Winter's Last Hurrah...

At least I hope so. I got up this morning to go out for a run...in the snow. Not horizontally-blowing-massive-drifts-to-plow-through type stuff but white stuff falling from the sky nonetheless. What the heck. I am ready for sweltering runs where you end with a lovely crusty salt layer of lost electrolytes coating the skin. There is something weirdly satisfying about finishing a run in that state. Ah, but there is never a dull moment during springtime in Colorado. But enough about the weather.


Training has been going fairly well lately, not too much to tell at the moment though. A couple of weeks ago I hopped into the Take 5 In the Garden race totally spur of the moment to get an idea of where I was at fitness-wise, and to mix things up with some competition since sometimes racing myself in workouts doesn't always give particularly legitimate feedback. In this race there was the option of either doing a 5k on the roads that snake through the Garden, or you could branch off at a point along the 5k course to do the 5 miler. I didn't actually decide to do the race until that morning about an hour before the race started, and I didn't decide to do the 5k until I was in line to register at the race. I thought a 5k would give me a better indication of the kind of shape I was in and I thought it would be great to roll out a quick race--silly me...I didn't anticipate that eight tenths of the race would be uphill. At the same time I felt pretty decent throughout the whole race, good enough to even consider veering off of the 5k course at the branching point to the 5k versus 5 mile courses (about 1.5 miles into the race) to follow the folks doing the 5 miler. I was feeling good, why not tack on another couple miles? Then I realized that I had a 5k timing chip on my shoe and that I just couldn't bear to look at the finishing times and see my time in the 5k results with some time in the mid-30's. I don't have much of an ego, but that'd be rough. Still, it was a good up-tempo type workout and it's a great race to run if you're looking for something hilly and challenging combined with some awesome scenery. Plus it kind of re-lit the competitive flame that was kind of flickering for a while. So I would say it was worth doing for sure. It was also good to see some of the BRC crew there--Wendy, Amanda, and Christy-Marie, who turned up to do the five miler.

Right now I am gearing up for the Bolder Boulder that is going down in a little over two weeks. I am very excited given that I've never actually run the race, but have watched it half a dozen times, so I'd say it's about time I got in there to mix it up. Till then, the miles ain't gettin' any shorter so just keeping the nose to the grindstone and enjoying every day of it, and hoping to see a good pay-off in a couple weeks.

Year of Having Fun

It's been too long since I've written on the blog, sorry. First, congrats to everyone on the team for the amazing race results everyone has had.

Since the last post I have had some wonderful workouts and races. At ASU I raced a 5k at 10k pace and hit 16:42 (goal was 16:40). It was such a fun meet with a college-basketball-like atmosphere with music playing, t-shirts being thrown to the crowd, and a golf cart driving around the track to videotape some of the events. Back here in Colorado I race a couple 1500m races during the most windy days we've had. Then last weekend the best thing happened, I hit the 'A' standard time for the 10k to qualify for USA Nationals. It all happened at Stanford along with Nicole and Ali. I feel so blessed to have met this season goal that I thought was a bit of a reach since I've only been training seriously again for one year. I knew I'd do it eventually, but not so soon. It's been an incredible ride and I need to give much thanks to those around me helping each step of the way.


I have been fortunate enough to truly be having fun during all of it. In the past there were some many times my running was a chore and I looked forward to it being over. There were so many times running wasn't fun and I wanted to quit, but I continued on for variety of reasons. This past year has made me realize why I really get out there every day and enjoy each step I take, even when it seems torturous. I do it for the competition, team atmosphere, testing of limits, traveling, and fitness. But ultimately I do it for fun, to spend time with Russ and Chubbs and friends, and to grow spiritually. I've learned to love the journey as much as the destination. Ok, enough of my sappy-ness, it's been an emotional week and weekend for me so don't mind me.

Other random things to blog about:

• Yesterday I ran at Three Sisters in Evergreen and it was one of those runs you hope never ends. If you ever want a beautiful place to run go to this park, it's wonderful and links to other great trails. The air was cool and crisp, the trails were snow-free, and the landscape was turning green. I could run these trails everyday.
• I'm going to be an aunt for the first time!!! One of my younger brothers' (who is in the Marines) wife is 7 weeks pregnant. I'm super excited and wish they lived closer rather than in LA. I'm going to have to go buy a running and soccer outfits to be sure the correct influences are occuring.
• Took my PE Exam and now I get to wait until July to learn if I passed or failed. It was mulitple choice, not sure what takes so long to send out results.
• Next races...1500m next weekend and then Bolder Boulder!!