Create.

2 hour trail run with Ry. Found a new way to get up to the water tower and then took a different trail that led us to the most wonderful and breathtaking spot right around the halfway point. Comfortable chatting pace with a couple little hiking portions. My Ry has grown his hair out a bit for the first time (I have been begging for years). Not gonna lie, he looked quite good today on those trails in his sunglasses and new Nike white tights under his running shorts!

Weather and company were perfect!!! :-)

3 TM miles (VASA)

ST: 40 minutes - legs and core

3 easy and wonderful miles with Rylee and Smo. Mostly talking about Rylee going to college and wondering where that will be. She has worked so hard in high school and it has paid off. She has been offered multiple presidential scholarships but has not heard back from all the schools to which she applied yet. She will not give any indication of which school she is leaning most towards until she has heard from them all. I thought a run could pull that out of her but it didn't. Ha! :-)

30 minutes easy bike

Yoga

Back to work tomorrow with no upcoming paid holidays in sight! Dang!!!! Was definitely spoiled having so many long weekends over the holidays.

Hey, quick question for any of you who may be reading this (like one or two people, ha ha). Has anyone worked 4 10 hour shifts in lieu of 5 8s? I'm considering it but don't know if I could make it through 10 hours without feeling completely exhausted and missing my kiddos like crazy. I realize it's only 2 hours longer than 8, but for some reason that 7th and 8th hour already do me in. Ha!

5 miles and some burpees

5 TM miles at Summit

15 minutes hills upright bike

ST: 20 minutes shoulders

2 X 10 burpee box jump combos (at work after a couple complex evals today to clear my head, ha ha)

5.5 miles

ST: 8 minutes ankles

4.5 miles

ST: 25 minutes legs

7 early chilly miles with Shelbey on the Bloomington Trail.

Can I just say that Shelbey rocks! We have been working together now for 8 months and still hang out whenever we can. I often have a hard time believing how lucky I am to work with someone who I love to be around so much. It's kind of freaky how many times the exact same words come out of each of our mouths at the exact same time. Or how we often think the most random thoughts simultaneously. I honestly don't know how it is possible. Sometimes it freaks us both out a bit. My kids and Ry get a kick out of it though!

Now for the bad news . . .

I regret to inform the few of you who may read this that my lucky powerball tickets were not as lucky as I had planned. So alas, I will not providing new shoes nor a lifetime of electrolytes of your choice to any of you.

5 miles

ST: 15 minutes glutes, 8 minutes ankles

4.5 easy miles

40 burpees

20 box jumps

8 miles

So I LOVE this little clip that my kids' high school's student council put together for the girls basketball team. It will be shown at all home games when they announce the starters. They are Desert Hills Thunder . . . . So the song is very fitting! I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!!! Rylee (my oldest, a senior) is the first girl you see in the clip and then a couple times after that. She is number 3. The clip is one minute with footage but the rest is just a black screen as the music plays. So if you have 59 free seconds check it out!

I LOVE BASKETBALL SEASON!!!!!

http://youtu.be/Ix8W-v1r_NA

Not sure how to make it a link on my iPad so you may have to copy and paste. The mama pride in me is beaming full force!!!

THUNDER . . . . Duh nuh nuh nuh nuhhhhhhh . . . . THUNDER!!!!

4 easy miles

10 ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC miles on a beautiful portion of the Desert Tortoise Reserve trail system with Shelbey and Ry!!

Seriously, this run was money! I am a clinical instructor for a PTA student right now who will graduate in the next few months. Anyway, she is in the clinic with me for seven weeks. One day she heard Shelbey and I talking about where we were going to do our next long run. She interrupted and told us about this place she takes her dog. Oh my goodness, it was heaven!! I wish I could post a picture on here from my iPad. We ran on dirt along beautiful red rock. The miles you could run out there seem endless. At our half way mark there was this beautiful rock that reminded me of The Wave (if you have every hiked there). Absolutely breathtaking. We snapped some pretty cool shots (Shelbey runs with her phone).

About 6 miles into the run Ry got some hip pain, so he would run a little then walk a little. Every time he would need to walk Shelbey and I would do 15 burpees and then catch back up and he would run again. We were able to get in 60 burpees.

LOVED this run!

5 miles, nothing special compared to Saturday. Dang Saturday's run was beautiful!

Another 5 miles but included a threshold mile this time to liven things up! Ha!!

Some general core strengthening exercises.

9 miles with Shelbey after work. Dang it was windy!!! Like crazy mad wind wanting to knock you straight to your buttocks mad wind!!! We were trying to convince each other how tough we were! But then we would think of one of our patients who's husband died roughly 20 years ago and she proceeded to take care of a giant ranch on her own for 18 years! Now that woman is tough!!!! :-)

Love running with Shelbey!

Short on time so ran fast (fast for me that is). Ha! :-)

Another 5.5 mile run. It's finally Friday! Hallelujahs all around!!! :-)

Big 'ol zero for the running miles today!

Roughly 10 hours of driving in 24 hours is no fun! To and back from SLC for Livvy's cheer competition and then four basketball games and Rylee's prom in the evening.

I have never been to a cheer competition, I wasn't a cheerleader and my two oldest girls have dedicated their extra curricular life to basketball and track. So this was new for me. I wasn't sure how it would be. Dang . . . Some of those girls are insane!!! Crazy strong!!! It was SO MUCH FUN watching Livvy do her thing! This is new to her as well, but she LOVES it! So proud of her for sticking to what she wanted to do even though it is very different that any of her other siblings. Seriously, she melts my heart!!! :-)

Ry hurt his neck tonight messing with a ceiling fan. Boo!

Well . . . 12 weeks to Boston, I guess it's time for me to step up the miles. I have to admit that I was really liking the 5ish miles a day bit. I have got to figure out a way to convince myself that I will like the 6ish miles a day and then the 7ish miles a day and so forth (as well as the much longer weekend runs) just as much! Ha!

11 miles, AP 7:55

Absolutely beautiful weather other than the west wind. It was sunny and gorgeous. As long as I wasn't running directly west it felt ideal! I was tempted to just run north and south but I decided that I would make a big loop and suck it up! :-)

I was by my lonesome since Ry hurt his neck yesterday, and Shelbey had already showered by the time I was ready to run! Ha! I was shocked that I didn't see any runners out today, maybe because I didn't get out the door until 10ish. Hee Hee!

Got home and worked the glutes a bit:

50 lunges

50 squats

50 SLS back kicks

5.5 miles

Mondays . . .

Not a fun day. Short version:

Smo has been sick. She was trying to avoid telling us how sick she was because she didn't want to miss her basketball practice or games. Yesterday she took a turn for the worst. Last night when she asked to sleep with me I realized that it was bad (that is so not like her). She woke up in the middle of the night crying that her ear hurt. She had a fever and I was tempted to take her into the emergency department but when she fell back asleep Ry and I decided that one of us would just take her to the instacare in the morning. She was still asleep when I left for work (I didn't run because I had been up with her multiple times and was beat). About an hour after I left Ry said she woke up crying again and this time as she got up blood started pouring from her ear. Ry took her to the Instacare. She had ruptured her ear drum and had a bad infection. She was but on IV for fluids and antibiotic. Poor thing.

Another restless night with Smo by my side. The pain and the bleeding have not subsided. Smo has an appointment with an ENT in about a week. It's hard to get the drops in her ears because there is still so much blood and drainage. :-(

6.5 miles

Smo slept with me one more time. She did much better last night only waking up 2-3 times to wipe out her ear. It is still draining but slowly down measurably. The pain is still there but not as intense. The dizziness has subsided. She still cannot hear out of that ear though. Wish we could have gotten into the ENT sooner.

6.5 miles, nice and easy

Hip extension in plank, 3 X 15 B

Hip abduction in side plank, 3 X 10 B

Bridge with SL extension, 3 X 10 B

Smo is unbelievable. She seriously just tried to convince me to go to Dicks Sporting Goods and buy her a wrestler's ear guard for her. She whole heartedly argued that she should be allowed to play in her two basketball games if I get that for her because in her words, "it would protect [her] ear!" That girl!!!!!!!

5.5 TM miles (Summit)

Lunges and bar squats with Rylee (135 lb 3 X 8: used the track system because I am kind of wimpy, ha!) Rylee is way tougher than me when it comes to weights! I need to get my butt in gear! :-)

12 miles with Shelbey! Ry ran the first 4 with us but has been getting over a cold so called it good at that point.

A little drizzle but nothing heavy. Temps actually felt pretty dang good! Bloomington Trail then Summit loop. LOVE running with Shelbey! She signed up for her first marathon on May 7th! I really think she could BQ on her first full! Crazy how easy running comes to her. She was a collegiate soccer player so totally makes sense! She is freaking amazing.

Everything felt nice and easy. Ran our first half really easy with an average pace of 8:50 (just grabbed the whole time felt really good). Ran the second half faster at an 8:17 pace, but still felt really comfortable. Conversation never waned and we threw in a couple of marathon paced miles still gabbing away! NICE!

Got home, hopped on the TM for one more mile because I wanted 13 today. Need to hit 39+ miles this week. Wanted 35 last week and barely hit it. I have run marathons on as little as peaking at 36 miles per week, and as high as an 83 miles per week peak. I think this time around I will shoot towards something in the middle, 60 miles per week peak sounds pretty okay to me. We will see! :-)

Burpees 3 x 15

Skier crunches 3 x 15

Happy new week, All! :-)

5.5 miles

5 miles, inc: 3 x 400, 2 x 800, 1 x 1200

7 miles, AP 7:50 (including warm up mile) with Shelbey this evening. It was chilly, but not as chilly as it is up north!! :-)

8:39 (warm up), 7:46, 7:50, 7:42, 7:44, 7:35, 7:39

Love running with Shelbey. The goal was an 8:12 pace (her desired MP for her first marathon). We beat that by a long shot! She is AMAZING!!!

Up into the Washington Fields area by some crazy huge houses and back.

Reach curls: 3 x 10

Side reach curls: 3 x 10 each direction

SL bridges: 3 x 10 B

**************************

Funny story: I have this patient that cracks me up!!! He has worked crazy hard and ready for discharge. Upon reviewing everything for self management he asks for another one of my cards. I say, "Sure." I go to grab it and he asks, "Don't you want to know why I need another one?" I say, "Absolutely." His response (which had me rolling): "I hung the first business card you gave me in the bathroom stalls at the Beaver gas station! I wrote: 'For a mediocre time call . . ." OH MY . . . I couldn't stop laughing! I love people with a sense of humor like that!!!

4.5 miles

SO GLAD IT IS FRIDAY!

14 miles (13.3 with Shelbey, AP 8:29  and .7 by myself later in the afternoon just because I wanted 14). Smo had a game in Kanab at 9 which meant we had to run early. Shelbey freaking rules and met me at the trail head at 4:45 a.m. I just LOVE her! Ran both Bloomington and Virgin Trail loops. This was Shelbey's longest run to date. She rocked it!

5 miles, including 4 X 400 at VO2 pace

Bar squats

Leg press

LOTS of freaking bad (but delicious) food during the Super Bowl!!! Like . . . LOTS!!!!

6 miles

TRX core, inc:

Plank crunches

Plank hip abducts

Plank bicycles

Plank side crunches

Definitely felt that one!

6 miles, inc. 4 x 800 and 4 x 400

7.25, AP 8:16

Beautiful evening run with Shelbey up to the airport, scrambling the crags at the top, and then back down. We were both tired from work so just took it fairly easy with a few pushes. Enjoyed the scenery and the company. The hill is killer but we had a great time.

15 miles, AP 8:58

Had to be in Vegas early Saturday morning so Shelbey and I decided to get our long run in after work. Our week at work has been crazy. We were both exhausted. We chose a hilly course but were committed to taking it easy. Ry ran 7 of the miles with us which was nice! I think he may start running more again. Crossing my fingers.  

5 miles, AP 7:36, this evening during sundown. Trying to squeeze in a run between the kiddos cheer competitions and basketball games. Had no choice but to run faster to make it to Sherm's game in time. 6:30/7ish in the evening and still mid 60s. I love St. George! 

Fun day!!!

60 minutes mountain biking with Ry: Bear Claw Poppy Trail

45 minutes pickle ball with Rylee, Sophia and Rylee's friend Mack (from West Jordan)

4 miles, AP 8:19. (2 of those miles were with Iggy who ran an 8:22 and 8:26 and LOVED it) :-)

9 miles.

2.5 miles to Summit, 8:03 AP

2 fast miles on the TM at Summit, 6:59 AP followed by:

Leg press

Quads/HS

Standard plank

Depth jumps

Box jumps

2.5 miles home, 7:55 AP then 2 miles with Iggy (who ran much slower tonight, 9:22 AP)

With the weights and plyos in the middle the whole workout lasted just under 2 hours.

I start my 4 X 10 hour shifts at work tomorrow. Hoping it goes well. It does mean that I have to get up even earlier now or run at night. Ugh . . . It will probably be a combination of them both!

4 miles, AP 7:43, in the wee hours of the morning. Pickle ball figure 8. 

ST: 4 way band walks, GTB

6 miles, AP 7:40. Another run in the wee hours before the sun even thinks about sharing it's beams. Pickle ball figure 8 x 1.5. Really wondering how my body will handle the 4 10 hour (which really ends up being closer to 11-11.5) work shifts.

Great run for me, but icky run for Ry. :-(

First, having Friday's off rules!!!! Was able to get in my long run today (which is a scale back week). The plan was to run 7 miles by my lonesome and then pick up Ry who would be waiting with bells for the last 6! :-)

I figured I'd run hard on my own and then enjoy the company for the final 6. 

Miles 1-7, AP 7:45. Summit loop with extension. Hilly loop. Ran hard, not max, but hard. Didn't have to stop at any lights so kept the pace honest. Felt great about these miles as I was able to keep a good pace even on the uphill miles. With that said was happy to finish those 7 miles and take it easier with Ry.

Mile 8, AP 8:57. True to his word Ry was ready when I arrived but not with bells. I knew immediately when we started to run that something was off. Just shy of a mile Ry stopped and started dry heaving. Needless to say we turned around and headed home. Walked a few minutes with him to make sure he was good. After that he insisted a go and finish my run so we could leave for SLC on time.

Miles 9-13, AP 7:35. Pickle ball loop with rustic loop. I was feeling pretty good after the 3 minute walk with Ry. I decided that I would see if I could pick up the pace again and match my prior pace. I was pleased when I saw each mile click in. I was feeling strong but starting to feel the fatigue. I kept telling myself to just hang on for another mile. Then the magical feeling you get when the mile clicks in faster than you were expected that gives you a little boost would take over. Last mile was my fastest at a 7:22. No stops other than the one with Ry.

Feel super great about this run. :-)

Go Thunder Girls!!!! :-)

75 minutes mountain biking with Ry, Bear Claw

3 miles, AP 8:49 (2 of which were with Iggy). I'm really enjoying my couple of miles with Iggy! BEST DOG EVER!!! :-)

12 miles

First 6.5 miles with Ry in the trails just southeast of our house. Found a way to the new airport that is all on trail! SWEET!!! We are going to call it Rock City because of all the big gorgeous rocks you pass on the way up. Well, Ry actually only ran 5.5 of those miles with me because during the steep uphill he found one of those big rocks to lay flat on his back and soak in some rays while I ran up and down it. Hilarious!! What I would have given for a camera. It would have been an amazing pic from up above. Next time.

When we returned at 6.5 I straightway went out for another 3.5 miles (pushing the last two) to make an even 10.

Then about an hour after that I could tell that Iggy wanted to go for a jog so I took her out for another couple of miles at a decent clip. She is such a fun dog! Ever since we started running together she doesn't want to leave my side! She's laying down right next to me as I type this. I LOVE HER!!! :-)

Oh, and I can't forget all of the Bocci Ball and Blokus today! :-) :-) :-)

Happy new week, All. :-)

4 miles, including 4 X 400

6 miles, AP 7:51

.5 warmup, 2.5 MP, 2.5 HMP, .5 cool down

18 FANTASTIC super easy (except for 1) miles.

Shelbey has a niggle and so we decided to take it crazy easy since this is the farthest she has ever run and she was having calf problems earlier in the week. We had SO SO SO much fun.

Miles 1-4 with Iggy (Iggy didn't need to stop even once, of course we were running super easy, but still)

Miles 5-16 Shelbey and I dropped Iggy off at home and then headed out to Rock City. We LOVE that place!!! Feeling the dirt underneath your feet makes it almost feel like your feet are getting a massage!! At least that is what we were telling ourselves! Ha!!! Like I said, we just ran crazy easy and chatted up a storm. Lots of laughing! At one point (well actually two points, but I was only aware of one) we ran across a mad smoking doobies (is that a real word) with his dogs. Shelbey says, "Oh there's that guy again." I responded, "What guy?" She's like, "You are kidding me, right? You saw him before, right?" I answer, "Nope!" She responds, "No way you should ever run by yourself, you are oblivious to your surrounding!!" We couldn't stop laughing because I honestly did not see him the first time.

Mile 17-18 Picked up Rylee (who gets done with school around 11) and she ran the last couple with us. SO MUCH FUN!

Seriously, that was a run that I could run everyday! Our pace was so easy that the first 10 miles felt like nothing.

After we finished we all made some yummy watermelon smoothies, brought out a speaker, and shared the hammock in the backyard and chatted some more!

I LOVE HAVING FRIDAYS OFF!!!!!!!

Today was bitter sweet. Spend most of the day in Cedar City at SUU watching the state championship games. Rylee's team did not make it to the finals so that was sad, but we wanted to watch the game and Rylee had to be there to accept her All State Academic Award at half time. I could not be more proud of my girl. I tried so hard not to cry and mostly succeeded but I had to fight the tears big time. I felt my throat closing off on me as I tried to hold back my emotions. Basketball has been such a huge part of her life, and now that chapter is coming to end. She is more than prepared to move on to all the good things the world has to offer her, I'm just not prepared. Ugh ... I love that girl!!!

Got home and ran 4.5 miles with Ry up towards Rock City and then another 1.5 with Iggy. Iggy is becoming quite the runner! Today she ran her 1.5 at a 7:43 pace. Who knew I could love a dog so much! The second she sees me in my running clothes she heads straight to the front door and lays on her back waiting for me to put on the leash. She is SO CUTE!!!! :-)

Goal this week was 50 miles! I did it! :-)

3.5 miles (2 with Iggy and 1 by my lonesome)

Iggy is seriously such a good runner!

5 HM pace miles

5.5 miles, inc. 6 X 800

4 miles, 1 fast.

I can tell that I am either getting sick or super stressed out!! Ugh!

2.5 miles SLOW!!!! I think I may have race madness for a test I am taking tomorrow. Is that possible? It's a crazy 7 hour test that if passed will give me a special certification (that you can get in addition to your doctorate) in orthopedics. I'm stressed out of my mind.

I'm exhausted!!!!

7 hour test today: From 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. with only one 50 minute break, otherwise you had to be in your chair: no food, no drinks, no mints, nothing!!!! Had to be metal dectected, photo I.d.ed, picture taken, signature matched, pull my pockets inside out, etc. both before going into the testing room and re-entering after break. It was EXHAUSTING!!!! Ha!!

18 mile run with Shelbey starting at about 5:00 p.m. Our long run was exactly what I needed to get that test, and the hundreds of hours studying for it out of my system!!! Ha!

We took it fairly easy down to the last 17 miles of the SGM course and then ran another mile to Shelbey's house so that her hubby could take us back to Ry's car (Ry drove us up, and then came back and ran the last 6 miles with us). We averaged an 8:19 as we took it fairly easy and chatted away. We are simply trying to get our legs ready for some downhill come the May marathon which will be crazy downhill. I need to find a nice balance since Boston is not crazy downhill which is 3 weeks prior. Both should be fun! :-)

So here is how dang tired my brain was last night. It goes a little something like this: While we were running I couldn't help but think about how dark it got so early. Seriously, like 7:00ish it seemed crazy dark! I was trying hard not to trip on things. Neither Ry or Shelbey were complaining so I just kept focused on where my feet were landing and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't fall. Part two of the story goes like this: As I was laying in bed (well past midnight since my mind was racing about the test) it hit me!!! When the sun went down I didn't think about taking my sunglasses off!!! Hence I was running in them the whole time!!!! What an idiot!!!! HA!!!!! :-)

6 miles with Ry and Iggy to Ry's Rock. Ry always takes a 10 mile nap there while Iggy and I run for that 10 minutes then pick him back up. He cracks me up!!! :-)

Mostly marathon miles today. The thought of running 26.2 at this pace seems daunting. Ugh. May be changing my goal. Ha!

6 nice and easy miles

Another 6 miler.

8 miles at a decent clip. Have had to run by myself quite a bit this week. Boring!

20 miles, AP 8:14

SO glad to have company today and SO glad to have Friday's off. The trade-off is that by the time I get home on Wednesday night I am almost in tears! Hoping my body gets used to the longer days. The crappy thing is that it takes me 30 minutes to drive to work and 30 minutes to drive home. Then I work a 10 hour shift, which actually by the time I get all my charting done ends up being closer to 11.5. So I leave my house at 6:30 a.m. and then get home around 7 p.m. Something has got to give. I need to see one or two less patients in order to catch up on charting during the day, or not work so far away from home, or go back to a normal work week, because I hate not getting home until dinner time. I miss my kiddos too much. Granted, most of them don't get home until about that time (secondary to sports, cheer, etc) but still. Maybe I need to go back to my old schedule. Or maybe I should just go to working 30 hours a week (but then I don't get all the benefits). Ugh. I have no idea. Blah! But I digress, back to the run -

So, it went a little something like this:

Ran to Shelbey's house (3.5 miles)

Then Shelbey and I ran on the trail up to Brigham, then the big hill, then to my house for more fuel. Then back to her house where we picked up her hubby to run one mile (13 miles)

Ran back home, and a jig a jig jig (3.5 miles)

It's super nice to have the long run done on Friday. I like it! And as always, I love running with Shelbey! She's a freaking rock star! :-)

6 miles with Ry and Iggy to Ry's Rock. :-)

5 with Smo! I sure have missed running with her. Lately basketball fills every bit of her free time though. <3

5.5 boring miles! Ha!

7.5 MP

7 Inc. 7x800s

3 miles including 4x400. Plus tried to learn how to climb a rope in 15 minutes at the gym in prep for Spartan! That was hilarious!

In a nutshell . . . I was NO WHERE NEAR ready for this race . . . BUT . . . I had SO much fun!!!! Seriously though, my upper body needs some major work! Four years ago in this race I was able to take 2nd overall woman with a time almost 30 minutes faster than this year. Four years ago I also was able to do all the obstacles but two. For those who may not be versed in Spartan races there is a 30 burpee penalty for each obstacle you cannot complete on your first attempt! So 4 years ago I only had to do 60 burpees. Guess how many I had to do this year? 180 freaking burpees!!!!! HA!!!! Hence the 30 minutes slower!! By the end my burpees were a very pathetic attempt at raising my hands above my head before falling straight to the ground followed by toothpick arms struggling to push my muddy abdominal area off of the dirt (in a pathetic attempt at a push-up) only then to have my quivering legs barely succeed in returning me upright only to have to do it again. VERY SAD!!!! Ha!!!!

The funniest thing about it all is that Shelbey in I registered for the Elite section because it was $10.00 cheaper and you got to start earlier!!! Shelbey definitely belonged there but I definitely did not!!!! I think when I figured out the numbers I came in about 76th place out of roughly 1100 females all together but only 72nd out of 100 elite females!!!! HA HA HA!!! Someone had to bring in the pack!! Hee Hee! But Shelbey killed it!!! There is something to be said about being 25 and a collegiate soccer player. She had no idea what she was getting herself into but she also does not know how to lose! So she pushed like a mad woman and came in 19th woman overall!! Which is CRAZY good now a days! When I did it 4 years ago the competition was not nearly what it is now! Seriously, some of the women that show up to these things are unreal and travel the world competing in these races. It was amazing. Shelbey literally killed it! She is a rock star!!!

Best of all is that Ry ran this race too! He did it the smart way though! He did not sign up for the Elite section and hence was not monitored nor recorded on camera when he failed an obstacle and hence could choose to not do the burpees!!! He just pushed until he no longer wanted to push. Towards the final third as we were watching for him to come in we saw him fail an obstacle and not do any burpees. Afterwards we said, "What the heck? Why didn't you do your burpees?" He laughed and said he was trying to get disqualified so that he didn't have to finish!!!!! That boy!!! I love him!!!! (And yet he finished and looked good doing so!) :-)

8 slow miles with Iggy! Nice and easy!!! Can hardly believe she ran 8 miles! But she did and she loved it!!!! Best dog EVER!!!! :-)

Another easy 5

One more easy 5 miler! Ha!

8.5 miles, 7 at MP. That's better!

4 easy ones

21 miler, 8:14 pace

6.5 by my lonesome pushing the pace a bit before picking up Shelbey. Picked up Shelbey and we kept a good honest pace for 5 miles then picked up Blake for 2 easier miles followed by another 5 miles at another good honest pace. Then 3.5 to get back home by myself trying to push but feeling quite tired. Ha!!!

8 in Vegas, 8:34 pace

5 wonderful Easter miles up on the trails above Desert Hills.

6 miles, including 4 at MP

8.5 miles, including 10 x 800s. :-)

Rest

6.5 miles, including 3 MP and 1 HMP

4.5 miles with Ry and Iggy up towards Ry's Rock!!! I'm so mad! They are beginning to plow our trails down to make more spaces for homes! I'm not happy!

19 miles with Shelbey, Blake ran 5 with us (which is the furthest he has ever run). Super cool! We mostly took it easy but pushed the last 2 miles. That is also the furthest that Shelbey has ever run! Cool! AP 8:39

4 super easy miles with Ry, Rylee, Trish, Peeper and Iggy!!! :-)

Rest

7 miles, 6 MP

8 miles with Shelbey in the blasted heat after work!!! So, this was a killer run but a great run! The plan was to run 8 miles total with 3 X 1600. When we started our run it was 88 degrees, when we finished it was 91 degrees. I needed to run those 1600s hard but I didn't want to get discouraged due to the heat (or since we were running tired after a long week of work). Hence, I looked up a conversion chart for running in the heat and decided that if I could hit those 1600s around a 7:15/20ish I would be happy in such temps.

It was to look like this: 1 easy, 1 super hard, 1 easy, 1 super hard, 1 easy, 1 super hard, 2 easy.

When it got to our first hard I didn't even dare look at my watch until it beeped. It felt harder than I was expecting and so I just wanted to focus and deal with it. I was shocked when the mile rang in! Shocked and happy.

Our fast mile splits were: 6:46, 6:48, 6:49 (yea, I know they got progressively slower but this is SO MUCH faster than I was expecting under these conditions).

Super happy right now. Super tired right now!!! Ha! :-)

The Boston Marathon usually proves to be a struggle for me. I have set myself up well for this one. But will I be able to race it right? The only time I was able to race it correctly was three years ago in the insane heat (so didn't get the time I was trained for but did better than expected under those conditions). Ugh ... I have no idea how to race that course. I really do need to reach out to someone and get some advise. I always crash mid Newton Hills! Boo me!!!! (But yay me for today's run!) :-)

7.5 easy miles with a handful of strides

12 super fun miles!!! First 6.2 were with Ry, Shelbey and Blake on the Bloomington trails system! Then we dropped the boys off at finished the 12 running a faster pace. Felt like the perfect run! This was the longest Blake has ever run, so super cool! :-)

7 miles run with 5 at MP (which actually ended up being faster than MP now that I know what my MP pace at Boston was!!! Ha. I should have been writing my SGM MP or my desired MP! Ha!)

Rest

6 with 3 at my wishful thinking MP! Ha! :-)

Rest

7 miles up to meet Ry, Shelbey and Blake for breakfast at The Crepery. For some stupid reason I was thinking it was roughly 5 miles. But then I hit Bluff street at just over 4 and I was like CRAP! That's 3 more uphill miles to go!!! Just slowed it way down and made my way up. It was actually starting to rain and I was a little cold. Then when I got there I was freaking out because I had run 2 miles more than I wanted to and it was all significant uphill the last half. I thought I had messed up my marathon and that stress made my asthma act up. So then it felt harder than it should have!! HA!!! Shelbey called me down quickly and told me that I was thinking crazy! That two miles more, especially with me running up there slower, was not going to affect anything! Funny what taper madness does to you! SO CRAZY!!! :-) Breakfast, btw, was EXCELLENT!!! Yum!

Time to get ready to head to Boston!

Bitter sweet since this is also the last day we will see Blake while he is gone selling for Vivint in Cali for 18 weeks. Boo!

Roughly 4 walking miles in Boston! I love this town! :-)

Roughly 6 miles walking in Boston: packet pickup, various eating spots, Blessing of the Athletes, etc.

The Blessing of the Athletes is one of the highlights of Boston for me! It is at The Old South Church right adjacent to the Finish Line. This year they had one of the gentlemen that ran towards the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing (to assist in anyway he could) pronounce the blessing. It was quite touching and made me get teary-eyed. I often get nervous about the bad things that happen in the world, but then something reminds me of how much goodness and kindness is still out there. I think that most people in this world believe in (and share) love and kindness. Humanity always wins in the end. :-)

I also LOVE our traditional pre-race meal at Filippos with Lulu the waitress and Lowell and friends! Another must when you come to Boston. It was especially fun because Christine and Benny made it out this afternoon! So much fun being with them!

Wish I could have spent more time with Smooth! Only saw her and Larry for just a few minutes. They both looked fantastic! Wonder if they will have time to do a quick brunch before leaving Wednesday afternoon. I have never met two people like them! They are AMAZING and certainly radiate that love and kindness I was just referring to! :-)

Not running until the 3rd wave so plenty of time to rest and pump myself up by making silly lip-syncing videos and sending them to Shelbey and Rylee!!!! Race Eve is FUN!

SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

I know that this isn't my fastest time at Boston, but it is my second fastest time at Boston, and I feel awesome!

Got on the buses in plenty of time with Christine and Benny and then just chilled in the Athletes Village for a couple of hours. Did the usual: stand in port a potty lines, write my name on my arm, sip on some water and Gatorade and nibble on some bread and protein bar.

The plan was to all start in Christine's corral. First time ever that I had friends to stand with right up to the starting gun. The second part of the plan was to not run out too fast. The third part was to finish. And the fourth part was to feel good enough at the end that I had no reservations about running another marathon in just under 3 weeks! Done, done, done and DONE! So happy!!! :-)

I enjoyed the course this year more than ever! Noticed things that I have never noticed before! Saw Santa, noticed all of the names of the little towns we were running through, enjoyed the beautiful Cochicuate Lake, noticed all the signs (especially the one of Ryan Gosling that was a giant shirtless poster of him that said, "Hey girl, keep running. I'm waiting for you at the finish line. With a puppy. And a glass of wine."), loved all the women and few men at Wellesley, heard an old friend who moved to the Boston area scream my name, counted all the hills through mile 16-21 and said, "Ha! I gotchoo, to each one (in my head, of course, not out loud, because that would be crazy), gave a shout out to the Citgo sign, and soaked in the crowds through the finish. I really loved it this year!!!

And guess what? Zero pain and NO cramping! I feel awesome!!!! Beyond thrilled! Yea, my time wasn't the best. I could blame it on the heat but I ran a faster time in much worse heat in 2012. I think I simply got the time I trained for, and I am completely satisfied with it. Boston is a harder course for me! BUT I STILL LOVE IT!!!! :-) And because I had such a great experience I am going to write some boring stuff below so I can refer to it later!! :-)

Actual distance run: 26.52 miles

Time: 3:36:41

Rank overall: 9750

Rank Gender: 2626

Rank Division: 369

Runners who finished: 26,639

Male runners who finished: 14,471

Female runners who finished: 12,168

(Which in a nutshell, if my math is anywhere near correct, I kicked roughly 7,347 male buttocks, well I guess that should be doubled, right? Since buttocks come in pairs and all. So, roughly 14,694 male buttocks today!!! Not to be petty or anything!!! Hee Hee Hee Hee)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

(For me to peruse through later . . . )

Sunday

Breakfast: yogurt with granola and Chia

Lunch: Teriyaki rice bowl at Snappy Sushi

Dinner: Pasta and salad at Filippo's

Before bed: 1 emergency pack and 1/2 teaspoon magnesium powder

Race morning:

1 emergency pack

1/2 ciabatta bun

1/2 Gatorade peanut butter protein bar

8 oz of Gatorade

6 oz of water

30 minutes prior to starting time:

1/2 EmergenC tablet

2 power gummies (orange blast)

Throughout race:

couple of swigs of Gatorade and water when it was offered

Gu X 4 (every 45 minutes)

2 Hyland leg cramp pills at mile 21 when I could feel my calves start to tighten up

No cramping during or after race. Jogged a couple of times afterwards (about 100 feet), was able to walk back to the hotel (1.4 miles) with Ry, Christine and Benny without any problems. No pain afterwards, or now. :-)

2 easy. Extremely surprised with how good I feel.

3 miles

11 faster than MP miles but not threshold on the SGM course. I felt great!

3 easy

5 miles, inc. 4 x 800 and 4 x 400

9 MP miles

3.5 miles

10.5 pretty fast for me miles on the SGM course.

6 miles, inc. 4 MP

5 miles, inc. 4 X 800

5 miles, inc. 3 at MP

3 easy miles

2.5 easy shake out miles with Shelbey

First and foremost, this is a FAST course!!!!!

Number one goal was to get Shelbey a BQ! This was her first marathon ever but she is crazy athletic and I knew she could do it! In short, she did, by 7 minutes!!!! Who qualifies on their first marathon? That girl is AMAZING! Can not even begin to express how excited I am that she will be coming to Boston this year.

As for myself, I also had a goal. Looking at the elevation drop for the race I knew that it would be fast if I could keep my body relaxed and cleared of any cramping issues. Boston was 2 1/2 weeks prior and I felt great! No residual pain from Boston at all. In short, I knew this was my chance to hit a sub 3:20, everything was in place:

- My body felt great

- Well trained

- Fast course

- Perfect weather

And so it went!

Mile 1: Ran this one with Shelbey. It was actually snowing! The first mile clicked in just as I had planned. Nodded at Shelbey and told her I was going to take off and see what my body would do.

Miles 2-11: Crazy fast!!!! Saw Shelbey at a little loop around mile 5.5. It was perfect timing!!!!!

Miles 12-20: I stayed pretty consistent but was beginning to feel the muscle fatigue that accompanies running faster than one is used to as well as the steep downhills. Was worried about cramping because my calves were feeling tense.

Miles 21: Noticed I was slowing down

Mile 22: Tried to pick up the pace one more time

Mile 23: Mind started playing with me. I knew that I could slow considerably down and still hit sub 3:20 (which has been a goal for several years). Justified that it was smart to slow down a bit to avoid a total disaster that would accompany any cramping. Not sure if that was the right or wrong thing to do.

Miles 24-26.2: Kept the pace decent, I was tired, but I wasn't going as slow as I could have and still met my goal. It felt hard (even though it was much slower than the first 20 miles) but I was okay. I was actually getting emotional knowing that I was going to finally hit my long sought after goal.

FINISHED: 3:17:51 (6th in Age Division, 22nd Female Overall)

SO HAPPY!!!!

Watched Shelbey finish at 3:28:xx. She ROCKED it!!!

Went back out for Smooth. She was having major issues with cramping. She is one of the strongest women I know. I cannot say enough about her grit and determination. I could see her legs seizing and yet she was continuing to give it everything she had. She is absolutely, hands down, amazing! I love her! :-) :-) :-)

Not ready to run. Elliptical instead.

2 miles easy, better, but still not ready for anything much.

30 minutes elliptical

Yoga

Upright bike: hills, hard 20 minutes

ST: 30 minutes

Swim: 800 meters

3.5 with Ry towards his rock. I was feeling much better but Ry's PF began to hurt so turned around.

2.0 run

60 minutes mtn. Bike

Upright bike: 20 minutes, hills

ST: 25 minutes

Swim: 800 meters

3 miles

5 miles

4 miles

4 miles, figure 8 loop, AP 7:35

Wanted to see if I could run the same loop as yesterday, but faster.

4 miles, AP 7:18: progress run, last mile sub 7 (first time I've entered puke zone in a long time)

5.5 miles

ST: 20 minutes

3 miles easy with Ry and Smo before biking, then . . .

3 hour FANTASTIC mountain bike ride up in LaVerkin/Virgin on Gem trail, Dead Ringer, and Goosebumps trails.

OH MY GOODNESS! This place is a little slice of heaven. Ryan and I had SO MUCH FUN! Only one problem, didn't bring enough fluids so we were parched in the end. But we couldn't get ourselves to leave! Ha!

8 miles, inc. 4 x 200 meter sprints

800 meter swim

7 miles, including 2 fast ones

ST: 20 minutes

Another 7 miles, with another 2 fast ones and 20 minutes of strength training. Seems like deja vu! :-)

3 easy

7 miles, AP 7:46 Summit Loop

3 miles

10.5 miles with Shelbey, AP 8:19, 84 degrees outside but it felt much hotter!

135 minutes mountain biking with Ry, Shelbey and Rob. Bear Claw Poppy, 97 degrees, too hot BUT fun! :-)

7 miles, AP 7:45, Summit Loop

4 miles with Ry after work. OH MY, NEVER AGAIN< it was 104 degrees outside! Definitely have to get my runs in before the sun comes out! Ha!

4 miles: 2 easy, 2 hard

Shelbey will be in Bakersfield, California most weekends for the next 12 weeks. Which means longs run are going to be lonesome (unless I can talk Ry or Smo to come along) and my motivation to get up early is pretty low. Slept in, it was well over 100 degrees out so I headed to the gym.

11 miles on the treadmill, AP 7:40 (the TMs at my gym seem much easier than mine at home). I wanted to poke my eyes out! Then a very short leg workout on the machines.

Come back, Shelbey!

2.5 crazy enjoyable miles with Ry, Smo and Iggy in the morning! The plan was to run another 2.5 miles with Smo in the evening. She has started cross country but is trying to balance that with basketball. Since she had basketball at 9:00 we got in 2.5 before (because she knew that wouldn't make her tired and she could still go hard at ball). Then, we were going to run later in the evening again. Livvy decided she wanted to come with us. I kid you not, the second we started running it began raining in an outpour I have rarely seen. Smo begged us to keep going. We tried. But about a quarter mile into the run it became apparent that it was not safe. Lightning, thunder, and the gutters were already overflowing. The rain hurt when it hit you. It was crazy. So we bee-lined it back home.

Yay!!! I'm caught up on the blog! I need to start using it more. It really does help me.

Ry, Rylee, Smo and Sherm went to the gym this morning. We had SO much fun!

3 TM miles, AP 6:59 (that's pushing it for me)

ST: 30 minutes (arms and back)

Then Ry and I went mountain biking. We headed up to the Chuckawalla trailhead. Road up Beck Hill to Paradise Rim and began making our decent when Ryan blew a tire. He has tubeless tires so there was no way fixing this. Dang!!! Hiked our bikes down a couple of miles until we got to an area where a car could get. Then I road back to the car and came and retrieved my boy! :-) :-) :-)

Even though this was a fun day for our family, it was tainted by the sadness we are all feeling regarding the hateful mass shooting in Orlando. Somethings will never make sense. I cannot wrap my mind around it. My kids cannot wrap their minds around it.

5 easy miles

Another Monday! The best part of working 4 10 hour shifts is having 3 day weekends. With that said, Monday mornings can be rough. Ha! :-)

3 miles, AP 6:59

These are TM miles, so nothing like hitting this pace outside, but still tough for me. In other words, I'm happy about this pace. :-)

5 miles, AP 8:14, Hazel Loop

Super windy outside this morning.

Just lots of watching Smo do her thing on the basketball court! That girl is insane. She is playing on two teams at the same week camp/tournament. She will have played somewhere around 16 games by the end of the week if her body holds out! :-)

Planned on working out once all of Smo's games ended today, but took a TWO hour nap instead. I must have been tired because usually I can only nap for about 30 minutes. But I laid down and was out for the count!

Smo ended up playing 17 GAMES over the tournament. One of her teams went undefeated and took both the 2-minute tournament championship as well as the overall tournament championship. I have no idea how she does what she does. I know that I am biased, but dang, that girl goes hard!!! It's insane how much she puts into whatever she does! LOVE HER!

6 miles, including walking breaks, with Lowell. Nice and easy just enjoying the conversation! Mostly trails. Oh yeah, Iggy joined us as well! Fun!

When I got home Ry was ready to go mountain biking.

2 hours mountain biking with Ryan. Bear Claw Poppy Trail. Took a different route that had some serious climbs. Quads and glutes were feeling the burn! HOT (both temp and hubby). :-)

Loved it all!

Fun fun fun day!!!

Smo has started cross country but has to balance running and basketball right now since she still has a couple of weeks of practices, tournaments, etc. I have no idea how she does it. She ran just a few formal runs last week since she played 17 BASKETBALL GAMES at her camps (and most of those games she was never subbed out). So, she had plenty of interval work and we didn't want her to overdo it more than she was already! Ha Ha! But today she wanted to get back into the swing of cross country. Sundays are usually her rest day but since she rested yesterday she wanted just a few easy miles. So this is how today went:

4 miles, AP 7:29, by my lonesome, pushing comfortably hard. Extended Sunrise Loop. Then went home and Smo was waiting to join me.

3 miles with Smo and Iggy, nice and easy, mostly on dirt. LOVED these miles! Then I wanted one more mile pushing the pace.

1 mile, AP 6:54, looped up to 2450/Little Valley road and back.

THEN . . . Ry and the kids wanted to go to Summit. It is Father's Day, so ABSOLUTELY!!!

45 minutes strength training

800 meter swim

I'm hungry, and totally swole!!!! Ha Ha Ha, that will be the day!!!!! :-) :-) :-)

6 miles: Hazel Loop.

3 miles, 6:59 on TM

5 easy miles

6.5 miles with Iggy, I can't believe she was able to run an 8:09 pace! She loved it! :-)

13 miles: First 10 really slowly (some with Ry, some with Iggy, some with Lowell) and then 3 by myself pushing hard: 7:14, 7:18, 7:15 then .5 cool down.

4 TM miles: .5 warm up then 3 with AP 6:58 then .5 cool down

Strength training: 30 minutes

5 miles with Iggy, 8:38 AP, to Ry's Rock and back.

6 evening trail miles with Shelbey with a bunch of tire throwing (found some old tires on the trail and we decided to have a tire throwing contest: I got smoked). SO MUCH FUN!!!!

4.5 easy miles with Iggy

2 miles with Smo and 4 with Iggy :-)

14 miles: 6 with Iggy, 6 with Ry and then 2 on my own, AP 8:19 with final two at 7:24 and 6:53

4.5 miles, including 1x800

4 easy miles and 60 minutes mountain biking

4 miles with Smo, took it easy.

Smo has an injured foot that we are trying to rehab (FHL/FHB).. A little over a week ago she was at a basketball camp playing for two different teams. She ended up playing in 15 games, usually playing each game in its entirety (yeah, I typed that right: FIFTEEN)!!! Then she followed that a couple of days later running crazy hard at cross country. Her body was too broken down. She didn't want to tell me because she didn't want me to tell her that she had to take a couple of days off. Now it's going to take much longer. Ugh. I think she has learned her lesson though. She is rarely injured and she is HATING it. She has got another big basketball tournament starting tomorrow in California. Once that is done she can really focus on rehabbing that foot and running.

6.5 miles. Super happy with this run. Have a new pair of shoes that I wanted to take on a test run. They make me feel fast!!! HA!!!

2 warm up miles, then 3 miles booking it, followed by 1.5 cool down mile.

The 3 fast miles splits were: 6:58, 6:55, 6:53. I was super happy, especially considering that 2 of those miles were on dirt (which usually slows me down a bit). I was feeling AWESOME. At least as awesome as one can feel when they are trying to convince themself that they can hold that pace the last mile when they haven't run outside that fast for three consecutive miles for quite some time! On the treadmill, yes, but not outside. Now, I know for many on the blog that is no biggie, but for me it is great! 42 isn't feeling so bad! :-)

3 easy miles with Iggy.

10 miles by my lonesome, AP 7:37. Another happy run for me!! Ran up to the turn around on the Virgin River Trail (where the Pilot station is) and then back home. Was hoping to hit sub 8 overall pace, was thrilled with the 7:37. Last mile 6:58.

5.5 miles: 2.5 in the morning with Smo, with some walking, her foot is not ready. She wanted to test it out before going to cross country tomorrow since she knew she was set back again secondary to her California basketball tournament. Her first couple of games her foot felt fine, but then progressively it got worse and worse and hurting pretty badly by her last game. I was not there. She was there with Ryan. She knew this was a very real possibility before she went to the tournament but she did not want to let her team down. Later in the afternoon we went to the gym so she could get her foot in the pool. It helps her significantly. I ran 3 hard on the treadmill, AP 6:58 and 30 minutes strength training while she did aqua jogging in the pool.

5 miles with Iggy, 8:12 pace. Banded hills sunrise loop.

5 miles, 7:12 pace. Banded Hills Sunrise Loop. Anytime I Putin these shoes I feel like should be running fast. They feel kind of like racing flats but with a little more support. So I obey my inclination and push. Feels good!!! :-)

16 TM miles, 7:39 pace. In a nutshell this is what happened:  Scene: At work. Shelbey: "Teena, if you agree to do a long run tonight at the gym with me (Shelbey was going to Bear Lake for the weekend) then I will call your last two patients and see if they can come in early and I will stay and help you see them." Me: "DONE!!!!" And so it went! I wanted to see if my Sauconys would do well on a long run. This was a perfect opportunity as I took another pair of shoes with me just in case. They did splendid. I could tell that I need to get some more long runs in them though before a marathon since my hips began tightening up. Long run done! Wahoo!!!!

4 easy miles with Iggy. Big Bull up and back. Another new pair of shoes. Another thumbs up! 

8 TM miles, 7 @ 7:24 and then 1 cool down. Slept in so went to the gym. Too hot outside. Followed run with 45 minutes strength training then laid out at the pool with the fam! :-)

5 easy miles with Iggy up to Ry's Rock. Then Sophia wanted me to help her with a workout. She's still recovering from a foot injury and is not going to run for a couple more days. She took Friday as a rest day, had a fairly easy workout yesterday and so wanted someone to hold her accountable to pushing hard! That girl! Went to the gym. We biked hills (30 minutes) L6-13 keeping the RPMs above 80 (which was killer at L13). We were sweating bullets. Then we hit the pool. I held onto her tether and she did 10 x 90 seconds intervals with 60 seconds easy between. I could tell she was pushing it since after she was done her legs were wobbly! Ha!! That girl is something else. 

6 with Iggy, AP 8:14, Banded Hills Sunrise Loop with extension.

6 miles, AP 7:19, Banded Hills Sunrise Loop with extension. I pushed hard. One 60 second break after 5th mile.

3 easy miles with Iggy, Big Bull stretch

We made it to Cali. The humidity in Oceanside pretty much kicked my butt today.

17 miles, AP 8:09 on the bike trail. Slept in so was already in the 80s with humidity at 64%. Should have gotten up early but was exhausted from all the sun and boogie boarding yesterday. Didn't bring nearly enough fluids. At mile 14 I was completely parched. I saw a car parked on a side road watching some paragliders. I swallowed my pride Nd asked them if by chance they had any spare water. They were SO nice, they actually had a cooler in their backseat and they gave me a whole bottle. Not sure is water has ever tasted that good to me. HA HA! Survived. :-)

8 miles, AP 7:46 Oceanside Bike Trail

7 total miles: 5 on bike path, AP 7:35 and then 2 easy on beach

7 easy, AP 8:36, half winding through Oceanside neighborhoods and half on the beach.

7 on the Oceanside bike trail, AP 7:54

7 easy miles on the beach: 4 miles with shoes and 3 without

13 miles on the Oceanside bike trail, AP 7:52. Headed back home today. I LOVED every moment here in Cali! Our kids are at fantastic ages. SO MUCH FUN!!!

morning: 5 TM miles, 4 hard. 30 minutes strength training. Evening: 2 easy miles with Smo and Iggy.

Morning: 5 miles with Iggy! So good to be running with my dog again! I love her. You could tell that she hadn't run for a week. AP 8:29.

6 miles, including 3 fast (6:58 AP)

5 easy miles

6 MP

ST: legs

I wanted to run on tired legs on the SGM course (this was before the email came out asking runners not to run on the course). So yesterday I ran 6 MP miles and did a hard leg workout. It worked, my legs felt like mush on the run, but they did overall fantastically.

Miles 1-10: By my lonesome, miles 10-20 on the course, AP 7:11. Pushed!

Miles 11-16: With Courtney on the course, nice and easy, AP 8:49.

Miles 17-19: With Smo and Ry around the reserve, nice and SLOW.

Legs were definitely feeling the miles. But that was the purpose of this run! :-)

Bike ride with Ry