Sunday, August 31, 2008

Lonely, Oh So Lonely

So friends, I must say I'm no good on my own. I don't know how you two have done it. This weekend with Lor out of town, I had this great plan of running 8 miles on my own on Saturday....or not. I didn't even wake up until 7:00 and I had to be back by 8:00 because Jared had a class to teach that morning. :p I got out the door by 7:30, so I knew I only had time for 3 miles. Grrrrr. Almost 8 eh? So I ran the 3 mile loop from my house, and thanks to running with Lor and Sueann this summer I even ran all the hills. Woowoo! It was a good run, just not as long as I wanted. :( Although, let me tell you what....half of the histroic district is for sale. Oooo! We have to run it again so that I can show you all of the houses I've picked out for us. Sigh. Yes I love those houses.
So tomorrow, I'm going to try again. It's supposed to be cold and rainy. Yesssss. I love this kind of weather for running! I think it might just be my motivation for tomorrow. Run with a hoodie, then come home and have hot chocolate. Anyone up for joining me? Blast. On my own again. ;)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Mel, Megan and others running the TOU

We've decided not to run the TOU half this Saturday. Sad. Personally, I was looking forward to possibly meeting you Mel and of course actually SEEING you Megan! I really need to get a 20 miler in and we're both trying to conserve our cash... so... driving up to Logan and paying for registration just threw us out this time. :(

Good luck to you ladies! We want to hear all about it. Maybe a guest post? Yessssss I like that idea. :)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Speed training TUESDAY and other thoughts



...for the love! My passion for speed training is a sick twisted love affair...I love pushing myself and feeling like I am really moving...I hate the effort involved and despise sometimes feel like a ton of bricks. As a side note I am always amazed at how the Olympic Athletes can make a 5:30 marathon pace look like my twelve minute pace, I have no idea where the speed comes from! To stop for a moment of reflection- I have really enjoyed the running aspects of this summer, I have realize part of that is maybe because this is the first time in the last 7 years I have just been able to run for me. This is the first time I am not running with alternative motives such as: Losing weight, trying to get a boy to like me, or the most recent reasons of the last 2 years TRAINING for something. Indeed this summer has been about maintaining, and enjoying my healthy body and finding peace in my morning before the day begins. I am running twice a week with a cute girl in my ward (AMANDA be ready I think this girl can has some serious speed to contend with. Today was her first speed training with me and after a week of no running. The girl total pulled a 8 minute mile after a two mile nine minute mile tempo run). I am glad to have running company but miss you guys all at the same time.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Mission Impossible--Apparently, Possible!

I really didn't think I could do it. Even though I've been running for almost 5 years now the longest run I've EVER done by myself (without running partners or the help of a race atmosphere) was about 12 miles. I was really really really nervous about actually doing it. I had running dreams all night, no joke. I woke up and it took me 25 minutes to convince my body that it DID want to get up and it DID want to go running. I took Erin's advice and chose to do a route that FORCED me into it. About 9 miles I realized that I truly HAD tricked myself... when I stopped in North Ogden for a potty stop I was seriously bummed that I had to run all the way back to Ogden (and up the [enter curse words here] hills). If I had been in place to jump ship, that's when it would have happened. The last 6-7 miles were torture... really the last 3. When I finally crested on 2oth and realized that I only had 3 miles left I thought "totally easy..." but my legs were dead, I had no one to talk to, and my music was only doing sooo much. But I DID it! It took me longer than anticipated, but I DID IT. Amanda, thanks for being my BB buddy during my walk breaks. It helped SO much to be able to talk to someone. I really appreciated the encouragement.

Jeff Galloway's method, btw, ROCKS. The first 13 miles were CAKE. No joke. If I can feel that good after running 13 miles again, sign me up! I think the reason that I was struggling with his method towards the end is that my mileage this summer hasn't been much above 12. Fun. fun.

Oh, friends, I DID IT!!!!! Now I'm not as scared about running the marathon all by myself.
Woo woo!!

Friday, August 15, 2008

18 miles. Tomorrow.

Well, so far I've decided to go forward with the TOU Marathon. Eeeeeeeeeeep. Wish I was better prepared, yes that would be nice. According to my training schedule I'm supposed to be running 18 miles in the morning. I called Sue Ann to see if she wanted to run the last 8 with me... nope... she has a really busy Saturday and is just going to fit a run in.. she's not sure what time. CRAP. So.... my plan is to run the old Ogden route and hope that I can do okay, not dying on the way back home. I'm also going to do it the Jeff Galloway way... and bring my ipod.. too much in my head right now that I don't actually WANT to sort through on the long run. So, I think tonight my goal is to create another playlist... yes yes... that would be good. Stay tuned to see how tomorrow pans out. This will officially be the longest distance I've ever run BY MYSELF. Scarrrry!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Uhhhhhhhh

Holy. Crap.
The counter today says "37 days" til my next marathon.
I suppose I should start training, eh?

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Provo River Half

What a great race! Erin and I had such a fun time running and both of us felt great and truly enjoyed ourselves. We were even shocked to find out that we pushed ourselves and did well! We channelled our inner Sue Ann and Amanda and were able to 1) keep a steady pace 2) not walk and 3) push it the last mile. Manda, you added a fun element to our half by providing us silly tasks to do along the half, it kept us highly entertained--thank you!
The highlights:
Our race weekend started out with a nice little sleepover at Erin's. Thanks for opening up your house, friend! We chilled, ate ice cream (yes, it IS good pre-half marathon food...hee hee) and watched the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I enjoyed getting to know Ty better and seeing E's uber cute house.
Starting line. Relatively disorganized and SMALL. There were thousands of runners and we were all funnelled into a small parking lot entrance for the beginning. Due to Erin's finagling we snuck up to the front. Just like last time, they gave us no notice of starting, all the sudden a gun went off and THERE YOU GO!

Mile 3: We started getting reallllly worried. We hadn't seen a water station yet (ps, we did the first 3 miles in 25 minutes). Mile 3.5: even more concerned. Mile 4: THANKFUL for the water station.
Mile 6: Amanda's instructions were to stretch with the splits at mile 6... uhhh... this was as close as we could get:



10k pace, btw, was 54 minutes.
Mile 8: where we realized that we enjoyed running Half Marathons. Thinking about going 5 more miles seemed like NOTHING. That was a gooood feeling.
Mile 9: Amanda's directions were to run around the 9 mile marker in a circle. Hee hee.
Well, look closer... that 9 mile marker? What race are we running again? Oh yah, the Provo Half NOT the Moab Half. Tee hee. I'm glad they share... they're friends. :)
Mile 11: The switchbacks began... yes... the switchbacks for the next 2 miles we could hear the music and smellllll the nummy food... we also slowed down considerably from a 9 mm to a 10mm. Drat. Mile 12.5: Some dude yells out "only 100 meters left!" We believed him. Bad plan. We started sprinting. 100 meters, MY BUTT. It was closer to .5 mile!!! We were DEAD at the finish line. Sprinting for that long (well, our sprint consistently slowed as we ran farther... and farther... and farther...)? Makes someone tiiiiired. Mile 13.1: We're DONE! Finished in 2:08. Good. On. Us. We both felt great and had such a great time! Woo woo!
But, we were even MORE excited to get the pancake breakfast! My little sister Emily and Erin's hubby Ty came to cheer us on to through the finish line. Thanks for the support friends!!!

What a great half. I'm soooo glad we did it Erin, SOOOO glad. I'm thrilled with the prospect of you running the TOU Marathon with me. I'll let you know how the walk/run training goes. We'll have to try it out on the 23rd for our 18 miler. Awwww OUR 18 miler. It brings me joy. yes yes it does. Can't lie, Manda, we missed you terribly. I especially missed you because the course brought back so many memories from the last time we ran it together, I'm glad I now have memories with BOTH of you from the infamous Provo River Half. MUAH!

We run HALFS because we can....

This was the theme of today...I loved this race- AMANDA put it on your calender now for next year...there will be no excuses! Even though your reasons for not being there today are totally understood and respected- I glad it was a good day for you! LORI and I kept a pace even you could appreciate...and my proudes monent I only walked like a totally of 1/4 mile- normal I probably walk closer to 1- 1 1/2! Lori has all out fun pics so I will let here tell the exciting, funny parts! BUT I just had to say...WHAT A GREAT RACE! YES truly my arm pits where that sweaty

Friday, August 8, 2008

EXCUSE

...since Amanda got to announce when her period started the day before the marathon its now my turn to let out a loud shout out...I AM A WOMAN!! Not only do I feel like someone is grabbing my bones and crushing every single one of them with intense focus on my older back- I am sad!
We will see how tomorrow turns out....GOOD LUCK LORI!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Motivation For Pictures

One time only Manda, I'm giving you an opportunity... yes yes a way for you to get pictures during the half marathon... :) You can come up with certain things you want us to do at certain mile markers and we'll take pictures and send them to you.... you can be as creative or dull as you want. ;) You can even outline a plan for us for the half. (silly topics to talk about at certain mile markers) Per each picture/task we successfully do....hmm... I'll have to think about the reward.

What do you think? You up for it?

Sunday, August 3, 2008

A complete 10 miles

Don't laugh seriously..Yesterday morning I ran my whole 10 miles and fought the naggin Erin voices to quit...secret is once I was five miles into it the only way to bail out was to run the five miles back...I tricked myself! It was a wonderful run as they always are...and I went on a new route that was entertaining and just maybe Lori I will be able to pull of the half without you giving me a piggy back :)

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Here We Go

I start back to work this week. Sigh. While I may not necessarily be looking forward to going back to work I am looking forward to getting back into a routine. Maybe that means I may start working out again eh? Hmmmm.....I guess we'll see!

Sad.

Apparently the universe is out to get me. I didn't get to bed til 2am but I was determined to get up at 4:30 to fit my long run in before 7:15 (when Van had to leave). So you can image my SHOCK when our phone starts ringing at 6:55... a) because the phone is ringing at 7am (my Father in law calling about golf...) and b) WHAT?! It's SEVEN?

yaaaaaaah.

Sad. Van's gone ALL day and we are stacked this evening. So, my only option is to fit my long run in tomorrow morning before church. Fun. For. Me. I might need to set up some sort of a wake up call program for Saturday mornings. Geeeeeeeez.