Each Day Is a Gift

My internet was down yesterday so posting today (Tue.)

Did the walk/run/2min/10min with the girlfriends.  Nice weather but a bit windy.  We ran/walk the same route as Sat.  Wendy and Carolyn turned around at the school where we got a drink so they got 8 miles.  Karen needed to run 8-10 more so she and I kept going to the Alpine Park where we gu'd and drank at the fountain of youth then turned back.  Legs and foot felt fine so when we got to my house at mile 11.5 we kept going to finish up the running cycle at 12 miles in 2:05, AP: 10:23.  Karen got a drink and gu at my house then went for some more.

Can definitely feel the accumulative mileage on the legs (11+miles on Sat.)  and very tired partly due to less sleep the last couple days (daylight saving messed up sleep).  Foam roll and stretch. 

Yesterday I overdressed so today I wore shorts but should've worn capri as it's cooler this morning with the wind at 20mph.  Did the walk/run/2min/12min with the girlfriends.  We went west and south to 3rd west then up on rail trail.  Going east uphill on 3200N was tough with the headwind.  Got to Karen's house at mile 5.58 in 1 hr. right at the end of the run cycle.  I went in her house to admire her new wood floor while Carolyn and Wendy kept going.  When I came out, they were 0.25 mile ahead so I picked it up to catch them (felt good to run faster) and ran the last 0.25 mile home together.  6.5 miles in 1:08:20.  AP: 10:31.  The last 1.5 mi was 9:30...wahoo!!! :)

House painting project is coming along.  Today we'll finish up the small hallway and the three doors.  Will prep the laundry room and Larissa's room.  Hopefully we'll get it done before company comes on Thursday.  :)

Everything I've read about over-use injury comes from over training which in reality is under recovery.  So, I need to play this game smart.  I chose Wed to be my *rest* day because according to Karen, the Wed. water aerobic instructor is the BEST.  

Karen and I got to the LC 25 min before class so we could do some shallow water jogging.  I like doing this because it loosens up my achy running muscles.  :)

Today I was able to do the abs intervals with my toes above water! YAY!  And I did not go under water when we did the dolphin.  I'm getting the hang of this.  My body is loving this water workout!  :)

Karen, Wendy and I wanted to run some place new; so we ran up Center St. crossed SR 92 north onto the dirt road straight up Traverse Mountain.  Plan was to run 7 miles with the walk/run/15 min/2 min. but due to the nature of the terrain and elevation gain, was only able to do one cycle of the run/walk.  Got to the top of dirt road (470' vert) at mile 2 where it forked east and west.  We took the east trail that traverse behind IMFlash.  Saw some deer.  My breathing was rather labored during the uphill climb.  I had not use my inhaler for over a month.  Wondered about the sage brush and windy condition.

The eastbound trail is rolling for about 0.6 mile then veered uphill.  We turned around at mile 3 (185' vert).  One day we will run further up to the peak (wonder if that is the famous benchview peak that ScottW runs) but not today.  The view of the valley and lake is awesome.   Running down this rather rocky trail was a bit scary.

When we got back to the fork at the dirt road we decided to take the westbound trail that passed thru the archery range.  Made a mental note that we should not run here on weekends as we might become "targets"! :)  Saw some quails.  At about 0.8 mile the trail took a downhill turn.  The trail is quite free of rocks so I opened up and cruised down.  All of a sudden I felt my heart pounding strangely as if it would jump right out of my chest.  It was a very frightening feeling.  The only other time I experienced this  tachycardia was last winter when I had crested the 1200W hill and was running on flat terrain at recovery pace...it felt like I was experiencing a heart attack.  It caused enough concern that I went to see the doc. the next day and was determined that I actually experienced asthmatic attack.  Anyway I stopped at the bottom of the hill where the trail forks east and west.  I waited for Karen and Wendy to catch up to determine which direction to go.  I told them of my heart pounding and Wendy put her hand on my chest and could feel my heart pulsating rapidly.  I did not feel any dizziness or shortness of breath.  It was just a rather uneasy and frightening sensation.  So I walked a bit to let the heart settle down.  We took the east bound trail that eventually joins back up to the dirt road.  

Running the last mile home on pavement felt hard.  It didn't help that there was a strong south headwind.  Hope not a mistake to run the traverse mountain bench trail and no damage to the healing metatarsal!  With that said,  it's a great trail with beautiful view and ideal preparation for the Buffalo run.  Wish we had discovered this trail earlier over the winter and ran it to prepare myself for the Orphan Hope forest trail run!

Company coming this afternoon! :)

Hubby and Paul went skiing at Deer Valley.  Nadine (Paul's wife) and I worked out at home.  Did a quick and short run.  Threw some running clothes in the duffle.  Took Nadine to Costco and lunch at La Fuente.  Got home with 20 min to spare before John and Wendy came to pick me up for our drive down to SG.

We picked up Carolyn and drove non-stop to SG and made it in time for the 6pm soccer game that Rachel (Wendy's daughter) and a few of the girls from my ward were playing in.  

After the game we drove to packet pick up where I discovered my driver's license and credit cards were missing from my jacket pocket.  The last time I used the credit cards was at Costco and LaFuente.  I called hubby who called the restaurant.  We drove back to the soccer field and searched, the bathroom was locked so couldn't search there.  By 8:30pm everyone except me was starving.  We went to a Mexican restaurant.  I was too stressed out to eat, so had a dinner salad.

Got to Wendy's niece's house in Hurricane around 10ish.  Had a sleepless night. 

Couldn't fall asleep and didn't have any Tylenol PM.  Carolyn was my roommate.  She was quite as a mouse.  Had a sleepless night.  Got up at 6:15.  Dressed.  Left the house in Hurricane at 6:55 to pick up Kathie from her hotel in SG at 7:15.  It was so GOOD to see Kathie! :)  Got to Ivins with lots of time to use the pop...good thing because the dinner salad did not agree with my tummy!  My friends insisted that Kathie called Teena (my cell died) to ask her to bring her inhaler as I didn't bring mine and my asthma was acting up last night and this morning.  Got on the bus with RAD.  Windy and a bit chilly at the start.  Teena, Annie and Nick found us..so did Jon and KellyA...so fun to see friends! :) :) :)

Very apprehensive about this run for several reasons:  1) I'm still rehabbing from a metatarsal stress fracture, 2) stressed out with loss of my driver's license and credit cards, 3) tired and out of shape,  4) have very little experience in 10Ks.  The last time I ran 10K was 3 years ago at DNews (49:31).  I've run Spectrum in 2008 (49:15), 2009 (47:50) and Payson Onions Day (51:43) taking 1stAG in all three by pure luck! :)  The only reason for this run is to complete the SG runner series...so no goal... hope to walk/run to the finish in one piece.

Lined up with Kathie, Nick and Annie.  It was wonderful to have Kathie there to keep me warm. :)  The race started on time.  I was ecstatic to find myself running with Kathie, Nick and Annie.  It was rather crowded.  I held back the urge to weave around runners until Kathie said that we "should do some tangent"...then I found an opening and took it.  The downhill felt great.  I just ran easy and rolled with the gravity down the first mile.  Mile 2 flattened out a bit and I started to feel warm so I walked on the slight incline taking off my jacket and tied around my waist.  There were some headwind but wasn't too bad.  Walked and drank through the first aid station.  Mile 3 was downhill, the foot felt fine, however the breathing started to feel labored. 

Passed a little boy in mile 4, and asked how old he was...9, running his first 10K and ahead of his parents.  We hung together a bit.  Mile 5, quads started to complain, feeling tired but fought the urge to walk.  Skipped the last aid station and kept praying with gratitude in my heart.  I seriously could not believe that I was running instead of walking or limping.  After the last turn and could see the finish, I just focused on the finish line hanging on with dear life.  Teena and RAD was walking back about 100m from the finish on the left side.  RAD jumped in to run me to the finish.  I could hear Teena's kids cheering but I couldn't return their cheer...felt like I was going to puke!  Felt a bit dizzy when I saw my Garmin stopped at 50:50!  I seriously could not believe I did it! 

Splits:  7:52, 8:22, 7:57, 8:10, 8:27, 8:52, 7:30.  Official time: 50:52, good enough to take 2nd in my division. 

I wanted to do some cool down jogging with Teena, Annie and RAD but felt completely drained with jello legs and tight quads so I skipped it.  Better safe than sorry.  After the award ceremony, we drove to SG to watch the girls' soccer game at noon.  Grabbed lunch at 2:30 before the drive home. 

Am very very very very grateful for the support of my wonderful running friends and the blessings and joy of being able to run! :) :) :)