Each Day Is a Gift

Karen and I ran 5+ miles on the MCT to the park by Lone Peak HS to meet Wendy and Stephanie.  They ran 3.5 out and back east to Cedar Hills with us cause they only needed 7.  Then Karen and I ran home for total of 17.25.  Beautiful cool sunny morning!  AP: 10:23.

55F partly sunny, nice running weather.  Ran with Karen and Amanda west on MCT.

PD lab day.  Hubby had a bad med side-effect episode today.  Dr. Bradshaw phoned in a new prescription for his RLS last night (Gabapentin 300mg).  He took it and went to bed.  This morning he could barely wake up.  Once up he was extremely dizzy, nausea with dry-heaves.  We had lab appt. at 9:30 so we rushed out of there with me carrying a box of 1200ml drain bags etc.  I had to drive since he was so dizzy.  He drank some OJ which he vomitted most of it on the way to the lab, was drowzy during lab and inservice, and vomitted the rest of the OJ on the way home.  He went straight to bed and was so sleepy/drowzy.  I woke him at 2pm so he could do his dialysis but he wanted to eat some soup.  I made him some chicken juke which he promptly vomitted up and was too drowzy to sit up.  He stayed in bed until night time when he had to hook up to the cycler.  I phoned the doc. office twice.  Needless to say I did not run today.

I woke hubby just before 8.  His first words were:  "What time is it? Whoa almost 8? Let's go camping!"  Then he rolled over and fell back to sleep.  I wasn't sure if he's alert enough to go on the trip we had planned to take Steven and Bryan who had come home on Sun. so I told him I'm going for a quick run while he gets dressed and eats breakfast (since he did not eat a thing all day yesterday due to side-effect of the Gabapentin).

Ran on the MCT to the rail-trail (3 miles) and turned back for total of 6.  Very sluggish legs AP: 10:44.

When I got home, hubby and the boys were eating breakfast and all excited to go camping at Strawberry Reservoir.  So I backed up the motorhome on the driveway and hooked up the electric power and turned on the fridge.  Told the boys to load up their gear while I showered.  We left around 11:30. 

We got to Strawberry around 2, ate lunch, they boys went shipping while I stayed in the motorhome and watched "Annie".  It rained off and on all afternoon.  Hubby got back around 5 to set up the table-top BBQ and cooked us some New York steaks.  The boys got back just in time to beat the hail storm.  Hubby hooked up to the cylcer while the boys and I watched "Interstellar" eating pop-corn.  It was cold outside (in the low 40s) and raining; but we were toasty and cozy.

Didn't sleep too well last night.  But did see the moon from the skylit window on my loft bed.  I woke at 6 and stayed toasty in my sleeping bed trying not to wake the boys below.  Hubby got up around 7 and wanted to go fishing.  So we unhooked the power, water lines and empty the holding tanks and drove to the marina to inquire about a better fishing spot.  We drove to Haws Point which is supposed to have deeper water for shoreline fishing.  But it was super windy and cold so we only stayed for an hour.  As a result I did not get to run (something I had hoped to do since it is so pretty here at Strawberry).  We stopped at Heber for lunch and got home in time for Bryan to shower and meet his former professors at the Y.

After unloading the RV and cleaning up, I went for a short run around 2pm.  It was sunny, a bit windy.  Boy, was I slow AP: 10:49.
 

55F partly sunny calm.  Solo run east on MCT via 800 E to mile 5 and turned back home on 600E.

43F sunny calm.  Ran with Karen.  Left leg was sore upon waking, loosened up a bit but got sore again later on.

Had a nice dinner with the Beestons at Oliver Garden at 5:00pm last night. Went to bed around 10:00pm (earliest I've been to bed in the last two years).  My son called at 11:30 (so much for trying to sleep).  Woke up at 2:30am.  Karen picked me up at 3:30am, parked at the Ogden Marriott to use their facility.  I ate a mini bagel, Greek yogurt, banana. Lined up at the bus at 5:00am and saw JohnnyV, and Dana.  We got on a plush tour bus and sat on the first two rows.  My seatmate was from France, love her accent.  Wonder what people think of my accent? :)

Got to the start with an hour to spare.  At the PoP line we saw the Pocatello gang, so we hung out with them by the power pole.  Then it was time to shed our warm clothes for drop bags.  A light snow started to fall with immenent rain ahead.  I put a rain poncho in my flip belt, kept my gloves, running cap and head band.  I have two hair clips to keep the poncho hood secured on the brim of the cap (two years ago in the rainy Ogden marathon, my hood did not stay on my head and collected quite a bit of rain water).  Gave Karen a good-luck hug and went back to the pole to find Lowell and use the PoP one last time. 

I love running in the rain as long as it's not cold.  The swishing of the poncho was annoying at first, but I soon got used to it and I was kept pretty dry and comfortable.  Lowell and I sang and chatted with fellow runners.  The mountains are lushy green with low hanging clouds.  It reminds me of New Zealand where I visited in Sept as part of my mission.  I'd sing a Maori song and phrase when I ran upon someone who looked miserable.  We ran into CindyF.  The last time I saw her was Boston 2013 so it was fun to catch up on what's happening.  Had to use the PoP at the half but there were only 4 PoPs next to the course with a long line.  So I ran off course to the other side of the park.  I was carrying Lowell's wet gloves while he changed to dry ones so my right gloved hand got a bit wet.  So other than one wet hand and feet, I was dry and toasty wearing long sleeve top, capris w/ compression sleeves, light headband to cover the ears.  We'd see other runners with red freezing hands and Lowell would offer his dry gloves to them.  Temp was in the high 40's, rain and calm (until mile 21-23 with headwind at the mouth of the canyon).  We caught up to the 4:45 pace group and hung with them or leaped frog with them most of the way.

Gu'ed 4 times (mile 7, 11, 17, 21) and ate the bacon Lowell gave me 3 times.  Running so slow in the rain plus eating the bacon made me drink more which resulted in numerous PoP stops.  We also stopped to take pictures at aid station with "Elvis", a cute family of little kids holding the sign "We LOVE you!" and the guy dressed like he's going snorkeling wearing swim shorts, swim goggles with snorkel and a beach towel hung around his neck.  All he needed was some flippers! :)  I got to run with TJ and his grand daughters a few times.  SO FUN!!!!  Had to use the inhaler on the uphill and again at mile 22 where the headwind was wicked.  I ducked behind Lowell bending down at my waist and coughing and wheezing.  Our last PoP stop was off course before heading down into the parkway trail.  Lowell's body must've decided that it's quit time after that stop.  My body on the other hand was like "a horse smelling the barn and just wanted to git'er done".  Once out of the parkway, I was ready to cruise to the finish picking up roadkills; but the memory of last year doing the Half after a year of no-running and I was cramping up and Lowell waited for me; I decided to return the favor and waited for him.  We stopped to take pictures for a mother whose 9 year old son was running her in.  Then they would take our pictures in front of the temple.  

Karen and her husband waited for us at the finish.  I was so grateful for her and so proud of her giving her all out there.  She ran a courageous race!  I was heart-broken for her when she told me she was 2 min shy of a BQ.  She had trained so well and so hard; but caught a nasty cold couple weeks ago, with a lingering cough.  She also had stomach cramps and the headwind at the mouth of the canyon toke its toll.  On a better day, she would've PR'd. 

I had heaps of fun, dejavu of Ogden '13, dancing and singing in the rain.  Marathon #56 in the book!

Jogged with Wendy to meet Karen, Leslie, Amanda and Heather, walked with them 3 miles, then jogged back with Wendy.  Since I ran so slow at the Ogden Marathon, there's really no recovery to speak of.  Karen, on the other hand, is being very careful with recovery.  She's already trying to figure out which marathon she'll run next for her BQ. 
 

Jogged with Wendy.

Ran with Wendy and Leslie. AP: 10:03. 

Wogged with Karen, Leslie and Wendy! :)

Registered for the Jordan River Marathon (May 30)!

Karen was ansty to run (she promised herself to baby her foot and not run for a week).  Since Wendy and her daughter needed to run 10 or 11 for their training for AF Half; we met up at 7:45 for a "Sat. long run" which we hadn't done for awhile (we usually ran long on Fri. to accomodate Karen's kids' games schedule!) 

We ran east on the MCT and turned around at mile 4 (Karen only wanted 8).  After we ran her home, I decided to finish with Wendy and Stephanie.  Our last mile was super slow though.  AP: 10:30.

Happy Memorial Day!  Didn't run but spent the day with family.  I made BBQ chicken, we visited Larry's dad's grave.  After lunch the boys went fishing while I took grandma and Steven's fiance to shop for wedding decoration. 

Ran 5 easy with Wendy, Karen and Leslie.  We walked a mile since Leslie only wanted to run 5 with her coming back from a fx of the labrum.  We ran east on the MCT and down Dry Creek and saw a beautiful rainbow which almost brought joyful tears to my eyes!

4 slow easy with Wendy.

Went to packet pick up at the Salt Lake Running Company in Draper.  Not much in the packet, the shirt color is an ugly army green.  Then went to Scheels and bought some running socks that was on clearance, good price. 
 

Lots of errands and shopping today...walked too much!!!  Legs tired.  Goal is to go to bed by 10pm.

I signed up for this marathon just last week as a replacement for the Logan Marathon which is on Aug. 1st because our youngest son is getting married on that day.  Guess I need to have my priority right...son's wedding is more important than marathon?!!! :) 

I thought I was recovering well from the Ogden Marathon two weeks ago; WRONG!!!  Also thought since this course is relatively flat, I should be able to do the distance; WRONG!!!  The only good thing going for me is that the start/finish is in Draper, a quick 15 min. drive!  And I was fortunate enough to have the company of Lowell the whole entire run.

This race's organizer/company (Extra Miles) is the same as West Mountain...both are small and first-year races.  The course was originally point-to-point from Salt Lake to Draper along the Jordan River Parkway.  But the week before they found out there was a permit problem from one of the cities in Salt Lake so they changed it to an out-n-back. 

Got to the start at 5:30 and easily found RAD and Marci.  The RD called us over to the start line at 5:45 and gave us brief description of the course.  We had to run around the block (eBay campus, some business under construction and Frontrunner station) passing the start line for 1.5 miles then down on a dirt path about 0.5 mile long to access the JR parkway.  Then north on the parkway through the cities of Riverton, South Jordan, West Jordan and turn around somewhere in Midvale.

The weather was complete opposite of that at Ogden.  Starting temp was in the high 50s, mostly sunny and quickly heat up into the 70s.  When I drove home my car registered outside temp at 80.  Lowell and I had heaps of fun enjoying the scenery, taking pictures, chatting with fellow runners, running with the veterans carrying the Flag.  He petted every single dog and visited with the dog-walkers, probably over 20+ of them.  One lady dog-walker lost her car key and we even helped look for it and on the way back we saw her again and she had found the key; then Lowell fed Oakley, her dog some bacon.  He also made phone calls to his niece, Karen, his nephew, Dana and his daughter, Kelsie and of course I got to talk to them too.  When he forgot the words of a song that we were singing (mostly him singing), he called Kelsie and asked her to search for it.  If it weren't for the bibs on our shirts, you'd think we were out on a Sat. long fun run.  At the 11th mile we saw RAD and her neighbor who was running her first marathon.  That's the only good part about an out-n-back...you get to high five your friends and cheer on the winners!  Then just after the Park at Winchester (mile 12ish) we saw Marcie who was pacing the 4:15 group.  Lowell stopped her and the three of us held hands dancing in a circle singing the army song.  Who'd do that in a marathon?  Oh he actually danced with the three young ladies holding cheer signs at the park too. 

I took a Gu just before approaching the turn around thinking they would have an aid station there, WRONG!!!  We ran towards the tent in the parking lot only to find out that it was a gun-show or expo of some sort.  While Lowell visited with the volunteer monitoring the turn-around, I stretched my left calf which was starting to hurt.  When we got back to Winchester, I desperately needed some water to wash down the bacon and gu I took a mile earlier and there was no aid station.  Luckily there was another race being staged there complete with finish sign and an aid station.  The nice lady there let me drink their water (a big foam cup, unlike the little 4oz cups in our race).  I also made a mad dash to the park bathroom only to find that it was occupied.  We saw a lady holding up the race sign (which had fallen off and we had tried to fix it earlier) to try to take a selfie.  So of course we took the picture for her and began to run with her as we found out it was her first marathon.  Her family would meet her at many points along the way and we would help them take family photos. 

It was starting to get warm and the ice bags at mile 11 and 14ish was nice.  At 11 I put some in my running cap.  At 14 I took a bag and put some ice in my cap, shirt and compression sleeve (for my left calf pain).  No sooner than doing that, a huge black cloud covered the sun and the south wind picked up...but that didn't last long, the cloud covering that is...the south wind got worse especially the last 6-7 miles.  That stiff headwind coupled with the Russian Olives in full bloom caused havoc to my breathing.  I started to cough and wheeze.  Then it was a grind, the scenery was no longer pretty!

Lowell nearly missed the turn off onto the dirt path, but since I was hunkering down (from the headwind) I saw the arrows and hollered for him.  We saw a man with a camera ahead and didn't realize it was my hubby until we got close.  He gave us a bottle of water which was like heaven sent because the last aid station was back at Riverton (mile 21ish).  Hubby said we had less than a mile to go; but we told him we still have 2+ to go.  When we got up to the road, I crossed the road so that I could run on the "inside" of the loop, people were yelling at me that I had to run one loop past the finish...yeah yeah yeah I got that...I knew that...I'm not going to cross the mat!!!  I was wheezing, not deaf!!!  Then RAD jumped in to run the final 1.25 mile lap with us.  Boy!  Was I happy to see her!  I got tears of joy having her there to "save" me!!!   It's been a long time since we last ran together and I have missed her SO much!!!  When we turned around heading south, I ducked behind her to lessen the terrible headwind and catch my breath.  When my Garmin read 26.2, I raised my arms and said I'm done...but nope still have another 0.4 to go.  Lowell's Garmin registered 27 miles!

No matter how many marathons you run, that feeling of exhaustion at the last 400 meter is always replaced with the feeling of exhiliation when you cross that finish mat.  This race being so small, there were no volunteers to "receive" you, to give you water/food.  They gave you the medal and shoved a piece of coupon in your hand.  But we were lucky to have our very own RAD to get us our water bottles.  She even opened the cap for me.  As a consolation to last min course change, the RD got Saturday Waffles to cook each marathoner a waffle.  We had to wait in line for that though.  But it was yummy!  However, there was no chocolate milk as promised.  The RD said they ran out of them.  Luckily Dana brought us Dr. Pepper from McDonald's.  After everyone left, I went to look for my result which they said would not be coming, I saw a runner with bloody knee.  He took a spill coming up from the dirt path onto the road.  There was no first aid.  So I helped him look for ice bag and gauze from the TOSH people.  He sat down on a curb to apply the gauze/ice bag and I chatted with him.  It would've been nice if the volunteers offered him a lawn chair.  Needless to say, he was not very happy with this organization and chalked it off as their being new and first race.  I was thinking in my mind that, it could be worse if there were runners with heat stroke or more serious medical issue, they would not be prepared to handle it. 

Anyhow, I'm glad marathon #57 is in the book, next up Utah Valley in two weeks.  Hope the PF subsides and my calf heals up in time.