Stroller pushin in Texas

6 miles on the TM

1 mile run to the gym.  6 miles of useless speed on the TM.  1 mile run home.

Stairs 1 hour.  

I had the perfect run this morning, no lie.  3 mile warm up with Elyse in the pitch black, stars were beautiful and the big orange Texas moon was lowering on the horizon. 

Dropped Elyse off and went another 7.  I paid no attention to my watch but I was surprised that when I got home each mile was progressively faster.  Today and tomorrow's runs are really just to shake things out for the marathon next week.  Humidity and temperature was perfect.   

hour and ten minutes of stairs.

1 mile tm 

10 cranky miles with the husband.  I was being a brat.  Stop, no talk, pace everywhere.

6 EZ miles on the TM.  When I was finished, I felt like I still hadn't ran any miles for the day.

4.25 with Elyse.

4 miles with Elyse.

I leave tomorrow for the Bear Chase Marathon.  It's 8 hours away.  Hope all goes well.  :) 

Race Report:

I was planning to do the marathon at an 8:20 pace, that isn't much to ask for.  Weather was 80 degrees at the start and extremely humid.  

When we got to the race in Groveton there were about 300 runners running the half or the full marathon.  I hadn't realized the course was an out and back TWICE for the marathon.  Started out feeling fine.  By mile 6, I was already really warm and not feeling very fresh.  80 degrees and lots of humidity takes the running spirits right out of you.  We turned around and headed straight into a headwind.  I decided at the half I would call it a good effort. :)  

All of my splits were right on the money... 8:20 ish pace.  

I had a lot of fun running with David and spending some quality time with him during the weekend.   I need to start training better and obtaining new goals.  All of the nice races here are in the winter months.  I have to drive between 6-8 hours to get to any of them.  There aren't any races they drive you to the top of the mountain and let you run down the hill.  Oh how I miss the mountains of Utah.

6 slow miles with Elyse.

4 early miles with David.

4 miles alone.  800x3  

5 miles with Elyse. 10mp

5 @ 7:55 pace 

AM: 3 slow miles with Elyse

PM: 10 mile bike ride with the Mr. 

4 miles with David.

4 strides 

I had so much fun at this race!!!  I think I can put this race as one of my top ten favorites!

The race itself was supposed to be a surprise course, with challenges that are kept a secret.  So we did not receive any information about the course and rules until the day of the race.  Each team consisted of 4-8 members. David, Joe, Jeff, and I made up an extreme team of 4 people, so we weren't going to do a relay race.

The bike portion of the race was 23 miles on a new highway, and part of a busy highway down to the lake.  We took off on the bike drafting off of each other and powering down the road.  We passed probably 15 teams and then Joe got a flat.  We quickly pulled over to the side of the road and Jeff took the tire apart.  Well, it wasn't just a fast tire change.  We had to change the tire three times.  By that time all of the teams had caught up to us, plus more.

We got to the exchange point where we were to put our bikes in the car and change our shoes.  WELL, sadly, our driver was nowhere to be found.  We gave him a call and he was about 15-20 minutes away.  Grrrrr.  By the time our driver showed, we really didn't care too much about the race.

We started the run at about a 7mm, I quickly gued so I could keep up with the men.  During the run they had secret challenges we had to do.  We had to scoot through a 7 ft plastic tube, carry a railroad tie, push a big tire around and shoot a paintball gun.  

After the run the guys had to raft a mile on the lake.  I just had to launch and retreat the raft, no rafting for me.  After they got out of the water, we ran up the dock and toward a wall we had to climb over.  We climbed over the wall and finished.  

Later we learned that we had passed the winners while we were on the bike, back at about mile 8.  We were sad about the outcome of the race but we had so much DANG fun!  I LOVED racing with my husband on my team.  Great day in Del Rio. 

1 mile warm up with Elyse.

7 miles @ 8:00mm pace.

10 strides 

11 miles on the TM @ 8:25 pace.

The TM felt wayyyy EZ.

But now I am sore and my muscles are doing a cramp dance.  Time for more foam rolling. 

5 recovery miles

Blasted hot this morning, so I headed to the TM.  Already in the triple digits in Del Rio.

1 mile to the gym

9 progressive miles on the TM

1 miles cool down 

15 miles in the Rio.  Very warm and humid out, BUT I was blessed with a breezy wind.  Yes, this was that wind that I have complained about during some of my earlier runs, not today.  

8 miles alone on the sleeping base.  I saw snake #1 as I headed out from the West gate, it made me about cry.  I HATE snakes.  I saw snake #2 as I headed toward the West gate the second time.  I screamed and ran away as fast as I could.  Both snakes were very long (3 feet), and they were black.  

I found 5 golf balls on my way home as I ran past the golf course and picked up three to add to David and I's golf ball collection.  We have now found 10 golf balls total for our collection.

I went back to the house and got David.  We ran the next 7 miles together.   We saw snake #3 by the poop pound.  :(

I was proud that I had actually picked up the pace and I didn't complain. I enjoyed listening to David talk about T-38s (the new jet he will be flying).   

8:32 AP 

Stepped out of my house this morning and got into a blanket of heat.  The humidity just seems to not go away.  Luckily, the breeze from the East was there.  

4 miles with my friend Marshelle.  We ran a good clip together while we chatted.  I hope she agrees to running with me often.  :)  

8 miles alone including a "hill" segment.  Not much to the Laughlin hill, but I will try to make the best out of the situation.

I am one week 2 of 12 in training for Des News Marathon.  I don't know what is going to happen.  Goal:  To top out at 70 miles in peak training, not get injured, PR the Des News course.  I ran the course in 2007 in 3:45.  My journey is just beginning.