Each Day Is a Gift

Took my sweet time heading out the door.  By 8:00 am the temp was already 83.  Yikes!  That first mile was painful (11:04).  I had lead legs...almost abandoned the run.  Man, wish I knew how to do other cardio Xtrain exercises.  

Turning left  onto 12th East, I noticed my left foot fall was noisy while the right was quiet.  Tried for the life of me, pretending I was running on thin ice; but couldn't make it go quiet.   Concentrated on symetrical form and finally fell into an easy pace (9:42). 

On the third mile with slight decline, I worked on "tall puppet", instantly the foot falls went quiet.  Saw a girl going the same direction on the other side of the road.   Slowly reeled her in (9:00). 

Picturing the Kenyans running with such fluidity,  I did some strides as if kicking my own behind while tucking in the tail, belly button to the spine.   Seeing my own shadow, felt like a real runner, the legs seemed to "cycle" and the push off more powerful.  I was surprised to see the pace quickened quite a bit (8:22).  Wanted to run more but decided to save it for another day.  0.5 mi cool down in (4:30). 

Around the world core + fast abs (35 reps).

Swim and exercise in the pool for an hour.

Have to clean 16 windows today!  Thank goodness Steven is home to help me.

Interval workout today.  I'm learning.

Warm up 2 miles in 21:14 (AP: 10:36)

1200 m @ 6:23   RI 400 m @ 2:17

1200 m @ 5:58   RI 400 m @ 2:10

800 m @ 3:41   RI 400 m @ 2:00

800 m @ 3:35   RI 400 m @2:05

800 m @ 3:27   RI 400 m @2:10

1200 m @ 5:15 RI 400 m @ 2:00

Cool down 1.25 miles in 13:15

8.5 miles in 1:13:55  (AP: 8:41)

Will do ITB stuff and yoga later.  Having some "future missionaries" over for dinner and teach me (the investigator) tonight.

Was planning to run with Wendy & Mary who forgot to stop by.  Ended up chasing them making this a progressive run.  9:36, 8:42, 7:56, 7:52.   AP: 8:40  Didn't get the intended miles in b/c shutters guys were coming.

Around the world core + fast abs (35 reps)

Shutters had some bad flaws, workers over-stayed for 4 hours and still have to come back next week for replacement.   Felt like a waste of time today.

Toss and turn all night with backache...from cleaning, moving furnitures (5 heavy couches), etc.  I want to retire from housewifery.  Dragged my achy self out of bed for an early morning run.   There was no juice in me, the legs were dead, the mind wandered, called it good after a painfully slow 4 miler.  10:49, 10:00, 9:23, 9:36.  Yikes!!!...I hope I don't feel this way tomorrow for the 10K!

Off to meetings, appointments, and grocery shopping.  Did I mention I want to retire and live in a hotel and run marathons 'till I'm 89?

Picked up Teena on the way and we both wondered aloud: "why are we doing this?"  My reasons were to be with friends and to cheer my brother-in-law in the marathon.  He flew in from Hong Kong a day earlier.  He had been in 5 countries the last 5 days.  That guy is an animal.  

I had a ton of fun hanging out with Teena, Julie, Shimelle, Bec, RAD and her sister and Slick.  It was so AWESOME to watch Allie come in so strong and beautiful.  We were cheering our heads off.

I am so proud of everyone doing so well...Teena with her HUGE PR!  Allie with her outstanding win!  Gary with his 3:08 "training" run, Lowell pacing and helping a girl with an asthma attack.

This is only the third time I've run a 10K;  had no idea how to run these.  I thought I would be happy with sub-50 and place top 10 in the AG.  Hadn't felt good the last two days and with the warm temp I knew it would be tough.  

Here are my splits, what a total amateur/idiot I was: 

Mile 1 ~ 7:15 (went out WAY TOO FAST and knew I would pay for it later, but it was fun blasting down the hill with bunch of younguns.)

Mile 2 ~ 7:25 (my mouth was getting so dry, I needed a drink so bad.)

Mile 3 ~ 7:57 (saw hubby cheering at the bank.)

Mile 4 ~ 8:01 (lungs are burning, ITB is complaining going down South Temple.)

Mile 5 ~ 8:04 (what's with that guy handing out donuts?)

Mile 6 ~ 8:55 (finally got a drink of water and doused myself with another cup of water. I wanted to quit and went into marathon mode.  I was a road kill to zillion people here.)

0.2 mile ~ 8:56 (legs were burning, gasping for air and thought I would die, kicked it in when I saw the clock ticking 49:xx)

Finish time: 49:31  THANK GOD it was over!

I had never watched the winners come in at a marathon before (only on TV).  It was amazing!  It was so fun to cheer Johnny V and his pacer, Riverton Paul who kept doing 360 to make sure Johnny wouldn't get passed by another guy. 

After congratulating our fellow bloggers, Teena and I ran back on the course to find Lowell and run him in (3.5 miles).  That amazing guardian angel was helping a girl in distress.  She had a very scary asthma attack.  Lowell stayed with her and she ran her 2nd marathon with over 15 min PR.  Her first marathon was the "monsoon SGM" last year.

Continued the Pioneer's Day celebration with a wonderful delicious grilled steaks, chickens, shrimp lunch cooked by none else but my awesome brother-in-law.  Did I mention that guy never stops?!!!  What a great day!

THANKS everyone for making this race SO SO SO SO FUN!  Have a great weekend!

Woke up bright and early at 4 and couldn't go back to sleep.  What the heck, might as well go for my scheduled 20 miler.  THANKS to Teena's organizing a "chump" group run, I called her and got the driving direction to the meeting place. 

It was fun to see Shimelle, her brother, "Peach", Julie and a groupd of great "chumps".  I knew right away that I was going to be the sweeper of this group; but was concerned that I would be lost.  Everyone took turn staying with me for the first 7 or so miles.  THANKS, you guys/gals are AWESOME!!!

We got back to the church just shy of 12 miles.  We had forgotten to restart the Garmin after taking a drink from a park so lost track of about 1 mile.  It was a humid morning with temp staying in the 70's.  I lost about 2 pounds of sweat!  I am tired; but otherwise feeling great.  20 miles ~ average pace 9:42.  Fastest at 9:00, slowest at 10:20.

Teena was so very very very kind and patient to run with me for 20 miles.  I treasure every second of the run with her.  I just hope I didn't ruin her body by running her longest and slowest miles since rehabing.  She is amazing!

THANK YOU my dear soul sistah for pulling, pushing and encouraging me the whole way!!!  I would not have made it without you today!!!  I LOVE YOU lots and lots and lots!!!!