ATL Run, Numero Dos

First off, let me just tell you how EXCITED I am to have my little sister Ashley here for a few days. She's one of those mega-runners...ya know the kind that kick your trash at the local 5k...you see them at the start and at the finish but during the race...ummmm?? Super duper fast, my little sis is. However, despite her speediness she likes to go running with me she calls them her "slow distance runs." whatevs. I'm all about the company!! She decided to come with me this week and explore ATL. It's amazing how much safer you feel with a running partner. I really need to get one of those, quick. Hmmm. Craigslist?

The run started off with Ash SUPER DUPER WAY excited about the fact that I drug her out of bed.... can't you tell? She was even more excited that her butt was going to be the prominent decor for all my running pictures today.

This run was much more enjoyable then the first run. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that my sister was with me, but I was also not as nervous and knew the streets a teeny bit better. We decided to skip off the main roads and check the neighborhoods out... I took lots of pictures of alll the many many many cute houses, get excited....

The run was gorgeous. I loved the neighborhood we ran through. It was only about a 45 minute run but I was grateful. It was super hot and I was suuuuper sweaty. One neat thing I've noticed on the runs is the amount of runners/walkers that are out. TONS. We passed many many runners this morning. I feel very safe here, which is a huge blessing. Everywhere we drove today I just kept remarking on how many cute houses there were and was writing street names down so I could remember to run different routes. (within 6 miles or so of my house...) Ashley said something that pretty much sums up how I feel about my direct surroundings:

"It's as pretty as Ogden, but it's like Ogden on EVERY. STREET. Not
just a section, everywhere you turn is OGDEN!"

Maybe that's why I like it so much.

Thanks for the run lil sis. I'm totally crying when she leaves Friday.

The Ragnar Relay

If you want to read all about it (which you totally do), then head on over to my blog! All I have to say is Ragnar Rocked.

Totally doing it next year baby.

Running in ATL

Hey friends! Yes I know, I need to blog about Wasatch Back, it'll happen I promise. But here's my first blog post from ATL.

I went running this morning. I was all sorts of nervous because a) it's a new place b) wasn't sure if my plotted run was in a "safer" area and c) i had to run by myself. I took my trusty BB and headed out on my first run.

Lori vs. Humdity, take one.

First, off. It feels AWESOME to run at sea level. Holy my lungs loved me. The 4 miles I ran felt like I'd ran 1. Seriously. That good. But the humidity, oh my, it kicked my trash. I don't generally sweat much but by about mile 2 I had sweat dripping in my eyes. By the time I was done with the run I looked like I'd run through the sprinklers. My A/C never felt sooooo good.

Here are some pics from my fabulous first run:

Me post workout with sweaty wet hair. but I was psyched!

(like that my front yard is a forest, too?)

here's to more ATL adventures!

Training for the Wasatch Back

Sooooo let me just tell you about my fun runs last week as I've been preparing for the Wasatch Back. Oh get excited. To train, they recommend that you do 2 runs in a 24 hour period twice. Well last week I realized that there was only 2 weeks left before the race and I'd better get hopping on that. So looking at my week I decided that the best time to do that would be Thursday. I usually run Thursday mornings, my evening was pretty open so I could run again Thursday night and then I usually run on Friday mornings as well. Perfect 3 runs in 24 hours. Doin' it.

Well I forgot to take one little thing into account. Soccer on Wednesday nights. Thursday morning came and I got up ready to run. As we got moving my body began to protest. I suddenly became very aware of all of the bumps and bruises from soccer the night before and my muscles felt like lead. Rickem rackem not stretching after soccer. Bad plan. So after a less than encouraging run, I focused my thoughts on a great run that evening. Thursday after work I quickly changed and hit the pavement again. My legs hurt, but no worse than in the morning. This time it was the heat that was the challenge...and the hills.

Even though I felt like I was running in slow motion, I did it, and didn't die along the way. Then came Friday morning. My desire to wake up was almost non-existent, but I knew that we had planned on a trail run and that at least sounded fun. My body now ached from head to toe. I was SO glad that Lori was there with me. I totally think I would have given up otherwise. Yay for running partners!
Moral of the story? No soccer the week of Ragnar. I don't need any other pains. 3 runs in 24 hours will do quite well thank you.

Oh Ogden How I Will Miss Thee

12 miles through Ogden.  

Started at Manda's weaved our way until we were at the trailhead, took a nice detour through the trails (which, btw, Erin they have totally ruined! a pipe broke and they had to tear down a bunch of trees...it's sad...)... trails that Amanda BIFFED it on (who says I'm the only clumsy one?)... then headed down through our favorite "pretty houses" stretch.  Ahhhh one day Marilyn Drive we WILL live on you.  We will make it happen.  It's totally on my vision board... so it's gonna happen, right?  

After that we ended up snaking down to the parkway and enjoying a misery free run down the parkway taking time to reminisce about how many times we've run the parkway... which ones we'd like to forget (like ummm the PAIN of being at 24 miles? ow ow ow) and the times we love.The only thing that would have made it better was if you were with us Erin. Oh what a great long run it was.  We felt great, we were happy, and we desperately tried not to focus on the fact that this run--this long run--was the last double digit run we'd be doing together before I moved.  Sniff. Sniff.  37 days, friends, wow.  Soooo wierd.

The weekend couldn't have gotten better... oh but. it. did.  Amanda and I volunteered for the Ogden Marathon (since umm we didn't register before it was sold out..whoops) it was a HOOT.  Oh my goodness.  LOVED it.  Amanda has all the pictures so I'll let her tell you the stories.  But I can't begin to express to you how wonderful it was.  What a great way to say goodbye to the Ogden course.  Woo hooooooo!!!!  Yay for Ogden, yay for awesome running friends, yay for rockin long runs and fantabulous memories. 

Running in the Rain

I'm glad we got another long run in the rain in before I moved. Something about finishing a long run completely drenched makes me fantastically happy.  Loved it.  8 miles never felt so short...okay except maybe when we were running up the crazy long hill... but we ran the entire thing! (Erin you'd be so proud of us little hill runners)  Glad to be back training, glad to feel the burn in my legs and glad to have a free therapist.  :)

You guys totally missed out.

It was our favorite type of running weather this morning. Well at first at least. It was a gorgeous cool morning. The mountains were covered in clouds from time to time and everything was SUPER green. Oh it was sooo beautiful. Then add to that the temperature was perfect for running! I loved it. Even though I was soaking from the rain by the end, it felt soooo good. Well I was solo today (which btw is going to be the norm WAY too soon) and knew I needed to get 6 in. Being a gluten for punishment I decided to run the WRC 10k course. Like Lor mentioned the Ragnar Relay is coming up soon and so hills and I must become friends. Hence choosing a super hilly course. I started out feeling strong. Since getting super sick a couple of weeks ago, I haven't really run much, so this was my first long run in a while and I was excited that I felt so good. Well about 2 miles in the nausea set in. Awesome. Only 4 more miles and 5 million hills left. Fun. For. Me. I totally missed you guys helping push me along. It really is amazing how much having someone to run with helps. I am beginning to realize how imperative it's going to be for me to find someone to run with once Lor leaves. Along that note though I kept telling my body that if this were a race and there were people around I would be able to keep running so I just kept pushing. By the time I finished I really felt sick to my stomach, but I was pleased with myself because I had done it, done it in a decent time, and had run 90% of the hills! Go team! So overall it was a good run, it just made me miss you guys!