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

10 miles with Marie avg 7:06 pace.  I don't know why we ran so fast.  We were both talking and breathing hard the whole way.  I was exhausted.  Twice we talked about slowing down and probably slowed about 15 sec/mile for a 1/2 mile or so.  It was fun to visit with her again.  We haven't run together in a while.

3 easy miles avg 7:28 pace.  The doctor called later in the day to say I do not have an infection and I need to come in next week to give another urine sample to test my kidneys.  Now I'm  having anxiety of it.

23 miles avg 7:02 pace.  My good husband drove me, Melanie and Julie C up Provo Canyon into Wallsburg at 5:00 a.m. so we could run down the canyon and not have to go back up to get a car afterwards.  The pace felt really good as this was a downhill run from Wallsburg all the way out of the canyon.  My body felt good, not breathing too hard and my legs weren't very tired either.  I did feel incredibly uncomfortable when it came to feeling like I needed to pee all the time.  I drank a lot so as not to get dehydrated because I didn't want to start peeing blood again.  But I would pee and then still feel like I needed to pee!  I had this sensation once before and the doctor gave me a yeast infection pill.  Then I felt better, so maybe I'll use the refill on that and see if it helps.  That wouldn't explain the blood in the urine on Tuesday though.  Kidney stones maybe.  All I know is I better get this figured out before the marathon because I don't want to feel uncomfortable in such a stupid way trying to run my race.

4 miles avg 7:17 pace with  my husband on his bike.  My quads were sore from Saturday and I was tired because I didn't sleep well the night before.  I think I have kidney stones and was so uncomfortable I debated going to the hospital.  

10 miles average 7:15 pace.  My quads felt mostly better.  The most uncomofortable part of the run was feeling like I needed to pee.  I have an appointment with my doctor this afternoon.

Met Marie, Melody and Rebecca at Melody's house.  I ran there and back to get 10 miles because they were only going 5.  It was fun to visit with them and hear about Melody's race.  Avg 7:39, about 5 1/2 miles at 8 min pace and 4 1/2 miles at 7:15 pace. 

4 miles with my 2 1/2 yr old nephew in my running stroller.  I haven't pushed a stroller in a long time.  I used to push my boys every day when they were little.  Avg 7:51 pace.

20 miles with Melanie avg 7:03 pace.  We went to the start of the Spanish Fork 1/2 marathon and ran 7 miles along part of the course with Mckenzie before the race started.  It was fun to visit with her.  Then we ran the 1/2 marathon, unregistered.  It was basically an out and back mostly flat course. 

I felt tired from mile one.  My legs just never felt fresh.  At mile 16 1/2 I thought, "I wish we were only going 17 miles."  So at the water stop 1/2  mile later I stretched out and felt better the last 3.  I felt like this was a good cardio workout.  7:03 pace for 20 miles isn't too bad with no elevation drop.  We also talked quite a bit.  We stopped our watches when we drank, but that wasn't too often or for very long. 

I think my legs were still tired from our 23 miles last week and also beat up from the rubbing I gave them last night while I watched "Soul Surfer."  I also went to bed way to late and woke up a lot.  I think I didn't sleep enough. 

Next Saturday will be a shorter run.  Three weeks until St. George!  I'm so excited for this race.  I think I'm in the best Marathon shape I've ever been in.  Hopefully everything, or at least most things will go right for me and I'll feel great for the race.

4 miles avg 7:15 pace. 

12 miles up/down Provo Canyon.  I ate breakfast with the kids, got them off to school then did 1 1/2 hours of bookkeeping work before heading out on my run.  I ran an avg 7:04 pace for the 6 miles up the canyon.  No wonder I was breathing so hard.  I also thought "Eating breakfast really helps.  I should remember to eat before I run my marathon."  On the way back my legs started to feel tired, the downhill on the quads.  I was doing fine until I ran up the hill on 800 North in Orem 3/4 mile from my house and I all of the sudden felt as though I might throw-up.  I wondered if I still had any orange juice and grape nuts in my stomach.  I slowed down a little and felt better.  My average pace coming down the canyon was 6:36, so my average for the whole run was 6:50 pace.  I thought this was a good hard workout, to be able to go "Marathon pace" for 12 miles on an out and back route seems good.  My bladder seems to be all better too so that's nice.

10 miles avg 7:21 pace.  I felt wiped out from my run Tuesday.

4 miles avg 7:27 pace.  Still tired.  I think I'll feel better tomorrow.

16 Miles with Melanie, Kim and Jane.  I didn't get home from a youth conference I was involved in until midnight and got up at 4:35 a.m. to go meet up for the run.  4 hours of sleep is about 1/2 as much as I need to feel good.  I was also having menstral cramps (sorry if this is TMI) so I didn't enjoy this run as much as usual.  At least I won't have to worry about that for the marathon.  Took a nap in the afternoon which was good.  Avg pace 7:06

4 miles avg 7:14 pace

10 miles up/down Provo Canyon avg 7:05 pace.  I felt a lot better this day than I did the day before.  I had a break to talk Melanie B on the phone while stretching at Bridal Vale.  She's having foot problems.  I really hope it's better for the marathon. 

10 miles up/down Provo Canyon avg 7:08 pace. 

4 miles avg 7:16 pace.  I've been so tired this week.  My 8 yr old son, Eli (the one who has a really hard time getting up in the morning), came down all dressed a few minutes after his alarm went off.  I'm usually up before him, but today I was still laying in bed.  He said to me, "You just need to get up as soon as your alarm goes off.  If you jump out of bed right away then you won't feel how tired you are...(pause)..Seriously mom, the longer you lay there the more tired you feel."  I laughed and said, "I know.  I'm the one who told you that a few weeks ago."  He thought for a minute and said, "Oh ya."  Then he tried to lift me out of bed.  That was enough to get me up.  I guess sometimes kids really are listening even when they seem to be half asleep.

13 miles up/down Provo Canyon with Melody avg 7:15 pace.  I haven't run with Melody for a while, so it was nice to see her again.  It was also nice to have such a short Saturday run.  It seemed more like a weekday run to sleep in later and be done so early.

5 miles with Melody.  I was sure I already posted Monday and Tuesday, but for some reason my entries aren't there.  Strange.  It was fun to run with Melody again.

8 miles up/down Provo Canyon.  I woke up with the worst kinked neck of my life.  I cann't even turn my head to the side at all without pain.  Besides the pain in my neck I felt mostly ok on this run.  My hamstring is still bothering me some.  It's causing me more anxiety than pain at this point.

I didn't sleep well Sunday night and was really tired Monday so I decided to take Simply Sleep the rest of the week.  Well, probably not the night before the marathon because I feel really tired in the morning when I take it.  As I was running Tuesday morning I thought "what's worse, to feel tired from taking a sleep aid, or to really be tired from not sleeping?"

3 easy miles to my dad's grave and back.  I wish he was running the marathon with me. 

I had a massage later in the morning and my neck improved throughout the day.  The hamstring is still bothering me some.

This morning after the kids left for school I got in my hot tub and really dug into my hamstring to see if that would fix my issue there.  It did seem to help some, which is encouraging.  In my moring prayers I asked what I should do to fix my hamstring problem and that's what came to mind.  My neck still hurts a lot.  I'm glad that's not crucial to running like the legs.  Some Ibuprofen might solve that problem.  

I figure I need 4 things to have a great race, conditioning, health, no injuries, and sleep.  I feel like I have the conditioning and I'm healthy.  I don't have any major injuries, just hoping my hamstring is ok and something new doesn't act up.  I sleept well most of this week so I feel pretty rested right now.  I just need to sleep well tonight and I'll be ready to go. 

Hoping to post a sub 3 hr tomorrow!  Let's all pray for clouds and cooler weather.