Each Day Is a Gift

Ran with Karen (Sky) and her son, Brad on canal trail then up on Highland trail to 4800W and back via 1200E.  Nice cool temp, sunny blue sky, calm.  Easy conversational run.  Knee was tight during warm up, same old stuff.  No tapering for the Angel Marathon this Sat. which will be first long run of 2012. :)

Found out last night that the Orphan Hope Marathon is in the same location/course as the Rocky Raccoon (a week later)...gonna be interesting and fun since I've never run on forest trail before! :)  

Another beautiful day, 35F, calm, blue sunny sky.  Ran with Karen (Sky) and Brad to canal trail west then north on cabela trail.  

Myrtle.

3 circuits CSE.

Another perfect running weather day with Wendy, Karen and Brad.  We did hills today!!! :)

Registered for SG Half last night.  Need to book flights to TX and Boston! 

5 easy with Wendy, Karen and Brad.  Another perfect running weather day.  

Myrtle.

3 circuits CSE.

No running tomorrow, travel day.  No tapering for the Angel Marathon as I'm treating this as a long run, lots of hills, net elevation gain of 2840'.  My tibia tuberosity not going to be happy! :-/

It's now 10:30pm, guess I'd better go pack!

Took the car to Costco at 10am to have a the lugs tightened on the new tires we purchased before starting our 7-8 hours drive to Vegas.  Had early lunch of two baked potatoes and a chicken wrap from Wendy's in Price. 

I wanted to take hubby to Mikano, a great Japanese buffet in North Vegas for an early dinner.  We drove around N. Vegas and found the place at 4pm (3pm NV time so had an hour before the buffet closes and reopens for dinner).  Ate way too much yummy sushi; hopefully early enough that Id be fine by morning.

Got to the hotel and expo at 5:30 NV time.  The race shirt (m-xs) was HUGE!!!  I asked for a women xs but the volunteer said they were unisex shirts.  Grrrr!!!  Not that I need another race shirt...but it'd be nice to have a shirt that fits with the amount of money I spent in race fees. 

I didn't see anyone I know.  This is a small race but has runners from all over the country: CA, UT, AZ, CO, FL, NY, NJ, VA, NE, KS, WI, TX, DE, OH, OR, IN, AL, IL, TN, MN, LA, PA, and Canada. 

Felt so not ready for the race.  Went thru the motion of putting the bib and chip on shirt and shoe.  Watched TV, read Hunger Games, texted with Teena to try to relax but lower backs were tired from sitting in the car for over 7 hours.   Sleep came in broken 2 hrs segments, too bad I didn't pack a Tylenol PM. 

Went to bed at 11pm, woke up at 1:43, 3:45, then my cell alert woke me at 5 at which time I laid in bed waiting for the alarm to go off at 6.  Showered, dressed, went down to the hotel cafe to grab a muffin and yogurt.  Hubby being the efficient personal race manager (PRM) kept reminding me to eat while I was texting away with Karen and Wendy on the drive to Lake Mead Recreation Area!  :)  We got to the Boulder Beach Event Picnic area (start of the race) around 7am.  They directed us to park the car 1/4 mile down by the beach/dirt.  Forgot my Garmin and sunglasses while walking to the start, had to walk back to the car... so not ready for this race.

A beautiful sunrise at Lake Mead

Walking 1/4 mile up from the car to the start a second time. 

This event has several race distances with staggered start times: 50 miles=6am, Marathon =8a, Half=8:30a, 10K=8:45a, 5K=8:50a.  The course is the same out-n-back with various turnaround points for the different races.  There was a friendly atmosphere with everyone smiling and milling around at the start. 

Gotta love no line at the port-a-potty and the cleaning stations right outside. :)

The race director using a bull-horn instructed us to gather by the timing clock/mat and gave straight instructions to run within the white line of the road shoulder and to put litter in the trash cans at aid stations.  The course, entirely on National Park roads, is open to traffic.  Running out of the white line as well as littering would result in DQ. 

I figured in a small race, I'd be running alone most of the time.  My PRM thought some tunes would be helpful.  It's the first time I've ever run a race with iPod. 

Putting the iPod in my shirt pocket just before count-down.

The weather was perfect: low 40s starting temp, 6mph WNW wind, sunny blue sky.  The course is USTAF certified, entirely on pavement, nothing but HILLS with net elevation gain of 2839'.  Here's the description of the course from the race website:

Departing the Boulder Beach start line there is a gradual climb of about a 1/4 mile until you turn right onto Lakeshore Drive. The next 3.5 miles are a series of rollers and flat-ish sections. Then a series of 1 mile long stretches of downhill, uphill, downhill repectively taking you to the 1/2 marathon course turn around- keep going straight! You'll continue with another 1 mile downhill. Then miles 7.7 to mile 10 are a series of rollers with a slight net gain. At mile 10 take a right onto Northshore Drive. A 1 mile downhill preceeds a series of rollers which lead you to your course turn around. Heading back you'll cover rollers for about 2 miles, climb 1 mile back to Lakeshore Drive (you are now at mile 16.2) Roughly 2 miles of rollers with a net loss leads you to a 1 mile climb. Now you again start the stretches of 1 mile sections going uphill, downhill, uphill. Mile 22.5- roughly 26 is a series of rollers again leading you to a strong downhill finish the last 1/4 mile. ** This course has an 8 hour cut-off.

With a 7lbs weight gain and a bum knee, I was in NO racing shape...so I thought I'd run this by feel...hoping to finish under 5 hours...perhaps 4:30 under the best scenario.  Plan was to: 1) keep an even effort on the uphills, 2) practice running smoothly on the downhills, 3) walk through every aid station, drink/fuel to prevent hitting the wall like I did at Mesquite.  Turned out there were 17 aid stations in all with 5 of them designated as Ultras providing choices of food/gel as well as water and Heed.

We had to stay within the white line on this winding hilly road.  Some of the hills are a mile or longer.  With the earbuds on I was startled a few times when teams of cyclists whizzed by and a group of shinny speedy cars (corvettes and the like) zoomed past. 

Lotsa hills!  There were mile markers (blue ones for marathon) every mile inserted in the orange cones. 

There were only couple of places my *PRM* could pull over to snap pictures.  Here's the widest section of the course with a median divider and right turn lane.  Otherwise the road is a narrow single lane w/ double yellow dividing lines.  The beautiful scenery more than make up for the lack of spectators/cheers. 

Mile 1 ~ 9:58.  First 1/4 mile is a climb out to the main road, then a slight drop for 1/4mile and level out for 1/2 mile.  My hands and feet were numb.  Strides were clunky.

Mile 2 ~ 9:24.  Slight incline the first half then an uphill and downhill the second half.  Saw couple of guys who look like Kenyans doing their warmups (probably for the 5Ks) on the trail parallel the road, running towards the start.

Mile 3-4 ~ 9:37, 9:24.  Gradual uphill for these two miles cresting at mile 3.75.  Gu'd at mile 4.  Legs finally woke up.

Mile 5 ~ 8:59.  Downhill for 5/8 of this mile then uphill.  Right knee creaked a little.

Mile 6 ~ 9:49.  The road sign shows a 8% grade for this uphill mile.  Passed one woman who appears to be in my AG and a pack of 5 runners.  This is at the crest of a lookout view point area with gorgeous views of Lake Mead and the surrounding mountains.

Mile 7 ~ 8:59.  First half of this mile was downhill then a slight incline and flatish for the last 1/4.  Knee seems to warm up a bit.

Mile 8 ~ 9:10.  Finding my groove on this winding semi-flatish stretch and soaking in the sun, gorgeous scenery and enjoying the ipod (The music my PRM loaded for me range from Amy Grant, instrumental church hymns, Phantom of the Opera, LDS pop songs, Barbara Streisand, YoYo Ma, Sissel, MoTab and little bit of Conference talks).

Mile 9-10 ~ 10:07, 10:08. Uphill climb to the highest point of the course.  Gu'd at mile 9.  The course turned off a road that went down and passed Lake Las Vegas. 

Mile 11 ~ 8:48.  The steepest downhill of the course.  I took note that it would be quite a climb on the way back.  Saw the lead runner at mid-hill running as fast or faster uphill as I was downhill.  WOW!  He was cruising.  He went on to win it in 2:54:33

Mile 12 ~ 10:39.  An uphill climb of 250' for 3/4 of this mile.  One of the nice things about an out-n-back course is you can see and count the runners ahead of you.  There were over 20 men and 7 women that I counted and congratulated/cheered as they ran towards me on their return.

Mile 13 ~ 8:57.  This is mainly downhill with a slight incline at the turnaround.  Ran the half in 2:06:xx.  Gu'd at mile 13. 

Mile 14 ~ 9:35.  At the turnaround,  saw another woman right on my heels.  I was determined to not let her pass me.

Mile 15-16 ~ 9:45, 9:43.   These two miles were half up and half down.  Just concentrated on even effort.  Slowed to cheer on the runners coming up...should've taken advantage of the downhill. 

Mile 17 ~ 10:22.  Most of this was a climb back up to the highest point of the course.  Felt some side and head wind as the course turned south.  Gu'd at mile 17.2. 

Mile 18 ~ 9:14.  Quads started to ache.  Concentrated on reeling the runners ahead who were strewn about 1/2 mile apart.  Passed 2 women and a handful of men over the next  couple miles.

Mile 19-20 ~ 9:31, 9:22.  These were the backside of mile 6.5-9ish.  I was pleased that my legs were still holding out ok.   The sun was beating down on us getting warm.

Mile 21 ~ 10:53.  Had to walk 3x(10-30 seconds each) on part of this short but steepest climb of the course where I had cruised down at a 8:48 pace 3 hours earlier. :) Got passed by a Japanese runner wearing cyclist top.  He was cruising...where did he come from? 

Mile 22 ~ 9:33.  The gradual downgrade helped the legs and lungs to recover.  My energy was spent and thankfully at the mile 22.2 aid station, the volunteer gave me an Expresso gel which literally *woke* me up. 

Mile 23 ~ 10:32.  Another uphill mile where I picked off a couple more roadkills.  Just 5Ks and two uphills to go...I can make it.

Mile 24 ~ 9:22.  Looked at my watch and realized if I kept my pace under 10mm I may be able to finish in 4:15.  That became my goal. :)

Mile 25 ~ 9:37.  Quads and shins were screaming with pain.  I was determined to pass one more guy ahead.  Skipped the drinks at the last aid station.

Mile 26 ~ 10:09.  There were two inclines on this mile that did not feel like downhill 4 hours earlier but now appear to be major uphills!  How cruel!!!  Just get it over with...I'm so DONE with hills!  :)  

0.37 mile ~ 9:39.  I did not nor dared sprint to the finish...my shins were ready to seize up any moment.  Crossed the finish passing Yolanda who had started her marathon 2 hours ahead.  She was the 2nd woman I saw before the turnaround.  She walked over 100 miles at the ATY 48 hr. race a week ago.  WOW!!! :)

After getting my chip cut off and collecting my medal, I talked to the Japanese fellow who flew by me.  He ran a 3:42 chip time but started late so his gun time was 4:12 and placed 3rd even though the 1st & 2nd guys ran chip time of 3:59 and 4:11 respectively.  He was really bummed.  Went to congratulate the 52 yo woman who beat me in my division, she's from Canada.  Our division (50-59) has the most runners (13 women, 15 men). 

I felt good for my effort, 5th out of 39 women (the 4 women who beat me were all younger than me) and 23rd overall of 95 runners.

The medal for all the different race distances was the same...kinda lame.

They had wash clothes and lots of food for the runners at the finish picnic area: chili, chicken noodle soup, corn chips, all kinds of baked goods, hot chocolate, banana...

In the afternoon, my PRM and I went sightseeing and walking on the Memorial Bridge and Hoover Dam. 

The bridge was near finish when I was here on Oct 31, 2009 running the Hoover Dam Marathon.  It's fun to come back and walk on this finished project, a most amazing engineering marvel.  It was VERY WINDY.

It was a FUN trip with a NICE 26.2 training run!  :) :) :)

I always sleep like a baby the night after a marathon.  Slept in.  Emailed my missionary son.  Checked out the hotel.  Went to the 9am Sacrament Mtg. in Henderson NV.  We saw that chapel just right off the College Dr. Exit on our way to Boulder City Fri., so perfect timing.  Picked up lunch at St. George.  Got home in time for hubby's interview appt.  Legs were sore/stiff from sitting on the 7.5 hr drive.  I'm the luckiest girl to have such a wonderful hubby who'd drive me to and support me in my crazy marathon running. :)

Today's all about recovery which I must take seriously if I were to meet my 2012 running goals. :)

Walked/jogged a measely 3 miles with 1 mile on the elliptical.

5 min. each of biceps, triceps and core.

Foam roll and stretch.  Ouch!

Marianne, Emi and Devin are coming tomorrow.  I am SO EXCITED!!! :) :) :)   It'll be the first time I get to see/hold my newest grandson who was born July 29, 2011.  Did I say I'm SO EXCITED?!!!! :) :) :)

Continue the theme of recovery.  Ran 4.5 nice and easy with Wendy, Carolyn and Karen.  Walked .5 to loosen/warm up the quads.

Myrtle.

2 circuits CSE.

20 reps of biceps, triceps x 3.

Foam roll and stretch.  Less sore than yesterday.

Cold WINDY run with Wendy, Carolyn and Karen.  Only had time for 4.5.

Having so much FUN with Emi and Devin! :)

Ran the rail trail and paved portion of canal trail with Karen.  Temp was in the high teens. Legs are feeling good.

They're building what appears to be a restroom at the west end of canal trail.  Can't wait for the entire trail to be completed! :)

Good dentist checkup and cleaning.

Myrtle.  CSE. 

Having a ton of FUN with Emi and Devin. :)

Love the sunny sky which makes it not feel so cold!!! :)  Ran the dirt part of canal trail with Wendy, Carolyn and Karen nice and easy.  No soreness to speak of.  Tried to help Carolyn decide between the 5K or Half for SG next week.

Emi is such a delightful toddler...SO so so much fun playing with her!  Devin is a sweet cuddly baby...LOVE love love his chubby cheeks and toothless smile! :) :) :) :) :) 

The gang only wanted 10-11 so I ran to Karen's for extra mile and met Wendy, Carolyn and John on our way to Alpine park.  Gu'd and drank from the fountain-of-youth where we turned back.  Lots of runners out, saw Emily and Bryan Hansen.  After dropping the gang off, I picked up the pace a bit.  Nice running weather. :) :) :)

FUN outing and shopping all day with the fam.  DVR'd the Olympic Trial Marathon so I could watch it tonight.  Hubby and Marianne were good to not tell me the results.  :) 

Had a JulieC-TM-accident moment resulting with 4 quarter size owies on my knees.  Thankfully my daughter-in-law Marianne was ellipticalling next to me and stopped the moving menacing TM in time before further damage was done. :)  When we got back on our machines, Emi who was watching "Jungle Book 2" in the room and saw the whole incident said:  "Be careful mama and nana!"  :) :) :)  

Hubby and the boys went skiing today.  We had the family and cousins over to our house for a nice Chinese dinner tonight.  After dinner, Jeff and Jenn gave me and hubby a present...two baby bibs that says *I love grandma* *I love grandpa*....so HAPPY they are expecting their first baby, our 7th grandbaby, on Aug 14.  WAHOOOO!!!! :) :) :) :) 

Brrr!!! T was 11 when we headed out.  We (Karen, Wendy, Carolyn and I) ran the rail and canal trail.   Got a little out of breath running uphill with cold wind.  Tummy was grumbling, barely made it home before explosion.  Owies on the knees still oozing and sore when bending and burns when showering!  Could not get warm and had a headache all day.  Hope I'm not coming down with something!

Marianne's parents came at 8:30ish to drive her, Emi and Devin to Oregon.  I hate goodbyes!!! :(  Missing them terribly already! :(  Am glad they get to spend some time with their other grandparents. :) :)

Went out for solo run after they left.   Ran into Wendy and Carolyn as they were finishing their run.  It's a much warmer morning than yesterday.  Knees and upper arms sore.  Picked up the pace for couple miles.  I don't think I'll be able to run 8:45 AP for 13.1 on Sat.  Stink! :)

Owies on knees still oozing... got stuck to the running tights...ouch.  Going to wear shorts today to let'em dry and scab over!  It burns bad when exposed to air/water and when bending/straightening knees.  But I'll live!!!  :)

The knees' owies still oozing, sore, swollen and red.  So I opted to run on the TM  wearing shorts, watching the movie, Running the Sahara .  After the initial warm up miles, I STOPPED the TM to go turn on the ceiling fan.  NOT gonna make the absent-minded mistake of stepping on a moving TM again!  :) :) :)  We've also moved the elliptical a little ways from the TM yesterday. 

Cannot believe the Spring like rain we're having.  Sat. forecast for St. George is looking good.  With the banged up knees and a head cold, I'm just going to enjoy running SG Half and not worry about time. 

Scene of Monday's TM accident.  Space btw the TM and elliptical is widened a little.

Ceiling fan switch is on the wall around the TM. 

45 min elliptical

10 min recumbent bike

Knee owies still oozing and red but I think it's getting a little better.  

Karen and her family picked me and Carolyn up at 2:30ish for the drive down to St. George.  Arrived at her mom's house where they had prepared a wonderful spaghetti dinner for us.  Went to the Expo at 8pm.  So great to see Walter, Misty and meet Bill.  Got to Karen's sister's house before 10pm.  Took a Tylenol PM at 10:30pm and went to bed. 

I set out to have FUN this weekend and I DID!!! :) :) :) :)

Karen, her husband, Mark and two youngest daughters, Abby and Grace were so kind to let me and Carolyn ride down with them and stay at her sister's house in Santa Clara.  Us girls giggled all the way which kept our driver, Mark, entertained the whole time! :) :) :) 

We hit the sack around 10:30pm.  The Tylenol PM did magic, slept like a log for 7 hours.  Woke to sound of heavy rain at 7am.  Luckily temp was 35 and NO wind when we drove to the Dixie Center.  Saw lots of friends: RAD and her kids, BeMo, Rob & Mindy,  Kelli, JoseJ, Walter, Toby, Collette, Suzette, Lowell, Annie, Auhna...

I had no time goal other than to have fun running with Karen.  She wanted to run sub-2 so I suggested that we lined up between the 1:55 and 2:00 pace groups.  We spotted Lowell and Suzette standing by the guard railing while we were walking amass to the starting mat.  They jumped in to join us and we found ourselves behind the 2:10 group where Carolyn was.  Ran a little with Lowell and the gang then Karen and I took off at the first turn where there was some passing room. 

Mile 1 ~ 9:14.  Knee owies hurting.  Clunky strides.  Crowded.  Ran a little with Toby.

Mile 2 ~ 8:54.  Nice and easy.  Skipped the first aid station which was too crowded.

Mile 3 ~ 8:38.  The mile markers came up short.  Saw the 1:55 pace group about 1/4 mile ahead. 

Mile 4 ~ 8:25.  A bit too fast but feeling warmed up and good. :)

Mile 5 ~ 8:58.  Beginning of a gentle incline.  Walked thru the aid station.  Saw Collette. So glad I kept my light jacket on because even though it got warm at times, there was a constant shift of wind...with the light rain off and on, it would get chilly.  Also glad to have the gloves off and on throughout.

Mile 6 ~ 9:18.  Uphill. Kept smelling burning stove smoke, started to cough a little so I took the inhaler.

Mile 7 ~ 9:31.  Big hill.  Took gu.  Had to walk to the aid station table off the road and waited for a cup of water.  Told Karen if I slowed down to just keep going.  But she didn't we both kept a steady effort.  All those hilly trail runs we did together really pay off.

Mile 8 ~ 8:13.  Steep downhill.  Took short quick strides and passed lots of people.  Karen didn't chase after me.

Mile 9 ~ 8:44.  Caught up to the 1:55 group.  Passed them but only to be passed again when I stopped to drink at the aid station.

Mile 10 ~ 8:28.  Ran close behind the pace group.  Wanted to pass them but decided to be patient and hope Karen will catch up.

Mile 11 ~ 8:51.  A slight little incline and sharp turn onto the road.  Walked to drink at the aid station.  Caught back up to the pace group but could not pass them due to 5-6 runners deep/abreast. 

Mile 12 ~ 8:14.  I don't know where this comes from.  Legs feeling fine.  Breathing nice.  Good to finally run at tempo pace on flat trail.  :)  

Mile 13 ~ 8:06.  Passed the 1:55 group at the beginning of this mile.  The pacers whom I never met or talked to, hollered:  "GOOD JOB!  GO girl and don't let us catch you!" :)  Concentrated on reeling in people.   Saw Kelli running back on the course about 0.2 to the finish.  She ran a little bit with me.  THANKS, Kelli!!! :-)  Felt like a million bucks when I heard Teena and all of Karen's family cheering me in.  :) :) :)

After crossing the finish, I turned and waited for Karen.  She came in at 1:55:35.  SO SO SO PROUD of her.  Carolyn who hasn't run much the last few weeks and was going to run the 5K until we convinced her to run the Half finished in 2:07 thanks to the pacing expertise of Kim! :)  So so so happy and proud of Carolyn! :)

Am very pleasantly surprised to see that this is my 6th St. George Half with the fastest finish time.  I think the course is a bit short.  My Garmin registered 12.98.  However, I think this course has more elevation net gain and so many more turns than last year's.  AND, I am SUPER HAPPY that I finally broke a *standing trend* in this race of always finishing 4th in my AG! :) :) :)  No, I didn't take podium...but for some silly reason I feel much better not being 4th!  Some old lady from NM beat me to it by 8 seconds, whew! :) :) :) :)

Waited under the frozen yogurt tent (because it was raining hard and I was freezing) for Lowell and others.  Finally left and met Lowell, Suzette and their spouses, RAD and Karen's family at Cracker Barrel for a nice lunch and chit chat.  Took a nice hot shower and headed to Karen's parents house to pick up the little girls.  Left St. George around 2 and didn't get home until 8:30 because of the scary blinding snow storm! :-?  Mark was kept awake and alert with our story telling...THE END!!!  :)

Ward Conference today.  My choir sang "Let the Holy Spirit Guide" with Dillon on the violin.  They called up two members on the spot to bear their testimonies.  Wendy was one of them.  She is as humble, sweet, kind and Christlike as anyone I know.  Her testimony touched me so much that I was bawling and could hardly look at the music.  Thankfully the choir sang beautifully and Dillon played so well.  It was a perfect number just before hubby's talk on the guidance and companionship of the Holy Ghost.   My Primary class gave me not 1 but 3 spontaneous *circle bear hugs* that about knocked me over!!!  ♥♥♥♥♥!!!  I SO SO SO LOVE and NEED the Sabbath! :):):)

 Gung Hey Faat Choy!!!  Happy Chinese New Year!!!

7 nice easy chatty miles with Wendy, Carolyn and Karen (Sky) on canal trail.  :) :) :)

Core and hip stability exercises while watching Monk!  :)

No soreness to speak of except for the knee owies, so couldn't do the donkey whips and fire hydrants!

Note to self:  start wearing the Ascends on trails in case I need to wear them for the Orphan Hope Marathon in 19 days.  Still trying to figure out what races to run in March!

I've been wanting to invite my running buddies for a home-gym workout.  Today's the day... with the wind and icy road this morning... perfect time to stay indoor.  We rotated every 20 min. between the machines and watched two episodes of Monk.  We also did Myrtle and Pfitz's CSE.  It was SO FUN!  Karen and I convinced Carolyn and Wendy to sign up for UVM.  YAY!!!!  :) :) :)

Trying to decide between running the Red Rock Canyon Marathon on Mar 10 or the Buffalo 25K on Mar 24.  What I would really like to run is the National Marathon on Mar 17.  But it's too much money to travel to D.C. since we're going to TX in Feb and Boston in Apr.  The closest marathon is Sand Hollow; but it's 16 days from Boston...too close...what to do?!!! 

10 with Karen, Wendy and Carolyn.  Wore the Ascend hoping to run some trail, but the canal trail was too muddy.  Ran up to Highland via Suncrest to Hog Hollow trail head.  Got two pre-blisters on the 4th toes. :) 

5 with Karen, Wendy and Carolyn.  3 by myself at mp.  NICE weather.

Myrtle.

3 circuits of CSE.

Watched My Name is Khan, heart warming movie.  Finished reading the second book of the Hunger Games, depressing book, very well written, but I don't think I want to see the movie.  :)

Ran to meet Karen for a sunny windy hilly run down 3rd west, up rail trail and Bull River. Really enjoy these great outdoor running weather.  Knee owies healing up nicely.  Am sure the blisters will get calloused in time for the Orphan Marathon. 

Karen had to be at her daughter's futsal game this morning so we had a tight schedule.  She needed 15 miles.  I needed 17 and the rest of the gang needed 10-11.  So I started half hour earlier and ran 1 mile to Karen's house.  We ran 3+ miles together.  Got to Wendy's house where John (Zeus), Wendy and Carolyn were ready to join us. 

Ran up to Alpine with a stop at the fountain of youth.  To not loose track of time I wanted to keep a 9:30-9:45 pace and not stop the watch even when waiting for traffic and at the drinking fountain.  Temp was in the high teens, calm, partly sunny.  Fingers were frozen for 16+ miles...should've worn ski mittens!!! :)  Got Karen back in time! Success!!! :) Didn't even know my face was chocolate-Gu-smeared 'till I got home and hubby got an *extra sweet* kiss! :)

17.5 miles in 2:43:43.  AP: 9:29.  Splits: 11:31 (waited for Karen outside her home), 10:09, 9:43, 9:28, 9:25, 9:23, 10:04 (traffic light and beginning of uphill) 9:31 (not bad for uphill), 9:06, 8:55, 9:31, 9:51 (gu'd & pit stop), 9:00, 8:44, 8:48, 9:30 (traffic light), 8:55, 8:21.

Glad I got in a 50+ miles week since the week in Texas with the grandkids will be a step down week! :)

Nice temp, calm, cloudy sky.   We ran 1.5 mile to access the canal trail, muddy at some spots but no biggie.  Wore double socks with the Ascend solved the blister problem.  :)

Ran the entire dirt trail round trip while the gang peeled off for their desired distances.  4 with Karen (Sky), 6 with Wendy & Carolyn,  2.5 tempo by myself.

Myrtle.  3 circuits CSE.  Bicep tricep w/ resistant bands. 

Need to sign up for some March races before fees go up.  :)  Pretty sure I will run Lake to Lake (for SG runner series),  Red Rock Canyon Marathon and Riverton Half.  

Another beautiful day running with friends.  We took a new route running south down 3rd West, turned east thru the Woods to the cemetery where Carolyn and Wendy turned back (they wanted 5).  Karen and I continued east to Cedar Hollow then north up on 1200 E, then turned east thru the CH7 neighborhood to Freedom Elementary where we got a drink.  Turned north on 4800W to SR92 where we turned west to head back home.  Ran Karen home for her 9 miles.  Ran my last mile home solo at mp.  It was a nice route with some good rolling hills.

Potluck lunch at Wendy's house, good friends, good food! :) :) :)

Shopping at Ikea mid afternoon.  One stop shopping for toys, games, stuff animals to take to my TX grandkids, and a nice chair for my new bathroom.  This is the first time we've ever shopped at Ikea.  We ate dinner there, had yummy white fish, carrots and mashed potato for 4 bucks.  Did you know kids eat free on Tue.?  Wish I knew that when my grandkids were here! :)

Yoga and movie tonight. :)