Each Day Is a Gift

Long drive home.  We stopped at a McDonald along I-210 to get WiFi and tried unsuccessfully to locate a church for Sacrament.  So we drove on until we hit Vegas and I remembered attending a church just outside Boulder City, east of Henderson right off I-515 back in Jan this year when I ran the Angel Marathon in Lake Mead.  So we took a chance to see if they might have a 1pm Sacrament.  Lo and behold we got there at 12:40 and they do have a 1pm service!  Wonderful spirit in the meeting and great talks!

We stopped in SG for gas and I decided to drive the next leg.  We hit heavy slow/stopping traffic all the way to Beaver.  Apparently there were 3 accidents just outside Hurricane.  Wendy and Karen who were about 1.5  and 2 hr ahead of us text us about the traffic delay.  They too were driving home with the rest of the Thanksgiving traffic.  My daughter and her family also encountered heavy traffic traveling home from SG to Houston.  Traffic was very light in California, Nevada and AZ but got bad in UT and TX in the late afternoon and evening hours.

Got home at 9:30pm finding all is well.  Unpacked the big cooler of frozen fish and small cooler of assortment of food.  So so so so tired.  Legs so so so so tight and achy.  So so so so good to sleep in my own bed.  :)

Slept in till 7am since we didn't get home until late last night.  Missing my sister already!

Wendy, Karen, hubby and I ran together getting caught up with our Thanksgiving weekends events.  Karen went to her sister in Vegas.  Wendy went to Carlsbad for her daughter's soccer tournament.  Hubby only wanted to run 2.  Us girls ran east to Smith's then west on Canal Trail then turned around and back to home. 

Hubby and I went swimming afterward.  There was nobody at the leisure pool!  So nice to be able to practice TI drill 1, 2, 3, 4 without anyone splashing me or me drifting all over the place! :)

Ran west down Canal Trail south down Rail Trail then east up 2600N with Karen and Wendy.  Right ITB squawked again on the downhill and first couple miles but okay on the uphill.

Karen and I went swimming for 40 min. afterward.

Laundry galore!!! :)

Evening:  yoga.  I LOVE this class. :)

I've read SO much about RAD's awesome urban trail run!  I FINALLY got to experience it this morning!!! :) :) :)  I was SO excited when she made arrangement to have her SIL tend little Adam so she could run the urban trail with me after she dropped the kids off at school.  (Her Newton buddies usually meet at 5:30 which is WAY too early for l'ole me)!!! 

What a FUN FUN FUN 8 miler running south along a canal trail then west to Day Break and around the Lake (I've always wanted to run there) and thru some fence to a REAL trail along a dry creek.  I LOVE running with RAD, good laughs, inspiring conversations, wonderful company! :) :) :)  The weather was perfect aside from a little headwind at times.  The right ITB complained during the initial miles but was fine the rest of the run.  I did get a little tired the last 1.5 miles (didn't eat breakfast). 

THANK YOU Rachel for sacrificing your morning to take me on this wonderful run!!! :)

Didn't sleep well last night.  Almost, almost took up the offer to walk with Diane and Wendy; but since I had told Karen I'd run with her, I declined.  Dragged my tired self out the door.  Once we got going, it was a very pleasant run.  The knee did the same thing, tuckled a bit running down the tunnel but fine running up.

Went to the pool with hubby and Karen afterward.  They were swimming with such grace while I looked kinda silly doing my TI drills.  I'm sure I'll get it one of these days!

Temple with hubby and Wendy.  My knee buckled again after kneeling for a few min.  Had to walk with one straight leg...kinda embarrassing!  :)

Karen wanted to run 13 today since her Sat. is crazy busy.  I only wanted to do 10 so she ran 2 around her block before meeting me, Wendy and John (Zeus, the dog).  Originally we were planning to run to the Alpine park where the eternal flowing fountain is.  But John had other adventure in mind.  :)

Us girls followed man and dog onto the Murdock Canal Trail then hiked up over the trail tunnel, crossed Timpanogos Hwy up to Traverse Mtn.  My knee was fine running uphill, but I worried about the return downhill trip and the wind.  Since we girls didn't carry water, John suggested that we ran inside the Outlet Mall (mile 3) to get a drink (he had his own camelpak).  I've never seen such a palatial restroom! :)

We then got onto the pack-dirt unpaved canal trail.  This is a great trail skirting the hillside up above Cabella's with nice view of the valley by the point of the mountain.  We can see the upper portion of JRP to the west (by the wind mill and Veterans Memorial) and the "hangliding" hill up ahead. 

We cut off from the trail thru a water-run-off-rock-basin and entered the Traverse Mtn. neighborhood park where unfortunately the bathroom and water fountain were closed.  It's a really nice park though!  John used his iPhone GPS to locate the way to the Travers Mtn Elementary (mile 5.25) where we got a drink and ate our Gu. 

We had to run more uphill to get to a traffic-circle that lead to the main road.  With a stiff headwind running uphill, I nearly got an asthma attack.  I started to run backward so I could catch my breath.  I told my running partners earlier that Carina and her friends live in Traverse Mtn.  Lo and behold, a girl resembled Carina in a white mini-van drove by and waved to me!  I turned back and waved and told Wendy that must be Carina!  That put a smile on my face! :) :) :)

Then we had to run about a mile downhill with a stiff headwind!  My knee was hurting bad enough that at some point I swung my knee straight legged with each stride.  It totally messes up my hips.  The beautiful view of the valley helped ease the pain! :) Stopping at the traffic light to cross Timpanogos Hwy made my knee locked up; but once we were back on the flat Canal Trail, it felt better. 

Boy, was I tired and slow!!!  I used to run 7 miles every weekday and 15+ miles most weekends!!! I used to run Karen home then back for extra mile but NOT today!  How did I get myself into this sad shape! :(   O well, at my age, I'm grateful to be out running with great friends, enjoying an unseasonably mild Nov day.  :) :) :)

Practice swim drill.  Such a gorgeous day...I should've been running...blah!!!

Decorate the Christmas tree.....