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!
Wow! I can't believe it is already July 2nd! Where does time go? Sometimes it's kind of scary! Anyway, I was suppose to do 6 yesterday and 3 today but my body and mind needed to take yesterday off so I did 6 today instead. I only lost 3 miles for the week by taking yesterday off.
Tom and I ran 3 together then I added 3 more on my own. He will soon be caught up to my weekly mileage and then he will stick with me through all my runs for the most part.
Tom and I had a great morning run today before heading to my hometown of Manti for the 4th of July celebrations. Went out to Ozbourne's past Junk Mail up Zepher around the corner to Harry's (went up about a half a mile) back down Harry's down around Pretty Little Road and back through Junk Mail, Ozbournes and up Heartbreak hill.
We met up a bit with Chad and Hal. Chad told us of finding a drunk on a bike sprawled out on the road on his way to meet up with people at 5:30 a.m. He had to wait for cops to come which put him about a half hour behind on his day. I'm glad it wasn't me that ran into that scene! You never know what you will see out on your early morning run!
Kind of cool temps for a Utah July morning. Quite enjoyable!
My silly back is hard to understand. It hurts as I sleep and when I first wake up. In fact, I could hardly move when I got up this morning. Once I get moving along though it loosens up and is just fine!
We met up with our friend, Darin, who just returned from a trip to Israel with his wife. It was very interesting to hear about the things they were able to do. He told us we have to do that before we are 65 years old. It was an amazing feeling just hearing about where they went, I can't imagine actually being there.
Now time to enjoy one more day with the family before Tom has to head back to work. I just wish our 16 year old boy liked doing things with us a bit more. Oh well, I suppose some day he will again.
Sometimes when Tom and I have a quiet run it is a Grrrrrr-and-quiet run because one or both of us are bugged at the other for some silly reason, but today was one of those nice-and-quiet runs where we both were quiet and contemplating with no Grrrrrrrs going through our head. I think I'm getting kind of spoiled having my built in running partner. It's fun to have him stick at my level for this year. I'll enjoy it while I have it. : )
Hobbler Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:53:00, Place in age division: 7
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Total Distance
13.10
0.00
0.00
0.00
13.10
Tom and I woke up about 4:20 this morning to get to the first Hobbler 1/2. We got there about 5:20 and ended up as the last 2 people on the first bus. So when we reached the starting point we had a whole hour to spare. It was a bit nippy but not enough....that meant the heat would be coming way too soon. I think it should start at 6:00 or at least 6:30.
It started on time but on a very crowded street. I'm thinking the super fast people were probably bugged at all the slower people who lined up at the front.
We had decided to just take it at what felt good for me. I know Tom, (even coming back from an injury), could have flown past me, but he stuck with me the whole way.
The first 8-9 miles were fine. I decided to take a Carboom a bit before the 8 mile water stop. Unfortunately I took it too soon and it was hard to gag it down until I was able to get a good drink.
After about 9 - 10 I was struggling way more than I would have liked. My legs and body were feeling OK but I was really feeling like I couldn't breathe well. That last 5K seemed like it might never end. I think the course may have been a bit long, but both of our Garmins were being a little faulty so I'm not quite sure.
We ran across the finish line together. I'm just a bit bugged that Tom was running mid pack with me and he still took 5th in his age where I took 7th. Oh well. : )
I loved the COLD water bottle that was already opened up for me as I came across the finish line! But we couldn't find more water anywhere so we had to get another one along with everyone else. So I hope that the people coming in later weren't left without water.
Overall a good long run for me today. I would like to have seen closer to 1:50 or lower but I gave it all I had to give today so I feel like I did my best on this race.
Today I did the SG Bunny Trail. 85 degrees at 6:00 in the morning. Definitely lots of cute bunnies along this trail. Luckily that is all, I keep a lookout for snakes and other critters that might be down this way. I like bunnies....I don't like some of those other critters!
I'm down at the condo doing some of the deep cleaning that needs to be done. All the kids whined about coming down in the hot weather so I came down alone.
Last night I had to go out to my van to get some things at 11:00 p.m. and it was still 96 degrees! Thank goodness for A/C!
Here is a list of some of the things Tom and I passed on our 9 mile run this morning.
Icelandic Monument
Our favorite little white bunny
Our favorite little colt
Lots of runners/walkers that seemed to come out of the woodwork! Most were going by twos. Hopefully we don't see 40 days and 40 nights of rain come and Tom and I missed the ark. : )
Lion statue at the end of a driveway.
Pig with wings statue in a flower bed.
Big giant pig statue by a front door.
Doggy statue in a flowerbed.
All those things will be there waiting for us tomorrow, except maybe the people and the ark....
I was a bit worried about today's run because yesterday I was feeling some IT band warnings. Tom and I kept it flat and easy and it felt good. I'll watch things good and hope to avoid anything serious.
I took a needed rest day yesterday and it seemed to be the ticket. My IT band has been threatening me this week but it felt great today. Tom and I met up with the running group at 5:00. Loved getting down into the river bottoms where the fields were being watered. The breeze over the water gave us a bit of an air conditioning effect on a warm morning.
Tom and I took off on a different road when everyone else was going towards Harry's Hill. I wanted to avoid as many hills as possible today. We loved our little turn off. There was such a fun little lane lined with trees. What a fun place for people to live. All was great except the really strong cow smell by the dairy farm we had to pass twice.
Off to the Manti Temple with our cute nephew to take out his endowments. He has been called to the Romania, Bucharest Mission and will leave in Sept. It will be nice to spend the day with him and his family!
So yesterday marked 8 months since our cute missionary headed out on his mission. He is in Denmark and doing so well! I can't believe how much he is learning and growing! No amount of college can do for a 19 year boy what a mission can do! He has even become somewhat of a runner while on his mission. We have tried for years to help him be interested in running and he is finally doing it! He said he still hates it and can't figure out why Tom and I enjoy it, but the members all feed them too much so he has to do something to help keep the weight down.
Tom and I were able to chat with a few different runners along our way today. Always nice to see friends out enjoying the beautiful mornings!
I'm grateful that I can get out and run each morning. I'm grateful that Tom can too. I will enjoy each day that we are able to do this! With all the injuries and health problems all around and lurking over everyone's shoulders at all times we just need to remember....Someday I may not be able to run, but today is not that day!
Just the regular ole' 6 mile route with the nice hill into the wind. I'm enjoying this marathon training that puts the focus on the mileage instead of speed. I just run what feels good at the time. I am also enjoying my coach/training partner. I have usually had to do a lot of my runs on my own. I quite enjoy having a consistent running buddy!
Tom and I did the hills of Spanish Fork this morning. I'm interested to know what kind of elevation changes we have here in our city. Felt like a good workout to me. Tackling the uphill is always satisfying!
The rest of the day was spent at Lagoon. We go once a year on Novell. Thanks Novell. Our son was able to meet and get a picture with Karl Malone. How the heck did I miss seeing Karl there? Oh well....Speaking of former NBA players....sad news about Shawn Bradley's dad. He fell off his roof and died. He is from my dad's old stompin' grounds over in Emery County. Condolences to the Bradley family.
Fridays are my optional day so I decided to take the option of a rest for the day. Yesterday after doing a good workout of some hills we spent all day at Lagoon. So in order to feel nice and fresh for tomorrow's long run I decided to sleep in, eat a handful of peanut butter m&ms and 2 chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and log a goose egg for today. : )
The pillow is going to feel good to me in just about one hour even though it will still be light outside and most of you will be out enjoying some pyrotechnics through the night! I am tired. Went to bed at about 11:45 and woke up at 4:20. Now some of you are able to handle that kind of sleep but not me.
Tom and I ran 13 miles on some of our regular roads. At mile 12 we were right in time to watch the Speedy Spaniard 10 K at mile 3. We stopped to cheer on most of the runners. It was fun to be the cheerleader! But then we had to go straight up Heartbreak Hill after for our last mile home after a nice rest. Wasn't sure if the legs were going to make it up the hill. Once we got to the top the rest of the run home felt great.
We went to the parade with the family and some extended family and then enjoyed some of the entertainment at the park before coming home to yummy Sanpete County BBQ turkey, (only we used chicken), and visiting with family from the north and family from the south.
It has been a nice day to celebrate the pioneers here in Utah. All you out of staters are probably wishing you would have had reason to celebrate today!
The Tuesday Ten with Tom! I'm kind of liking this mini long run on Tuesdays! Our 10 mile course gives us a few hills and we added in a few striders along the way. I felt good the whole way and I am not feeling overly tired!
Tom was singing a few too many "happy" songs up the hills and into the wind. I told him he is welcome to do all the singing in those situations!
We saw a cute little deer and a couple of peacocks and lots of road kill today. Nothing like Davy Crocket's report from the other day....holy cow, he saw a mountain lion, fox and a bunch of other stuff. That would make me just a bit nervous! But I do enjoy the wildlife and farm animals that we get to see each morning.
Today was one of those days that I just did not want to go run the same old route so I took Tom on a wild goose chase and we saw a few new things and enjoyed a little different route, part of it on the Spanish Fork River Trail.
I did the 6 mile up and down the city streets route alone today. Tom headed to the canyon with some of his buddies for an up/down run. The city park is almost exactly half way in this run so I was able to get a "mouth temperature" drink of water....ugh! Oh well, at least it wet my whistle for a minute.
The problem with the up hills here in SF is that they are always INTO the wind! The final mile uphill and into the wind was starting to get me down but I held on till the end!
Tom and I signed up for the Dirty Dash in Midway that will take place on Sep. 25th. I am excited! It should be lots of muddy fun. We will just have to make sure we keep it slow and fun and not hurt ourselves in any way since it is one week before SGM.
A great way to end July! Tom and I met up with the SF crew. We ran with them for the first 3 but then was on our own as everyone had different routes and speeds they wanted to do today. We took it out to Harry's Hill and made it to the top where the nice family keeps their hose available for us to take a drink. (Thank you nice family!)
