I started running in the fall of 2007. I truly believe I was inspired to start running and I have seen some very big blessings come my way because of following that inspiration.
Ran Boston Marathon 2013 & 2014. My favorite PRs: 2011 at the SG 1/2 and 5K where I ran the 5K in 22:22. 2013 Nebo 1/2 (downhill) 1:36:15
Short-Term Running Goals:
Long-Term Running Goals:
Running throughout life with Tom. Staying healthy and happy.
Learn from others, learn from myself, work hard, do my best, enjoy!
On running and on life.....
On occasion we need to make a second effort - and a third effort, and a fourth effort, and as many degrees of effort as may be required to accomplish what we strive to achieve.
~Thomas S. Monson~
Personal:
Going to St. George? Bag the hotel and stay in one of our condos instead!
13 on 1-1-11 with an added 1.3 walk at the end. I had planned 10 - 12 but in order for us to find some decent roads to run on we ended up getting further away than planned. I was hoping to have my son pick me up at 12 but he wasn't available. So I pushed myself to 13 and decided a nice walk is always good too so I walked the up hill icey road home.
Tom and I ran into Carolyn and Kay this morning so we ran a bit with them. We just ran where we could find an eigth of a decent road. (Couldn't find half decent roads.) The sun is shining now so hopefully a few more roads will be clear for tomorrow.
Today Tom worked at home so he could run outside in the sun with me for my speed workout. We weren't sure if the sun was ever going to show itself like it was suppose to but it ended up coming around 11:00 just as we were ready to get er going!.
It was quarter mile repeat day for me. Goal: 6-8 fast/hard pace. I did 6 and thought that was plenty, didn't think I could do another one. But after the 1/4 recovery I wanted to try one more....Did it! Then I knew I didn't want to do anymore. : )
One mile warm up then 1/4 fast, 1/4 recovery and finished with 1 1/2 cool down home, while Tom went on to add some hill work and 5 more miles.
1: 1:39
2: 1:41
3: 1:40
4: 1:42
5: 1:38
6: 1:42
7: 1:39
I felt good about the consistency, only 3 seconds between the fastest and slowest. I know that 3 seconds means a lot to some of you, but to me I call that consistent. My HR spiked at 181, with my average HR 153.
I'll just say that it is sure nice to have a dedicated runner sleeping next to me each morning! I can see how hard it would be for someone who has to get up and go out into 10 degrees all by their lonesome each morning!
It's been a busy morning running around with apointments and errands so I am especially glad the run is out of the way.
Final 5K time trial tomorrow in preparation for my first official 5K with 5K specific training. Then 2 more weeks till I get to see what this 12 week training period has done for me. Hopefully a sweet PR!
OK, I'm either setting myself up for a sweet PR or a trip to the ER! Today was my last time trial in preparation for my 5K on the 22nd. To recap, my current race PR is 24:04. Two weeks ago I did my first time trial at 23:21. Today I did my second time trial and got 23:09. I wasn't sure I had the right mind set going into the trial today and the temps were colder than I had planned but it turned out good!
5K Ave: 7:29/HR 164
7:32, 7:35, 7:21, .40 (6:58 pace)
I slept in a bit longer today while Tom went out and got 8 in before returning to get me. Then he got 8 more miles in with me. We did a 3.5 mile warm up, then the 5K and 1.6 cool down to home.
We saw a cute little spoiled looking puppy in a pink sweater during our cool down time. She looked lost and a little scared so we thought we'd try to see if she had a tag we could help her find her way home. She layed down and acted like she wanted us to scratch her tummy but when we got close to her she about took our hands off! She was a fiesty little gal! We wanted to help her out but she was not going to let us. I hope she found her way home safely.
Now off to a busy day of Primary duties and basketball games. Have a great weekend!
Ten degrees on this 10th of January, I guess I should have ran 10 miles! Oh well, 6 will have to do. Tom and I were saying that we need to write the temps in our reports so next fall when it starts getting to 40 and we think we are cold we can look back and see that we really aren't cold then. : )
Had to go up and down Center Street because most of the roads aren't too great. Ran with Kay and Carolyn for a bit and said hi to Bob and 2 others, (I think one was Beth.). Nice to see other runners out and about in the chilly morning.
Lots of people leave for work around 6:30 in the morning. The traffic on 11th east is crazy!
The snow was lightly falling when the wind was at our backs. It was the pretty, sparkley kind of snow. But when we turned to go up hill into the wind the snow pricked our eyes and froze our cheeks.
As always, very happy to have the run done for the day.
Wow, yesterday was the 10th and it was 10 degrees when I went out. Today is the 11th and it was 11 degrees. With this trend does that mean we could actually have 31 degrees on the 31st of Jan? That would feel tropical! : ) But then would we get 1 degree on Feb. 1st and start all over again? I just know that I will be happy to get this bitter cold stuff out of here.
Anyway, Tom and I waited until 11:30ish because this morning's temp was predicted for 0 degrees. The forecast says it is suppose to get to 24 today, but I'm not quite belieiving it will do it.
Today's speed work called for cut down, fast hard pace. 1 mile, 3/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile with 1/4 mile recovery between each one. Warmed up for 1.5 miles. Then did the best I could in this darn cold stuff.
1 mile: 7:23
3/4 mile: 7:23
1/2 mile: 7:22
1/4 mile: 6:50
Enjoyable recovery home while Tom went off to do his weekly hill workout.
This workout made me remember that my very first goal with all of this preparation for the 5K in a week and a half is to break 24. There has been some speculation by me and others of the possibility of breaking 23. I do not want to put that pressure on myself. I will be happy with anything under 24....the more under, the more happy, but happy just the same. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.
With the temp trend of the past few days I was expecting it to be 12 degrees for our run this morning. Pleasant surprise.....15 degrees and reaching up to 17 before the run was over! Woo hoo! My home town of Manti reached 22 below on Tuesday morning so I am just grateful the lowest we have had to actually run in here is around 4 degrees.
No school for the kids today so I could have slept in a bit and went out on my own, but I knew I would be happier if I just got up and went out with Tom. The temps were warmer, but with the rain in the night and just under freezing temps the roads were a bit slick. It's a good thing it was just a nice easy run scheduled.
Tom and I went to the church to meet up with the SF group. We were a couple minutes early so we went up around the corner (to the conveniently located porta potty) and thought we'd meet up with them as they came up around the corner. We never saw them and looked here and there along our run with no luck. It was a mystery in the fog. We couldn't figure out how we had missed them. Oh well, it was a nice run with the 2 of us.
As we finished 8 miles we finally found them. They had decided to go west today instead of east. I guess they wanted to ditch us or something. At 8 miles we were 2 miles away from home and I was finishing with 10 so I headed back at that point. The group was only at 6 miles so Tom joined in with them for a bit to add a few and then did a few solo.
One week from today is my scheduled 5K after my 12 week training. We'll see how the bitter cold training has gone. At least the race will be in St. George where the temps should be quite nice.
With the dream of a man many years ago we were able to have a little bit of a sleep in day today. Thanks MLK.....for the day and the dream.
Tom did 3 then picked me up for my five. It was almost 40 degrees...hard to know how to dress. I was a bit warm, could had followed Tom's lead and worn shorts. Oh well. It rained for a bit on the last mile. I was kind of wanting it to dump on us just for fun but it didn't do much.
Four miles with about 10 strides thrown in to help me be ready for Saturday. I will be running the St. George 5K with several other people but the only one I am trying to beat is myself! Can I do it?......I'm hoping the answer to that is.,...Yes I can!
St. George 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:22:22, Place overall: 7, Place in age division: 1
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Total Distance
5.60
0.00
0.00
0.00
5.60
I think 2 or 22 is now my favorite number! Today, Jan. 22, I did my best 5K at 22:22! My previous race PR was 24:04 so I would have been happy with anything in the 23s. I was thinking I could maybe sneak in at 22:59....but I was able to pull off 22:22 and feel mostly good doing it!
Work WILL win when wishy washy wishing won't!
Thanks to Coach Tom for helping me through this past 12 week 5K training cycle.
OK, so my back has given me grief forever! I am miserable from about 2 o'clock every single morning until I get up and start moving! It has been driving me crazy so I finally decided to make an appointment for a chiropractor, even though they scare me. My appointment is for this Friday. This past weekend while we were at our condo in St. George I realized that I always sleep great down there on that bed. So when we got home I had Tom and Camron change our mattress out with our guest bedroom mattress and I have slept pretty much pain free for the past two nights! My other one was just too soft. So now I'm thinking I don't need my chiro appointment. Now the bad news....while we were down in SG Tom tweaked his back as he was carrying in a cooler and a suitcase at the same time. So now he is having the back troubles and wasn't able to get out with me this morning. : ( But the good news is, I have a chiro appt. available for Friday that he can now use.
Anyway, my run this morning felt great. This week I plan to try really hard to keep all my miles 9:30 or slower. Then off to work on my new goal....
A couple with my short legged doggy and the rest solo. The first few miles I felt like I was in slow motion and dragged along. The last few were much more enjoyable.
Today I wanted to get 12 but ran out of time as I was planning to meet for the search of Chad Stilson in Springville. Got home just in time to take a bite to eat and a quick shower. I have felt a strong desire to help out on this missing boy as he has the same last name as my maiden name. I'm not sure if we are related or not, but I sure want him to be found soon. I went door to door with flyers and information for about 3 hours. For more information on Chad please go here. http://helpthesechildren.ning.com/photo/chad-ray-stilson-12-1?context=featured
This morning I was planning on going over to Springville to do my run so I could keep my eyes open for the missing boy. I logged onto fb for a minute before going out to check and see if there was any news....there was!!!!! He came home this morning! He has a lot to deal with now that he's home, he left because some pretty serious issues and then added some huge issues onto it by leaving and having to have a search party. BUT.....he is home! I'm glad he was brave enough to come home and face the music. Kind of sad that a 12 year old is in such situations. : (
So anyway, I changed my plan and zig zagged all over the south east end of Spanish Fork instead. I had one big dog threaten me. Luckily he stayed on his property though. Then 3 stupid little rat dogs that just about learned how fun it is to get kicked back to the future! Dang! I was pretty mad at the owners! I wish they would have been outside, but NO.....no owners in sight! GRRRRRR!!!!!!! I hate dogs that are not on leashes!
The first 3-4 miles were about the worst feeling miles I have ever ran! I actually had to stop twice in those miles to stretch and try to get my mojo going! After about 3 1/2 everything clicked into place and I enjoyed the sun and warmth and then the cold and biting wind and then the sun and warmth again and so on and so on! At least there was some sun and warmth in there....I think the next two days are just going to bite!
My first 3 ave. 9:00 pace and my last 5 ave. 8:30.
