Work will win when wishy washy wishing won't

Track day!  Plan: Cut down mile, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 fast, hard pace.

I had a bad night with my back.  Just when I think I have it figured out it goes and changes on me!  Usually I can figure out what caused my back to hurt so bad through the night...(sitting on hard chair or in car too long, bend over work, bad shoes, etc)  but yesterday I didn't do anything that should have made it flare up.  So waking up this morning was a bit hard since I didn't sleep well.  But getting up is always the key to helping me feel better.  I do better to get up and go run than to try to stay in bed. The pain goes away with movement.  

We drove down to the HS track and started with a mile and a half warm up.  To start off my speed work I took off the long sleeves, the ear warmer and the gloves.  Shorts and short sleeves and my red racers were perfect for the workout!  Saw several friends out getting some speed work in also.

 Last time I did this workout it was Jan. 11.  I think I reported that it was 13 degrees.  (And that was waiting until the sun came up.)  This morning was great!  A little wind but not bad at all!

I don't have the time for each segment, just the pace:

Mile: 7:36

3/4: 7:15

1/2: 6:53

1/4: 6:11 

After a few more laps for a cool down I headed up to be with the Iwannarunna ladies while Tom took the long way home.  

I still have 11-13 hanging in there with my start up running group!  Just two and a half weeks until their big day!  They are doing so good!   

Decided I wanted to run on my regular rest day.  

Went out alone today.  Thought I might find Kay, but didn't.  Had a nice run by myself anyway.  Met up with the runna group.  They only have 2 full weeks left of their 5K training.  I think we will end up with about 12 for race day.  Pretty good I think.  We started out with 18.  

Last night we got to have fun at the daddy/daughter date.  Tom and Tia got to go because they were the daddy and daughter.  Tani got to go because she was my helper and I got to go because I was in charge of it.  Turned out to be a very fun evening!  It was a 50's crazy sock hop.  I love to see the daddys out there with their cute daughters dancing and having fun!   

Tom and I met 3 others at the church thinking we were going to be with a small group today but ended up picking up quite a crew before long!  Ended up with around 15 runners!  Always fun to chat and have some company on the long runs!  It was also nice today because we shook up the regular ole route and did something different.  It was fun but made the water stop come after 9 miles.  With the warmer temps everyone was happy to find our water and Gatorade there waiting for us.  

It was fun to go slowly past a protective hawk today.  He (or she) was screeching and watching that nest intently.  We had no desire to cause any ruckus there!  

Anyway, a nice enjoyable 15 miler!  Felt great throughout, except maybe the tingling in my toes which I don't love.  Came home to a family eager to help out around the house and took advantage of that!  

Looking forward to a fun Mother's Day/My daddy's birthday celebration tomorrow with family from both sides coming for BBQ in the rain.  

Ave pace: 8:45

Out in the rain with Tom for 4, a few more on my own and then met up with my Iwannarunners!  I was nervous that the rain might scare them away but I still had 8 ladies out there to do their first 30 minute run!  They did so good again!  I did 6.5 before meeting up with them and then a lot of back and forth among them so I added an extra 1/2 mile for the 30 minutes with them.  

Yesterday was a great Mother's Day!  We had about 23 family members from both sides here for dinner!  So nice to be with everyone!  The highlight of the day was Skyping with our missionary in Denmark!  He seems to be doing very well!  Only a little more than 6 months left till we see him!  I think we are getting ready for that!  We tried not to sound too anxious though!  We want him doing his best this final quarter of his mission!

This morning we checked in on the St. George lottery.  We put Kim Lee in and it said I wasn't in, then we put Tom Lee in and is said he wasn't in.  We were fine with that and then we thought, hey, maybe we need to add our middle initial....and when we put Kim S and Tom N Lee in....there we were!  So we are in!  If we didn't get in we were going to do TOU instead.  Now I think we will go up to TOU 1/2 and enjoy our 25th anniversary that weekend.  I think it sounds fabulous!   

Detention isn't such a bad thing.  Our son has to work off some tardies toward the end of each term so he has to get down to the school early.  It works out well for us because we have him take our van down to the HS and we get to go on a nice run with no up hills at all to pick it up.

We went down the river bottoms and then along the river trail.  Lots of high water coming up into some beautiful back yards!  I wonder if they really thought they would never have trouble like this?  Seems like a crazy place to build a house to me.  I hope they all make it through these next few days and weeks with not much damage.

This Saturday I am going to try my hand at a 5k again.  I haven't raced one since my PR in January. I would like to think I could get close to that same time again, (22:22) but I still can't quite believe I did that in the first place.  I guess we will see.  This is a fundraiser for Japan so I'm not sure how official things will be.   

No rain while we were out this morning. Wet roads and a little chilly at the beginning but otherwise quite perfect!  We did 5 miles with 6 strides thrown in.  Then we went separate ways while he added to pick up our van at the HS and I went to run with my ladies.  They continue to do very well!  We have one more day of week 8 and then the final week!  Their Iwannarunna 5k will be on Saturday,  May 21st.  I think they are all starting to believe that they really can do this!  Not many of them thought they would ever be able to run a 5k!  

Tended my niece's little girl today.  What a cutie! I'm glad I was here when they brought her because I had forgotten I had told them I could help them out today.  

We got to sleep in a bit and do a shorter, recovery run today!  Ran the course my Iwannarunners will run next week.  I need to make some fun little signs for them to read along the way.  

Three very easy miles.  Then a bus ride with a bunch of 4th graders...walking all around This is the Place Monument....then a really fun bus ride home with same noisy 4th graders!  Fun day with my cute daughter!

Kind of an interesting little race.  I've been in 5Ks that are short, but not quite this short.  Not sure how they managed to be a whole mile short...oh well, it was just a fun run to raise money for Japan and that's all that counts.  Unfortunately they didn't have a huge turn out.  It would have been nice to have more so they could be sending more to Japan.  

Tom went with the SF running group and did a long run.  I missed being with the gang but it was fun to go do something a bit different too.  I was going to go for a few more miles afterwards but the  prize drawings went on forever and I needed to get back home.  I figure it's good to have a lower mileage week/Saturday.  

I'm excited to see my cute little boy, (ok, he's not so little anymore, but he's still cute and he's still my little boy) getting all decked out in his Jr. Prom tux and heading off in a limo tonight!   

This morning Tom and I started out together but only ended up with about two before we each started with our own thing.  It will probably be more like that nowadays since he will start kicking into his own gear instead of staying in mine.  

The Iwannarunna ladies were out in abundance today ready to kick off their final training week!  Today they went out 17 minutes and back.  They will run Wednesday and then rest up for their big day on Saturday!  I'm so excited for all of them! 

Six miles with Tom. Kids off to school.  Hurry up to Ogden to help my brother move.  Come back to get girls to piano lessons.  Down to the church to help with Pinewood Derby.  Hurry home to Ragnar meeting at my house. Night time rituals with family. Blog. Next....Head to bed. 

Today's miles were all at a very easy pace.  Nice to have just a fun, non thinking day of running.  3.1 of this run was with one of my Iwannarunna girls who won't be here for our official run on Saturday.  She did so well!  I am happy for the girls who have been able to stick with our little training program!

This Saturday is my Iwannarunna 5K that I have been helping train some ladies for so I won't be able to get my long run in then.  I usually take Thursday as a rest or short mile day because it is my work day and it works out well that way.  However, today I had to take the day off because it is my dear friend, Lesa's,  father in law's funeral and I wanted to be there for her.  So since that gave me some extra time this morning I decided to get er done.  

I was hoping to meet one or two out at 5 and run for an hour with them before sweeping back around to pick up Tom at 6.  But the rain must have scared them off.  I have to admit it ran through my head a time or two to crawl back into bed also.  

So off into the dark, cold, rainy morning by myself.  There were too many puddles and it was too dark to see them so it only took a few yards of running before my feet were soaked.  I got almost 6 miles in and then picked up Tom who had a drink ready for me.  Tom went 5 with me and then I finished up on my own.  Didn't really care about puddles anymore, already soaked clear through from head to toe.  

When I got in the house my girls looked at me kind of strange and asked me "Seriously, how can you call that fun?"  

Anyway, it's nice to have the long run out of the way for the week.  I am looking forward to seeing how my ladies will do on Saturday.  I will be blogging a race report for that for their sakes.  

It's Tuesday and I'm finally getting the chance to sit down and tell about my Iwannarunna5K from Saturday.  

It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful morning for my ladies to run their very first 5K! After running all week in the rain it was a very welcome sight for all!  

Nine weeks ago when we started this training we had 18 ladies show up.  I had no idea what would happen in the next 9 weeks, I just kept hoping that at least one or two would make it to the end and that hopefully one person would want to continue on with a running program when they reached this goal.  Saturday morning I had 13 ladies show up ready to conquer something they never thought they could achieve! 

Race time was 6:30 sharp!  All of them were lined up and ready to go.  I didn't have a cool gun or blow horn or even a whistle to start them off so it was just a good ole, On your mark, Get set, Go!

They were off!  I didn't run with them (the blog made me put a time in to publish this so I put the first gal's time in) but I jumped on a cute orange bike and went back and forth with them till the water stop at the turn around point. There I stopped and handed out water to all of them and then hopped back on the bike to get to the finish line before any of them showed up.

I had nice little 5K medals there to put over each of their heads as they crossed the finish line!  It was so fun to see their faces and watch the joy (and pain) as they accomplished their goal!  the first one across the line was 34:57 and the last ones were 44:59.   

Every one of them pushed themselves more than they thought possible!  And every one of them wants to carry on!  They made plans afterwards to keep meeting together and encouraging each other on!  I told them I will show up here and there but it was totally up to them  to keep themselves going!

We had all brought yummies for after the race and each of us brought a prize for a drawing.  They had all gone together to give me a nice night out with Tom for dinner and a movie. So thoughtful of them!  

After I left them I went to get my own 5k in. 

Later that day was the Weight Watcher's Walk It Challenge in Lehi so I continued my running service day there.  I am a receptionist at WW in Provo and really love my job! There was a fabulous turnout there on a beautiful trail on a beautiful day!  Many of them were probably wishing the day would have been a bit cooler or overcast.  I am very impressed with everyone who took the WW challenge!  I was the sweeper on this race so I ran to the one mile point and cheered as people went both ways until the final people when past.  Then I ran the rest of the way and went back and forth behind the two final ladies as they made their way to the end. One of them used a walker to do this whole 5K.  I ended up with 5 miles on this since I had to keep going back and forth.  

Over all it was a wonderful day of watching and helping people do something very big in their lives!  It was all very inspirational!   

Everything from yesterday was suppose to be on this day.  May 24th is Jansen's birthday.  Monday Tom and I were down at our condo getting things ready to rent it out.  We spent our running time doing manual labor instead.  

This morning Tom and I drove out to Harry's Hill for some Ragnar preparation.  We both went up and down ole Harry three times.  This was my first time for that particular hill workout this year.  The first time up I was thinking I should have warmed up a bit more before starting.  But by the time I was at the top I was feeling good and the workout turned out great.  

I'm a little happy/sad that today is the last day of school.  It's always nice to have more time for other things, but it won't take long for the kids to start saying, "I'm bored."   

OK, that was fun.  I haven't done just a good ole very easy run for awhile.  Did a few on my own then helped a few of my friends who have continued with the running program.  Six miles with an average pace of 10:15....nice to do once in a while.

Our family likes to go down to Ephraim for Scandinavian Days each year.  The parade starts at 10:00 and it takes us about an hour to get there, so we had to get up bright and early to be able to get the long run in, get cleaned up and get down there in time.  

Tom and I ran about 8 together and then met up with the rest of the group.  At that point he took off with the speedy guys and I could either lag behind them or go with the slower group.  I chose to stay with the slower group but they didn't have much mojo today so I took off and ended up doing most of the rest of mine alone.  

Then we enjoyed the day down with family and friends.  This was the first time in many years that the weather was just about perfect for Scandinavian Days!  Not too hot and no rain!  

Had lunch at Roy's Pizza and Pasta with the Lee clan and sat at the park all day with the Stilson clan...the best of both family worlds when you grew up in the same area!  Very nice day, but we are now tired! 

So nice to have the choice to sleep a bit longer today and avoid the rain!  Also very nice to sleep without back pain last night!  I'm hoping it is going to be in it's happy phase for awhile now.  I never quite know what my back is going to like and what it's not going to like.

The rain was pouring at 7:00 but at 8:00 it was nice and by the last few miles the sun was shining and it was an absolutely beautiful morning for a run.

A big thank you to all who have ever given in any way to help me live in a free country! Especially grateful at this time for my cute nephew Ben who is being deployed in the next few weeks for his THIRD trip to war!  Leaving his sweet wife Megan, 4 year old son Aiden and year old Felicity.  

Seven miles with two of my regular running buddies....Tom and Mr.Wind.  Luckily Mr. Rain decided not to join us today!  Even though it was VERY windy it was a very beautiful morning to be able to get outside with my hubby and just run!

Later I rode my future daughter-in-law's bike down to the cemetery to help with the flag put-away.  They had over 1200 flags with crosses and names that were set up for Memorial Day to honor the veterans.  It was an honor to go help put them away and look at some of  the names.  

Coming back from the cemetery on the bike was up hill....not use to riding a bike.  I think I might have to get mine up to par so I can do a little biking here and there.