Thursday, July 25, 2013

Deseret News Classic 10K

Here is a little about my first 10K race!  I ran the SLC Deseret News Classic.  In Utah, the 24th of July is a celebrated holiday.  It's Pioneer Day where we celebrate the Mormon pioneers settling the Salt Lake Valley.  There is a big parade in downtown Salt Lake, and this race is just the beginning of the celebration!  We started up at the University of Utah, and ran a beautiful course down Foothill drive, South Temple, and ended on the Parade route.  

 I was pretty nervous, because I haven't run in almost 2 weeks.  My foot was really sore, and I didn't want to mess it up even worse before the race.  Luckily, I had no issues with it during the race.  However, I did confuse myself on mileage and thought I was supposed to be done earlier than I was.  I turned off my apps and so I had nothing telling me how many miles I had gone.  I was looking at the signs for the 5K that said "5K: 1 mile" and for some reason, I thought it meant there was 1 mile left!  We end at the same finish line, so I was really excited that I had only 1 mile left, and I still had so much energy!  I booked it for about a half mile and still couldn't see any finish line!  Suddenly, I realized my mistake and that I still had over 2 miles left.  I slowed down, but I was really tired.  I wanted to walk, but didn't.  I made it to the end- and even shaved 4 minutes off my fastest 10K training time.  So I was happy about it.

One thing I thought was pretty cool was at the exact moment I was crossing the finish line, they announced that the first place runner for the Half Marathon was also crossing the finish line.  They announced his name, and it was a guy I went to high school with.  Crazy fast runners!

They had drinks, fruit, Creamies, and french toast at the finish line.  I waited for about an hour for Josh to finish his half, and hopefully he will have his post about it soon.  We didn't stay for the parade, because we had to head back to my parents house to pick up the kids.  But we had a fun day celebrating!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Inspirational Quote #5


Have to go

This seems like a good one for Josh and I as we go into our longest races yet-both with injuries-in just a couple days.  Wish us luck!!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Dumb Things I Do (First Run Back)


On the night of the 4th, I joined some brothers in law and nephews on my in-laws’ driveway for a game of basketball.  While we were playing I hit a layup and then hit my knee into the pole and came down sideways on my ankle.  I have had major problems with ankle injuries in the past and had arthroscopic surgery on this particular ankle four years ago to repair a rupture to my syndesmotic ligament (the ligament that connects the tibia and fibula).  As soon as it rolled I knew I was in trouble.

I decided to rest it in the hopes that it would be better in time for the Deseret News Half Marathon I'm running on the 24th.  This week I tried a 3.5 mile run on Tuesday.  I went very slow and had to walk quite a bit but made it through and felt like I would be able to push my way through the race in a week.  However, on Thursday I headed out to run around 6 miles and only made it two blocks.  It was hurting so bad that I couldn't make a go of it.

I called my orthopedic surgeon's office later that morning and got in to see an ankle specialist in the hopes that I would be able to get a cortisone shot or something that would take the pain away.  The doctor told me that it was too close to the race and that since the shot softens the cartilage I could do some serious damage if I tried the shot and ran that far that soon.  He did take an x-ray to make sure that there wasn't any structure damage and gave me the green light to run as long as I could work through the pain.


I decided to try it again this morning.  The first 1.5 miles were pretty painful and I had to really focus on my form so that I didn't mess anything else up.  After that it seemed to loosen up and I was able to do the next four miles with just some mild soreness.  I was tempted to take this run to 8-10 miles but since I've got a race in 4 days I decided to be smart for once and did just enough to get a workout.  Stay tuned to see how the 1/2 Marathon goes on Wednesday.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Weekly Workout Wrap-Up, A Couple Of Old Fogies

It was another sad week.  Josh's ankle is getting a little better, but still sore.  And my foot is still wonky.  We are starting to get nervous because we have a big race this Wednesday!  Josh is planning to do his first half in a long time, and I am doing my first 10K race.  

On Tuesday, I decided to run on my sore foot just to see how it went.  I didn't feel any pain until about mile 2.5.  Then it really hurt, but I could still run through the pain.  I am hoping that during the race, the pain won't be more than I can handle.  

Josh went to the Dr. to see if he could get a cortisone shot, but he advised against it.  He did say that Josh could still run on it and it wouldn't do any further damage.  So basically, if we can both run through our pain, we'll be fine.  Hopefully.


Saturday, July 13, 2013

Weekly Workout Wrap-Up

This week's work-outs were pretty sad.  But we have good excuses.  Josh is still recovering from a minor ankle injury, so he didn't run at all.  As for me, I did my speed mile on Monday, then my regular 5K run on Wednesday.  After that run, the outside of my left foot started to hurt.  It's been sore ever since and I have no idea why.  I can't even walk on it without a slight limp.  So I am also resting it this weekend, and hopefully by Monday Josh and I will both be back to normal.


Monday, July 8, 2013

"Speed" Mile

I am so not a competitive person.  But since I've started running, it's been fun to compete against myself and see myself progress.  So this morning, just for fun, I decided to do a speed mile and see just how fast I could do it.

Now, I really don't want this blog to be about how fast I can go.  That is not what running is about to me.  This is more the reason of why I run.  I have compared myself to the best before, and it is just plain pointless.

This exercise was mostly for fun and to see how I could do.  It wasn't as fast as I thought I would go, but I did beat my 6th grade time.  Now if only I could go back in time and throw it in my 6th-grade-self's face.  Take that, 11-year-old me! I don't think she/I would have taken it too well.  :)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Double Ditched

Josh and I had  been planning a running date for a while.  His sister was kind enough to offer to come watch our kids so we could go early and run.  Our plan was for him to do 15 miles.  I was going to drive a few miles down the road and meet him on the trail.  Then I was going to run about 7 miles total, drive home- and meet him when he got back.  Unfortunately, he rolled his ankle playing basketball on Thursday.  Since he's got his first half in 2 1/2 weeks, he decided to take it easy.  So then, I called my SIL (the one that was going to watch our kids) and she said she would run with me.  At 4:30 AM!!!!- I got a text from her saying she had been up for hours not feeling good.  Bummer!  Double ditched. Anyhow, I woke up just after 6 and began my run just as the sun was rising.
It was a very beautiful morning.  I have only run on the Rio Grande trail a couple times, and only for about .5 mile at a time.  I ended up running over 6 miles.  Josh picked me up at the end, so I was able to run south the entire time.  I felt great for most of it.  After mile 5, I started getting light-headed and seeing black spots.  But I pushed through mile 6.  The scenery was beautiful!  I can't wait to do it again...hopefully with someone by my side!

I thought I would share my favorite 5 running songs at the moment.  I love music so much, it's hard to pick just 5.  But here is what I'm feeling right now:

#1 is an awesome song if you are feeling worn out or tired.  It pumps me up and motivates me to go faster and I feel like it gives me the extra energy I need.
#2 is great at keeping my pace up.  It is the exact tempo I like.
#3 is kind of a nostalgic song for me, so it brings back happy memories and keeps my mind off any pain I may have.  It has a great beat too.
#4 is another good one for pumping me up.  The tempo isn't the fastest, but the lyrics are motivating.  I love Andy Grammer!
#5 is my favorite song to start out on.  It's a bit slower, but again, the lyrics help me get my head in the game.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Our 4th of July

This morning, Josh got up bright and early to run the Kaysville Rotary 10K.  I was so excited to take the kids and cheer him on, but a couple of them were a little sick, so we stayed home.  (I made him take a pic since I wasn't there, and the above shot is what he sent me.)

Josh ran the 6.4 miles in 54:17...awesome!!

Since we couldn't go cheer on Josh, we decided to get some patriotic donuts.  After breakfast, we decided last minute to go to the Layton parade.  We hung out with cousins and cheered on grandpa as he ran by in the parade.  That evening, we went to my parents house for a BBQ and my summer favorite: homemade ice cream!  Then Grandpa put on a fireworks show, and we loved every minute.
Happy Independence Day!!

Kaysville Rotary 10k


This morning I ran in the Kaysville Rotary 4th of July 10k.  I had two goals for this race, finish my first 5k in under 25 minutes and complete the full race in under 55.  I manged to squeak in on both goals.  I hit the 3.1 mile mark at 24:48 and finished the race in 54:17.

I've never been much of a distance runner.  I'm wired more for speed than miles and miles of plugging along.  I know I'll never be competitive at these distances, but that's the great thing about running.  You can always compete with yourself.  This race was a challenge for me.  Although the weather had cooled down a bit, it was very humid because of the rain that had been falling all night.  It made it pretty tough to breathe and cool off since my sweat wouldn't evaporate.

This race felt like a moral victory.  Even though I felt pretty horrible the whole time I was running I managed to beat my goals even though it took quite a kick at the end of the race since I slowed down quite a bit during mile 5.  This was a good prep run, but I'm excited for the half marathon coming up on the 24th.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Hot Runnin' and Seven Peaks

Today's high reached 103 (according to my calculations.)  I skipped my Saturday run, because by the time Josh got back, it was almost 90 degrees.  But I knew I needed to get out today.  Josh ran 3.15 miles and was back right as the sun was starting to come up.  He advised me to go a different route (much more shady than my usual), and my 3 mile run was really nice.  I need to let my body get used to the heat, but until then- I'm going to do everything I can to stay cool!!

Speaking of which, after my run, I took the kids to Seven Peaks.  My sister and her 5 boys are up from St. George for a week, so we met them there and had a blast!  I haven't been there for about 9 years.  It hasn't changed much- but was much more crowded.  And can you believe they make you pay for shade?  It's true.  Ridiculous.  But so fun.

Catchin' some waves.


Me, my kids, and my 5 handsome nephews.