Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured

I had a great run today with Christi.  It was a little rainy but as long as there is not wind I am good to go. 

Christi is a great runner and we had a good time getting to know each other.  Hopefully we will be able to get together and get a couple of runs in over the holidays. 

I will be able to run a couple of more times in St. George in before heading back up to the land of ice and snow, so life is good!!

Have a great weekend!

I had a good run today.  I headed out early and was enjoying the stars (we miss these often in the city) and the peace and quiet.  Unfortunatly it was very dark.   There were several time I could not tell where the trail was and would have to stop and a few times that I tripped over curbs.  Depsite these obstacles I managed to stay upright the entire time.  I was a little worried that I would fall and have to hobble back home.  I ave. a 9 min mile which is great, especially with my stops. 

Hope you all had a great weekend and Happy Running!

I had my last run in southern Utah today.  I went out a little later than normal and I had forgotten what it was like to run in daylight.  I had one near miss with a car ( this is my first "almost accident" that was my fault ).  

As I was finishing my run back to my in-laws I had amazing views of both Pine Valley mountain and Kolob.  The snow dusting was beautiful and I was so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be with family over the past few days.  I am so grateful for loving families and the values and heritage they have passed on to me and my family. 

Back to the northern Utah cold and ice, tomorrow will be interesting.

Happy Running!

Today was the hardest run I have had in a long time. The only underarmor that was clean was the "heavy duty".  I usually only wear it when in gets into the low 20's or teens.  I  struggled trying to figure out what to wear with it so that I would not overheat at the end.  I ended up okay with a long sleeve T and froze in the beginning and was fine by the end.

 I struggled getting my legs working right the first mile and a half.  I finally just decided I better run fast so that I could be done.  The next 2 1/2 miles are a gradual incline so I pushed as hard as I could with out going to far ahead of my running partner and then we finally had the down hill finish.  I am grateful for Brent's "ROOLS".  I just kept thinking pick up the pace.  I am not sure what our pace was because we had several stop lights.

 By the time we were done I was glad that I went, but I hope tomorrow is easier.

Happy Running!



 

Today was much better than yesterday.  I was determined to have a good attitude no matter what.  We tried out a new route today.  It is mostly flat but there was a lot of traffic.  I was feeling pretty good until the last 1 1/2 miles.  My legs really started to feel the effects of the week. I am excited because this is the first time I have hit the 26 mile mark this early in the week, YEAH! 

 Happy Running!

 

Today is a zero.  We went to dinner late last night at the Roof with some friends from India and needless to say I ate to much and then was sick afterwards.  

 Today the eating fest continues because I have my work Christmas party and then we are going to dinner and the Forgotten Carols tonight.  Hopefully I will be able to practice some self restraint and not eat until I am sick.

Hopefully the rain will stop or turn to snow by tomorrow's run!

Happy Running!


 

Today was fantastic!!  It was not what we had planned.  We were going to go 10 miles but we were derailed by the weather.  We decided to just head out and see what we could do.  The first 2 miles were a little rough, getting out of our neighborhood.  Once we made it to the main roads it wasn't to bad except for puddles and being sprayed with slush by passing cars. Due to the fact that we could not break an speed records, we took this opportunity to really catch up and chat,  practice our ice skating,  work on our acrobatic moves as we dodged puddles and big piles of snow.  It has been a long time since I have had a run that was just pure joy,  I am usually thinking of go faster, work on your form and may other essential but not fun things.  

 I am grateful today for a running partner who will go out  whenever and is game to try anything.  She is the best.  I cannot believe that I am also going to say that I am grateful for snow, becuase without it today would have been just another run.

Happy Running!
 

Today was interesting.  We spent most of our time dodging cars or trying to run through 6 inches of icy snow.  I ran 5.25 with my partner and then dropped her off and added on 2 more.  My average pace for the day was 9.7 min/miles.  Slow, but considering the how many times we were off the sidewalk and then back on, not to bad.  Overall a good run today!

Happy Running! 

What can I say, it gets more exciting everyday. Today we battled ice (only 2 slips), the obstacle course containing sidewalks that have not be shovled, but have been walked on and iced over, and low limb branches ( 2 to the face). Fortunately, I do not have any injurys that reflect the trecherous(sp?) conditions that we ran in today, just a sore knee and ankle. I have only myself to blame today because I picked the route. Tomorrow, Paula picks.

Happy Running!

I should have taken todays run as an omen for the rest of the day.  I went to drop the kids off at school and my three year old would not put on shoes or a jacket.  We left in a rush.  I got them dropped off at school and headed to work.  When I got to work the parking lot was almost full.  I drive a big crew cab truck with a long bed, so I can't just park anywhere.  I have to park in the back and reverse into the spot.  The back was all full except next to the dumpster.  It took me literally 20 min of reverse, drive, reverse, drive, reverse, drive to get it parked.  I finally got out and went to get my laptop and OOPS! it was back home.  I almost cried.  I got back in and started the 30 min drive back home.  Got my computer and headed back across the valley.  I finally arrived and my parking spot next to the dumpster was taken ( I almost died).   I was panicked.   I finished pulling in the back and I found that while I was trekking across the city my boss, in his equally as big SUV, had left.  Hallelujah!!  I made it finally to work 1 1/2hrs late. 

 There were several more disasters today involving Quickbooks and printers - but I survived with out a paper cut!!

 Now I will hopefully finishing my Christmas decorating, work and read Twilight ( I know - I am seriously behind).

Paula picked the route today and it was much better.  We stayed on paved roads and missed most the ice and snow.  There were no branches in my face or slips.  Great route and Great run!

Today was hard to get out.  It seems that like by Thursday the week catches up with you and everything is harder.  I want to know why when I left the house, I started with a side ache that lasted the entire time.  What is up with that?   Paula's dog had enough.  He was excited until he saw me coming down the street and then stopped and would not go any further.  He went home.  We continued and did 5 miles together.  The fitness center trails are icy but it was good.  I added 2 more on at the end to get to 7 for the day.  This is because of the blog!  I used to just rationalize why I would not meet my goals and the forget, but now because I have to see it in black and white,. I am much more disciplined.  THANKS!

Happy Running! 

Today is a ZERO. No real reason, just a day off. I am resting up for a longer run tomorrow. Hopefully we will have good weather. Trying not to feel to lazy.....

Happy Running!

Today I had to take my son down to a baseball camp at BYU.  I had planned on running while I was there (even mapped my route out in advance) and reading.  Some quality alone time.  I must have been really excited because, just like in school, I woke up an hour early.   I got dressed, woke my son up, checked the weather in Provo and went to go say good bye to my sleeping husband when I realized it was 6:00 am not 7:00 am.  Sent my son back to bed for 45 min and I went back to bed. We got up 45 min later and headed south.  It is amazing how much faster you can get to Provo when there is no traffic.  I dropped my son off at the indoor practice facility and head out for my run. 

 I struggled for the first 7 miles.  I could not get going!  I was getting mad and frustrated.  I am not sure what my problem was but I had a lot of time to think about it.  My possibilities were, in order of realistic possibility:

1.  I did not eat dinner last night because I was having severe GI issues.  Due to the lack of food and time spent dealing with my GI issues there was not enough fuel to run.

2.  I had to carry water because I did not get down early enough to drop any along the route.  To give you an idea of how cold it was - my sport cap froze up and ice was forming inside by the time I finished.

 3.  Due to my early wake up and sad attempt at going back to bed I did not get enough sleep.

I really think that option #1 did contribute to my difficult 7 miles.  I finally got in the grove and ended finishing with 11.5 miles.  I am going along with the notion that "ugly miles" are just as good as "pretty miles" and that I did get some sort of benefit.  Overall my ave pace was 9:39.  Slower than I would have liked but I am putting in the past and moving on to next week.  Hope you all have a good weekend!

 Happy Running!

Today was a good run. We headed out on a pretty flat course and Paula took off. She was going! I tried to keep her in my sight, but it was about 3 miles in before I came close to catching up with here. When I got close enough, I could see that she was dragging her dog along, even he could not keep up. The rest of the run went well, she let me catch up and we finished strong.

We finished up coming on a road that when I began running was the death of me. I would avoid it at all costs. (It has a teeny, tiny hill). As I ran up it, I realized how far I have come over the past years and sometimes it takes a while to see the improvements but that they are there all along.

Off to a Monday filled with meetings, Christmas shopping and gift delivering!

Happy Running!

Just a funny thought:  My husband was taking my son to school today because he had a project due, and he asked what the weather was like.  I answered:  "Oh, its warm, it is 26 degrees."

I am going crazy!!

We ran my favorite route today, up through the golf course. The first 3.5 miles are up hill. You have to cross a sky bridge at 3 miles, and this is at about the peak of the hills.  For 3 yrs I keep thinking, when you get to the center of the bridge you can do your "Rocky" dance.  I am pretty gutless so of course it hasn't happened, but I think about all the way up the hill.  At mile 4 you loop around the golf course and come out to see the the Salt Lake Valley and up into Davis county with the lights all lit up. When it is lighter outside you can see the Great Salt Lake. You have about 1/4 a mile of the view and it is just breathtaking. The wind picked up a little from mile 2 to mile 5 but it was a great run.  Just Perfect!

Happy Running! 

Today's run was pretty uneventful. We had rain the entire time and a into the wind for the first 1.5 miles and again towards the end for .75 miles. I added some speed work in during miles 4 & 6. It has been a long time! Nice soggy run! Hopefully my shoes will dry out for tomorrow.

PM:  We met up with our running friends for a night run to look at the lights.  We headed and ended up going 2.25 miles at a very slow pace - too much talking and catching up!  I am only counting one mile the other mile can count as the walking and stopping.  We had a great time and hopefully get out together again! 

Happy Running!

Tired, tired legs..... Tired attitude....Tired run for about 3.5 miles.  I finally kicked it into gear about mile 4.  I owe a big THANK YOU to Paula.  She keeps me going and won't let me wimp out!  Hopefully by Saturday's run there will not be any more rain or wind.  

 Today is my team party at work - lots more eating and fun..............I still have another week of this,  I might end up the size of a house before too long.  Good thing the miles are there!

Happy running!
 

Again another no run on Friday.  I had to be to work today at 7:00 am.  All I can say is I am very thankful for 4 wheel drive!! 

I pulled a muscle in my back yesterday at work.  How? I have no idea!!  I sit a desk all day and if I get really ambitious I might go downstairs to the mail room.  However yesterday there was a break in the routine.  I had to scan and email payroll out to one of our clients (2 hr process, 70 individual packets).  This is normally something we have our AA take care of but it is a disaster every time.  So I thought I would do it to save time on the back end!  Somehow in all my standing I have pulled a muscle - What is up with that! I just hope it better quickly (NOW!) because tomorrow I want to run. 

 Enough of my complaining!  I hope you all have a great weekend and travel safely if you are out and about.

Happy Running!

Let me start by saying I am glad we went today.   It was rough!!  Too much ice, snow & unshoveled sidewalks.  At about 8 miles we ended up changing our route to allow us to run more in the road.  It was still icy.  I am a little concerned about Monday's run. 

My back started off worse than yesterday and I was very worried that I would not be able to finish.  It finally loosened up the last couple of miles.  Hopefully it will continue to feel better.

 It was nice to have the sun out today, it has been a long time.  Overall glad we went, but do not want to repeat.

Happy Running!
 

I head out today and ran the .25 miles down to Paula's house. I decided it was way to windy for me. I asked Paula how she felt and she agreed. I ran the .25 miles back to my house, dug through all my winter running gear to find shorts and a T-shirt. I headed downstairs to the treadmill. It hasn't been used for quite a while, which was very apparent by the dust on it and the fact that I couldn't get it to turn on. I made sure it was plugged in and flipped the reset button a couple of times - and nothing. I took me about 5 mins before I remembered that you have to but the red emergency stop thingy in the slot for it to turn on...DUH!!!! Hopped on and got going. I remembered at about 2 mins in why I do not like the treadmill. I ended up doing some speed work which was very needed. Overall 5 quality miles. I will need to head back out or back on the treadmill (now that I can remember how to turn it on) to finish another 2 later in the day.

Happy Running & Merry Christmas!!

PM:  I planned on going down to the treadmill, but got down there and ran .19 miles (yes, I am giving myself credit) and remembered why I hate the treadmill.  Got off, changed into my  winter gear and called my husband to find out when he would be home from the store so I could head out.  He said "It is a blizzard out here, cars cannot stop."   I sulked, hung up the phone and changed my close yet again and went back down to the treadmill.   I got going and figured if I have changed my clothes 3 times and broken a sweat, I should make it worth my time.  At 4.3 miles my husband came down and put is cold hand on the back of my leg.  I almost fell and yelled back:  "I cannot go outside because I might get hurt, but you are going to make me fall on the treadmill!?!"  Finished at 5 miles and it is now time to go spend time with the family.

Thanks for all the support!! 

I headed out today to try out my Christmas gift -Nike+. My husband will buy anything that is made by either Nike or Apple, so for him it does not get any better than this. I was surprised, because it was not something I had ever mentioned wanting before. It was pretty easy to set up with my Nano and I got going really easy. The instructions state you can calibrate it but it is not always necessary. I thought I would see how it would go. I need to calibrate!! It says that I went 7.94 miles with a pace of 7:40 (not possible). I am going off my traditional mapping method instead and only giving myself 6.76 miles :( I wanted to run 7 but fell just short. I am happy however with my avereage pace 8.93 miles. I would probably almost consider this a tempo run. It is a beautiful day with the sun shinning! Enjoy the day!

Happy Running!

Headed back out to calibrate my new toy.  It said it was successful, but I have my doubts.  You are supposed to run nice and even but I ended up jumping a few puddles because my shoes from this morning are still wet and I only have one pair of back ups.  We will see, I might have to head to a track.  

 Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
 

It is cold and windy this morning!! We head out and had 3.5 miles into the wind and up hill, we then turned around and had a really easy rest of the way home.

I got my Nike+ipod calibrated and it worked great!! It is pretty close to 100%. If any thing it is a little short. We aver. 9:07 pace. Not to bad!

Happy Running!

Normally, Thursdays are my hardest days of the week. I am tired and run down and exhausted both physically and mentally. I woke up today ready to go. I was shocked! We headed out and there was not even a breeze. I cannot remember when the last time the air was still. I was shocked again! We had a good run. We ran the same route that I ran on Tuesday. I had distance issues again with the Nike+ and this time it was short. I still counted what it said, but I have figured out where it gets off on this route. There are a couple of large water towers and I am not sure if they mess up the signal or what. But both times the differences came began around the same spot.

I also realized today, how much time we waste at stop lights. Total running time was 1 hr 2 min. From the time I left my house and came back was almost 1 hr 10 min.

Ave Pace 8:54

 I spoke to my husband about the distance thing and he said that it was probably user error.  He is probably right.

Happy Running!

No run today.... I told myself I could sleep until I woke up -9 hrs I must have been tired.  Off to a busy day at work and dinner with friends tonight.  

Happy Running! 

We headed out today in the wind. Our first mile was uphill in the wind, enough to make us both question if we should do this. Once we got out and going east/west it was not as bad. Paula was not feeling well so her husband came and picked her up at mile 6. I finished running the 2.2 home and then added on enough on the treadmill to equal 10 miles.

I am so tired of complaining about the weather but it just is not getting any better. Please on behalf of all runners - No more wind, rain, snow or ice.

Ave pace 8:53 

Happy Running!

Today was the first day in a really long time that I have not wanted to run. I am so tired of the bad weather, it is sucking the life out of me. I knew that I would be glad that I ran and if I did not go, I would regret it the rest of the day. So, I got out of bed. The first mile and last mile were slow, to much ice and snow. The rest, however, was a pretty good run.

Ave Pace:  8:50 

Happy New Year & Happy Running!