Ramping Down for St George

The next topic I would like to talk about is my training for the upcoming St George Marathon. As you may recall, Alan Bird has me hooked on the Ragnar Relay which I have thoroughly enjoyed. In this last race Alan scheduled me to run a seven mile leg which had me quite worried but in the end I managed to run it just fine. I think that seven mile run inspired me to go for the marathon. I've always wanted to run a marathon but I've just never gotten around to it. Now I was already running seven miles so I had a good head start. I convinced five of my kids to apply with me so we submitted our names and hoped for the best. I know these following pictures are not nearly as interesting to you as they are to me but I'm posting them anyway because they tell a fascinating story.  

Just one week after the Ragnar and after I had already put my name in for the St George I was out for a six mile run in the Canyon. I love running in the Canyon. I just got to the bridge (my favorite spot in the Canyon) when I fell and broke my toe. You can see my ten mile pace up to mile three and my twenty minute pace on the way home. It was very painful.

It was June 9 before I could run again. I was worried the entire time that I would fall behind in my training schedule for the marathon. I am not as young as I used to be and I knew it would be hard for me to play catch up but June 9 fell right on my schedule. That was the week I was supposed to start with a three mile Saturday run and that is what I did. My training had now officially begun. 

For the first several weeks the Saturday runs increased by one mile each week. I was careful not to plan any routes into the canyon. I didn't want to take any chances about getting hurt again. I had actually fallen several times in the canyon and I really wanted to run this race. What a bummer it would be if I did all this  training and then couldn't run. It would kill me. 

I'm up to five miles now and I'm having to get a bit creative to find new runs. I really hate just running out and then back the same way. I like to see new territory. It is one of the things I love about running. I get to see mother nature up close. The cool thing about this summer was that with Alex's homecoming and Sarahs wedding I got to run with at least some of my kids just about every week. 

Sarah was with me on this run. You can see that we stopped in at Desiree's house on the way home. 

I didn't get charts from all of my runs but you may notice that this run is in Utah. Alycia, Sam, Sarah and I dropped water bottles off at mile six, left one car at the end and then drove up to some park in Provo Canyon. What a beautiful run that was. Perhaps my favorite. You may also notice the time we started. 6:16AM. A necessity in Utah. We had to beat the heat. I might also point out that ten miles was by far my personal best. In fact every Saturday from now on would be a new record for me. I'd never run this far in one stint ever in my entire life. It is a bit scary but very satisfying.

I had always imagined how fun it would be run along the beach enjoying the cool ocean breeze. NOT!!! It is nine miles to the beach at which point I am already completely exhausted and then to run in the sand made me think I was running in mud. Even running on the hard wet sand about killed my legs. It was definitely fun to run into the water at the end but never again was I going to run in the sand. Uggh...

This is the way to run along the beach, on a side walk. What a beautiful run. I think I had Ben with me on this run. Can you believe I am now up to fourteen miles. It is like I'm in a dream, I can't believe that it is actually me doing this. It kind of feels like a miracle. In fact, technically speaking, this was my first half marathon. 

This was the day after Sarah's wedding and it was one of my more fun runs because Ben, Justin and Alycia ran with me. Of course Justin and Ben ran ahead and Alycia and I came in a while later but it was a very fun morning. Unfortunately we didn't get left quite as early as we'd planned and poor Alycia got fried. Probably one of her worst sunburns. It was rather hot and therefor one of my slower runs but still fun. The water sure felt good afterwards.

 For some reason the schedule I was following had me run 16 miles three weeks in a row. I loved the run so much that I decided to do it again. I ran a bit faster this week.

 Today was the ward picnic so I decided to join them at Torrey Pines beach. I drove ahead and stashed water along the way then headed out. I got there in time to see everyone and then called Lisa to come and pick me up. Notice we're up to eighteen miles now.

 This was the big one that I had been dreading all along. Ben was down and even though he didn't really want to run Mission Bay again he was convinced because they have bathrooms and water fountains all along the path. Notice our 5:30 start time. It was 90° by the time we finished the run. Pat actually met up with Ben for the last four miles and even after running sixteen miles Ben about ran him into the ground. I came in only a few minutes after Ben which really confused me until I learned he had stopped for a potty break along the way. Notice my rather impressive time for a twenty mile run. I'm no longer scared of this marathon. I'm thinking I can do this. I'm not fast but hey, I just ran twenty miles. I have now run six half marathons. One a week. Not bad eh?

OK, I know this isn't too impressive after my twenty miles but I just wanted to include it to show how much faster I am than I was before. Since today was only five miles (who could imagine that I would ever say ONLY five miles?) I decided to see how fast I could go. I am rather proud of myself (is it wrong to be proud of oneself?) that I can run five miles at a nine minute pace.

So we are now ramping down so there are no more big runs. This Saturday is only nine miles and next Saturday is only five. I'm getting excited. Wish me luck.

----------trivia-----------

One of the reasons dehydration is so bad in our society is because we often mask the pain with pain killers. The head aches and other effects of dehydration would normally drive us to drink more but now we just pop a Tylenol.

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