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!

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!!

Just Felt Like Running...6.3 Miles! Why Not?

It was one of those days.  

The kids were ornery.  Mom was ornery.  Dad got home, and so I just had to run.

Josh bid me farewell with some excellent advice.  He told me to turn off the voice-overs that tell me how fast and how far I am running.  My app was still running in the background, recording how fast and far I was going, but I just didn't hear any of it.  I turned up my music and didn't even have a pre-determined route.  I ran wherever I felt like running and tried to enjoy an amazingly beautiful night!

After I had run what I thought was at least 4 miles, I looked at my phone and saw that it had been exactly 3.1 miles.  Ha!  I was almost home, but decided to run for about another mile.  As I kept going, I just decided not to stop.  I ended up running 6.3 miles, and it felt GREAT!  I wasn't out of breath or tired at all.  (My legs were feeling a little sore) but overall, it was awesome!

I ran 6.37 miles in 1:08:56 with an average pace of 10:49/min/mile.  Whoah- slow!  I know.  But I don't care one bit because it made me feel incredible.  Running therapy...it works!