I did it! My goal was to run 66 miles this month, and I actually passed that number and ended this month with a total of 74.3 miles!

Today I did a super easy 3.8 miles. I took Jacque to XC this morning, and I walked most of the route. I wanted an easy peasy day, and with no pressures. That's what I decided to do. Getting ready for the Freedom Run, 15k, on Monday the 4th of July, so that's the reasoning for taking it easy.

Running the "Kiss Me Dirty" 4 mile muddy obstacle course on Saturaday. Should be interesting as this is something that I have never done, let alone ever seen an event like this. Our team is the "Girly Whirlies" which include Jacque, Krista, and myself! If it turns out to be fun, maybe we can get more to be on our team next year. Speed demons need not enter, so it should be fun. Wondering what clothing and shoes to wear, as I don't want to ruin anything good.

Too Hot

This morning and at 6:15 a.m. It was 79 degrees! CRAZY HEAT! Went on a run with Cathy this morning. She wanted to meet at 7 am. Thought it was a good idea at the time, turns out the heat just zapped all my morning energy. Heck, I even took a GU this morning! Tried a new flavor, chocolate raspberry. It tasted like one of those chocolate orange sticks you get at Christmas time, only raspberry flavored. I should have had some energy???.......Don't know why I didn't...... It had 35g of caffine. Sorry Cathy, you'll just have to get out of bed earlier!



This morning I thought I would try out my new running skirt. Wanted to try it and a tank top before the Freedom Run next week. The skirt worked really well. It had one zipper pocket in the back, did not ride up on me, and I felt I had plenty of coverage. The tank top was a different story. Although it fit pretty good, I ended up with chafe spots on my arms, which made for VERY uncomfortable running. I guess I'll have to invest in some Glide.

Oh, and the wind was blowing against me too. On the plus side, I ran past Josie as she was running with the MC XC team. Always fun to see her!
This mornings run was about 6 and a half. If you can call it a run. Walked a lot today........guess I just wasn't into it this morning.

Success isn't how far you got, But the distance you traveled from where you started.

Taking it easy today, did 3 miles this morning. Started at MC and headed North on the highway, turned at 600 East and made my way back to MC. It was super windy this morning! No fun running against the wind.

I bought a running skort at Target a couple of weeks ago, and today was my trial run in it. I like it. It has one small pocket in the back where I put my I-pod, and it has reflective piping on the sides. I get tired of wearing shorts all the time. I also picked a running skirt up from Runners North last week. I am going to try that one out tomorrow on my longer run.

Heavy Breakfast = Zero Energy!

Today I went to the gym. Did 4 miles on the eliptical and called it a day. Tapering this week, getting ready for upcoming 15k on Monday, the 4th of July. After the gym today, I made my daughters breakfast.....sausage, eggs, toast, and fruit. Needless to say, I felt really sluggish the rest of the day. Total lack of energy. Note to self: heavy breakfasts equals NO energy!!!


"I often hear someone say I'm not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner."
-Bart Yasso

Tomorrow WILL be better.

Tour of Three Cities

This morning I had a goal of 9 miles. The 2 gals that I was going to run with are both recovering from injuries.......so I was solo today. Debated on whether or not to even go. Set my alarm last night for 6:10 and forgot to turn it on!! So I didn't get out of the house until about 6:45. I had mapped out my route last night and decided to run the last part of the TOU half marathon route (Nibley, Millville, Providence) then back to Nibley. I have been waiting a while to run this, as the road has been flooded and I did not want to get my shoes wet. Finally, the road was dry enough to cross. This turned out to be 9.2 miles.

Beautiful and peaceful morning. Not much traffic out on the highway, which is good, cause I had to cross 4 lanes this morning!!! About mile 2 I was bored, bored, board. Thought about just going home, but decided to stick it out. At Maverick I decided to take a GU and maybe that would boost my energy and get me excited about my run. Washed it down with water, then realized that I did not have much water left, and I still had 7 miles to go! Decided to leave at least one and a half inches of water in the bottle. As I was cruising through Millville, I became road kill. Yes, Marc W. passed me on his way to the deer fence trail. He went straight and I turned towards Providence. Running from Millville to Providence is not that bad. It has a slight decline and at times I would run off the asphalt on the dirt so it was easier on my joints.

When I almost got to Providence, I remembered that their was a very popular park there, and I was pretty sure that they would have a drinking fountain there. I was right. It was nice to dump some water on my head to cool off. Since I got a late start, it was getting pretty hot.

On my way back to Nibley, I was very grateful for the mature trees that lined the road which gave me quite a bit of shade to run in.


Back to Nibley, and decided to make a strawberry, pineapple, banana, protein smoothie. Looks like I will be ready for the Freedom Run next week!

June 21, 2011

Dropped Jacque and Josie off at XC this morning. The XC team was going to run to the MC hill today. I decided to take an alternate route this morning. Wanted to work on the "down hill" more. Ran down Hyrum's main street. I like this street to run down, because it is such a long gradual decline. But what goes down must come up. The hills in the photo do not look that bad, but it seems like it is every block. Half a block flat, then up hill, then repeat.




The once nice thing about this mornings run was the wonderful fresh smells that were out and about. It was like petunias, iris's, lilacs, snapdragons, carnations, and fruit blossoms all rolled into one. Very nice and refreshing. I think I would really miss those fresh smells if I lived in a big city. Although I would live by the ocean in a heart beat!

Running with the Pack

Today I wanted to do a longer run than the MC XC team was going to do. I started out with them, and when they stopped to stretch, I kept going. I got passed by the "speed demons" about South Cache area. My goal was 9 miles today. I went 6.1 miles. It's nice to see such enthusiasm at 6 a.m. on a summer morning!!

Utah Tri Today

Today I volunteered with the Utah Triathlon that was held in Hyrum. WOW! These men and women are AMAZING. Did I mention how AMAZING these people are! Swim, Bike, Run. There were two different distances, a Sprint and an Olympic one.

My assigned station was out in Paradise. I directed the cyclists on which way to turn. I was in awe as the first cyclist came sprinting around the corner.....then another...etc. I saw one of our local gals, "Megan" doing her thing. Her little sister and brother also participated. In fact, Megan & her little sister took 1st and 2nd overall in the female division, and her brother took 1st in the male division. What a dedicated family!


There were these 2 guys that as they went past me, all I could see was their legs! They were sooooo long!!!

After the race, I saw these 2 guys again, looks as if they were with their family. Short mom and daughter, average tall dad, and 2 super tall sons, and a little boy was pretty tall too. One of these guys actually came in 3rd overall. On the pictue with the males standing on the platform, pay close attention to how tall he is, and the platform height. They had him step down on the ground, so he didn't overpower Sean, the 1st place winner.

Where was I when they handed out the "height gene?"



I was also inspired as the last of the Olympic athletics came around the corner. The men and women who chose to do the Olympic distance did 1 mile swim, 28 mile bike, and then a 10k. I waited for him to cross the finish line. I felt kind of bad, cause the race people were taking down alot of the stuff, and most everyone had left. The only ones left to cheer this man on were the MC Cross Country Team (YEAH!!) I think I heard them announce his age of 67, and of course took 1st in his age division. It was so neat to see him finally cross the finish line, as I remember seeing him struggle as he pushed each pedal down the road.

What an inspiring day!

Megan and her little sister Miranda pictured above. Sean pictured below. Megan is 18, Miranda 13 or 14, and Sean 16.

Hydro Plant to McDonald's

Mindy, Cathy and I met this morning around 6 a.m. I was a bit apprehensive about today's planned run. It is around 8.3 miles. The farthest that I have ever gone is 7, and that was a couple of months ago.

We left one car at McDonalds and drove up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. We stashed some water bottles about mile 4 for us to pick up on the way down. Drove to the Hydro Plant. To our surprise, a suburban pulled in after us with other runners from our home town. We did a little stretching and then took off.

Cathy had her garmin on her, so that was nice to hear the "beep" marking each mile. Running with friends makes the time and miles go by so much faster, and for some reason, they don't seem that hard. MMMMM

I decided to take a GU before we took off. I like the Espresso flavor. Yummy Yummy. We seemed to be making pretty good time, a nice easy run. We never did find the water bottles. Kept looking for the 45 mph sign that they were by, but I guess we missed it. I did have my running belt w/one water bottle on it. Almost made it up the hill, probably about 1/2 way up started walking. Then took off on an easy jog somewhere at the top. I kept getting little pebbles in my left shoe! This was very, very annoying. There was one that I couldn't get out, about the size of a pin head. I felt like I had the "princess and the pea" syndrome going on. I think I'll put some velcro on my shoes so that I can wear those " dirty girl gaiters" if I want to when I run. I have the velcro on my old shoes, just haven't put any on my new ones yet. By the way......Loving the new Nike Lunarlon Running Shoes. Thanks Mike at Runners North.


Nice easy run. My foot did not hurt when I got home. I did ice it as a precaution. I probably should have walked a bit more after the run for a cool down. But I was in a hurry to pick up my daughter from her swim practice. I did not factor in the "drive time" into my run. No worries, she got ahold of her dad, and he was able to pick her up today.

Rain.... GO AWAY

Took my stuff with me as I dropped off daughter at swim practice. Picked out a 4.3 mile route today. It was nice. I had probably 1.5 of a gradual down hill, and then back up. Cloudy and about 48 degrees this morning. When I got back to my car, it started to sprinkle rain. When I arrived back at my house, it was a DOWN POUR, and HAILING, in JUNE!!!!

Kind of nervous about tomorrow's "planned run." A bit farther than I had anticipated.

MCXC

Ran with the MC Cross Country Team today. There are lots of moms and dads running with the kids in the morning. We went to Lincoln Elementary and met at the flag pole. Claude spoke of the freedoms which we enjoy here in the USA, and the many men and women who gave their lives for that; and those that are still in the service today. We had a moment of silence to think about this...... I was in awe at how respectful the youth were at this time. You could have heard a pin drop. We proeeded to recite the pledge of alligence. We have some good youth out there.

Who's chasing me????

Took daughter to swimming this morning at 6 a.m. Thought about taking my running stuff with me, but decided to come back home and run. Picked out an easy 4 mile run. When I got to the point of making a decision of either to go with the 4 mile or do 5.85........well........chose the 5.85. No reason, just did it.

Went through Hyrum today. Tough day. Wind was blowing against me, was really hot, not alot of shade on the route I picked. My 5,85 miles today had more walking than I would have liked to happen. I didn't get out of the house until about 6:40ish, so it got hot fast. Should have just taken stuff with me and ran around the aquatic center. Note to self: do that next time.




I run with only one ear piece in so I can hear what is going on around me. So I hear what sounds like 3 or more bicycles coming up behind me, swish, swish, swish...

I turn and look, and I see about 11 cows running with me! They were running in the tall grass (so that is what I heard). I stopped.......they stopped..........I started running again........they ran! So funny. Was a nice break from fighting the wind. My left knee was hurting a bit today, then my right foot arch. It's tough getting old. On a good note, my legs felt pretty good once I got up the hill and headed for the highway.


Funny summer this is turning out to be. Look at all the snow we still have on the Wellsville Mountains. Good day to be a runner.

Good Morning

This morning I didn't get out of the house until around 7:40 a.m. Thought about going 7 miles, but decided to stick to increasing my distance by about 10% per week, which is what is recommended. Picked out a 6.52 mile route.

For my liquid today, I decided to put some "EmergenC" in the bottle. Took my camera, but when I went to snap a photo, the battery was dead.

My niece informed me that she just "doesn't get it. " Why I run, and keep increasing my mileage. Well..............once you set a goal and meet that goal, it is good to re-evaluate your goals and set new ones.

Nibley Elementary PTA 5k

Today my friend Mindy and I ran the Nibley Elementary PTA 5k. It was a great day for it. It started around 6:30 p.m. and the weather was nice and cool. We both did our "slow and steady wins the race" pace, and we had 3 kills. hee

Our time.........33.46. I seem to be stuck in the 33's......but with no injuries, I am not complaining. Afterwards we enjoyed a moose bar from Maceys, and then were treated to a chicken ceasar salad from Texas RoadHouse. We were not expecting that. Great Day for a RUN. Oh, did you know that today is actually "Run Day?"