Running For Trevor

Ran easy for an hour. 8:00 pace.

9 miles mostly on the Pipeline trail in Provo canyon with Josse, Rebecca, & Cam.  8:37 pace.

PM:  3 miles easy with some strides to finish, 8:01 pace.  Windy!

We had a nice big crew for the track workout today.  Melissa, Lily, Mac, Aubs, Amber, & Jen.  We are all racing this Saturday and Jen and I just wanted to hit a conservative and evenly paced 3:00 for the 800s.  6 x 800 with 200 floating active recovery.  This was a really good confidence boosting workout for me.  Not because the times are stellar (that was not the goal) but because I felt so dang comfortable and Jen & I talked the entire time.  2:54, 3:01, 3:00, 3:01, 3:00, 2:52.  It was a fun morning and everyone did great!

I probably wont be logging much the rest of the week.  My best friend is graduating with her Phd and we'll be partying it up in Park City to celebrate.  She wanted to come from Sea level and run a full marathon at 7,000 feet elevation to celebrate....freaking Sweet!  I'm running the half since I'm going to be up there.  It will definitely be a rust buster but I'm going to give it hell.  Should be fun!

Good freaking luck to Cam this weekend at his 100 miler!

7.5 mile recovery run with Julia and my sister in Saratoga Springs, 8:58 pace.

7 miles with AmberD and Jen in Payson, 7:44 pace.  Tired!

Hiked the Y!

7 miles easy by myself in Payson with strides to finish, 7:37 pace.

My best friend Julia got her Phd and to celebrate she wanted to run the PC marathon.  We planned a big girls weekend and it definitely did not dissapoint.  We stayed up way too late, ate junk food and diet coke, and laughed until our abs were sore.  So much fun!

Splits:  6:25, 6:47, 6:51, 6:43, 6:37, 7:06, 7:01, 6:59, 6:30, 6:32, 6:12, 6:26, 6:28, 1:46 (6:02)

Nutrition:  20 ounces of sobe life water and a banana pre-race (I normally eat more but was literally stuffed from partying all week), 1 gel at mile 7.5.  Hardly any fluids during the race.  It was just cool enough that I never really felt thirsty.

Recap:  I knew that this course was going to be tough.  It is mostly on trails, there are lots of hills and it is at 2,000 feet higher elevation than I am used to.  With this in mind I really just wanted to run smart and come in under 1:30.  As soon as the race started I realized it would be a fairly solo effort.  I am really guilty of racing to my competition and there just simply wasn't any competition.  I just relaxed into a comfortably hard pace and ran off of effort.  At mile 5 I saw that I was gaining on Jeff and just worked on catching him.  I finally did at the turn around point and then we worked together until the finish.  I am glad he was there because he definitely helped push me to a faster time than I would have done alone.  I know no one cares about my garmin but it measured the course quite long at 13.3 and I had a hard time mentally staying focused until the finish. 

This was an absolutely beautiful course and I would definitely run it again.  I loved passing all of my friends running the half on the way back to the finish.  The camaraderie and support in running is just unparellel to anything I have ever experienced in my life.  So much fun and you really just can't beat living in Utah and being able to train up in Park City.  I am continually thankful for the ability to run, the friendships I have made through running, and the opportunities it has brought to my life. 

The coolest part of the day was definitely running the last mile with my friend Julia and celebrating such a huge accomplishment for her.