Ogden 26.2: Week FIVE

Wow, such a GREAT week!  I have been praying so hard to feel the Lord's hand in my training, and I absolutely have felt Him sustaining me.  I wouldn't have it ANY other way.  I know how weak I can be on my own, and I do not EVER want to be on my own out on that marathon course!

On Tuesday, I finally felt like I was ready to do some speed work.  I have been holding off on it because I wanted to focus on building my base back up.  My plan called for 3 miles, so I ran one mile as fast as I could (which was still pretty slow, sadly) and then I ran the 0.25 mile loop from my parking lot, up to the 1000 Court (MASSIVE hill) and around to the bus stop and back through the court.  I sprinted that loop 6 times.  OUCH!  It was awful!  But awesome.  :)  Then I sprint/walked the last half mile to finish up.

On Wednesday, Ashley and I ran the same 6-mile loop that Nate and I ran on our date run.  Down to Sugarhouse Park and back.  I had a PT appointment the day before, and he spent a good amount of time digging his elbow into my hip and butt.  It HURT.  I felt pretty bruised when I woke up!  And this dumb chest cold is STILL hanging around.  So I almost bailed.  But I didn't.  And this run ended up being AWESOME!!  We pushed our pace into the 9:30's for over a mile.  When we turned up 15th to head home, it was almost ALL uphill, but we kept our pace up.  It was really tough, but we DID it!  I felt so strong when we finished.

Thursday was a slow 2 miles on the treadmill.

Saturday was a BLAST!!!  Robert Merriman, Josh, Ashley, Katheryn, Kasie and I ran down Emigration to Liberty Park.  We ended up doing 13.1 miles.  A half marathon!  In 2:29.  Not too bad for a training run!

I cannot get enough of this canyon.  SO. BEAUTIFUL.

We met up at Liberty Park and drove up to the top.  Elvia, Quesnel, Meredith and Christy also came, but they did less miles, so we sadly dropped them off at the 7-mile mark.  I was disappointed not to run with them!  Next time!!  This was our first time meeting and running with Kasie, and I LOVE HER!  She is awesome.  And guess what?  She is going to run Ogden with me!!!  I am SO HAPPY!  New BFFs!  :)

At first, my legs felt a little dead from being on my feet all day yesterday and from my speedwork during the week.  But after about Mile 7, they seemed to settle into the run better.  I used this run to practice my long run fueling.  Cherry cola chews and a chocolate granola bar, along with some electrolyte water.  It all seemed to sit well and gave me the energy I needed.  I did have to pee for the first half, but luckily when we got to Ruth's Diner, there was a glorious Honey Bucket in the parking lot.  It was clean and at the perfect place.  We ALL needed to use it!  The joys of running!

When we got to Liberty Park, we had run 11.6 miles, so we decided to run one lap around to get to 13.1  I was proud of us!  It was a great run.  The miles seemed to fly by.  There was always someone to chat with and always something to talk about.  We pushed our speed down the steeper sections at the end.  I think I could have run it a little faster than I did, but for a training run, our pace was spot on.

The best part was right at the East High track, a car started honking at us, and it was NATE!  He was headed into work.  I love that he got to see us running!  Made my morning!

The other best part was when we finished running, we decided to try and take some jumping pictures.  They turned out hilarious!  We were really, really pathetic!  Jumping Cory would not be proud!  (Joshua was too tired to jump!)