong...crap. I knew exactly where the key would've fallen out, but I really didn't want to run/hike back up and down. Dumb. I knew I should've just stopped and made sure the key was in there!! Well, luckily, the road was good enough for Scott W's CRV to drive on and sure enough...when we got to the point I knew I'd taken the phone out, there was the key, in the middle of the road just waiting for me! Tender Mercies. Thanks to Scott for driving me up there...my legs might not have made it and $200 for a new key wouldn't have happened!

Well, it was definitely an adventure! One I'd like to repeat very soon (except the lost key part). I love trail running and this was a well maintained, flat dirt road (not super technical). The vert was hard enough, I didn't need to add the technical stuff right away. I now know what 2800ft of climbing over 4 miles is like, and in a sadistic way...I love it! :)