Riverton half

Oh, Riverton.... Such a good race, my first race, but also a pain in the butt race. There are 2 nasty hills on this course. The first at mile 7 and the second at mile 10.5. 

I got to the race about 45 minutes early and NO one was there. The only people were those setting up.

I waited around and ran a little until I found my friend Catherine and then met up with Rendi and London. Rendi was pacing the 2:20 time and London was doing the 2:30. My goal was to stay in front of them the whole time. 

The race started and I kept telling myself that I needed to take it easy the first half so I could push it the second half. The first 4 miles weren't bad. I felt nice and strong then around mile 4.25 we turned and were facing a nasty head wind. I knew I could keep going how I was going even with the headwind, but it was really starting to wear me out and I knew the first big hill was coming up at mile 7. I was determined to run up every hill. 

I saw mile 7 and that big hill. There was this lady with a double stroller who was pushing 2 kids. She tripped me up around mile 3 with the stroller and then I caught up with her at 7. I felt for her having to push the stroller up that hill. It was NOT going to be fun. I pushed up that hill and didn't look up until I reached the top. Hills are tough and I know that I can bust through them if I just don't look. Hahaha! 

You can see the nasty hills and when I stopped to walk for a minute. 

Around mile 8.5 I could feel myself starting to crash so I took a GU that I brought with me and stopped at the aid station and got some Gatorade and water. I was still having a bit of a hard time until this one guy, I don't know who he is, caught up to me at the aid station and stuck with me until the end. I'd walk a little before a hill and then run up it and he'd walk the hills and run after. We cheered each other on to keep going. 

I knew when we got to Redwood road that we were really close. 1.10 miles to go.... or so I thought. After Redwood we used to turn down the main road to the park and be done, but noooooo.... This year they added on some more turns. You run right back that main road, see the finish, and still have to keep going. I ended up going .17 over because of that dumb turn. Talk about getting in your head. I kept wanting to stop, but we were so close and the guy kept saying not to quit. We finally turned onto that main road and I just started booking it. I finished that last .27 fast and strong. 

I was so done and so happy to be out of that headwind. I finished in 2.18.31. (2.17.06 at 13.1) I did good and met my goal of staying in front of Rendi and London and getting a new course PR. I even shaved 30 minutes off last year's time. AND I'm 25 lbs less and a lot stronger. :)

My next race is Salt Lake Half, I'm excited to see how that one goes. One thing for sure is I'm going to drink more. I think I got dehydrated this race. 

Intervals: 3 miles at an 8:48 pace

Today on my training plan I had 10-20 min warm up 3 x 1600 (1 min RI) 10 min cool down. I was really nervous about this run. I've never hit an 8 minute mile unless it was down a canyon or that one time I tried to do it at the lake. At the lake I got it done in 8:51 and that was in July of last year. Today, I was aiming to get each 1600/mile done in 8:48. I didn't know if I could do that 3 times in a row!

Well, the warm up mile was 10:32. Tempo mile 1 was 8:29! Then mile 2 was 8:32 and mile 3 was 8:32!!!! I stopped once for a 5 second breather halfway through mile 2 and 3. But still! How awesome! I am feeling so much stronger. I was hitting that pace without feeling like I was killing myself. I LOVE that I am feeling faster and stronger.

10 miles

Yesterday I got up and was debating on if I should do my 9 miles then or wait until Saturday. I wasn't dreading the run, but I was a littler nervous. The goal was 9 miles at a 10:36 pace. I knew it was doable. I did it once before. But last week I was scheduled to do 10, but only ran 9. So, while talking to my mom I decided to run 10 instead of 9 to make up for last week. 

My mom asked info was going for pace or distance and I said a little of both. So she had the idea to run the first half uphill and the second half down. It sounded like a good plan. 

I had somewhat of an idea of where I was going to go, so I headed out. I figured it wasn't too windy so I'd go with the wind to my back first since I was going up hill. I felt good and strong and around mile 4.5 there was a nice hill. It went down and then had a slight uphill. Not bad... I ran around in a neighborhood until I got to 5 miles and then turned around and went back. 

I don't know if it was the wind or the fact that the hill I ran down was a LOT steeper than it looked, but I was feeling myself starting to drag. 

Miles 5, 6, and 7 were tough. I was supposed to be going down hill but instead I was climbing back up and this time I had the wind in my face. 

Around mile 8 I was back to the lake and I knew how it felt to run around that. I picked my pace back up and finished strong. My slowest mile was mile 7 at 10:51 and my fastest mile was mile 10 at 9:23. 

There were plenty of times I wanted to stop, but I didn't. I kept going. I keep telling myself that I can't stop if I want to run a sub2. Im cheating myself and I'll never learn to run at a consistent pace if I don't train myself to keep going. I gotta work on the mental game. The stopping is all in my head. My body and legs ache, sure, but it's not like they haven't hurt worse. When I want to quit that is when my body/mind is reaching another level and I have to push to get there. Now I just need to be consistent and keep up with my training. 

New Years Revolution Run

This morning I got up at 7 when my alarm went off and headed out to the Olympic Oval to run the Revolution run. I was excited for this one mainly for the fact that last year it took me 3 hours to run it. I knew that I would do better this year, but I also knew that I hadn't run a real race or much running since the Saltair Half in early November. 

I met up with my friend Sonja and started running some laps. After about 3 laps we saw Becca and she started running with us. I felt pretty good for the first 20 laps and then my right thigh started aching. I have this one pair of shoes that are made for over pronating, and I don't over pronate. I think the turning of the track combined with the shoes made my thigh ache. 

I ran with Becca and Sonja for a while and then took a little break. I then ran with Shelley and Meredith for a while. They really helped me get past the mental block of running laps. Meredith was having Shelley run fast and then slow and I just followed along. I took a water break and then finished the 48 laps with Becca. I think with all the stopping and talking I did made my time 2.46. If I would have run/walked the whole thing without  all that I would have been closer to 2.30. 

All in all it was a good race. I felt good even with having not trained. I even beat last year's time. :) My next race isn't until March or April. We'll see. 

NEBO!!

Jason, the kids, and I made this race a little vacation. We went down to Provo and stayed in a hotel over night. The kids thought it was tons of fun. We ordered Pizza and had popcorn. I got up early and headed down to the race. I was planning on staying with Becca the whole time. The goal was a sub2 hour half marathon. We started the race strong. We were on goal to be way under 2 hours.... well, that was until it leveled out around mile 9. UGH! That's when your body says "Hey! wait! Where'd the momentum go??" That's when we started to crash. I ended up running it in 2.05.09! SO close!! I was SO exhausted at the end.

Temple to Temple Steeple Chase

Jason and I got up early and headed over to the church to meet up with my mom. We were about to run the 5 mile temple to temple run. It would be from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to the Jordan River Temple. I ran this one last year with my mom and we kept it at about a 15 min pace the whole time. This year I'd be running with Jason and then catching up with my mom after. 

 When I woke up I got a text from my mom that she was wearing her Return With Honor shirt. I totally forgot about that, so I went through my drawer and found the one I wore last year. Holy cow! It was HUGE on me. I went through the kids drawers and found my 8 yr old's shirt. Haha! It fit!! I was so surprised! Talk about feeling good. 

 We started out and mom said to go ahead without her. This was Jason's first 5 mile race since high school. The goal was just to run and have fun with it. He did awesome! He tends to start out too fast and then slows down towards the end. Around mile 3.5-4 he was saying sorry for slowing down and I told him we could walk if he needed to and he said "Twitchell's don't walk!" He did amazing! We ran the whole way and finished in 52.09 minutes! After we crossed the line he said his knee was bugging him so, we walked around for a minute and then walked to meet up with my mom. She wasn't very far behind us. 

 I was so impressed with her. She ran it with at a 12-13 min pace! I love that woman! She's so amazing. Go mom! Go mom! 

We all got some popsicles at the finish and took a couple pictures by the Jordan River Temple. I love being able to run with my family! I hope to be as awesome as my mom when I grow up. I'm so proud of Jason. I think he's starting to catch the running bug. :) I love it! He's such an amazing man. I'm blessed to have him as mine. 

Porter's Half

I got up at 5:30, got ready and headed up to the Porter Half finish. While waiting for the bus to come I met one of the ladies from our running group, Marisa. She's a great lady. They bused us up to the start and I met up with some other friends and started the race. 

 I started out WAAAAY too fast. My first mile was 8:59. Haha! After that mile it was all down hill. Well, kinda. When I was signing up for this race I looked at the elevation and it totally looked like a nice gradual down hill. I thought it'd be super easy and nice. Yeah... not so much...

 It was hilly and level. It was a tough course! I'd rather have all down hill or flat, but not that. Around mile 8 I was really feeling it and by mile 9 I was doing a lot of walk/running. Mile 12 was a 14:22 mile...Ugh. Oh well, I felt really good in my legs, but it was a real mental game. I need to get out of my head and just run. Anyway, I ended up finishing in 2.25.23. Not bad! That's my 3rd fastest half. It's amazing how far I've come in the past 8 months. 

 One of my running friends, Robert, was getting pictures of people from the group crossing the finish line. That's my picture. I look SO much different from the start of the year. It's really amazing how far you can come when you work hard. 

 It was a tough race, but it was great to be there with friends. :) Next weekend I'm running The Nebo half. I'm really hoping for a sub 2 hr half. We'll see what I can do. There's going to be a lot of us from the group running that one and a few of us aiming for a sub 2. 

 After the race I thought it would be a good idea to have fresh legs for Nebo, so I picked up a bag of ice from the store on the way home and took an ice bath. Sooo cold, but it really helped! 

My calves are a little sore, but I think they'll feel good on Saturday.