14 miles of goodness.

my long runs are getting longer. I'm definitely into higher mileage now. but I'm facing my fears head on and running right through them.

yesterday was a tough run. I had some long uphill miles to get through. I'm just glad I can still get away with starting the run at 9 am. soon it will be that if I don't finish my run by 9 am I will be in serious trouble. I love spring. I love running in long sleeves and shorts.

my body held up well. only the usual random aches and pains that don't stay with you through the whole run. that's a good sign. I was hydrated this week. I ran hard. it felt good. sure, I was tight by the end (or by the middle?) but not too terribly tight. I feel pretty good today.

this is serious marathon training now. no messin' around!

tips: [for all those just dying to break into the long run scene]

drive your route in a car, mapping out the mileage and dropping water (and gatorade, if needs be) about every two miles. but when you're done running, don't forget to drive back and pick up the water bottles! [or just have your cutest husband secretly follow behind you on his road bike. peter, I loved the cheering and the high-five as you passed by. best long run surprise ever!]

play the mental game. running is seriously 90% mental and 10% training. you cannot listen to the negative thoughts in your head. replace them with positive ones. lie to yourself if you have to. because your body is amazing and you'll be surprised as to how much she can really do. you really can do anything you put your mind to. here are some things I had to tell myself yesterday:

"you've done this route before, you know this. . . just remember how to do it. . ."

"be proud, jo, this is the hardest part. you are amazing"

"just keep running until X. . . good job, now just keep running to X. . ."

surrender yourself to the run. this is an old lesson, tried and true. you have to be able to come to a point where you are just out there, running, putting one foot in front of the other. you're out there for a long time; don't think, just be. this is where a good diversion is handy. someone to talk to, music blaring on the ipod, learning to be okay with your thoughts. running in a beautiful locale doesn't hurt either. just know you'll be out there for a while and don't think about it. the miles will go by easier. trust me.

dress the part. I love buying running clothes. I can justify any purchase if I can tell myself it would be great for running. if you look like a runner you'll feel like a runner. if you feel like a runner you will be a runner. pace times don't matter if you look hot. and not to mention the fact that technical clothing (the correct shoes for your foot type, non-cotton/technical fabric clothing, etc) will also reduce injuries and the like.

run safe. run strong. run happy.


14 miles; 17th south to 9th east to 8th south/sunnyside to wasatch and back

wednesday, thursday, friday

wednesday I swam, thursday I ran, friday I rested.

tuesdays: speed work

I decided on saturday that it was time in my training to start implementing some speed work. since I'm running on mondays to get the kinks out, tuesday would be the perfect day for speed. today I decided to do some hill repeats.

I ran over to sugarhouse park as my warm up. I turned into the park from 1500 east and ran down to the first good grassy hill on the south side. I did five repeats (you generally want a hill that's relatively steep and will take you around 30 seconds to get to the top), focusing on a quick turnover, running on my toes, keeping my head up and eyes on the goal. . . and engaging my robot arms.

[when doing hill repeats while I trained for my first marathon, this rad girl we ran with would always say she was turning on her robot arms. because it's a known fact that your legs can't go anywhere without your arms. so if you just put your arms on automatic, and power them through your feet will just have to follow. it's like magic.]

after the repeats, I ran the rest of the interior loop of the park and ran home the way I came. it was a good, long run. my legs started to get a little tight near the end. I came home and iced, though. and my hamstring didn't really bug me at all--I was a little worried that running hills might aggravate it (and let's be honest, running to sugarhouse is a hill in itself!) but I was okay.

I felt fantastic when I got home. It was a really good run.

~5.5 miles; 1700 south to 1100 east to 2100 south to 1500 east to the sugarhouse loop and back again

my new monday routine

I decided on saturday that I couldn't swim on monday's anymore. I needed to run. after all these long runs on the weekend, I'd need to get back out on the road as soon as possible to stretch out the legs.

pete and I did the usual quick run route. over to liberty park, along 600 east. it was good. I stretched and iced when I got home.

~3 miles; 600 east to liberty and back

twelve miler: JRPT

yesterday I did my twelve mile run on the Jordan River Parkway trail. at first I was going to just park and go six miles out one way and turn around and come back. I wasn't sure if any of the parks would have their drinking fountains going yet, so finally at the last second I decided to park, go three miles out in one direction, turn around--get water and eat an energy gel at least halfway through--go three miles out the other direction, turn around and come back. good thing I did because there was no water anywhere else. Salt Lake Running Co. was sponsoring a run for people doing the SLC Marathon so they had water jugs out there on the course. . . I broke down and stole a drink of their water and gatorade on mile ten. I was kinda dehydrated and needed something to get me through the last two miles. I'm sure they'd understand.

anyway, it was a pretty good run. nothing too eventful happened. my legs got pretty tight halfway through. my hamstring sucks. (I did ice when I got home) my ankles are holding up relatively well, so that's good. right after the run I went to the Maverik across the street to get some gas. while I was filling up my calves started to hurt so bad! I think they just seized up on me or something. so tight. but now they don't bother me, thankfully. I'm not even that sore today--hurrah!

12 miles; jordan river parkway

thursday:

elliptical team.

I did it for like 3o minutes (plus that five minute cool down, of course) and it was alright. I don't know, maybe it was just an off day for me and the elliptical machine, but I just didn't feel it. is it losing that spark? do I not love it as much as I used to? I don't know... maybe it's this change in weather. why should I be stuck inside when I could be outside enjoying the ideal temps? I mean, I should take advantage of the cool spring weather while I have it. soon it will be nothing but too hot to do anything.

steiner; 3.3 elliptical distance
jerry seinfield on the ipod

wednesday:

cruiser bike team.

peter ran and I cruised. it was fun. we went to liberty. I took two laps around. it was more of a workout than you'd think since my cruiser bike is a classic schwinn, that's probably forty years old and forty pounds. I love it. it was surprisingly hard on my quads and inner thighs. and it was fun! soon we're gonna break out the road bikes. I can't wait!

I ditched swimteam 'cause I hate getting home at, like, eight o'clock. I promise to do the thursday AM swim, I swear!

tuesday:

run team.

I just did a quick route. the usual run to liberty and take a lap around the park.

I hate to say it, but it already felt too hot. in the shade it was perfect, and sometimes you'd get a nice breeze blowing, but. . . my hands want to turn into sausage fingers a little bit and that's just no good! I should start running in the mornings on weekdays.

monday:

swimteam.

warmup
8 50's - drill/swim
3 100's - each progressively faster
4 300's
cooldown

I lead the lane and felt pretty good.

the rest of last week

tuesday I ran on the treadmill, I do believe. something like three miles.

wednesday I ditched swimteam to go running with peter. it was probably around three miles. we went out on 600 east to liberty, circled the park and then came home.

thursday I elipticalled for 45 minutes.

friday was a rest day.

saturday I ran ten miles! from here on out it's double digit miles until taper. it's kind of exciting. the run felt pretty good. I was a little tight halfway through. I ran in downtown and then up city creek canyon a bit. so far my ankles are behaving. we'll see how my body holds up for the rest of training.

oh, if anyone doesn't know, I'm training for the Famous Potato Marathon in Boise, Idaho in May. It should be definite good times. It will be my fourth state -- whoohoo!!!

monday night swimteam

yesterday's swim workout kind of redeemed last wednesday's workout. I felt strong. I lead the lane most of the time. (mainly because I didn't have the stress of making the sets in any real intervals... we swam, then waited 30 seconds after the last person in the lane touched the wall) and I even talked the substitute coach out of having us do a smaller set than everybody else. (he thought maybe we couldn't handle it -- how about five sets of 300? but my little competitive eskiminian swimmer kicked in and couldn't bare the thought of having to swim less than everyone else just because we were in the slow lane.)

"We can do five 400's, we'll just do it slower."

and so we did. this was the workout:

warm up
6 50's - drill (fingertip drag, catch-up drill, thumb drag)
400 - free (slow)
400 - free (medium)
400 - free (fast)
one minute rest
400 - free (medium)
400 - free (fast)
cool down

I felt pretty good. my stroke felt relatively strong. we finished the whole workout in time. hurrah!

long run

I went skiing yesterday, but that didn't stop me from doing my long run. I'm dedicated. I did it on the treadmill because it was only six miles (I think that might just be the limit on those things. anything over an hour just might kill you.) and it would be easier to know how far I'd gone, etc.

the run was pretty good. about halfway through my legs starting feeling a little tight. it's mostly my right hamstring, but what's new. I got to watch a hockey game. that's always fun. and the chick that's always working out was there. she got on the treadmill right beside me. maybe I should just become friends with this woman; we're always at the gym at the same time.

but you will all be happy to know I bought some frozen corn to use as ice packs. I iced my hamstrings yesterday. hopefully I'll get over this nagging injury soon.

6 miles; treadmill
counting crows

ps skiing was amazing! telemark or die!!!

wednesday | thursday | friday

wednesday:
swimteam. I was having a rough time. I felt slow. the upper (read: faster) lanes were crowded so they made a few people shift down. it happened to be just me and this other guy that night, until the german, that other lady, and the pregnant chick all moved down into our lane. I wasn't too thrilled about it since they're (at least the german guy and the non-pregnant chick) faster than us. I remember the german guys condescending look with his eyes when he motioned with his head to the other girl that they were going to have to swim with us.

warm up
3 200's - descending

100 free
25 stroke/75 free
50 stroke/50 free
75 stroke/25 free
100 stroke
[3 times through; 1st set - fly, 2nd set - back, 3rd set breast]

cool down

it was hard and I felt beat. I wanted to quit about a thousand times. I kept going, though, so I guess that was a victory in itself. sometimes you just have off workouts. you just have to shake them off and focus on the good ones...


thursday:
elliptical team. I went for 45 minutes again... it felt good. I had a lot of energy afterwards. I tried reading my new runner's world that came in the mail... it's slightly harder while elipticalling.

45 minutes; 5.9 elliptical distance
the get up kids


friday:
joint swimteam. peter and I met up at the pool. I wanted to focus on my butterfly since it's so hard. I used fins to try and help me get out of the water to breathe. it was still pretty tough. I want to keep working on it, though, and get better. it just takes a lot of endurance. I also did some work just on my arms with the pool buoy. I want to save my legs for tomorrow's long run...

monday | tuesday

Monday:
I ditched swimteam for a run. my legs needed to stretch. plus I had a little bit of a headache and the thought of putting on a tightly fitting swimcap and goggles wasn't too appealing. I headed north on 600 east, straight through liberty park and on to 400 south and back. it was a good run. I felt strong. it was just what I needed after my run on saturday.

3+ miles; 600 east


Tuesday:
Eliptical! I don't know why I love this machine so much, but I do. I could go forever on this thing and not even think twice about it. Way better than a treadmill, that's for sure! I felt great!

45 minutes; 5.78 eliptical distance
sufjan stevens/weezer

I ditched the ipod for some city sounds and my thoughts

north. east. south. west. a mile out and back in each direction. eight miles. water every two. these are the tricks you learn when you've been doing this as long as I have. (and you're a little princess who will not carry water with her on the run.)

I put my water bottle in the baby pug tree a block away from my house (apartment d, if anyone is interested in purchasing "baby pug's") and started out on what felt like my first real long run of training. it was the first run of the year outside as well. it felt good. the sun was out. fresh snow on the ground. my legs were moving. it felt great.

near the end of the run, somewhere tucked away in mile 7 my legs started to feel tight. I stretched when I got home. I tried to take an ice bath, but lasted about five seconds. it was really hurting my feet. when I get into the higher mileage I'll just have to be brave and tough it out. I still need to buy some bags of petite frozen pees to ice my ailments individually.

the run felt good, though. I'm a little sore today, but not bad. my ankles and knees are holding up. hopefully that continues.

8 miles; 2 miles radiating out from 1700 south and 600 east

elliptical love.

I went to the gym and ellipticalled my face off. it was fabulous.

marta, you would appreciate this -- oprah in surround sound. on one television she was a guest on ellen. on another tv was the oprah winfrey show, and they were talking about obesity and weight loss. how fitting, since I was at the gym.

I ellipticalled for like 45 minutes - went 5.5 miles - burned over 550 calories. and I jammed out to counting crows the whole time*. hurrah!


*okay, so during my five minute cooldown I finished the counting crows set on the ipod. then I turned it to Jesus on the Radio by Guster. It is quite possibly one of my favorite songs ever. I kept it on repeat all the way home. literally.

back in the slow lane, and loving it

the workout:
warm up
3 100's kick - descending

300 free
200 IM (that means a fifty of all four strokes!)
100 stroke (anything but freestyle - I chose breaststroke on each set)
[3 times through]

25 free - hard/slow
25 free - slow/hard
25 free - hard
25 free - slow
cool down

how I felt:
fantastic! it felt good to be back in the slow lane, pushing hard. I was more in my element. at first this lady named erin (she's the one trying to make the break up to the next lane - she's a really good swimmer and very tall and lean) was leading the lane, then this guy, then me, then this girl named megan who hadn't been coming the past couple months due to illness. after the first run through of the main set (300, 200, 100) it became very apparent that I needed to get in front of that guy. I was swimming on his toes the whole time. once I got in front of him I was just keeping up with erin. I even got to lead one of the 300's. it felt good. after the workwout erin and I were talking. she was like, "that was such a good workout - it felt good to have each other pushing us so hard." it was a good workout.

what we ate:
dinner afterwards was fantastic too. peter juiced us up a special blend:
4 carrots
1 beet
.5 cucumber
4 big leaves of green leafy lettuce
1 pear

delicious!

I made some pasta, with fresh mushrooms in the sauce, and some winter blend of frozen veggies - broccoli and cauliflower.

it was the perfect way to end a good workout.

the end.

I *heart* treadmills?

I think somehow I became a gym person. I don't know how it happened. I think it might have had something to do with an injury and an ipod. Oh, and poor air quality. Somewhere along the way I started to get excited about going to the gym (aka the community rec center) to do my long eliptical workout, or to try running on the treadmill. It seemed fun because I got to jam out to some tunes and, if I was lucky, watch some kids play hockey! So now I'm just wondering when I'll make the transition back out onto the streets. . .

So needless to say I ran on the treadmill today. I felt like it was a good pace; I probably could have pushed it faster, but I am trying to be cautious with the whole hamstring/ankle/random ailments/failing body/old age thing.

The super fit lady I always see at the gym (she swims masters in a really fast lane) was there. I think that's all she does--work out. It's slightly crazy.

3 (plus a little more) miles
treadmill, slc sports complex
counting crows

movin' up

so today is a holiday, I suppose. which means not a lot of people were at swimteam. so instead of staying in the slowest lane, my friend tori talked me into swimming in her lane.

"come swim in this lane, you can do it. . . I won't lap you. . ."

since it was just her, I agreed. (though it might have been better if there had been more people in the lane, it's just easier that way) and we started swimming. I was holding up pretty well during the first part of the workout.

warm up
8 50's - drill down, swim back
5 100's - descending (the last 100 was supposed to be at the fastest pace you could hold for the rest of the workout)
4 300's - at the aforementioned pace
cool down

the 300's kicked my butt. sure, tori never lapped me per se. . . she never physically swam up from behind and passed me, but I think I was a full 50 behind on some of those sets. at least I kept up in the 100's.

she did teach me a little trick: hold your head up a little so you're looking straight ahead, and not down. it feels a little more awkward since your head isn't in natural alignment with the rest of your body, but it did make me feel like I was swimming faster. so maybe there is some merit to it.

swimteam was hard today while I was doing the workout, but I feel like I recovered really quickly. it didn't kill me for the rest of the night; maybe I'm finally getting into shape.

swimteam: mon12feb2k7

what the swimteam workout was supposed to be:
warmup
8 50's - drill on the way down, swim on the way back (all free-style)
300 - free
8 50's - kick
200 -free
8 50's kick
100 - free
8 50's - kick


because we are so slow, this is what the workout ended up being:
warmup
8 50's - drill on the way down, swim on the way back (free)
300 - free
8 50's - kick
200 - free
6 50's - kick
100 - free
2 50's - kick
50 - cooldown

oy vei, we are slow! I'm hoping one day to make my break into the next fastest lane. . . I think it could happen. maybe even sooner than we think. I just have to be okay with being the slowest person in the lane again. I mean, this extremely pregnant lady could hang in that lane--why not me?!

postponement

The first annual All-County Swimmeet is being postponed to a later date. More details to come.

(Because seriously, how many of you were actually planning on it anyway?)

joint swimteam

As most of you know, I'm Peter's swim coach. He's my team. We have practices, but rarely together. Last night it was a christmas miracle that we could both be in the pool at the same time. It was like a dream come true.

We didn't swim for very long. Peter is getting sick and I'm still recovering. We did some laps, kicking drills, races, stroke technique critics, video analysis, and a hypoxic set or two. It was a lot of fun.

And yes, it's true, I can go the whole length of the pool without taking a breath.

So. . .

Now what? I can't do anything. If it had just been my knee maybe I could work out my upper body. If it had just been my wrist, I could still go running or something. But it's both and I can't do anything.

I better be somewhat healed by December 30th, because that's when training begins for the Fargo Marathon!

random page: entry five.

I found this while wandering around bcdc's intranet, The Goat. There's a link for "random page" which is fun to click on repeatedly to see where you'll end up. I keep hoping it will one day take me to my page on the goat, but it hasn't yet. Anyway, I thought this was interesting. I have no idea why it's on the goat, if it is linked to anything relevant, or if it truly is a random page. I wonder what ever happened to entries one through four and if there are any subsequent ones. Maybe I'll go waste more time looking for those too. At least I look like I might be doing something productive!

Darwinism. Challenging your physical abilities. The curiosity of whether or not you can do it. The exhilaration of accomplishing something you actually questioned, premeditated, were fascinated by, and therefore conquered by means of anguish. Sacrifice is the tool we use to become accomplished. This is natural to some. Shunned by others. It's what sets the potential survivors apart from the easily diminished.

Experience. New experiences. Learning experiences. Progression. Innovation. Adaptation.

If you can't challenge yourself you have given up on life. Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant. Taking a challenge shows integrity. Facing fears shows how strong your will is. Quiting shows weakness. Only you can decide what you want to be. And what you can or can't accomplish. It is this mentality that from the beginning of mankind has created wheels, invented computers, and conquered peaks.

Try something different.

post script: Entries one through four are about this guy's dream of climbing Mt Reinier on his 40th birthday. The posts stop after entry five; I wonder if he ever made it.

swimteam secrets

i lick my hand
to smell your scent
intoxicating like chlorine

I like the smell of the pool on my skin.

All-County Swim Meet

Get out those tightly fitting speedo's, boys.

Girls, don those swim caps.

Because it's time to start training for
the first annual All-County Swim Meet!!!

When: Saturday, January 27th 2007
Where: Steiner Aquatics
Who: Swim teams across the County (that means you! all age groups and skill levels welcome*)
What: Swim fast, win a prize!
Why: Some people seem to think prizes are cool.

*This is a "serious" swim meet. No previous skill needed. Just humor us. Please come swim in our "All-County" swim meet. There will be prizes. Maybe even a trophy. Just please come swim in our swim meet!!!

The Deluxe Annual Family Pass.

We did it. We bought the annaul pass to the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. I have a blurry photo to prove it. Swimteam is back in full force.

Famous Potatoes.

I should be running a marathon this weekend, but I'm not.

this is how it is.

I haven't been running much lately. In fact, I don't think I've actually been since my run by the beach two weeks ago.

My ankle is all messed up. It feels like hash when I don't do anything at all. I'm scared to run. Sometimes I worry when I play frisbee...

I decided to let go of my pride and walk the marathon next month. Hey, it's something I haven't done, complete with it's own challenges, I'm sure (read: my pride). But I'll have Idaho out of the way with hopefully minimal problems with the ankles.

I don't think I'm doing the Wasatch Back Relay either. It's just not coming together like it did last year. After today the rates go up, we still do not have a full team. I don't want to deal with it.

So what's the state of my physical life? I walked 20 miles on a beach a few weeks ago. I've been swimming. I've been hiking. I play city league frisbee. Maybe that's good enough for right now.

the state of affairs

I think I feel the onset of overuse injuries coming on... so I don't want to overdue anything. I was going to go spin up at steiner, but came to bountiful instead. I'm still not sure if I'm doing a long run this weekend. If I do it will just be a short one. I'm skiing on Saturday anyway. Maybe I need new shoes... I know I need new shoes...

Because I have random pains and I don't like it!

soccer sabatical

I had my last soccer game tonight. Well, the last one for a while at least. I guess you could say I'm going on hiatus. Ultimate frisbee starts in a few weeks. As much as I'm going to miss Chunky Monkey, I'm so excited to see all the frisbee people. I haven't even played frisbee since Texas... It's been too long.

But we did win tonight. I got two goals. Too bad I was feeling very exhausted--I think I'm getting sick and it's leaving me with no energy. It was still fun and a good way to go out.

Good times fo' sho!

The McClelland Street Swimmers

A few weeks ago my hometeacher, Pete, called when I was headed up to the pool for Masters. I told him how I'm on this swim team for adults and he thought that was really cool. He said he wanted to swim too.

If you know me at all, you know how I get excited when people show interest in doing the things I do. Especially if while doing them they call me coach. Well, Pete now calls me "coach," and I now call him "team." It's a beautiful thing. We're trying to rope some other McClelland Streeters into joining the team -- aka my roommates. If Rui joins we can be an international team. It's really quite exciting.

Last night we had our first swim practice. He came to the pool after my Masters swim practice was over. I sat there in the water watching him swim, trying to give him pointers. He knows the basics, we just need to fine tune his skills. We'll be doing drills in the future.

Just so you know my Masters swim practice was a kick in the butt yesterday. We practiced the fly, back, and breast strokes -- and did sets of IM's. For all you non-swimmers, an IM is all four strokes: fly, back, breast, free. It's tough. But hey, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, or it at least puts hair on your chest.

futbol

Chunky Monkey went undefeated in the last league. This league is a little different. We've won a couple, lost a couple, and even tied once.

Our team has its ups and downs. Some days we run hard, some days we're a little lazier. Tonight I felt like we were all running hard and passing fairly well. We beat the team by some ridiculous amount like 13 to 3. Paul, I think, scored at least eight of those goals; he should get a haircut every week.

Beth and I are the only girls who play the field. Katie is in Keep. So I get to play half the game. We sub out every three minutes or so. Sometimes I just want to stay in longer. To be honest, sometimes I'd be happy if I didn't have to sub at all. I like running.

I did get one goal tonight. It was a fun game.

Sometimes it's a rough road to physical fitness and marathon readiness.

Every now and again I think I have a stress fracture on my left ankle. So what do I do? Crosstrain!

I recently bought a pass to Steiner Aquatics, aka the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. Sure, Steiner's doesn't have tons of equipment like a trendy gym might have. But what it lacks in equipment it gains in quality swim workouts!

I've been swimming Masters for a couple weeks now. It's like the old days -- swimming in the slow lane (we used to affectionately call it the "slacker" lane) with a guy on deck telling us what to do. Except for now it's not Jack Seninger, thank goodness! I was only going to go on Wednesdays, but now I'm swimming on Mondays as well. I think I'm going to get those quality, kick-your-butt-into-shape workouts that I need.

I'm also going to take some spin classes. And hopefully yoga and pilates if I can fit it all in. Because back in the day when I could run a marathon without training at all (and feel the best I've ever felt at the finish) I was swimming and biking more than running. I figure I can do that again here. Plus, maybe I could be ready for a few spring sprint triathlons! I'm going to be physically FIT!!

Famous Idaho Potato Marathon, here I come!

I'm back on the team!

Okay, so I didn't score two goals tonight, but my one goal was well worth it. Not only was it a pretty shot, but it put us ahead in a very close game. We held the lead to the finish. I'm happy, because they were a very good team. Maybe an undefeated season really is well within our reach.

The low-down.

I went running on Monday.

I didn't go running on Tuesday.

I went running on Wednesday.

I played soccer on Thursday.

What will the rest of the week bring?

I'm off the team.

I didn't get my two goal quota tonight, so I've been kicked off the team. That's the only reason they signed me. Maybe I'll go play in a league in Europe or something.

Okay, so soccer tonight was a lot of fun. As it has been this whole league. I love my team and I feel we're meshing better than the first game. We've won all four of our games so far and I'm thinking we might just be the champions at the end of this all. But anything can happen, we'll just have to see how it all plays out.

I just have to say that I'm in love with playing. It feels good to be out there again. I'm actually scoring goals--even if it is just one, not two. It's always like this after a long absence, though. I'm out there playing with some spit 'n fire, just so happy to be chasing a ball. I'm sure I'll gradually get worse if I keep playing for a while. Or maybe not. That just seems to be the trend sometimes. I'm happy for now at least.

Neglect.

Let's be honest, I've been neglecting my Kenyan within. But I really do go running sometimes, I promise.

Actually, I've just been so busy lately with work and everything. . . But this week I actually went out both Monday and Tuesday night, and I didn't have time tonight because of Nata's bridal shower or I would've gone. Tomorrow I play soccer. (I'm on an indoor league again, it's like coming home.) I think I've refound my joy for running as a release. Sometimes you need it to keep your sanity. I've really been working a lot.

So if I'm ever around a computer I'll have to keep this weblog updated. That's the other part of the problem. . .

My week so far. . .

I went running on Monday and Tuesday, but not yesterday. By the time I got home from work I was too tired and hungry and Marcus came over to make dinner anyway. Hopefully I can go sometime today, but I have a wedding reception tonight (Eternal Wasatch Back Relay love!!!) so we'll see if I can squeeze one in.

On Monday I went on 1100 East to 1300 South and then busted up the hill to 1300 East. It's a pretty tough hill there at the end but I was proud of myself because I didn't stop at any point. It's a short run, but a good one.

Tuesday I just went on 1100 East to 1300 South and back. I had some time constraints because we were headed down to Pleasent Grove for Melissa Carroll's bridal shower. I just needed a quick one anyway to get the legs moving a little bit.

Just a little guy

I went running yesterday. It was just a little guy because it had to be quick so I could shower and get ready to go down to Provo for Armchair Cowboy. Besides, I feel like I may be getting a little sick. I just want to take it easy.

For a short run I felt I busted it out fairly quickly. It was good to get out there and at least get the legs moving a little bit.

11th East to 13th South

Back on the road

So I've only gone running a handful of times since the marathon. This past week, it seems, that I've kind of come to that place where I want to be out there again. I think I really needed a few weeks off.

I've been twice this week. Tuesday and Wednesday. Only about three miles each. Even though they didn't feel like the best runs, I knew I had to get out there anyway. And my body is appreciative of that. I need to get out there for myself. For my own sanity.

Maybe right now I should just focus on running for the pure joy of running. No training. No qualifying. No pacing. Just running.

So hopefully I'll hit the road again tomorrow. With this beautiful running weather how could I not?

St George

It's funny to compare my two St George Marathon experiences.

Last year I found out about a week before the race that I would be able to run. I had not been training at all, though I was in pretty good shape overall. I started out very slowly and must have gotten into a good pace because I finished at around 4:20. This was my first and only race where I felt really good at the finish line--I felt as though I could keep going right on to Vegas! Hey, why stop there? Why not keep running right to the coast?

*Sigh*

This year was different. I had been training. Or doing my best to train, at any rate. I was trying to work through chronic injuries. I had visions of qualifying for Boston. But I guess it wasn't the right time for me, and my body knew that. The week of the marathon I got sick. It was hard to hydrate adequately. I had also been living in Lubbock, TX for the past month, and as many of you know there are no hills in the high plains of West Texas.

In Paulo Coelho's book, The Alchemist, he writes "When you want something the whole universe conspires for you to achieve it." I believe that. But as I said before this just wasn't the right time. For starters, I was expecting and counting on pace groups during the race. I panicked at the starting line when I realized they really weren't having any that year (they had them the year before because that's how I gauged my progress since my watch died at mile 1) and I had no real back-up plan. I started out too fast. I burned myself out in my already weakened condition. The race was hard both mentally and physically.

The two races are such polar opposites. This year I came in at 4:17 chip time, which is practically what I ran it in the year before. But I felt totally different. My legs hurt, my feet ached, but I was surprisingly not as disappointed as I thought I might be. Will I run St George next year? I guess we'll have to see. Maybe I'll throw my name in the lottery and see if I get in. I am, however, refocusing on my goal of the fifty states club. I can't keep running the same two Utah marathons year after year! I'm thinking of Yakima River Canyon next April in Washington state. . .

Long runs

I ran my six miles this morning. I feel tight. I wonder how my whole body will be feeling in a week, when I'm racing 26.2 miles. I also rolled my left ankle today. Again for no reason. But I think I have resilliant ankles. I roll them and they are fine.

6 miles; the usual Texas long run route

Last day with my Tech team

I played disc for the last time with the kids in Lubbock. I'm really going to miss them; it has been a lot of fun. After it was too dark to play and we were all getting ready to leave Kyle (one of my favorites -- the one with the dreds) was like, "I just want to thank Anna for playing with us..." Bla bla bla. I thought that was sweet, and then I expressed my thanks for them letting me play with them. Then Kyle was like, "we should give her one of our Lubbock discs!" Everyone thought that was a good idea, but Joy was like, "well, someone would have to pay for it." Then Tony (the guy who's in charge of this whole operation) gave me his Lubbock disc. It's used and says "Tony" and "Lubbock" faintly on the back, but it will be a good reminder of my days of frisbee here on the high plains.

My hamstring is bugging me a little bit, but not too bad. We'll see how it holds up tomorrow on my last long run before the marathon. (Only six miles.)

2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

My week as of yet.

Monday I took as a rest day since I did a whole heckuvalot of running this past weekend.

I did go running on Tuesday. Three miles. It was the usual aches and pains until on the way back I, for no good reason at all, completely tanked my right ankle. It just folded right over. It kind hurt, so I walked it off a bit, then I started to slowly run home again. It didn't swell or anything, so I didn't ice it. For some reason I have a hard time icing my ailments. It's like a mental thing or something. I just don't want to for some reason.

Today I started on my run way too late. I was only planning on doing a couple miles anyway because I wanted to see how the ankle would hold up. By the time I ran over to 19th Street it was too dark so I just turned around and came home. Maybe it was only a mile. Who knows. I tried to stretch out really well when I got home to make up for the lack of mileage.

At least I get to play frisbee tomorrow. It's my last night with the Texas Tech kids. The last frisbee of sabbatical. I'm going to miss them all.

Texas Sectionals in Austin

It was fun. It was hot. And there was a lot of running involved.

So I took a little road trip to Austin, Texas this past weekend to play a lot of frisbee. Seven games in two days. Only one female sub. I'm amazed at how our women held up. We're hardcore. It's funny, though, because the only people complaining of being tired were the guys! And they had at least ten subs!

We went into the tournament seeded fourth out of eight teams. We held seed and finished fourth as well.

On Saturday we won our first game and lost the next three. On Sunday we won our first two games and lost the last one. I don't think my legs had anymore in them for a fourth game on Sunday, so it was just as well.

I think the heat really affected me. It was just SO hot and humid! Both days I was just dying by the second game. Like spent. Finished. Wanting to pass out. By the next game I would feel better, though. I don't know what it was about that second game, but it was a killer. Maybe because the first game wasn't too terribly hot because it was still pretty early, but as the day wore on my body just needed to adjust. Who knows. It was crazy, though.

I played a lot better on Sunday than I did on Saturday. I made some stupid errors the first day. But I wasn't afraid to lay out, which was pretty cool. The grass was a lot nicer than most grass I've played on recently. Especially in the morning when it was still dewey. I had some good D's, some good throws, some good cuts. It was a lot of fun, I must say. I'm glad I went.

Oh, and Austin is a pretty cool place.

Texas Sectionals; 7 games; 4th place; Austin, TX

last practice before sectionals

Last night we had our last practice before sectionals. It was a good practice. We went over some stuff--zone defense. We scrimmaged. I think it went well. I got a hand block, which are rare for me so it was exciting. I almost had a really good lay-out catch, which would have been cool. My legs didn't really bother me too much. I hope we do well in the tournament this weekend. We're going into it in fourth place, out of eight teams. Right there in the middle of the pack; just where I like to be. I hear the weather in Austin is supposed to be hot--mid 90's--and humid. It will be important to stay hydrated. I'll let y'all know how everything plays out.

~2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

big sky, big clouds, big sunset

I guess I set the alarm last night without really knowing it. My sister said she heard it go off twice this morning until it shut off. I do remember waking up, seeing that it was around 6:30 am and thinking it was too early and too dark to go running. So I went back to sleep, totally unaware that the alarm had ever gone off.

Later that day I regretted not getting out there earlier. It's always just so bloody hot. And it had rained quite a bit today which made the air more humid.

[Quick anecdote about Lubbock, Texas: It is so flat here that when it rains the water has nowhere to drain. The streets become big puddles, like the whole place is drowning. Just think of cars synchronize swimming and that's pretty much what it is like here. It's quite a sight.]

I got out there a little after 7'ish. At first it was surprisingly cool'ish, later it became unbearably hot. My legs were still pretty tight--especially my tendon by my left ankle, and my right hamstring. I iced tonight. I pushed the last stretch pretty hard, which I felt good about.

3 miles; Iola southward to Milwaukee

swill

When I got to practice tonight I really wasn't in the mood to be there. I didn't really want to deal with the whole Don situation. And it seems it is always windy here in Lubbock, which means a lot more zone defense. Sometimes I really don't like playing zone. Especially if I have to play the cup. Too much running! And I never got to handle all day. Which was probably for the best because all my throws were swilly. Today just wasn't a great day for disc.

As far as running goes, I was just tired. I felt sleepy, as it were. My legs didn't feel like they could hold up to all the running and sprinting. Maybe I wasn't getting enough oxygen or something. It just wasn't fun. But my hamstring didn't really bother me, which is always a good thing. Oh, I did completely tank my ankle once. It hurt. But after a few minutes it really wasn't bothering me. That could have been bad news.

~3 hrs; Texas Tech

Always a head wind, never a tail wind.

Today was my highest mileage run before the marathon. I can't believe we're to that point already. Now I'm into taper.

My biggest fear about St George is that I didn't have enough time to gradually get my mileage up. Sure, I ran eighteen miles today, but my longest run previous to that was only somewhere around fourteen. I hope my legs are really ready to pound 26.2 miles. I'm counting on the adrenaline of race day and gravity to carry me through.

The first few miles of my run today I was experiencing what happened on Tuesday. My calf/tendon area on my left leg must be really tight and it causes my foot to go kind of numb. I made an effort to keep stretching it out, and it soon wasn't bothering me at all. What did bother me was my right hamstring and I just felt kind of tight.

My calves were really tight and sore immediately after the run. They were the first things I iced, though, so I hope I can keep that under control. I'm pretty tight overall, but not too bad. I'm going to make some effort to keep icing tonight and tomorrow. My left ankle kind of hurts as well. I love my aging body!

18 miles; Iola southward... Milwaukee to 4th...

practice

Practice was good yesterday. My hamstring held up reasonably well. I tried to warm up better and keep it stretched as much as possible. I missed a few catches, which always sucks. But I do remember getting a few really good D's. There was some good running involved as well.

~2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

frisbee and running

Monday night I played frisbee. I didn't really warm up and when I started playing my hamstring was bugging me a little bit. Not a whole lot, but it was still noticeable and I didn't want to aggravate it further. So I left before practice was officially over. I had gotten a pretty good workout in nonetheless.

Yesterday I went running with Robert. He said it was about three miles, but I think it was closer to four. The weirdest thing happened. My left leg started hurting (to the left side of my calf) and then my whole left foot went completely numb. It was very odd. It was like I was running with a brick attached to the bottom of my leg. I didn't like it one bit. I'm not running today because I just feel like I should take a day off and rest my body. I was going to throw a disc around with this Don guy tonight, but that's a whole other story. . .

Ten miles

I went running this morning. I could only do ten miles. My legs were hurting. They are so tight and sore and I can only imagine it's from the half marathon and frisbee on Thursday. Hopefully this shorter run will help build up those darn muscles. Because, afterall, it is in those lower mileage weeks that your body becomes stronger.

My calves are still tight along with my hip flexors and hamstring. But what's new?

10 miles; Iola... Milwaukee... 4th Street... 11th Street...

the disc in texas

I had so much fun playing frisbee tonight! I was a little worried as I was walking toward the field--I only saw a bunch of guys doing a drill. This surely wasn't pick-up, I thought to myself. I asked the guy that was sitting on the bleacher if he was playing and if it was pick-up or not. He was like, no it's practice. Oh. Practice. Then I told him how Tony had told me to come tonight. The guy was like, oh well then you can talk to him after their done with the drill. Finally Tony comes over and we introduce ourselves. He told me I could scrimmage with them after the next drill. So I put on my cleats and threw with the other guy until it was time to scrimmage.

This is what I love about ultimate frisbee: everyone is so nice. It doesn't matter where you are, what team you're on, or if you're a beginner, everyone is nice and willing to help out. Well, I guess unless you're in some big-time tournament or something. Which brings me to my next point...

They want me to come play in the sectionals tournament in Austin in a few weeks with them! They really need women and since I'm pretty good they're willing to practically pay everything for me to go. It's kind of exciting. So I'm seriously thinking about it. I might as well play in a tournament while I'm here, right? Right! And then I get to see another part of Texas. I think it could be a really good time.

There was only one other girl who showed up. So I pretty much played savage the whole time. My legs held up even with all the intense running. I did start to slow and get kind of lazy at the end but that was after like two hours of endless playing. The thing that bugged me the most was my feet! I don't know if it was the socks or what--they're relatively new--but my feet felt like they were totally getting blisters. They're still a little tender on the balls of my feet. It was weird, that usually doesn't happen. Next time I'll put BodyGlide on them for sure!

Anyway, playing disc makes me happy and I'm glad I found some people to play with while on Sabbatical.

~2 hours; Texas Tech ultimate

My first run on Sabbatical.

It was my first run since Hobble Creek. It was noon. It was hot. I was tight. Other than that, it was an alright run.

I went a little over three miles. It was about 80 degrees, and there's not much humidity here, so it would have been like running in Salt Lake City at noon. Which I never make a point to do. I'm still trying to figure out where to run in this crazy place. I just don't want to get lost, that's my main fear. So I went on a route where I was sure to remember the turns. 11th Street to Milwaukee to 4th Street and back. So simple. The only problem is that 4th Street is pretty busy and there's not much shoulder to run on. I'll figure things out, though.

My legs were pretty tight. I've been dang sore since Saturday. It was good to get out there and losen things up a bit. I'm playing frisbee tomorrow, so that should be good too. Hopefully my hamstring behaves along with every other major muscle group in my body.

~3 miles

The Hobble Creek Half Marathon

I was talking to my friend Emilie Creswell a few weeks ago, and she told me about a half marathon she was running. Since I missed the chance to run the Provo River Half, I jumped at the chance to run this one.

Emilie and I went down the night before and stayed with her friends in Orem. We went out to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Provo (or is it still Orem? Who knows!) for our carbo-loading extravaganza. I ate way too much, as usual. After making a stop at Cyndi's new house we headed back to Orem to try and get some sleep.

I had a hard time sleeping. Maybe it was the anticipation of the race. Maybe other things were on my mind. The thought of being in the elite 100 Women finishers was definitely hanging over my head. Could I do it? I thought there was definitely no chance. Surely there were 100 women faster than me in this thing. But I wanted that medallion so badly.

We woke up early race morning. We had to be to Springville by 6:30 at the absolute latest--that's when the last bus was scheduled to shuttle runners up the canyon. We took the wrong exit, but eventually found the park and was on the last shuttle bus on time.

From where the shuttle bus dropped you off to the start line was about a 3/4 mile walk up the canyon. I guess you could say it was a "warm-up" before the race. It was still a little annoyed and my left ankle started hurting terribly, which I took as a bad sign. But by the time we actually started running, my ankle didn't hurt anymore. I swear my body is on crack sometimes.
This race is mostly downhill, and it's fast. It's good practice for the quads for St George. It was surprising, though, what actually hurt during this thing: my calves. Was I just trying to bust up the hills? Emilie said her calves were tight by the end too. And my right hamstring was bugging me a little bit. But not too much.

I love the race experience. I love picking people out in front of me and passing them. Each women I passed I knew I was one more closer to my goal of the elite 100. I knew this race was fast, but I didn't realize how fast. I was pushing it, sure, but not terribly hard. I've had other races where I felt like it took all I had and I still wasn't going that fast. I still had something in me for the last few miles.

I took them one at a time. I thought to myself, "if I can just coast through mile 10... then mile 11... then I thought just keep it up through mile 12 and I can start to push it a little harder..." once I got to mile 13 I knew I had it and I kept pushing. This was a good course.

I finished with a time of 1:42, gun time. Since my watch broke I couldn't keep my actual time, but it was probably a good minute or two before I crossed the start line. Needless to say, this is my best half marathon time ever. Perhaps my best race ever. I crushed my previous PR by ten minutes! I was running a 7:51 pace for over 13 miles! I never thought I could hold that! My dream of Boston has been rekindled! I need an 8:20 average pace in St George to qualify, so if I can race like I did last weekend I can do it. It's really quite exciting.

So if you must know, I was in the top 100 women finishers. I received the coveted elite 100 medallion. Now it's true: I am an elite athlete. It was a good day all around. Everyone should run this one next year. I'm quite a fan.

P.S. Emilie and I both won in the random prize drawing after the race, which is exciting. While running the race we passed the Hobble Creek Golf Course. As I was running by I thought to myself, "wow this is really beautiful! Fred should come down here and play this course!" Then I almost got hit in the head with a golf ball (actually the guy right in front of me literally almost got hit, but it startled me nonetheless). So when they were doing the random prize drawing and they were giving away the 2 passes for 9 holes at the Hobble Creek Golf Course I thought to myself, "I should win this..." And then they called my number and I did! So when I get back from Texas Freddie is going golfing with me. I'm excited to see his advanced skills on the golf course. Emilie won a prize right after me. A new pair of Mizunos at a running store in Provo. Oh, and we both got a new pair of socks with our prize. Good times!

The few days leading up to my best half marathon ever.

On Wednesday I played frisbee. It was, of course, pretty secret and not a whole lot of people came. I think we had like four on three or something. Netti and I both didn't really want to be there and were a little ornary. It was funny because Don left the full field even though we only had a few people. Netti and I kept sneaking the endzone cones up after each point. Don finally noticed and we all had a good laugh.

On Thursday I went running. It was a good break from packing up my life. I needed to get out there. I got out the door around 9 o'clock. It's probably a little late to be out there by myself because it's pretty dark at that time these days. I ran all the way out to 2100 South and stopped at Smith's to get a drink. I got sketched out by this guy sitting in his truck. I thought for sure he was going to follow me home and try and kill me or something. Don't worry, he didn't. He was probably just a nice old guy sitting in his beater truck waiting for his wife to pick up some eggs at the grocery store.

On the way back I ran into Karla Hoggard. She was running in the opposite direction, toward her house. As soon as we both realized who the other one was we stopped and chatted for a minute. She told me about the fifteen mile run her club was doing that saturday, but I was already comitted to the Hobble Creek Half Marathon.

I felt pretty strong on my run. It's always a good feeling to get a strong five mile run in.

disc at bryant; five miles on 9th east

I think I saw some kids from camp!

Now that I'm unemployed I have time to go running in the morning. I had my alarm set for 7'ish, but didn't drag my butt out of bed until nearly 8 o'clock. It wasn't too hot by the time I got out there, so I was lucky.

I only ran about 3 miles. My body was just feeling tired. Can legs feel sleepy? Well, mine did. It was good just to get out there and loosen things up, though. I'm not complaining.

My right knee hurt randomly throughout the run. And my left ankle hurt sometimes. I was a little tight in the shoulders and arms. But my hamstrings held up. I love my aging body!

~3 miles; 800 East to Kensington Ave

Frisbee

Disc was pretty good last night. I wasn't too sore and was running well. I guess the tournament motivated me to actually want to run hard, because I didn't start to get lazy until the very end when I was convincing Tori to move into the cool house with us.

My hamstrings didn't really hurt, which is good. I don't remember any other noticeable aches and pains either. My body is pretty random sometimes.

3 games; Bryant

My week:

Monday: Frisbee.

Tuesday: Running on 800 East. Four miles?

Wednesday: Secret Frisbee.

Saturday: Park City Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. Four games. Lots of running. Played some dang good teams. Played some not as good teams. Managed to lose all of them. I was a handler all day.

Sunday: Second day of the tournament. Played two games. More handling. Actually won the last game. It was Fred's first tournament win; very exciting. Had one good D, ran hard, played well both days. (Except one endzone play coming off a time-out where I was supposed to cut to the break-mark side but didn't because I confused myself) I was told that I should think about trying out for one of the club teams in Salt Lake. I'm good, I can run, and they can always use women. I'm not sure I want to get that serious about it.

I have no idea how far I ran.

I must've been feeling relatively well yesterday morning because I ran something closer to 14 miles than anything. I'm not really sure on the exact distance. But it was probably at least 13, if not more.

I felt great on the way out. It was the way back that got to me. After the turn-around my right hamstring really started bugging me. It made it pretty hard. The temperature was relatively coolish until the end when the sun finally came out behind the clouds. I had a cool breeze for most of it. Once the sun was out and things were heating up, I had to abandon all the rules to road running. I ran with the flow of traffic on the sidewalk. Sometimes the shady side of the street is more important.

I've discovered that running on 9th East is pretty nice for the only fact that there are plenty of grocery stores for water stops. It's really quite convenient. I found another stop for my Smith's-to-Smith's run.

~14 miles?; ~2 hours; 900 East to 5400 South

super secret wednesdays = throw practice

so pretty much only five people showed up on Wednesday. I actually knew a lot of people weren't going to make it so I came prepared. I didn't even bring my cleats and just went on a little run over there. I took a long route to get more of a workout in. By the time I got to the field only Shannon and Melissa were there. We started throwing a disc around.

It turned out to be a good night for the girls who came. We spent a lot of time throwing and catching. It will help their game. I think it's hard to really get the basics down in the high-pressure situation of a game. Not that disc at Bryant is that high-pressure. It's actually pretty chill and swilly, if you ask me.

But anyway, I ran home afterward.

One thing I noticed on my run over there was my throat was really dry. That's a sign that I'm maybe getting sick, because I'd been hydrating all day. I've been taking it easy these past couple days. I'm still planning on going on a long run tomorrow. I just haven't decided if it's going to be 14 or just 10. I guess we'll see how I feel in the morning.

Throw practice; Bryant

disc

I went to monday night frisbee last night and Aaron Stringer made the comment that maybe all the jerks starting playing somewhere else... maybe they've formed their own secret frisbee??? Because lately things have calmed down quite a bit. The numbers are manageable and it's really a lot of fun.

The only problem with last night's game was that I had eaten a lot of food at FHE, as I like to do sometimes, and it made it really hard to run. So I didn't run. Not that much anyway. I felt completely lazy and apathetic, but that's nothing new.

My legs held up well, though. We played three games and I think my team lost all of them. But I had fun and that's all that matters.

3 games of disc; Bryant

Jordan River Parkway

I did another long run with Lindsay this morning. I ran about 12 miles on the JRP and she did around 10. I always like running there. She said it reminded her of the greenway in Idaho, so I think she enjoyed it as well.

I was feeling pretty good for most of the run. My right hamstring was bothering me, but only minimally. By the end it was hot and my legs were feeling a little tight. But let's be honest, I haven't gone running the past two days because I bought new running shoes from the Salt Lake Running Company on Thursday (I knew going into it that I was going to drop a whole lotta money in there... $140 later I knew I was right)from the cutest employee I've ever seen. His name is Taylor and I'll probably have to go back and buy some more Gu's sometime soon. Good Times. But anyway, after my adventure to buy running shoes and apparrel, I went out on a hot date with Marcus Wright. So that left no time for running. And Friday is usally my designated rest day. So there ya go.

One exciting thing about the run was that I bumped into Joy Postma. She used to run with Team In Training and she is the cutest woman alive. Her cute little baby, Isabelle, has cancer in her brain and it breaks my heart every time I think about it. They are both the strongest people I know!

For a lot of the run I was holding a pretty good pace. Between 8-9 minute miles. By the end I was shot, though. A little dehydrated and really hot. I was glad when it was over. Next week I'm getting out there even earlier.

~12 miles; Jordan River Parkway Trail

Mysterious injury--gone.

Okay, so I played secret frisbee last night and my mysterious pain was gone. I have no idea what's going on with my body these days. Seriously.

SF was fun. Only about ten people showed up. We played two games. I was a little worried in the beginning that nobody would show up; Don, Shannon, Melissa, and I had to resort to playing two on two. That's not the most effective way to play ultimate. Everyone knows who you're going to throw to! Finally Freddie came and other people started showing up.

I was able to run last night with no problems. That's a good sign.

Secret Wednesday; Bryant

I'm broken.

I played frisbee monday night and everything seemed fine. Though I can't remember now what my aches and pains were, if any.

Yesterday I noticed that my right shoulder hurt. It took me a while to realize that it was from throwing a softball around with Don at FHE on Monday. It turns out I don't make that motion very often. Who knew.

I also noticed that my left leg was hurting. I don't know if it would technically be classified as my hamstring, it seems that it's too far up the leg for that. If anyone out there has taken an anatomy class recently and would know this, please drop me a comment. This has been baffling me for days now. (Two to be exact.) Basically it seems it would be the opposite of your hip flexor--your butt flexor, perhaps? It's the connector between the butt cheek and the upper thigh. I didn't even notice until I had been laying on the couch, exhausted, for hours. It felt like I had pulled it or something, but it wasn't too bad so I didn't worry too much about it.

Last night I went running. I was worried that my run was going to be wasted on dollar burgers and zuchinni fries. It had been stormy all evening--we're talking a good summer storm with hard driving rain and lightning--so the air was grey and cool. Perfect running weather. But I was still feeling the effects of my trip to B&D Burgers earlier that afternoon. Once I got into the run I started feeling better.

There was something in the air, though. Maybe it was the mood of the darkening sky, or the electricity in the air, but I was starting to get sketched out! There were too many dog walkers and people out and about. I didn't feel safe. So I turned around earlier then I probably would have and ran up to 9th East where it was better lighted. I feel like I was booking it pretty hard. It reminded me of that run I did a few years ago on Davis Boulevard. It was dark and it had been raining. As I was passing one of the reseviours there was a man walking the other direction with what looked like a big club. I thought for sure I was going to be hit to death in the darkness. It turns out it was just the guy's umbrella, but I still ran home faster than I ever had before. It was scary.

This morning as I was walking from the train to work I noticed that the pain in my leg had gotten worse. It feels like a totally new pain. It has moved from a pain in the muscle to the feeling of bone rubbing out of socket, or something like that. It hurts to walk. That's all I know. So now I'm gimping around, wondering what happened. Hopefully I'll be better by tonight to play some secret, or unsecret as some might say, frisbee. Everybody pray for me and my mysterious injuries.

A beautiful summer morning

I went on a long run with Lindsay Gardner this morning. This time she didn't stand me up. But Karla Hogard did. Okay, so we got there a little late and they had already left, but it was okay because Lindsay only needed to run about 8 miles anyway.

So we parked at the Einstein's Bagels on 3900 South and Wasatch. We ran north to the bike path near Parley's then out on Foothill. It was a good eight miles. The run had some definate downhill running for our quads and in return, some dang good hills to climb. It's all about the effort miles, really.

I felt pretty good. We started out at a pretty good pace for me--not too fast at all. I think Lindsay was still pushing it pretty hard, though. I could hear it in her breathing. She was a rockstar, though, and did well. My body held up. My ankles hurt a bit. I think that roll from the other night is affecting me a little bit. That tendon just feels tight. My hamstring held up well. On the last push home I had to kind of hold back a bit and not attack the last hill quite as hard. It's just not worth repulling.

It was a beautiful morning for a run. It wasn't even hot. I'm glad I finally have people to run with again. I'm a lot more motivated now. And it just feels so good to get it done.

~8 Miles; Wasatch Blvd to Foothill

Unsecret frisbee

We had a good turnout for secret frisbee last night. I quite enjoyed myself. My hamstring didn't hurt, though I did tank my right ankle on one run. At least it didn't take me out of the game or anything. I just tried to shake it off and stretch it a bit between points. I feel like I played well last night. It was just fun. I think we played three games--two with the same teams and then the last one we switched things up a bit. Or was it four games? I think I was on the winning team for all of them, though. I had some nice grabs. I'm going to miss this crowd when I'm gone.

Tonight's probably the last night of league for Team America as well. We start the tournament and we'll probably lose two straight games. Too bad we probably wont get to play our rivals. I'm going to miss that crowd too.

~2 hours; Bryant

Cross-training

I went for a ride last night. My foot has been hurting so I knew I needed to do something other than running. When I got home from running some errands around 7:30'ish I lamented to my roommate how I didn't want to go on a ride, how I hate riding in the city because I fear for my life, how running is so much easier because you just put on your shoes and go--no flat tires or other equipment worries, how it would be getting dark soon so I wouldn't even be able to go that far. After I was done telling her all these things I knew I hadn't talked myself out of it. I had to go. So I went in my room, pulled on some spandex, put on my cycling cleats and helmet and I was out the door.

The ride was nice. I guess it's a nice change from running. It's easier on my joints and hamstrings. Though, my right knee was bugging me a bit. I only went about ten miles. I felt like my bike was making weird noises (like something--the tire--was about to fall off or something) but maybe the chain just needs to be greesed up a bit? And I'm always paranoid about the inflation level of my tires. I sure do like running...

Maybe next time I'll try riding up a canyon. Emigration, perhaps?

~10 miles; 9th East

Running on vacation

Sure, it only took about five minutes to cover the main strip of the whole town, but it's Idaho and what can you really expect? This was my first run in Lava Hot Springs and I only saw two dog walkers and one other runner. It was eight o'clock in the morning. I did see some front porch sitters, though. Good times.

The unsettling thing was the pain in my left foot. That recurrent pain from my surfing injury two summers ago. I thought I was maybe done with this and I had new chronic injuries to worry about. I guess not. It would come and go, but it still worries me.

At least the temperature was cool. I was worried when I finally got out of bed at 8am that it would be too hot already. It was a pleasant surprise. I was still half asleep, though, and I might have looked a little drunk out there for the first half mile. I guess I was still rubbing the sleep away from my eyes. It ended up being a nice little run; a good stretch for the legs.

~2.5-3 miles; Main Street and beyond, Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

Yes, it's true...

...I woke up at 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning for a long run. Can I even remember the last time I did that? It was probably the beginning of May. I only ran ten miles. I suppose I should ease back into this long distance running thing. It's time to start, though. I only have two months until St George, and for one of those months I'll be on sabbatical in the high plains. Maybe I need more hill training now? I'll figure something out for the month of September. Over-passes, maybe?

So my long run was relatively coolish. It was a little cloudy, so even when the sun came up it still wasn't as hot as it could have been. But to be honest I was a little uncomfortable with the heat and had to run on the shadiest side of the street. My body held up pretty well. I'd go through phases of feeling really great and feeling like crap. Sometimes running makes you feel a little sick. Oh, I did have that random pain in my foot. This happened in my last pair of Aasics--after about eight miles I would get a pain in the ball of my foot. This pain kind of came and went, so it wasn't too bad. Overall it was a nice run.

10'ish miles; 9th East to 39th South; 1:30:00'ish

Still tied for worst team in the league

Last night we played the last games of regular season play for Summer League. We lost both games. But so did our rivals, the Blue team. I guess that means we're still tied.

Yesterday was interesting. I was already exhausted from a hard day at Club Ute, and playing in the extreme evening heat did me in. I could barely function! I still tried to play my best and run hard. I did get an awesome D in the first game. That made me feel better. We played our second game right afterward and I feel we played a little better. Suddenly some wind picked up and it forced an occasional zone defense. I played in the cup for one point and was so exhausted from all the running that I wanted to die. It felt like a long point. When I was handling on the zone offense, though I feel I was getting some good throws off. I was complimented by Arie afterward, she told my I was really handling well. That made me feel better about the game.

I think I was just tired and a little grumpy. Mostly just tired. We got to sit and watch Don, Shannon and Fred's game and then went out to dinner. I was hungry, but honestly too tired to eat all my food. I went home and practically fell asleep on the couch while talking to my roommates, Tori and Rhonda. Overall, the night was still fun. I just can't take this heat anymore!

2 games of Summer League

Secrets...

So Wednesday was a lot of fun. I think we had enough for 5 on 5 or so. I made sure I ran pretty slowly in the beginning as to not injur my hamstring anymore than I already have. I think it held up pretty well. It was my IT Band that was bothering me this time. We played two good games to 7 and then one quick one to 3. We had popsicles at Christian Sabey's afterwards. It was fun.

A couple of hours of good ultimate; Bryant

A hamstring update

I played Monday night and to my surprise and astonishment my right hamstring didn't really bother me. Maybe it was because I started out pretty mellow without any real hard cutting, but as the night progressed my hammy didn't get any worse either. Maybe it was a Monday night miracle! My hamstring didn't hurt last thursday either, and I was running pretty hard and cutting a lot. Maybe things are on the up and up? I guess as long as I give myself a little time to warm-up before I play things could actually start to heal. I'm playing secret frisbee tonight so we'll see how it holds up.

It's gotta be the rally headband!

City league was so much stinkin' fun last night! It was so bloody hot and we had the first game. Luckily we were on the first field and it was a little shaded by the ice skating rink. Okay, so the first game was horrible. Our team could not catch or throw. We had a few moments of flow, but basically it was just really embarrassing. I guess that's what you get when you're tied for worst team in the league.

The second game was a lot of fun. We played Don and Shannon's team (there's only five teams in the league, so we play the same teams a lot) and our record was 1-1 against them. They claim the reason they lost the last game to us was because their "advanced" player wasn't there. Well, he was there last night, skirt and all (it's a frisbee thing) and we still beat them! It was amazing!!

We went into it losing. They got up a few points on us until we started scoring. I think the game really turned around when Aaron the dream Weaver started making some hot D's and our team just came alive. I made some sweet points. One was beautiful. The point started out with some sweet flow down the field. Cuts timed perfectly. This one guy on my team (I still don't know have of their names--how sad is that?!) caught the frisbee, we made eye contact, and I took off for the endzone totally blowing off my defender, Shannon. He hucked it and it was a beautiful disc to run down for the score. I love moments like that. I also had some good D's. It was just fun.

The end of the game was pretty intense too. The score was very close when the time cap was called. They scored again to finish off that point making the game tied. The next point won. Luckily, it was us.

2 games of city league fun!

So... frisbee, huh?

Yeah. I played last night. My hamstring was hurting pretty bad and I couldn't really run. Hard cuts and quick sprints were pretty much out of the picture. When will this madness end? Maria Nelson, I need the magic of the Nikken magnets! I want to be healed!!! *hallellujah!*

~1.5 hours; Bryant; some fun ultimate with the cool kids in the ward

Summer nights

I ran last night a little after nine o'clock and the heat was killing me. I've abandoned my waking up at five o'clock idea because I realize I am just not a morning person. Until I find some poor soul to wake up that early and go running with me, it just ain't gonna happen!

So I worked through the heat and ran a pretty respectable distance for my mid-week run. A solid five miles. I even ran up to the Smith's on 21st south to get a drink from the drinking fountain. I was thirsty and pretty much dehydrated.

While debating if I should take the detour and go to Smith's I decided I should really try and a Smith's to Smith's run one weekend. There's at least four Smith's in the downtown area that I could run to. I could loop around and hit each one as a water stop. It could be good times. I'll have to try it sometime.

I felt overall pretty good on my run. My right ham was bothering me a bit, but what's new? I can't function very well in heat, and I knew if the temp had been cooler I could've run it in a lot stronger pace, but I still felt like I was moving pretty fast.

I just really hate the summer for this reason. I am held hostage by sunlight. Forced to stay inside when I could otherwise be playing and doing the things I love. I don't like melting in slow motion.

5 miles; 8th East to 21st South

172.5 miles. 28 hours. 11 pairs of feet. 1 good time.

We started the day at Hardware Ranch near Logan, Utah. It was ten o'clock in the morning. We didn't stop until almost two o'clock the following afternoon. We went over three mountain passes, ran by at least three reseviors, and covered some of the most beautiful terrain in Utah. It was the Wasatch Back Relay, the craziest relay race I've ever seen.

It definately wasn't an easy race. Elevation, terrain, and weather definately conspired against us. But I had over 24 fun-filled hours to spend with some good friends in a van. I got to run almost 15 miles total. If you think about it, it was more like a party than a race!

I had leg 2, which was a relatively easy leg compared to some of the others. My first run was down the canyon from Hardware Ranch. It was an "easy" run, but it was hot outside. We hadn't quite thought of the van-shadowing-the-runner-to-give-her-water-during-the-run thing yet so it was over three miles of dehydration. I was happy to be done. Tim had done really well with the first leg and came in second in our starting time group. I quickly passed the girl who was ahead of us, but was then passed by two guys during that leg.

My next leg was down a mountain pass, and I mean DOWN! I would just like to say what a rockstar Tim Richey is for running UP that thing just so I could go down the other side. It wasn't easy. I'm surprised that it didn't hurt my quads that much. I just kind of pushed down as fast as I could. When I got down to the exchange my mom, dad, brother, and nephew were all waiting for me. They had come to see me race because they are the most supportive people I know! (Everyone on the team was very impressed that they came to see me.) My sister and brother inlaw were also there waiting because they were some of our volunteers and that was their schedule time slot and location. (THANK YOU PAUL AND ELIZA!!!) I'd also like to mention that I passed two guys. In a race like this when it's hard to know who's in the lead, it's enough just to know you've passed somebody.

Being in van 1, we didn't have to run at any hour that was too ridiculous. We were done with our legs by around 10 o'clock'ish and had the rest of the night to hang out at East Canyon Resevior where we all got about two hours of actual sleep. The second van was running straight through the middle of the night and we didn't hook up with them again until around 4 in the AM when Tim got to run. I was out on the road a little after five o'clock. I was kind of bummed that I didn't get to run through the mountains in complete darkness with my headlamp strapped to my head. Maybe next year.

I was passed by one girl, who I quickly repassed. I also passed two other guys. This leg was a little disceptive. The terrain wasn't too challenging--I was running through the streets of Kamas, I think. It was a little over six miles. I got on this straight stretch of road that when on for a couple miles. It was also a slight incline. I could see this stoplight in the distance. The disheartening thing about it all, was that no matter how far I ran that stoplight was always a few miles away. It never seemed to get any closer! EVER! It was always at least a mile in the distance. I never even reached the dang thing because we had to make a turn before we even got there. It was the hardest mental game to keep running toward that thing when it didn't seem like my efforts were getting me any closer to the goal. But eventually I finished and then I was... DONE!

Finishing all three legs was the best feeling. Knowing what I had gone through and that I didn't have to go through anymore was exhilerating! I could now relax and enjoy the rest of the race. We still had the rest of our runners and then van 2 to get through, so the day was far from over.

Almost 28 hours after starting this thing we finished as a team in the city park in Park City. What a feeling to run across that finish line with ten other runners who had worked so hard as a team. I wish I could have been there with van 2 on the last set of runs because I know they must have been pretty grueling. I am so proud of what everyone accomplished over those two days.

Next year I will try and eliminate the disconnect between the two vans. It didn't help that most of us were meeting for the first time, or had only met at one of the few team BBQ's. During the race we only got to breifly see eachother at the major exchanges. We all knew we were a team, but I can speak for van 1 when I say that at times it felt like we were out there for ourselves. Especially since van 1 was making such significant gains on our predicted pace time and van 2 would bring us right back to our scheduled time without keeping that lead at all. We tried to keep it in perspective though, and in the end I'm just happy we were out there doing what we were doing.

So the Hungry Hungry Hippos had a good time. Maybe next year we'll actually decorate our vans and make it under 24 hours. I was talking to Tim Richey last night and he and his brother (who couldn't make it for this year's race) are definately in for next year. We want to be more competitive and try to smash the 24 hour mark. I'm excited. Now that we know what this is all about maybe we'll even train for it--as a team!!!

~28 hours; 172.5 miles (~15 miles individually); the beauty of the Wasatch mountains

Secret Monday with a new location???

Okay, Matt Hein suggested at it and we all just laughed at him. You can't come in after not playing for months and make such changes when this is probably the only week you'll be able to play anyway! Sorry, Matt Hein. Monday night stays as annoying as ever, big crowds and all.

Actually, last night wasn't too bad for a Monday. For some reason the lights on the South side of the school still aren't turning on so we're forced to play on the other field--the one that is southwest of the school. It eventually got to be 10 on 10 which was definately too many for my liking. Fred from city league frisbee showed up, which was a pleasent surprise.

I actually felt like I ran a lot. I'm not saying I did a whole lot other than that, though. Last night was weird. I wasn't getting in the action as much as I'd like. For some reason I was getting looked off. Maybe it was because I had missed three huge throws early on, but they were all hammers, I think, which have a mind of their own anyway.

During the middle of the second game I practically gave up. I stopped running and just walked around, with an occasional sprint. Sometimes it's fun to just slack off and hang out.

~1.5 hrs; Bryant

This week.

Let's see, what have I done this week?

Sunday: Went camping with Christian Sabey and Matt Hein, oh yeah and some girls. We were in capital W Wilderness; I have never seen a peice of concrete so remote in all my life! And those trees! They were so many you would get lost in the remoteness of it all.

Monday: Nothing. Watched the ReAL game and had some indepence day firework goodness.

Tuesday: Ran 4 miles at ten o'clock at night. The temperature started out surprisingly coolish, but then turned into bloody hot. I felt pretty good; strong.

Wednesday: Secret Frisbee, or should I say Ladies Night, or rather I think it has turned into ward flirt. I get bugged by the girls who come and flirt with the boys. Well, one certain boy. Annoying.

Thursday: Nothing. Went to the Ben Harper concert with Marcus.

Friday: Nothing, 'cause I'm going down to Provo to have a 24 season 3 marathon.

Saturday: Supposedly playing soccer with some peeps in the heat of the day. We'll see if it happens.

On the run

It's funny how I'll rededicate myself to running at least once a month--usually when my copy of Runnner's World comes in the mail.

With that being said, I rededicated myself to running last night. I figured out the weekly mileage I will need to get myself to St George this fall. I drew up some calendars and weekly workout schedules. I decided I need to start waking up earlier to get a run in and then get another workout in at night, which will usually be frisbee because I'm playing it three nights a week now. I need to somehow fit in biking and swimming too. Oh, and weight training. I'll be one busy girl.

I went running last night too. I only ran three miles because I'm easing back into it since I've been sick for over a week. I'll tell you that my legs feel pretty shot. They're tight. My hamstrings hurt. I need to take care of them. I've decided that my hamstrings are a source of problems for me, they're holding me back from my potential. I need to rehabilitate them. I need to increase my flexibility. Because I can have Boston if I work hard and take care of my body.

3 miles; 8th East to Kensington Ave

Summer League

Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it, I hate subbing. Is that selfish of me? I would rather play savage the whole game than sit out for ten minutes at a time. For Summer League they're playing a 6-1 instead of the normal 5-2. We have three girls on our team. That means I'm sitting out for four straight points until I go back in for two. There must be a better way.

With all that said I had a wonderful time at City League tonight. I'm only a few weeks late, but Q let me sign up anyway. I'm actually on Aaron the DreamWeaver's and Heather's team, which is fun. Don and Shannon ended up on the same team as well. So it's good times.

Our team was coming from a four game losing streak. We kept that going strong when we lost our first game to the "athletic" yellow team. Our next game was against Don and Shannon's team and we beat them 7-0. I felt a lot better about how we played in the second game. I felt like I was getting a lot more action. I had some really great throws down the sideline. Frisbee really is so much fun!

2 games; Summer League Disc

Ladies Night

I made a rule that everyone must invite at least two guys to secret frisbee next week. This is just getting rediculous! Where are the cute boys? I'm not saying that Don, Christian, and Bryan Rees aren't cute, but we need some fresh blood! Oh, and by "where are all the cute boys?" I mean, where are the boys in general? Too many girls; not enough boys.

Okay, so I'm just kidding. I'll even let any guy play who has a girlfriend. No questions asked. It's not like I'm looking for my EC out on the frisbee field or anything. I just think more boys need to come...

We had enough for 5 on 4 tonight. At least on Wednesday you can get some good running in. Monday's usually have too many people so it's easy to be lazy. I'm experiencing the usual aches and pains. I did try and stretch a little bit during the game. I should probably stretch more often, though. Oh, and I would just like to say that my team won even when we were down a man. I attribute that to the solid 75% effort we were all playing. GO TEAM!

1.5 hours; Bryant; three games of total world domination.

Lemon Poppyseed Cliff Bar

I wondered if it would taste at all like a muffin . . . and it sort of does in that really dense, smushed muffin sort of way! Not too bad!

The effects of Monday night

There's something about Monday night disc that just brings out the worst in me sometimes. Maybe it's the fact that I find some of those people down right irritating. Maybe I just want to play with my friends. Or maybe I am always wishing some other person was there. Maybe I wish we could get rid of the riff-raff and just play some good ultimate. Who knows.

I do know, however, that when I get irritated at frisbee it's not fun. It manifests itself in two ways usually: cursing or apathy. Last night things may have slipped out under my breath, but not only was I frustrated with the lame guys that come, I was also frustrated with myself and my lack of frisbee catching abilities at the moment. I am still sick, and I think it was affecting my game. I got a little better as the night progressed.

I love my apathy sometimes. It means I don't have to run becuase basically I don't care! It's great. This is only backyard frisbee, mind you, so it doesn't matter so much to me if we win or lose. It's just not that intense.

Paul Moss told me on Sunday that playing frisbee with me (and Don) is "just so intense." He kept using that word, intense. Really? I guess a little. I guess frisbee is just frisbee to him. To me it's an actual sport and I can become a little competitive at times. I didn't think I was that intense, though.

You know, Monday nights are actually kind of funny. Tori gets a mouth on her and is full of spit and fire. There's usually some good gossip to be had, and we all know how I love good gossip. I do get to see a lot of my friends and run around a field. Even with the jerks, I still enjoy it enough that I keep coming back every week. I guess in the end, I just like to play!

1.5 hrs; Bryant; discs of fury.

Post Script: I left last night with a tight IT Band and a sore hamstring, but I did nothing for them when I got home. As I was trying to sleep they were kind of bugging me, but I was so tired that I didn't care. I need to start taking better care of myself.

If I could only breathe...

I haven't been posting much recently. I started writing about the WBR but couldn't get myself to finish it. It's still in draft form and maybe someday I will get it up here.

I was a little sore after last weekend, but not too terribly bad. I had no problem playing frisbee on Monday night. I played secret Wednesday too, but I had been hit with a bad cold earlier that day so I wasn't in the mood to do much running. I felt very apathetic about the whole thing.

I'm still fighting that cold, so I haven't even been doing much at all this week. I was hoping to go for a ride today, but instead I felt I should just take it easy. Maybe next week I'll get back on track with my running and training and all.

Ankles and hammies and safety jogs oh my!

I haven't gone running at all since the Mud Run. I've been taking it pretty easy since I have a huge race this weekend. Okay, really I haven't been running because I've been so busy I haven't had time to get out there until after 10 o'clock at night! And since Luke Bingham moved back East who am I supposed to go on a safety jog with?! So I've been "taking it easy" instead.

I did play Secret Frisbee last night. I've been a little worried about my left ankle since my surfing adventure last weekend. When I went surfing last year I trashed my ankle on some rocks at San Onofre. Doheny was pretty rocky too, so everytime I whiped out I tried really hard to be concious of the bottom and not jam my foot on any rocks. I don't remember really hitting any too hard. But these past fews days my ankle has been bugging me a little. To my relief, it didn't start hurting when I ran. I think it bothered it, but there wasn't pain with each step like last year. Hopefully I didn't set myself back with this one. I thought it was really starting to heal.

My hamstrings are a whole other story. I hate them. While Don, Tori and I were throwing around before we started playing I tweaked my right hammy a little bit. It hurt the rest of the night. I tried not to run very hard or cut very much, which was a little frustrating. Netti Maxfield had a great game because of it! I hope I didn't do too much damage last night. I did ice, though, when I got home.

So the WBR is this weekend and I'm pretty excited. We keep finding replacement runners that in turn bail out on us. It's been a rocky road. Hopefully we'll find someone before tomorrow. Otherwise someone will have to run six legs instead of three. I contimplated it last night when I thought Karla still wasn't totally on board with the whole idea. She is now, so I guess I wont have to be running almost 30 miles -- thank goodness! I was willing to do it, though. I'm that hardcore.

~2 hours; Secret Wednesday; Bryant

Surf's up!

So I think I need to move closer to the ocean. The surf is calling my name. After the Mud Run we all went surfing with my uncle and his friend, Mark Facer. We went to Doheny, which is a perfect beach for learning because the waves weren't too big.

David and Mark were pushing everyone else onto the waves, but I was paddling myself in. It was so much fun! I think I'm practically on my way to becoming a pro surfer. This experience was way better than my last attempt at surfing. I think it's because my uncle and Mark are way better teachers, and probably surfers, than that retarded guy was. I was actually catching waves! It was awesome and I think I'm addicted.

It's a lifetime's journey and you will never arrive. You will always be waiting for that perfect wave, and you will always be striving to be better. The journey is in moving forward; Imua, my friends.

~2 hrs; Doheny beach

Muddiest day of my life!

So I accomplished one of my life's goals yesterday. This race was three years coming. It was probably the funnest 10K I've ever done! Okay, so it might have been the only 10K I've ever actually done. But it was definately the muddiest race, no matter what distance!

It was more challenging than I expeced. Nobody told me about all the hills. They were long hills too. You'd think you had made it to the top, but then you would look around the corner and the hill keeps going. Good thing I was coming from altitude and I could turbo up the hills and pass all the people. That made me feel better about myself.

The obstacles and the mud were the funnest parts. We're talking river crossings, tunnel crawls, hay barrells, tires, 5-foot mud walls, and to top it all off a huge fat mud crawl! Most of the river crossings were quite small. Maybe only a foot deep. The last river crossing, however, was in a deep, faster moving river. There were ropes set up across the river to keep all the racers from drifting down stream. It was so deep it went up to about my shoulders. The bottom was very slippery mud. Some people didn't hold on to the ropes, they just practically swam instead. It was quite exciting.

I think this will be a yearly event for me. Next year I'm planning on doing it as a team.

6.2 miles, 67 minutes, The Camp Pendleton Mud Run

Yes, Secret Frisbee!!!

It was a lot of fun last night. Not a whole lot of people showed up--we played 4 on 3 pretty much the whole time. I still got some good running in. For the most part I wasn't gaurded to heavily so I could easily make some cuts to get open. I got to chase down a few discs. We played two games and that was just enough for me. Just as we were getting near the end of the second game my right hamstring started hurting and I could feel my IT Band was irritated. I iced last night for a bit. It wasn't bad, though, and I played for the most part without it bothering me. I love secret frisbee.

~2 hours of secret Wednesday night disc at Bryant -- Pure love.

Late afternoon

I didn't go running yesterday or play frisbee. I was too busy breaking and entering in Provo. It was a great day to start my criminal life.

But I did go running today. I went right after work because I knew I wouldn't do it any other time since Luke's barbeque was tonight. I felt a little slow tonight. My right hamstring started bothering me part-way through the run. I did ice a little bit when I got home. Hopefully this thing will heal soon.

Today will probably be the last day I can run in the afternoon and not die. I got away with wearing running shorts and a long sleeved tee again. I will miss these cooler, rain-soaked days. They're the best for running in.

~5 miles; 8th east to 21st south

Drafting etiquette

I'm a little worried about my hamstrings. I really need to take care of them because I have a big racing schedule the next two weeks. I don't need any chronic problems nagging me. So I decided to take it easy and do a little cross-training activity on Saturday instead of a long run. I got on my bike and road for a while.

It was a good ride. Nothing too exciting really. But it was good to be out there. I guess I felt pretty good. No major aches or pains. It was relatively flat, with only some minor hills and slight inclines. On my way back, this guy was drafting behind me. I thought it was kind of weird at first, but when we stopped at a stoplight he yelled up to me that he was only drafting--not some psycho or something. I was okay with it, of course. But then I got thinking, shouldn't he be the one drafting? He was obviously the stronger rider. He had the nice calves to prove it. So shouldn't I be the one benefitting? I guess not. And can you draft behind any random person? I don't know. It's okay, though, I need the extra work in my life.

~16 miles; 9th East to 60th South

Jordan River Parkway

My legs are still feeling the effects of Wednesday's run. My hamstrings hurt. I'm sure playing frisbee had a lot to do with it too. What really surprised me, though, is that it was my left hamstring that was bothering me today. It's usually my right.

So Natalie is back, but she's moving out tomorrow. Who am I going to go running with at ridiculous hours of the morning? We had our last run as eternal roommates today, well at least for a few months maybe. We went and ran the Jordan River Parkway. Four miles. It was good, though my hamstring hurt from step one, and then Nat's collar bone starting acting up again and she was feeling sick. I did go home and ice a bit, so hopefully whatever is going on with my stupid muscles will stop giving me so much grief in my life.

4 Miles; Jordan River Parkway Trail

On the DL

We had our first secret Wednesday night frisbee extravaganza. It was a good turn-out. My legs were feeling a little beat after that 7 Mile run straight up a mountain, but I managed to dig down deep inside and run my guts out. I think it did them some good to stretch out a little. We played for almost two hours. All my favorite peeps were there. I love playing with Don and Christian, and Bob is pretty funny too. All my girls were there as well. I wish every night could be like Secret Wednesday night!

I invited Karla and Brian who invited this guy named Nick. I hope I haven't ruined things. If friends of friends start coming it will turn into Monday night chaos all over again.

~2 hours of disc at Bryant

You want me to run up that?!?! Are you @!%&@!* kidding me?!

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I guess I'm stronger. Last night I ran with the Salt Lake City Running Club for the first time. They were a friendly group; A bunch of old guys retelling old marathon war stories. This happened to be one of their hardest runs.

We started at Little Dell Recreation Area and proceeded to Emigration Canyon. We climbed until we got to the pass. The first push was the hardest because I wasn't fully warmed up. Once we made the left turn onto Emigration Canyon Rd the climbing wasn't as bad, though it was still very steep. I cursed the idea of ever coming with Karla, but the thought of reaching the top kept me going. At least I was in a beautiful area.

The run down the mountain wasn't any better than the run up. The heart wasn't pounding so hard and I wasn't out of breath, it was the beating on the quads. At least I got down quicker than I ran up. At this point Karla and I were running with this guy who had come late and parked his car about a mile into the run. We got a ride back to our car because that slight uphill at the very end didn't sound too appealing. Besides, Karla had to be somewhere and I really didn't need an eight mile run that day. I felt good about what I did.

7 Miles; Emigration Canyon