Checking In

I apologize for the delay in blogging, it's been a busy fall season. Here are a few running updates:
- Raced the 10k at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico in October. It was a fabulous experience, where I met many great athletes, coaches, staff, and locals. The athlete village was an experience in itself with dorm style living, a cafeteria with food 24/7, an entertainment area, beautiful pool, a walking path through the woods, a top notch gym, and hundreds of police bordering the outside. Guadalajara was a fun town to explore with historic buildings and sculptures, unconventional construction methods, a funny pedestrian crossing signal, colorful markets, and very excited locals. It was an experience of a lifetime!
- I decided to race the marathon Olympic Trials. It's not quite a distance I'm looking forward to, but I'm slowly embracing the idea of finishing my first marathon and being a part of an amazing race with many of the best athlete's in the USA.
- For marathon training I have had two new personal bests... longest run ever of 18 miles and most miles in a week of 80 miles. I'm sure these will increase over the next month and a half, Thanks to Russ, Chubbs, Jay, and Ashley for helping me through this week and the long run.
- I raced the United Way Turkey Trot in Denver at Wash Park. It's a 4 mile race that I have competed in since I was in high school. It's a race that my family enjoys together. Russ had a huge PR and placed 7th. I was the 1st female with a 7 sec PR (thanks to David for pacing me). My sister surprised herself with a great finishing time. And my mom came to cheer us all on. It's always a fun family event.

Now I'm just preparing for next weekends race...Club Cross Country Nationals!!! Can't wait to see everyone and to go get our trophy back (and to get our dance on). As I look out the window at the fast falling snow, I realize today's long run is going to be tough. I best get moving. Stay safe and warm!

PS Congrats to all the BRC-ers as we dominated all the turkey trots around the state. Congrats to Ali and Wendy as they raced for the USA in Japan.