Create.

6 miles with Ry, Rylee and Sophers running the trails in Corner Canyon. SO INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL. 3 miles up then 3 miles down. BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL! :)

6 miles (1 warm up, 3 @ 6:57, .5 jog, 1 @ 6:40, .5 cool down)

Felt good. :)

7.5 miles, AP 8:16

Interning in a neuro rehabilitation clinic with an emphasis on spinal cord injuries this summer is having a true effect on how I look at things.

Happy Tuesday everyone. :)

5 miles: 1 easy, 4 MP

Feeling super tired, but I think it's just the stress and hours of the internship. Hopefully I will start handling it with more ease (physically and emotionally) soon.

10 miles, AP 7:58

This was one of the hardest runs I have had in so long. It felt like I was running 7:30s without any of the joy or satisfaction. My legs felt like garbage -- like each one weighed about 50 pounds! It was very discouraging and I am trying to figure out why it was so difficult. Here are the things I was wondering about, but I really don't know if any of them are that applicable (at least enough to make a difference). If anyone would be willing to weigh in (not just to say that I am being too hard on myself, but give me some real advice regarding where to go from here) I would be super appreciative. I really am looking for some suggestions on how to make the most of this next week so that I can have the best race possible under these circumstances come next Saturday.

Okay, here is what I got:

REASONS WHY THIS RUN MAY HAVE FELT SO STINKIN' HARD:

1. Started a new internship on Monday that has been emotionally and somewhat physically tiring. I work 4-10s (which actually end up being closer to 11s and 12s): Monday - Thursday.

2. On my feet most of the day and started wearing Dansko shoes. They are heavy but are supposed to actually reduce the fatigue in your legs. They were super expensive so I am going to be ticked if they are doing the opposite!!! ;)

3. Not sure if I am eating enough. I have never been very good at figuring my diet out.

4. Sleep is so-so. Haven't been getting 8 hours a night but have been getting about 7 to 7 1/2.

5. Only really trained consistently for about 9 weeks due to some tibia pain prior. Maybe just not enough mileage built up (even though I was able to hit some pretty decent miles the past 4-5 weeks).

6. Crazy bad allergies this week. Taking quite a bit of antihistamines.

7. Taper madness?

8. Temperature in the 70s during my run on the parkway today. (That's not that hot ... so what gives?)

9. Feeling a little bit of guilt for having such a great life (I know that sounds crazy ... but working with individuals with spinal cord injuries all day really makes you question things ... it's hard to explain).

10. Angry at one of Rylee's basketball coaches that seems to do nothing but yell at the girls. It is so frustrating. Rylee is an excellent baller and plays on both a school and competitive traveling team. The high school coach had her play 4 straight games last night in a tournament (both JV and Varsity) and they lost all games!!!! Rylee gave it her all and was literally exhausted at the end. All he did was yell and make the girls feel like garbage. Needless to say, my blood pressure rised quite dramatically and I was upset during the whole four hours of games and when I went to bed. (This may sound stupid, but I am really just trying to figure this out.)

In a nutshell? Is this something I can fix by next Saturday or should I change my goal? My goal was to try and get a course PR (not a distance PR). I was hoping to run Ogden around 3:25:xx.

Anyway ... that's far more about what is going inside of me that I usually share but I am really looking for some advice if anyone is willing to read this lengthy post.

Happy Friday, All. :)

No running for me today. I just simply did not feel good when I woke up.

BUT ... lots of running for my kids!!!

The USATF youth track meet was today in Park City. My kids did awesome!!!

Here are their races and results in the order they ran them.

Rylee (15)

1500 meters: 1st place, 6:03.81

800 meters: 1st place, 2:39.28

Payton (13)

3000 meters: 2nd place, 13:03.02

(This was the race the Sasha's son dominated. Sadly, it was Payton's first time running the 3000 meters and only 2nd race ever and it was a bad experience due the father of the third place runner in this race. You can see the details on a comment I posted on Sasha's blog for this same day.)

Sophia (11)

1500 meters: 1st place, 6:08.72

400 meters: 1st place, time unknown (The results that are posted have it wrong. They have her in LAST place with a 1:31:xx which is CRAZY because I have footage of her winning the whole thing with a LARGE margin and the footage only lasts 1:22:xx and I started it a little before the race started and stopped it a few seconds after the race ended. I have sent the footage to the director of the meet and I haven't heard back yet. Sophia was not happy when she saw the results.)

800 meters: 2nd place, 3:08.68 (This was a fantastic race. Sophia was pretty tired after running hard on the 1500 and 400. She was running in third place until the final stretch in which she kicked it into gear HARD! She ended up taking 2nd 1/3rd of a second behind the 1st place girl who ran a 3:08.34)

Livvy (10)

100 meters: 3rd place, but not even listed on the results ... WHAT?

200 meters: 3rd place, 37.56

Oliver (10) -- my crazy fast sprinter

100 meters: 1st place, 14.76

200 meters: 1st place, 31.99

Anyway, I hope they get the results fixed. Once again (like last year) there were a couple of coaches trying to recruit Sophia and Oliver to run for their team. They love that!! :)