Each Day Is a Gift

Kelli worked her magic again today!

You'd think it was race morning or something.  I was so excited for this run, I woke up at 5 am.   I hadn't run for two days and ate so much over Thanksgiving that I was ready for a nice long run with great friends.  There were about 15 of Kelli's friends there.  What an awesome bunch of runners.  I got to hang with Kelli, her gym instructor and Rachel & Lucy (Rachel's dog) the first 5 miles going north and UP.  Thanks to Kelli, there was a cooler full of bottled water for us at the turn around.  My legs felt pretty good so decided to test them out on the downhill.  I figured the girls would soon follow.  I also wanted to run a few miles at marathon pace.  I soon caught up within 100 yards of two of the boys.  I can't recall their names (Erico & Jose?). When we got back to the parking lot, KellieS was kind enough to run with me for 4 more miles.  It's amazing how fast the miles go by when you're chatting away.  About half of us got back to the finish where sweet Kelli had a spread of muffins, juice and drinks.  KELLI, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ORGANIZING THIS RUN, and for the "aid stations" and breakfast after.  YOU ARE THE BEST!!!  I hope we get to do this again.

14 miles in 2:13:45.  Average pace: 9:33.  HR: 160.  Splits: 9:50, 9:34, 9:32, 10:25, 10:08, 9:25, 9:15, 9:24, 9:25, 9:33, 9:30, 9:20, 9:13, 9:00. 

An interesting afternoon:

My sweet hubby wanted to take me shopping for outfits for the holiday parties.  I wanted to stop by Wasatch Running Center to pick up my Grand Slam hat.  I bought a pair of CW-X tight at 50% off, sweet.  Then we went to the South Town Mall.  As we entered Dilliard's from the parking lot, we saw a young lady (late teens or 20's) getting out with another lady (like her mother) in a wheelchair.  I held the inside door open while my hubby held the outside door for them.  They politely said many thank you's.  No sooner had they exited the outside door, a security guard was charging down the store isle towards the doors.  He ran past me, nearly knocked my hubby over, with a woman security guard right behind.  They grabbed the girl by her arm.  The mother tried to flee from the wheel chair but tripped and fell at the curb.  Other shoppers coming from the parking lot were all concerned and so was I until my husband said:  "We just aided and abated the escape of those two shop-lifters."  Sure enough, the security guy pulled out the hidden loots from the wheel chair.  I have never witness a theft bust before.  It was kinda scary and exciting. I later learned from the store clerks that mothers had used their baby strollers to hide stolen goods.  What horrible example to their children.  How sad!!!

After that nice morning run and afternoon shopping, I was too tired to cook.  We took the family to Chuck-a-Rama.  It was Thanksgiving feast all over again.  I ate TOO MUCH.  When's our long run again?