Each Day Is a Gift

Stayed up late talking/visiting with my kids.  Didn't get out 'till 7:40am...just couldn't get going with tired body and legs.  Sunny blue sky, not a stitch of cloud, temp already in the 70s.  Tried  Kathie's plan of running pace miles on tired legs.  Plan was to run 3 miles at 10K pace (8:15).  Didn't make it...it was pretty pathetic.

6 miles TT: 53:05.  AP: 8:51.  Splits:  9:55, 8:42, 8:12, 8:15, 8:58, 9:00.

Planted 36 petunias, will plant the merrigold this evening when the sun isn't beating down.  Vacuum and laundry, now I need a nap. 

Emi has a icky runny nose, cold? teething?  Hope I don't get it (the cold). 

Have a GREAT week everyone!!!!

Much cooler this morning.  Plan was to run 7 with 3 at marathon pace.  Ended up being a sort of progressive run.  Forgot my sunglasses so going East was squinty.  ;}

TT: 1:03:08.  AP: 9:02.  Splits: 10:03, 9:17, 9:04, 9:34 (ran into Wendy C., stopped and chatted for awhile before parting ways), 9:00, 8:08, 8:03.  Forgot to wear compression sleeves, left shin is now bugging.

Plant flowers, off to take Olga to lunch.  Have a great day everyone!

6 EZ with Carolyn, Mary and Wendy.  Garmin battery dead, forgot to charge it since my computer died last week.  Remembered the sunglasses but didn't need it, sky was overcast.  Perfect cool temp this morning except for the flying cotton from the Poplar trees making my eyes itch.  Fun chatting with the ladies.  More yard work today.  More fun playing with Emi.  She smiles so readily for me...so cute with her 3rd & 4th teeth barely coming in! 

4 nice and easy with Carolyn and Wendy.  Weeding.  Dejunking.  Playing.

May go to packet pick up this afternoon.  

I LOVED UVM!!!

 I was baptized on June 12, 1971, 39 yrs ago; so it was fitting that I got happily and gratefully "soaked" at UVM today!

Pre-race:
My SSF was SUPER NICE to pick up my packet Thu night. Then she drove me and a friend's brother to "Cougar Town" dark and early. I had a good feeling that she's going to PR today with that perfect rain, some tailwind and a downhill course. I, on the other hand had no competitive juice.   After Ogden's embarrassing finish, (an almost DNF if not for Maynard's helping hands), my goals for UVM were:
* Happy: Finish upright
* Satisfied: Finish upright without charlie horse
* Ecstatic: BQ (need 4:15 for the gezzerette divison)

The start:
We got to the start with 30 min to do the pop and clothing drop off.  Called LuzyLew with no answer! :(  The staging was a cluster with the pops lined up in a square down the road from the start. Anyway, we made our way to clothing drop off and was soooo happy to see AmberG and MarcieJ, Maynard and KellieS and the Heidi's.    Teena, Maynard and I lined up together a few feet behind the 3:40 pace group. The cannon sounded at 5:45 (15 min delay) and off we went.  Teena disappeared like a flash. Maynard and I hung together.  It was a stunningly beautiful morning with misty low hanging clouds, light rain, vibrant green mountains, horses in charming farms and homes.  Some cute girl in bandanna (impersonating KellieS, I'm sure :o) ) gave me a love pat on the tush when she and her bandanna clan ran past.  I absolutely LOVE running with Maynard. He showed no sign of having run a tough 21 miles SP mountain trail just 6 days ago. What a stud! :D

The run:
At mile 5 aid station Alisa and Lex gave me water, powerade and took my headband for safe keeping. Alisa looks beautiful and skinny! Thanks for the cheer and well wishes! Mile 8 was a good uphill, I told Maynard to go on ahead as I didn't want to slow him down. I was so looking forward to mile 9 aid station where Andy was volunteering. When I got there, instead of yelling for water, I yelled "pickles, pickles, pickles!" The volunteers must have thought I was out of my silly mind! Sure enough Andy was there to give me a baggie full of pickles. What a guy! THANK YOU! Andy! I chomped down two. Soon Maynard ran by, I offered him some pickles which he declined! Then off he went and I wouldn't see him again till at the finish.

I glanced at my Garmin a handful of times paying little attention to pace, running nice and easy. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with other runners. I "cheered" the spectators one of whom named Sabrina. She would show up every 2 miles with such a bright smile and cheer that I had to give her a hug. I was surprised to see my hot hubby at mile 12.85 cheering on the north bound side of the road and again around 20.5.  I hollered "choo-choo" as I ran through the tunnel. I took a potty break at the half. When I emerged from the temple of doom, my Garmin said 2 hours and some change. PERFECT!!! The canyon walls were stunning, Bridal Veil Falls was gorgeous, the mountains were luscious green. I congratulated the kilt-wearing Scottish gentleman for running on a super GREEN Utah day! Somewhere around mile 14, Marcie Wood caught up to me and that's when I found out Lowell DNS :(. These downhill canyon miles were made extra sweet by the tailwind. I had ditched my gloves earlier but was glad that I kept my arm warmers. The tailwind turned into a bit of headwind or sidewind once we got out of the canyon. It was not bad at all, could've been a hot June day with sun beating down on us. The rain had stopped and was quite pleasant. Surely the running gods were smiling upon us today.

University Ave had always seemed a long stretch of road to me; but because of Cougar's detail description, I knew it was only 6 miles to the finish. When I ran past the Canyon View apartment where my missionary son lived during his freshman year, I got choked up with the thought that he will be home in 6 days!!! Then I thought about each of my children who graduated from BYU...my heart overcame with joy and gratitude. I can honestly say that with the 20 marathons I've run, this is the only one where I had no tough or difficult moment. I felt surprisingly fresh at mile 23 as at mile 2. However, in the back of my mind, I worried that charlie horse would rare its ugly head at mile 25 like it usually did, so I kept the pace nice and easy, side-fiving the spectators, thanking all the police officers, even patted the cheeks of a baby.

At around mile 24.5, I saw Kelli in her cute skirt running back on the course. She had come to run friends in like she did last year.  I was overjoyed to see her :) !  She really helped me through that scary overpass when both my shins started to cramp up. I took the downside of the overpass easy and safely made the couple of turns in the parking lot. THANKS Kelli for running me in!!! I "sprinted" to the finish with the roaring cheer of Forumites and Bloggers. My time was 4:05:07. It was awesome to see MrsFit at the finish.  Teena, my SSF, was first to greet me followed by TomSlick, Huans32 and RivertonPaul who went to pick up my drop bag and negotiated a very nice GrandSlam schwag for me! THANKS! While lining up to get my race shirts (which they ran out of, btw), Maynard appeared before our eyes! I swear he's like a guardian angel! What a sweet heart!

The post-race bash at Cougar's:
Hubby being the punctual guy drove me to Cougar's at exactly 12:30. THANKS to Cougar's hospitality and his daughters' great organizational skills, the food was delish! It was so fun to visit with everybody (Rhett, Alisa & Lex, DonGardinero & family, Maynard, BeMo & Co, Slick, MarcE and family, and of course all the Zimmerman clan). I got a surprise call from my SSF that I took 5th in my AG and she gave the plague to Slick to bring to me. The web result showed that the 4th place gal had the same chip time as mine, perhaps 1/100th of a second faster, not that it matters! It was so fun to see everyone at Cougar's home. THANK YOU Cougar for hosting the party! THANK YOU everyone for a PERFECT day! I am the luckiest girl to have such WONDERFUL friends who truly care. I love you all sooo much!!!

Possible contributing factors to NO charlie horse today:
1. Perfect weather: light rain, overcast sky, tailwind, cool temp of high 40s to mid 50s.
2. Eating 2 pickles at mile 9.
3. S-cap at mile 19.
4. Compression sleeves.
5. Fairly straight and nice gentle downhill of the last 10K.
6. Last but not least my SSF prayed that I would not have charlie horse.

YAY!!! No med-tent trip this time!!!!  :) :) :) :) :)