"If we don't suffer enough we won't remember it."

5 miles with Marie and Rebecca avg 7:46

12 miles up/down Provo Canyon avg 6:59 pace.  This was the same run I did Thursday.  It felt a little easier than Thursday running about the same pace, so that was good.  I think my stops were a little shorter too.

I felt great after my run on Tuesday and was all excited to do a hard hill workout today.  That was until late in the afternoon when I pulled my quad.  I hurried into the bathroom with my daughter and squatted down to help her take off her multi layerd dance costume while she was already in the process of peeing her pants.  When the excitement was over I realized the pain in my quad. 

I always try to be careful on the day of a long run for that very reason, but the pee was coming out! and we were away from home!  She just turned 5 and has never peed her pants away from home before.  To make matters worse I had just taken the "emergency" underwear and pants out of the car three weeks earlier.  I had them in there for 2 years and never needed them, until now. 

I figure if my quad still hurts to walk I better not run.  I really want to go long on Saturday, so I'm hoping to be better by then.

20 miles avg 7:16 pace. After several days off my quad felt much better. I ran from my house up Provo Canyon/South Fork and back. I saw runners gathering at the start of the Provo City Marathon on my way up, but they were gone on my way back. I passed the slower runners all the way down the canyon.  I left my son's baseball game a few minutes early to go to the finish to see Melanie, Kim and Jane.  That was fun.   

4 miles avg 7:25 pace in the rain.  I found out I got into the St. George Marathon this year!  Yea! I'm so excited.  It's been a long time since I did that one.  Last year I was registered then injured my knee a week before the race when I tripped over a rock in the dark and fell.  This year I'm determined to make it to the starting line healthy.  But St. George is a ways off, I've got the Utah Valley Marathon and Bryce Canyon 1/2 Marathon, and probably a few other things before then.

12 miles average 7:03 pace.  I got up at 5:30 a.m. to run because I had a girls camp meeting during my daughters preschool.  12 miles in Provo Canyon and I only saw 1 biker and 2 runners.  I guess the storms yesterday scared everyone away from setting their alarms when they went to bed,  but they missed out.  It was wet and cloudy, but not too cold or rainy, perfect running weather.

10 miles up/down Provo Canyon avg 6:52 pace.  My body felt good, like I was well rested.  I also ate a good breakfast two hours before.  I was sure breathing hard though.  By the end my legs were pretty tired too.  My quad started to bother me a little the last two miles.  I better rub it out.  I was well rested two hours ago, but now I feel like I need a nap.

4 miles avg 7:22 pace. My right quad hurts a little.  Last week it was my left.  This one started hurting me yesterday right on top and I rubbed it out really good, now it hurts more in the inside.  I guess I should be glad it's not the same place.

20 miles up/down Provo Canyon with my husband, Brent.  I was worried about the run when we started because my quad hurt me so much yesterday.  I only had minimal pain off and on going up.  Coming 3 miles down South Fork after we turned around it felt disproportionately tired to the rest of my body, like the quad was on mile 20-23 when the rest of me was only on 10-13 miles. 

I took it easy coming down South Fork, which felt really good.  I told my husband, "Sometimes I feel like I'm going for a ride in my body when I'm running."

Fortuneately the tiredness in my quad didn't get any worse and the pain even lessened further down the path.  By the last two miles the rest of my body seemed about as tired as my quad.  My avg up 7:31 pace, down 6:49, total avgt 7:10 pace.

3 slow miles with aches and pains

10 miles avg 7:25 pace.  Trying to go easy this week to get my quads all better.  Felt good this day.

10 miles avg 7:02 pace in the rain. My toes were numb the whole time.

4 miles at 7:22 pace. In the rain again.

20 miles up/down Provo Canyon/South Fork with my husband on his bike.  I was happy to not  be so nervous about my quad starting out the run.  I felt really good until about 6 miles from the end when my left Achilles started hurting.  I stopped to rub out my calf, two miles later I stopped to rub out my hamstring, then two miles later I stopped again to rub on my back.  The Achilles never got feeling better and it hurts to even walk now!  Ahh!  I don't know what I'm going to do.  My avg was 7:05 pace, so that was good.

4 miles avg 7:01 pace.  I could hardly walk after my run Sat because my Achilles hurt so much.  I rubbed myself for a while then got a massage from a girl in my neighborhood who is a massage therapist.  I iced my Achilles and took Ibuprofin before I went to bed Sat.  Sunday it felt much better.  Today it only hurt a tiny bit on a 4 mile run.  My left but/hamstring/calf still feels a little tight, but the rest of me felt better than I usually feel on a Monday after a 20 mile run. 

I think I caused this problem on Thursday when I was pulling weeds.  The ground was so wet I couldn't resist the temptation to get rid of a few of them.  It was right after my run so I was all dirty anyway from running in the rain.  I didn't want to strain my quad more because I've been having issues there so I was bending over funny to get the weeds, favoring my left quad, etc.

I think a good solution to my problems would be not do any yard work or any other work, only run, eat, sleep, and get massaged, oh and a little TV would hurt.

10 miles, but I stopped about every 2 miles to stretch.  Still having some problems with my left Achilles/ankle.  Avg 6:53 pace.

8 miles avg 7:05 pace.  Still pain in my left ankle.  I got a massage later in the morning so hopefully that will help.  The rest of my body sure feels good. 

3 miles avg 7:25 pace.  It was nice to finally not hurt while running.  This whole week was painful.  I think I finally got the tight spots rubbed out enough to be able to function properly.

17 miles with Brent up/down Provo Canyon/South Fork.  Avg 7:15 pace.  I was going to go 20 and run home past my house to end at the baseball fields three miles away, but cut it short and stopped at home. 

I ran pain free for about 13 miles.  Then I started having a little pain in the inside of my left leg, down by my ankle.  This hurt me a lot Tues/Thurs.  I rubbed out a spot clear up on the inside of my leg at the top of my quad right by my but to fix this problem.  I was supper tired from not enough sleep and started running sloppy.  I kicked myself right where it was already starting to hurt.  The spot was still a little swolen and tender from earlier in the week.  The kick hurt so bad and it bothered me the whole last 4 miles. 

I'm still a little nervous about how my body will hold up for the UV Marathon.  I think if I can finish working out all my tight spots so I don't have any injury pains, and sleep good so I feel well rested I can have a very enjoyable and fast race. 

Didn't run this day.  I woke up feeling supper tired and with a little bit of a sore throat. 

I rode my bike to the cemetery with my husband and kids.  It wasn't raining when we left, but we sure got got in a storm on the way home, pelted with rain and hail. 

We visited my dad's grave and I told the kids the stom was just what we needed to remember the trip.  My dad always said, "If we don't suffer enough we won't remember it."  I think that saying is very applicable to marathon running.  No one forgets the most painful miles.

I woke up feeling a lot better this morning.  Ran 10 miles with my 5 year old daughter in the running stroller.  Avg 7:48 pace.  We headed up Provo Canyon but turned around early and headed back the other way on the trail when we encountered an animal.  At first I thought it might be a small bear on the path ahead of us.  Of course a baby bear is usually accompanied by a mother bear so I stopped.  After a few seconds I realized it was not a bear, but a dog, that looked a lot like a baby bear from my distance and angle.  My daughter said, "Can we turn around?"  So we turned around.  We spent a mile talking about the dog, then 5 miles later she said, "Are you still thinking about the dog?"  Apparently she was.