Each Day Is a Gift

Skiing with hubby this morning!  Warm, cloudy and calm, snow is decent, lots of skiers out as it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  So grateful that he can still ski ablbeit very slowly and gently on beginner runs.  We took lotsa rest breaks.  In the afternoon he discovered that he has lost his wedding band.  He has lost quite a bit of weight (now weighing 60 Kg).  So probably fell off his finger when he took off his gloves earlier.  Bummer! :(

After we got home, I gave hubby his last dose of anitibiotic in the dialysis then went out for a run.  The sun was just peeking through the clouds, a bit breezy, temp was 41F so just long sleeve shirt.  Lotsa bikers and kids out on the MCT.  7 miles in 1:04:23  AP: 9:12 (10:10, 9:31, 9:18, 9:01, 8:58, 8:43, 8:42)

27F clear blue sky.  Leslie somehow pulled a muscle yesterday so after running a mile she started to feel the leg pain and needed to walk.  She insisted that we (Karen, Wendy and I) leave her and she'd keep walking.  We would have none of that.  So we walked with her till the turn around and she attempted to run but once again could feel the pain so we walked.  For the next couple miles, we'd run 200m then run back and walked with her till we got back to her house.  I then ran home and added on another mile.  I hope she heals up soon.  She's been doing so well, running, swimming and going to the gym and I almost had her commit to signing up for a marathon in April with me! 

AM: Family History Center in SLC with hubby, Annie, and brought our guests, Tony & Susan, Kevin to meet with Elders Prisbey and Lemon, Caiping Sun, Grace Chan. 

PM:  Temple with my running buddies then birthday treats for Wendy at Kneaders.

AM:  PD Clinic with the doc. and team.  Dr. Cline got hubby registered on the transplant team.  Also adjusted some of the B/P meds as his B/P has been hovering in the 90s/60.  Has had some scary hypotensive episodes where he felt clammy and light headed in the evenings.

PM:  Ran 10 solo miles  on the MCT from the east end to the west end with access at 810E.  Sunny sky, breezy, 30F (felt like 25).  AP: 10:00

Picked up Karen at 7:15 to run long on the JRP.  I didn't want to leave my car at the 1500N bridge area so we drove to the Olympic Park (just south of 2100N).  It was a cold morning, 20F (felt like 17), cloudy and 86% humidity.  We ran north to get the uphill first.  We ran over to the next county into frozen mud territory and turned around when our garmin reached mile 5.  I walked most of the steeper uphill and on the icy bridge.  When we reached mile 7.  We stopped our watch, Karen ducked behind a sage brush, I attempt to bite and gnaw on a frozen hard energy bar.  Our fingers were so cold that we could hardly manage to tear open any packaging or zip our pockets.  It was quite comical.  My frozen fingers actually hurt.  The sun finally peeked out of the clouds a little and we felt revived.  We reached the car/park and Karen refilled her hand-held bottle.  I had not drink a single drop because I did not want to duck behind the bush even though we had not seen a single soul on the trail the entire time!  (We did see a doe and her fawn leaping over the trail and fence into the low flowing river).  The park's bathroom is closed between Oct 15-April 15.  I drank my 6 oz flask and refilled it and then off we went back on the trail for another 10 miles. 

The second half was much more pleasant, fingers and toes finally thawed.  We saw flocks of ducks, a big hawk and other birds!  We reached the Willow Park bathroom which luckily was opened and very warm, hallelujah! :) Karen's garmin read 12.5 miles.  When we got to the remote-control-airplane park, Karen's garmin read 15.5 and mine read 14.6, I did not restart my watch when we were walking and fumbling with our energy bar.  Karen used the portapotty and I ate my second frozen hard energy bar and drank all 6 oz of the water.  We turned and ran back to the car and I noticed my pace was faster.  My legs and feet were sore and tired, feeling the accumulative effect of the 10 miles I ran yesterday afternoon and 20 miles this morning.  When we got off the trail onto Olympic Park, Karen's watch said 20.6 and mine was 19.2 so I ran on the trail around the park and the parking lot till it reached 20, such an OCD me!  AP: 10:25.  First 20 miler done (next one on Feb7)...couldn't have done it without Karen's company, she made the miles go by! :)  So blessed to have such a wonderful friend who gave up her whole morning for me! :)

Fuel and fluid consumption: pre-run one Greek yogurt (80 calories), 2 energy bars (400 cal.), 6 oz emergenC, 10 oz water.  Post-run: protein shake (160 cal. 11oz) 12 oz water, one banana.  Lunch: rice, chicken drumpstick, 12 oz water, mandarin orange.