Each Day Is a Gift

I SLEPT IN!!!  Wahoo!!!  Actually I didn't want to wake up our guests sleeping in the next room so I waited 'till they got up!  

Perfect temp in the high 60s cloudy, the breeze made the mugginess bearable!  The legs felt fine, just a bit tired from the marathon on Sat. but after couple miles they loosened up nicely!  Would have run longer if I had more time!

Had to make airport runs and fed our house guests breakfast this morning.  Waited for the lumber to be delivered.  So by the time I got to run, it was too hot and humid!  So down to the TM I went with a movie, Chariots of Fire!  Can you believe I've never watched that movie before?  I LOVE it!!!  It's on Netflix too!  :)

2 mi warm up.  9 mi at half-marathon race pace (8:34).  2 mi cool down.  AP 8:50.

Legs felt great.  I think the 4:1 method is magic.  The legs "recover" during the 1 min. walk so they don't feel beat up after 26.2 and essentially no recovery needed!

Ran 8 with Karen (Sky).  Walked 2 mi to and from her house for wu/cd.  We were both tired; ran so slowly but still wore Sky out!  She ran 21 miles on Mon. all by her lonesome!  It was fun telling her how my Sogonapmit Marathon went on Sat. and hearing what she did with her long run on Mon.  I talked her into signing up for Park City!!! :) :) :)  Her husband is gonna think I'm bad influence, hehehe!  

Busy day cleaning out the guest bedroom downstairs so we can move into it while the master bedroom/bathroom is getting remodeled.  The backhoe guy was here to fill the dirt back around the new foundation.  My beautiful backyard is a mess...and so will be my bedroom! :)

Happy Wednesday all! :)

No energy today!  Good thing Wendy & Carolyn came by and asked me to run with them. :)  Warm sunny day!  I don't see my hawks anymore.  All that road construction must've driven the hawks, golden eagles and falcons away.  Oh they piped the canal so the duck families are gone too.  In its place are plenty of morning doves, noisy black birds, robins, field swallows and pesty magpies! 

Was neat to watch a huge portable classroom (size of a house) being moved down my street to the elementary school.  Can't believe how quickly the summer is going by!

Ran early with Karen, Wendy & Carolyn.  We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon helping in the Catholic Community Service Center.  We served lunch to over 600 people.  It was GREAT FUN! :)  

Karen picked me up at 6:15 to meet RAD & her SIL at the Lehi JRP where we unexpectedly met up with Morgan & Dave, 2 young bucks from Karen's ward.  Turned out Morgan (a dentist) is Annette' boss.  Dave ran the Timp Half last Sat and is training for his first marathon at SGM.  I love to run with first-timer...he/she believes the big lies you tell.  It was awesome to hear about Morgan's *eternal dates*, so cool!  I'm gonna tell my *very eligible bachelor boys* the fun ideas of eternal dates! ;) :) :) :) :)

The legs surprisingly felt great despite a long day of moving stuffs up and down the stairs in the afternoon/evening and all morning serving lunch to the homeless.  The GREAT company and chatting made the miles go by fast.  ;) :) :) :) 18 mi AP at 9:19.  Very happy with this run!

Temp was cool at the start and warm up a tad bit even with sunny blue sky,  I did not feel hot when we finish.  Took a nice 15 min ice soak.  Drank from drinking fountain and ate one package of Powerbar chews, drank the whole bottle of water and one can of slimfast.  Had a banana and mini bagel on the drive to the start. 

Off to help hubby with the yard then move out the bedroom furniture, FUN! :)

Ran with Wendy and Karen to Mountain Ridge Jr High.  We RAN down the 12th East BIG DIP and UP on the other side thru the little neighborhood to the east.  Told Karen that is what Empire St. is like!  So proud of ourselves running it!  But on the way back we wised up and WALKED on north side of that DIP!  :) 

I've been running long runs in the Elixir 5 over the last couple months. This morning I wore a new pair of Elixir 5.  I think I'll run in the Elixir rather than the Inspire at PCM. 

Wendy and I were so excited that Olga finally got some running shoes and agreed to run with us.  This is the first time she ran and the farthest she's gone.  She had done some walking and jogging around the block which is exactly 2 miles. :)

We ran to Karen's (1 mile) without stopping, after 1.5 mile we'd walk 0.25 mile and run .75 mile.  At mile 3.5 Wendy had to leave to drive kids to soccer .  Karen and I stayed with Olga running .5 mi walking .25 'till we got to her house at 4.75 mile.  Then I showed her some stretches.  I then ran Karen home and back to my house for 7 total. 

Good thing my construction guy was late because I was gone so long. Turned out he was running up at Rock Canyon to prepare for the entrance test for firefighting school.  The demolition of the bedroom started.  You'd never know what's behind sheet-rocks.  There was a bird nest in the tray ceiling by the outside wall.  A few years ago I heard noises coming out of that wall and suspected a bird.  Hubby didn't believe me.  Ha, I was right! :)

One of our water heaters is corroded and leaking.  It is now turned off.  We are getting bids anywhere from $800 - $2200 for a 50 gallon water heater replacement!  Crazy!!!

Ran down to the Jr. High with Karen and Carolyn for some simple speed work.  Carolyn has never run track.  Karen used to run 800m in high school.  I haven't done any speedwork this year.  So plan was to keep it simple.  Ran 2.25 exactly to the track for warm up.  I wanted to run 5x800 with 400 recovery.  Karen was short on time since we didn't get out till after 7am while we were visiting with Wendy whom we couldn't convince to join us.  (It must've been me, the CRAZY running granny's bad influence!) :)

Anyway, we ended up doing 4x800 with 400 recovery.  My 800s were 3:40, 3:39, 3:45, 3:45 and my RI were around 3:00.  Ran Karen home immediately after.  We did walk up the hill on Center St., legs were jello! :)

The demolition of the bathroom started!  Tiles, walls, glass, sheet rocks, shelves, sinks, tub are all being blasted away!  My master suite is a war zone!!!  Aaaarghhh!!!  Water heater guy coming on Friday!  I need to run away!!! :)

Easy run with Wendy, Carolyn and Karen.

My neighbor passed away peacefully in the wee hours this morning.   He was only 41 years old.  He was diagnosed with brain cancer nearly 8 years ago.  He left behind a devoted wife and 4 children.  Spent the day with the family during their difficult time.

Ran with Karen and Carolyn.  Couldn't talk Wendy into joining us.  We were all short on time so only made it 4 miles.

Bryan came home after a summer of internship in China, music festival in D.C. and chamber music in Europe.  He lived out of a carry-on size suitcase, playing, learning, studying from the best of the best musicians in the world.  He was able to stay healthy but on his flight home he felt sick.  He went to the doctor today and was diagnosed with strep throat.  :(

Ran the Porter Rockwell Trail with a group of great ladies, RAD, Bec, Toby, Kathie, Karen, Carolyn and Wendy.  (Kimmy and Nic were there running solos for their extra miles).  I like running this trail the week before a marathon, perfect distance of 12 miles gradual rolling uphill out and downhill back.  There was a group of youth running a 5K as we were finishing.  It was so fun to have their cheering...my last mile was 8:20! :)

Spent the rest of the day shopping for tiles, carpet, wood flooring, light fixtures...just the start!

Think I'm coming down with something, sore throat, swollen glands, achy neck, fatigue.  The thunderstorm kept me up.  Ran 7 miles down and up the rail trail with Carolyn and Karen.  I probably would have bagged the run if weren't for them!  My legs were lead, felt crummy, hacked up copious gunk!  So disgusted with myself! :(

Hubby had to sweep the rain water off the floor of the new addition (which has no roof yet) a second time this morning.  Yesterday he had to sweep the rain water in between his meetings.  He put the white tarp (which was supposed to keep the floor dry but didn't) on the lawn to dry, big mistake.  His beautiful lawn was fried, it now has a 50'x50' brown patch, so sad!  He has such a good attitude...never gets mad!  It is now past 10am and I haven't seen or heard from our contractor!  He was on vacation last week while his helper did the demolition alone Tue-Thu.  It was a good thing I told him to not take out the outside-wall, as it is, the hole they made on the existing roof in order to join the new addition's walls have caused rain leakage inside.  So, this has been 4 weeks and we've seen more *destruction* than construction, very frustrating!

No running today.  Woke up feeling achy, with sore throat, lotsa icky mucus and very tired. Called the doc. for an appointment but he was on vacation.  

Since I was a *sore throat* case, I was seen by a PA student.  The MA swapped my throat.  This was the conversation I heard outside my exam room.  PA student: "So, you are doing the strep test?  You know how?"  MA: "I've done it before."  PA student: "It's the sore throat in that room."  some laughing...joking....5 min. later.  MA: "How come all the strep tests I've done come out negative?"  The PA: "Cause you didn't swap all over the throat."  MA: " I did!...it's negatory!"  

Pause...then the PA came in and told me it's probably viral, but he had the PA student emailed an order for an antibiotic to the pharmacy anyway and said I could take it if the symptoms get worse (after being told that my son was seen by the doc on Fri and diagnosed with Strep.).  

So much for going to see the doctor!  I didn't get the antibiotic.  I still have a cough, icky sputum, sore throat, all manageable.  I think the mountain air at PC will do me good, don't you think?  

Feeling no better or worse.  I just had to go for a run to loosen up the mucus and keep from getting insane!  Ran 7 with Karen.

Busy busy busy day helping with the funeral of my next door neighbor who passed away last week of brain tumor.  The service went on for almost 3 hours.  It was very nice to learn of some of the things about him as I didn't really get to know him since they moved here last summer.  He had brain cancer 7+ years ago, went through chemo and surgery, thought he was all better, until a few months ago it came back with a vengeance.  His youngest daughters are 8 & 9 so the last 7 years was a gift.  I feel so sad for his 38 yo widow.  She is amazing!

Busy in the evening with the wedding reception of a wonderful young lady in our ward.  This is 2nd of 4 wedding receptions within a week.  Hope I didn't spread any germs. :( 

Promised Wendy I'd run 4 with her...so, ran with Karen, Wendy and Carolyn for an EZ 4. 

Still have sore throat, icky thick sputum, cough...but NO fever...so I am not taking any antibiotic.  I figure if it is virus, antibiotic doesn't help.  Saturday will be day 6 from start of the symptoms so I should be fine to run.  I may still have the cough but I will take my inhaler if I start having difficulty breathing.  Hope I'll finish PCM ok.

Update on the construction: more destruction of the existing roof so they can put the trusses on for the construction of the new addition's roof.   This afternoon, they hired a giant crane (the kind that you see in major industrial construction) that has a humongous mechanic arm that reaches over 150' high.  It loaded and dropped the heavy 26 foot long wood beam in place across the new addition.  I now have vision of a roof over the new addition!  Here's to more construction than destruction! :)

Going to pick up my PCM packet tonight.  You think they will let me run with a hecking cough?  They let me run SGM with a fever the year it rained the whole race!  :)

PCM was the FUNNEST long run ever!!!  Karen picked me up at 5am, then drove Becca and RAD to Park City where we met up with Teena.  Went inside the hotel to stay warm, use the bathroom and meet up with Lowell.  2 min before start time, *the pod* (consisting of Lowell, Bec, RAD, Teena, Karen and I)  walked out to the start line.  Within 10 seconds Teena left us in the dust and disappeared with the lead pack.  *The pod* ran together picking up new friends (Terry, Erika, Bill, Tara...) along the way and just thoroughly enjoyed each others' company with big lies and jokes.  :)

Temp was in the high 50s but quickly warm up as the sun peaked over the mountains. We waited for each other at each aid station, hydrated, ate oranges, visited with the volunteers...  A strong side/headwind whipped up from mile 7 on.  I had taken 2 puffs from the inhaler at the first aid station and by mile 10 started to cough and wheeze.  My bladder was filling up quickly, stink!!!  We reached the aid station around mile 12.  There was one guy waiting for the ONE pop (he said he would be quick).  We were annoyed when the person finally came out of the pop turned out to be a woman volunteer!!!  She walked 5 feet from the pop to her car.  What the heck?!!!  The grocery store is just a block off the trail...GRRR!  I urged our group to go on ahead...but RAD refused.  She and Karen waited with me holding my Gu's for me.  What great troo bloo friends! :)  THANKS girls!!! :)

Hubby was picking up Karen's husband and kids at 7:30am to come cheer us along the course.  I told him it would take us at least 2 hours to get to the half way point.  I started looking for him on the Rail Trail.  When I didn't see him at the first road intersection I hoped we'd see him at the end of the Rail Trail.  Sure enough, I could hear Karen yelling "Mark!  Larry!  Mark!  Larry!" just as we reached the aid station on Bonanza (about mile 13.5).  They had just arrived 10 seconds earlier and were crossing the road to get to the aid station.  Had it not been for the 3 min pop wait a mile back, we would have missed each other!  :)  We lingered for pictures and loitered around the aid station.

*The pod*: Karen, Becca, Lowell, Smooth and Rachel.  By the stop sign are Karen's husband, Mark and daughter, Abby.

We must've eaten 8 lbs of oranges between us! :)  Oh, it felt so good for my sore throat!

 My favorite part of the course is on Poison Creek Trail along city parks with tennis courts, trees and fun tunnels.  Lowell stopped to goof off with a group of ladies doing exercises in the park, silly boy!  Rachel and Becca began to take the lead up the climb to Deer Valley.  My least favorite part of the course was running on the sidewalk on Deer Valley Dr. from mile 15.  But it was redeemed by the fact that you could see the fast runners running down on your left.  It was AWESOME to see Teena flying down (would've given her a hug but didn't want to interrupt her momentum!:-) )  Also saw some friends, BrentZ, but didn't see Slick or Marcie like I would in years past.  I also saw and cheered on the two ladies, Sue & Margaret, in my age group.  

Running up the Deer Valley loop was not bad at all (thanks to taking the inhaler as suggested by RAD at the half), although I wished they had wash clothes for us like they had in the past.  Looked forward to getting to the top where I know our cheering squad (Larry, Mark, Brad, Max, Beth, Abby and Gracie) would be.

We made it!  Notice the guy running with ski poles?!!  He came to Deer Valley prepared!  Dang, I left mine at home!  :)

 Here comes *the pod* reaching the skiers' bridge just before the last climb up to Empire.  We had lost Lowell somewhere in Deer Valley.  He stayed with Tara! 

Here we were loitering around at mile 19 aid station again! :) So many choices of food and Gu flavors!  We were told the Expresso was the best for the end of the marathon!

What? We have a marathon to finish?!!!  :) :) :) We'd better get going...

But not until we got a couple of *jump shots*! :) :) :)

On the trail again!

The paparazzi's are everywhere! :)

We were SO grateful for the cloud covering between mile 17-23.  But was now getting hot with a full sun beating down and a warm south headwind.  The last 5K in a marathon is always work.  This is Karen's 2nd marathon.  At mile 24, she started to feel the effect of the miles but also felt so much stronger than her 1st marathon at SLC.  With one mile to go, my shins started to cramp up, probably due to wearing the Elixir.  In the last 4 PCMs, I had always feared succumbing to cramps on the winding narrow bike path that hugs the condo.  There seems to be never-ending corners to turn with no sight of runners ahead or behind.  But this year's different...it was so AWESOME to run side by side with Karen drawing strength from each other.  The guy with a sprinkler hose was another blessing!!!  With 100m to go we saw darling Abby and Gracie who ran with us to the finish with the cutest, happiest smiles ever!!!

The fun resumed at the finish and carried over to Cafe Rio! 

Post-run assessment:  Thanks to my SSF's giving me the inhaler at the finish, was able to get the coughing and wheezing under control!  Knee held out okay.  Shins would need some rolling.  Need to recover well... Pocatello is in 2 weeks!!! :)

Zero soreness!!!  YAY!!!  Ran with Wendy and Carolyn for 4.  Passed by Karen's at our mile 3 while she was walking Abby to the bus stop with Sky in her running clothes.  The school bus came just in time for Karen to join us.  Ran 2.5 with Karen. 

6 circuits of CSE

Foam rolled the shins which I've never done before and discovered some tightness there, no doubt from the cramping on the last mile at PCM on Sat.

Poor hubby got my sore throat on Sat and was coughing up a storm last night, thus we got very little sleep.  Met Carolyn and Karen for our run at 6am so we could be done before the kids get off to first day of school.  Ran down on the 300 W trail and back up on 3200 N.  My sore throat is gone and coughing is minimal! 

3 circuits CSE

10 lb free weight lifts for biceps and triceps

Temp was already 69 at 6am.  Gonna be a scorcher.  Was nice to run with Karen and Carolyn and beat the sun coming over the mountains and the kids getting on school bus!

3 circuits of CSE.  Rolled and massaged lower calf muscles.

The roofers were supposed to come on Monday.  They still haven't come.  So glad there's no rain in the forecast for that reason.

I am desperately in need of lodging for Friday night (9/16) in Logan for TOU.  The hotels I looked are filled!   Help!!!!

Karen and Carolyn took the day off from running so I slept.  At the start of the run I felt some tightness/soreness in my right lower calf on the outside (distal) with every footfall and push off.  I noticed soreness on the left lower calf on the inside (proximal) yesterday.  I could walk with no problem.  So I went home, put on compression sleeves and walked/jogged on the TM for 2 miles, stop to stretch every 10 min.  Once the muscles got warmed up, I was able to run at easy pace with no problem.  Will keep an eye on the Soleus.  More foam roll and stretch!

The roofer finally came at 10 this morning!

Still desperately in search of lodging for TOU! 

Ran an easy 5 with Karen.  We started at 7:45, temp was already in the 70s.  Had no energy this morning.  The calves did better today. :)

Going over to help Beth clean and pack.  They are moving tomorrow.  I am so sad!  I hate goodbyes! :(

This morning's run was one of the most joyful runs I've had!!!  Karen picked me and Carolyn up at 4:40 and headed down to Toby's.  According to Karen's car, temp was 75.  Toby had already gotten up SUPER early to run 8 solo miles and was back by 5am to run her remaining 12 miles with us. This was to be her first 20 miler!!!  :)  Thanks Toby for letting us be part of your awesome run!!! :) :) :)

Lowell and Terry came from Pocatello to join us since Terry's grand daughter was getting married in the Timpanogos Temple at 10am.  Lowell provided us with flash/glow lights and we were off with much laughter and giggles!  :) :) :)

The 6 of us meandered west on the streets of AF then north onto the river trail then east to Lone Peak High and back on the trail to the golf course.  We had so much fun chatting and laughing, the miles just flew by.  We stopped at the drinking fountain east of the golf course and realized it was already 6:15 and Toby had to be back by 7 for her Ward's Rodeo.  We still have another 5 or 6 miles to go.  So she proposed that we run to her house by 7 and finish the run at her ward's 5K race/fun run just up the road.   Seriously, how in the world?!! :)  I would not be able to do the math at the end of the long run to figure the mileage no less run a 5K at the end of a 20 miler.  She is AMAZING!!! :)

Everything worked out beautifully!  We got to the start of the 5K just before the race started.   Only Lowell took a bib number and I carried the bag of safety pins and chased after the guy with the clip board.  We just wanted to finish our long run so we stayed at the very back.  When the gun went off (yes, there was a gun and they even fired it once for testing), I followed the people (about 25-30?) in front of me.  The first 0.75 mile (per my Garmin) has an elevation drop of 90'.  I took it easy down the hill passing a few people and chatted with the boy and lady on bikes.  We turned left onto the river trail which we ran earlier in the dark in reverse.  The course flattened out and I passed more people...breathing easy and legs feeling great.  At about mile 1.5 there was a water station, I skipped it, then we turned east onto 300 North.  I ran on the sidewalk as there were cars parked along the road and I didn't want to get hit by oncoming traffic.  I spotted a group of young men/boys on this stretch so I focused on reeling them in.  I was able to pass all (about 5) but one who had a #31 basketball jersey on.  The course turned north uphill on 1100 East at mile 2.4.  I stayed on #31's tail because I didn't know the course.  We made one right turn into a neighborhood then a left turn.  I saw a group of ward members and ran towards them thinking it was the finish; but one lady pointed me to the left up in the grassy area towards the finish.  I never caught #31 but my time was 25:36 and found out I was top 10! :)  Splits: 8:28 (downhill), 8:18 (flat), 8:30 (uphill), (0.1 @ 8:48 got a little lost). 

I grabbed a cup of water then we ran back to look for Lowell and Terry who ended up running up to where their car was parked as they had to make it back in time to get ready for the wedding.   Didn't get to say goodbye but I'll see them in a week at the Pocatello Marathon.  Got home and went to my Stake R.S. self reliance fair!   What a FUN FUN FUN morning! :) :) :)

HUGE HUGE HUGE KUDOS to Toby for running her first 20 miler so AWESOMELY with a 5K race at the end to boot and...finish the whole thing in a kidK with her darling triplets!!!  WaHoooo!!!! :) :) :) :)

Ran with Karen down and up rail trail.  My breathing sure was labored on the uphill.  Legs felt fine but the lungs aren't.  What's the elevation in Pocatello?

Still desperately looking for a place to sleep Fri night in Logan for TOU on 9/16.  In the process of asking around, another friend (a girl from Arizona) needs a place to sleep too.  So now I am looking for TWO of us.  Anyone cancelling their hotel room?!!!!

Met Karen and Carolyn at the bus stop (for Jr High kids) at 7:45.  It's so fun to talk with the kids in my Valiant 11 class, love them so much! :)  7th grade is tough time. 

Lori ran by us so I ran 2 fast (for me) miles with her.  Lotsa school traffic.  We need to go a different way tomorrow!

Met Karen, Wendy and Carolyn at the bus stop again.  We ran towards the elementary school where Lori would be running from.  Crazy school traffic.  We ran west thru a neighborhood west of 300 West to bypass school traffic; then north to Bull River.  

I really like running with Lori who's a 1:30 half-marathoner.  She runs like a gazelle with long slender legs.  We need to convert her and Carolyn to marathons. 

5 miles AP: 9:02