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

8 miles avg 7:02 pace

3 miles with my sister Laura who is in town from Gilbert, AZ.  We pushed her two girls in the stroller while mine were at school.  Avg 8:12 pace.

4 miles avg 6:59 pace.  With a marathon two days away I figure less is going to more for me than more.

At the beginning of the week I said to my husband and kids, "We have 6 soccer games, 4 baseball games and a marathon this week."  Oh, and 5 practices.  So I didn't think much about the race until Thursday night as I was going to bed, and I wish I wouldn't have because I was a ball of nerves.  I couldn't go to sleep, then I woke up every hour or so and struggled again.  I have sleeping problems.

Thursday, on our way to one of the games, my 6 year old daughter says, "I'm going to run a marathon.  I know how to get ready."  One of my sons asks her how and she says, "You get a massage, and takes some naps in the afternoon, and then you run some miles on the treadmill."  The way she said it focused more on the massage and naps and my 10 year old son said, "You have to do more running than that!" 

Brent drove Melanie, Kim and Jane to the starting line and we got there about 6:30 a.m.  We found Emily and visited for a few minutes.  They were all doing the half so they went to warm-up.  I didn't want to run more than 26.2 miles and opted out of the warm-up.  My plan was to run 6:40 pace the first half and try to do 6:50's the second half.  I knew 6:40's would feel easy coming down the canyon and that 6:50's on flat and the slight uphill would be hard. 

I stuck to the plan the first half and felt good, running miles 2-10 with Scott and his friend Calvin from New York who was shooting to break three hours.  Around mile 10 Calvin fell back a little and Scott went back to help him.

I think I was right on a 6:40 pace average at the half.  Right after I passed all the people cheering for the half finish I threw purple Gatorade in my right eye and by the time I could see again realized I was outside the cones and in the road where the cars were coming from behind.  Purple Gatorade in the right eye at mile 14 is just as painful as yellow Gatorade in the left eye at mile 17.

The second  half was definately harder than the first.  The wind was really blowing out by the lake and I was worried if I really pushed it to do 6:50's in the teens that I would loose it in the 20's and do over 7's.  So I kept an even effort type pace and just ran comfortably. 

At mile 22 or so Scott came running up to me from behind.  Calvin was way off the 3 hr mark so he came up to help me.  I really appreciated that.  My husband also drove by in the car with my daughter around mile 23.  As we approached University Ave I could see Melanie, Kim and Jane cheering and said, "I think those are my friends!" 

The hill over the train tracks on University Ave was harder than I anticipated.  I slowed considerably going up it and thought I was about to "hit the wall."  But going down the other side I felt better and never got to the point where I really felt horrible.  I saw Marie, Rebecca, and Josse's sister there at the end which was fun.  My husband was also there with my daughter.  My boys were both playing soccer tournament games so they missed it.  I finished 2:59:24 avg 6:51 pace. 

My splits were: 6:33, 6:38, 6:49, 6:35, 6:43, 6:37, 6:39, 6:40, 6:46, 6:41, 6:54, 6:39, 6:44, (half) 6:48, 6:50, 7:00, 7:04, 6:56, 6:59, 7:03, 7:00, 7:05, 6:48, 6:58, 6:54, 7:11, last .2 6:50 pace.

Before the race I told myself if I ran under 3 hours I would be happy no matter what my place.  After all I can't do anything about whether some really fast person shows up who's just plain better than me.  On the flip side, I figured if I won I would be happy no matter what my time.  So I guess I was double happy.

This wasn't a PR, I ran St. George 1 min faster, but it feels like it.  I think St. George is more than a minute faster of a course than this one.  I'm pleased I was able to run what I thought was a consistant effort and amazingly still feel good at the end.  As I approached the finish line I thought of something I heard Bart Yasso say in a seminar he gave before the Boston Marathon several years ago. "Never take a finish line for granted," and I don't.  I love to run.

4 miles avg 7:02 pace.  Probably my best post marathon run yet.  Just a little quad pain the last quarter mile. 

8 miles avg 7:08 pace.  My quads are still bothering me some, so I stoped to rub them a couple of times.  I wanted to go farther, but I want my quads better even more.  I'm going to really dig into them and rub them out over the next few days so I can hopefully go back to my regular running routine next week. 

10 miles avg 6:51 pace.  I met Melanie B at her house in Lehi.  She ran a few miles before because I only wanted 10.  Well, I wanted to do more, but my quads still had a couple of tender spots the day before and I really don't want to injure them. 

I woke up with a sore throat and nasal problems.  I think I might really be sick.  My husband and son are both sick right now.  Just over a mile into the run I thought, "I'm more tired than I should be.  I must be sicker than I thought."  Then Melanie said, "We're going fast," and I looked at my watch. 

We planned to go 7:15 pace and we had a 6:44 pace average going.  We tired to slow down several times and werern't sucessful  until the last mile.  At one point I thought, "What is wrong with us!"  Brent says Melanie and I are too much alike, we both run 1/2 step ahead of whoever we're with so as not to slow them down.  My quad only bothered me a little bit at the end.  I sat in an epsom salt bath and rubbed out my quads when I got home.  Now if I can just get over this head cold I'll be good.

4 miles avg 7:24 pace.  My allergies are awful!  My sinuses keep draining down the back of my throat and are making it sore.  It was so nice when we had those little rain stoms every few days for a while.  I want more rain.

10 miles.  Met Melanie, Melody, Emily and Rebecca at the BYU track for a workout.  8 x 800 meters with 400 meter recovery.  2:54, 2:54, 2:56, 2:56, 2:56, 2:57, 2:56, 2:57.  Allergies still bothering me.  I doubled up on my one medication and added another so by the end of the day I wasn't feeling quite as bad. 

10 miles avg 7:10 pace.  I felt tired.  I know I need to do more tempo type training runs, but I just didn't feel like it today. 

4 miles avg 7:01 pace.  The first almost 3 miles of this run were very pleasant, up/down Provo Canyon, cloudy with a little breeze, not too hot, and not too cold.  Then as I came out of the canyon the wind picked up. 

(I just asked my daughter if she could think of a more fun way to say, "the wind blew really hard."  She changed her tone of voice and put an arm in the air as she said, "the wind blew really hard."  I laughed a little and thanked her for the help.)

Anyway, I must have been a sight making my way up the 800 North hill with dirt filled wind blowing in my eyes, because when I stopped at the light a man in a car asked me if I wanted a ride.  I said I didn't live very far away and was laughing about it more than anything.  Fortunately I made it home when it was just starting to sprinkle and was safely inside when the downpour started. 

Yea for the rain.  I looked at the forecast on Monday when my allergies were so bad and there was no chance of rain ever.  I told my kids to pray for rain and I know at least my 8 year old did.  I of course did too.  My son wrote a poem in school last year in which he said he wished he could control the weather.  I wish I could do that too.

18 miles avg 6:52 pace.  We started up Provo Canyon at the turn off to Wallsburg.  We ran towards Wallsburs 1 1/2 miles then out and down the canyon to our cars at the Riverwoods Shopping Center.  It looked so nice out,  but was only 33 degrees up the canyon where we started and the hills around Deer Creek seemed bigger to me than they did last fall.  I hope they don't feel that big during the Utah Valley Marathon.

4 miles avg 7:17 pace.  My quads felt fine on our run Saturday and for several hours afterwards.  Then I went out in the yard to weed the flower beds and strained one a little bit.  I hope it gets better quickly.

10 miles with Melanie on Jordan River Parkway Trail.  We did 12 x 1 min fast, 2 min slower.  Pace for times: 5:26, 7:13, 5:34, 7:19, 5:41, 7:16, 5:46, 7:25, 5:34, 7:30, 5:35, 7:21, 5:44, 7:42, 5:43, 6:54, 5:55, 7:38, 5:43, 7:26, 5:45, 7:51, 5:50, cool down.  Average pace for whole run 6:52 pace.

20 miles up/down Provo Canyon/South Fork with Melanie, avg 7:15 pace.  We both agreed the 3 miles into South Fork seemed harder than we remembered, so uphill for so long.  We were glad to turn around.  I wanted to get in one more long run before Utah Valley and was glad to get it in 2 weeks and 2 days before the race instead of just 2 weeks. 

4 miles.  Don't know my pace because my battery was dead. 

10 miles.  Don't know my pace because I forgot to charge my watch.  I ran up Provo Canyon and met Marie.  We ran down together.  I haven't run with her in a log time so it was nice to visit.

6 miles with my brother Mark avg 7:55 pace.

10 miles avg 6:42 pace with Melanie B from her house in Lehi.  We did an out and back course that was uphill on the way out @ 7:00 pace and downhill on the way back @ 6:24 pace.  I think that's my fastest out & back 10 mile run ever. 

At dinner I said to my husband, "I can't believe how good I felt after my run this morning.  It was like I was on drugs, not that I've ever taken drugs," to which my husband turned to my 8 year old son and said, "Mom's finally admitting she's addicted to running."

10 miles up/down Provo Canyon avg 6:56 pace.  I thought I was going "easier" today and my pace at the end surprised me.  I guess it was easier than Tuesday, but when I go that fast on Tuesday my Thursday is usually slower.  Time to really slow down and cut back for Utah Valley though.  Only 9 days away!