Running to stay sane

Big Girls Group Run around Day Break. Plus one boy. It was nice running with everyone! I really enjoy these group runs and I hope we can do it every month. 7:21 AP.

11 miles dark and early. I ran up Highland to Creek Road, around the neighborhoods and home on 900 East. As the sun was coming up over Mt. Olympus I had a moment of clarity and peace. Some tears were shed. I love running for so many reasons. 7:21 AP. 

Snow. Dark. Yak Trax. Reflective Vest. Head lamp. 7 miles.

Brrr...Brrr...Brrr! I was super cold this morning. I ran my favorite Holladay loop with some added neighborhood streets. 10 miles at 7:24 AP. 

I want to do a tempo tomorrow.

Tempo Thursday. I was not looking forward to this. When the weather is so cold, I have a hard time running fast. But I wanted to do something "faster" since I've got a race in a couple weeks. I dropped Weston off at my mom's house and she told me I needed to be back in 65 minutes. So I had a time constraint on top of everything. 

I warmed up for 3 miles (7:30, 7:22, 7:20) then did a 4 mile tempo around my house which is 2 miles slight uphill, 1 mile flat, 1 mile slight downhill. My splits (6:32, 6:30, 6:21, 6:23). Not super fast but it seemed hard for me. I guess I'm more tired than I thought and it was only 25 degrees! My cool down was faster than I wanted because I had to get back to my mom's house (7:09, 6:51). Overall, 9 miles at 6:55 AP. Glad it's done. 

10K this morning. It actually felt pretty nice outside. My left foot felt a little tweek around mile 5 when I was turning a corner. I hope it isn't anything serious. 7:18 AP. 

It was a lovely morning for running. Besides a slight wind coming out of the south, it was a balmy 43 degrees. I met Emily at Murray Park and we ran around the Murray/Holladay area. It was super hard to warm our bodies up and we thought about calling it quits around mile 2 (but we were only kidding). 

The original plan was to run 16.6 miles (so I could get 60 miles in for the week). I am totally OCD when it comes to running even distances. If I would have run 59.4 miles for the week, I would have been so upset that I didn't run the extra .4 to make it an even 60. Hi...my name is Jen...I have an even numbers running problem :p Anyways, we accidentally added an extra 1.5 miles at the end of our run so we ran 18 instead. Emily and I were so tired around mile 17 that we started yelling at each other like an old married couple. She said she hated me, I said I hated her, I told her she was running on the wrong side of the street, she elbowed me a couple times... But once we had Murray Park in our sights, we said we loved each other and we made up. It was funny and totally sarcastic! 7:18 AP. Our last few miles were sub 7:00. 

11 miles in the rain on a warm February morning. It was really nice. I ran my usual hilly 8 miler plus some muddy fun at Wheeler Farm. My legs still felt tired from Saturday's long run. 7:29 AP. 

It was super hard to get out of bed this morning but I'm glad I did. 8 miles through Holladay. My first mile was nice and slow at 8:02 but my last two miles were 6:49, 6:44. 7:15 AP. 

10 miles up and down the Big Cottonwood trail. It was a nice morning for running! My legs felt really tired and sluggish so I added 10x1 minute pushes. The last 5 miles were some what of a tempo: 6:43, 6:38, 6:34, 6:30, 6:50 (last mile was flat and I was tired). 

8 easy miles through Murray. It was sprinkling the whole time but it was very nice. My right Achilles was sore the first mile but then felt better. 

7 miles around Murray. I had a Valentine I needed to take to my dad's house so I decided to run it over. I ran at 3 pm so it felt a lot easier than running at 6 am. It was almost 60 degrees so I wore shorts for the first time in a while. My legs were a little shy after being covered up all winter. 6:45 AP. Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Ugh...that's the word I would use to summarize today's run. It was a lot harder than I wanted it to be. I think that 18 miler I did last week really took it out of me. Plus, I ran pretty fast AP's this week. 14 miles seemed LONG. I met Emily at the parkway and we did an out and back run. 7:16 AP (which is still a decent pace but it felt hard). 

The highlight of the run was seeing a secret rendezvous with an old creepy man and a woman...well, the woman was actually a man dressed as a woman (that's why it was so scandalous and totally shady!). Emily and laughed about it for quite a while. 

9 miles through Holladay. Nothing too exciting. 7:10 AP.

8 miles around Murray. I probably should have done some speed work to help get my legs ready for Saturday's race...BUT, I was lazy and just wanted to enjoy my run. 7:17 AP.

6 miles around Wheeler Farm. It was nice and windy. I was feeling really tired so I decided to throw in 4x3:00 pushes (1:00 recovery jog). Needless to say, they didn't help me feel any better. I'm just going into this race really tired. Oh well...the ultimate goal is to have fun. 

Easy 6 miler around my house. Nothing exciting. 7:18 AP.

4 easy miles with no watch. I really should run without a watch more often. My legs felt a little better. 

I am pretty happy with how this race turned out. I wasn't sure how fast I'd be able to run since I haven't been doing a lot of speed/tempo's. My mileage has been decent with a couple weeks of 60+. My goal was to have fun and just push myself. 

The weather was beautiful! I wore a tank top and a running skirt. I even got a little sunburn on my face (yahoo!). I ran this race last year and placed 2nd with a time of 1:24 but the course was short (my Garmin said 12.84...REALLY short). I heard the course had changed this year so I was expecting it to be closer to a true 13.1. My Garmin said 13.15 when I finished so I'm glad they changed it. 

I went out with a big group of girls. At one point, I was in 6th or 7th place and decided to just focus on effort and time. I felt really good for the first 9 miles, then I hit the hill at mile 10...ouch. But I was able to muscle my way up it. This course is really challenging with a lot of downhill, rolling hills and some steep uphill towards the end. At mile 11, I had some gas in the tank and was able to pass a couple girls and move into 4th. The girl in 3rd place was just too far ahead of me so I wasn't able to catch her. When I crossed the finish line in 1:23:28 I was really happy. I PR'd and beat my time last year by about a minute (and the course last year was short). Emily ran a solid 1:22 and took 2nd. I was super proud of her but I could tell that she wasn't too happy about her time. Emily is such a strong runner and I really admire her drive and competitiveness. She is starting this season at such a good point...she's going to have some great races this year. 

I feel so much stronger than I did last year. I have a lot more confidence and I feel like I'm training smarter than I ever have. Running with Emily has also made me a better runner. With that being said, I'm excited to see what I can do this year. I'd love to break 1:20! 

Splits: 6:06, 6:10, 6:10, 5:55, 6:19, 6:27, 6:37 (a dog ran out in front of me and I had to stop. A big truck also pulled out in front of me and I had to wait a few seconds), 6:13, 6:39, 6:57 (big hill), 6:14, 6:25, 6:15, 5:57 (.1). 6:20 AP. 

7 miles on the dirt at Wheeler Farm. My legs felt pretty good but I wanted to take it easy. I think I'll take it easy for the rest of the week. 

9 miles around Murray, on the parkway, by IMC and through Murray Park. I was planning on going 7-8 but the weather was SO nice. I wanted to stay outside a little longer. 7:18 AP.

8 miles through Murray. My legs felt really tired at the beginning. I think it is left overs from the race and the leg workout I did yesterday. But once I got past mile 3 I felt a lot better. 7:04 AP. BEAUTIFUL WEATHER! Tank top and shorts again. 

I had to make it a quickie this morning. I'm teaching Lily's preschool. 6 windy miles in the dark. 7:20 AP.

I had to sneak in my run again early this morning. 7:13 AP.