Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

I took a week off from a weak ankle. I  bought three different braces for it. Some were too stiff, some not enough support and some just dug in. Sounds like a bra fitting. 

9:00pm- Easy 5.5 test miles with Karen down main. It hurt a little -better than a lot. We finished at her house and layed on her front lawn while we talked about doing  all sorts of exercises but we ended up just doing a set of 25 sit ups. Then we laughed for a few minutes and counted that as a second rep of ab work.  I came home and said lots of prayers that my ankle would feel good by tomorrow for psudo tempo tuesday. I like those days.

8 slower miles with Andy. I was breathing like it was a real tempo. That was really scarry. Happy Halloween to me. 7:45-50ap

The rest of the day I put in a good effort by prepping for the Relief Society carnival I was in charge of. Most my efforts were sitting and breathing hard while twisting animal balloons. By the end of the night, I had serious body oder.

7 miles with Karen on Main. She wanted to push a little bit more today, felt nice out.

Main Street with Karen.

8 with Andy. Last four @ 7:26ap. Hard to run faster in the dark, nowadays. 

main with Karen.

11:30 AM- Today I met up with Scott W. at the Capitol to run City Creek on the road.  The weather was perfect and the colors were beautiful. Lots of runners out. About two miles into the run, some runners were coming down the canyon telling us that there was a cougar or Bobcat sitting in the middle of the road, just ahead. We thought it was strange since they look very different, but Scott really wanted to find out for himself so I followed. We looked around the creek and up the hillside and heard rumblings, but never saw anything. Scott headed up the hill side looking for it and again I followed. I wasn't nervous becuase he wasn't:) Alas, we saw nothing and kept heading up the canyon then turned back down. Such a nice and relaxing run. I love running on fall afternoons! 8:45ap

Somehow I got looped into throwing a very large baby shower. I was called into the Relief Society presidency last month and since then, the requests have been intresting. Since our ward split last month, there are two wards basically coming which made for 100+ invites! I can't remember who thought that was a good idea, at least it's not at my house. If anything, this new mom will get a 100 presents, which will be nice for the couple.

Recently, we've have had a lot of issues in the neighborhood with vandalism and theft so we started a neighborhood watch program. One guy at our last meeting talked about shooting perpetrators on his property, despite the officer advising him not to. I'm not going to lie, after that meeting, some of the old people here scare me. This week especially, everyone has been on high alert.

Karen and I ran and delivered the invites at 6:30AM. We looked like the perfect criminals running up to houses in the dark with our headlamps, fiddling with thier door knobs, then running off. Lots of barking dogs and motion dectectors going off. My efforts to go undected were in vain. I was careful to turn off my lamp, quietly walk up to thier door, gengerly strech the rubberband over thier knob (without jiggling it!) then a dog would bark and I would scream. It was ridiculous, but a good time.

6:30AM- Progression intervals down Main Street. I didn't intend to make today a workout, but glad I sped things up at the end since it's been months since I've ran anything under 7:00 pace. I was held up a little on the last mile from a lady asking directions to a yard sale, but I never stopped, instead I sputtered out breathy directions, that seemed right at the moment. Started easy and finished hard.

Quick 2 mi wu- 7:53, 7:44

Progressive 2X2 miles @ 7:18, 7:09 (3 min rest) 6:58, 6:34= 6:59ap

2 mile cd climb (that never really cooled me down:) 8:27ap

8 miles total= 1:00:15

6:00AM- It's getting darker and cooler in the mornings. Before we know it, snow will start creeping upon us.

Easy pace along LPT with Andy. It's nice to have this staple for the week. It's turning into my longest run of the week, which is scary. 7:59ap.

10:45AM- I met up with Matt W. and Scott W. for a lunch run up and down City Creek Canyon, for an enjoyable 7 mile jaunt. 9:14ap
 

6:00AM- Ran with a fun crew up the Ave Twin Peaks with Scott W., Craig L., Matt W., Ashley R., Zac M., Brent L. and Robert W. As usual, I as panting for air in the first mile, then got used to it. We had a quick pace up and down since I was anxious to get home and get the kids ready for school:) 1:56:49/ 11:36ap. I think this was my fastest time on this route!

7:30PM- Night run with Karen down Main Street. We were a couple of slugs. She was tired from the SOJO half and I was just a slug from the morning run. She was nice enough to stop at Walmart with me to buy some much needed essentials for my trip this weekend- fingernail polish. 6.5 miles 9:51 ap

Crazy cleaning marathon for my MIL to stay with our kids this next week. Steve and I leave in the morning for our flight to Maui! At the end of the day, I am spent! My house was that dirty.

Traveling day and traveling back in time...4 hours. Lots of zombie walking and forcing my eyelids to stay open. Excited for a full night of sleep and to get some scenic running in this week.

7:30AM- Beach discovery run. The route was very hilly and sandy. I had to walk in certain spots, but a good workout. A workout where the pace doesn't reflect the effort. Easy two miles, then pushed the next three to 7:40-50's and last mile at 6:29. I kept my watch going to take my HR and was only in the 80% range. Weird, cause it felt much harder. 8:15ap

Afterwards, I got cleaned up and was able to locate an LDS church. It was a beautiful church with full seats. The speaker was a riot- at least I thought so. I was the only one laughing out loud, which I think was appreciated by the speaker;) He said something about the devil aiming in between our loin cloth, to take us down. I wasn't sure what he was talking about before, but that set me off for the rest of the meeting. Eventually Steve joined in and we had to avoid eye contact the rest of the meeting to stay reverent.  After sacrament, 80% walked out the door, leaving 10 others in Sunday school. It was so quiet and no one was answering any questions.  We couldn't imagine the class spitting in half  again for Relief Society and Elders, so we ran out afterwards. Everyone was so welcoming and it was a great experience.

We are staying at the Makena Beach and Golf Resort in Maui. We wish we could afford this regularly, but Steve's work flipping the bill for a work convention he is presenting at. We keep pinching ourselves and giggling like children (even outside of church.)

So far while we've been gone, my MIL has had her hands full. My four-year-old ran away at Walmart. After a frantic search, then a code Adam and a call to the police, he was discovered hiding in the bra rack. Oh my.  Then my daughter's play practice ended and hour early so she decided to walk home. My MIL couldn't find her anywhere and about had her second heart attack. Hopefully the rest of the week is better. ah!

This morning I ran along the streets and found three different beaches. Some were  more secluded than others. I also spotted a bird sanctuary reserve nestled back in the State park. I stumbled upon it after a significant hike. The only thing marking it was a rusted over sign, barely visible from the street. I was excited to see several shells in the forestry area. I collected a few, only to return back to the hotel and see snails inhabiting the same type I had collected. Gross, I collected snail shells! I can do that in Bountiful.

Lots of running intended, but only ran .5 mile. Then decided to walk another 2 miles. More exploring than running today, but made up for it at the beach.

When I asked the concierge where a secluded, private beach was, she gave me a look, I thought. Then she pulled out a separate map, that seemed tucked in a private place behind the desk and said, "oh yes, I have a couple of those for you." I have to admit, I was suprised. Usually in these kind of places, nothing is private anymore or hidden. She had three places which she circled on the map and gave specific directions on how to access it. She made some sort of joke about people taking off there clothes, but I thought she just meant couples did when they found it in the privacy of themselves. I had no idea.

Steve ended up getting out early today from his conference so I picked him up and told him I had a special place to go snorkeling. The last time we had found one of these gems was when we were on a similar trip in Kona and landed on a black sand beach all by ourselves (in fact, that is where my profile picture was taken:). So we headed out and drove to the spot. On of the biggest beaches here is called the Big beach. Clever. Anyway, we needed to access this secluded beach via access of this beach and climbing through a small crevice of a hill to the other side. We kept seeing people coming in and out of this spot and wondered if everyone else knew of the secret. We summited the top of the climb and looked out over the ocean. There were lots of trees, but we could see lots of canopies and umbrellas planted on the beach. The beach was maybe 100 meters long and filled with people. Not so private, but secluded, yes. I look out and my eyes hone in on this man with his back turned to us in the water. I was sure I saw his backside and turned to Steve and said, "oh no! That guy lost his shorts!!" The guy turns around and I also turn around. He didn't seem to care, like at all. We shrug our shoulders and decide to go down onto to the beach to claim a spot. When we get to the bottom, I'm trying to not look at that guy so I keep my eyes down and start telling Steve that I was sure that guy was on his way out. We look out on the crowd, and EVERYONE IS NUDE. Mom's with children (!), men, old and young. That was a first. We turned right around and decided to ride the waves on the Big beach instead. I've heard of these beaches, but thought they only really existed in Nudist colonies, third world counties and in Europe. Add Maui to the list. We are hesitant to try out the other two beaches.... but I guess if things get boring around here, there's always that.

We snorkeled and road the waves for 2 hours, then headed into town for some shopping, and ice cream for dinner.

The sun was too hot by the time I got out by 7:30AM, so I decided to run on the TM for an introduction-to-speed-again-workout. It was nice to have water handy without having to carry it. It's been a long time since I've stepped on the TM or ran in the 6:00 or below range. I expected to taste pennies by the end and just got it done.

2 mile warm up (8:30ish)

10X 400@ 1:32 (1/2 rest)

8 X 200@ 4:57ap (60 sec rest)

.5 cd

Followed by 15 mins of weights focused on arms and core.

The workout turned out to feel moderately hard, about where I expected my fitness to be... but I did not taste pennies!:)

Sick with head cold. Darn it! Walked and ran 4 night miles with Steve. Mostly walked. I was out of breath, it was embarrassing.

Day off from running again to warn off getting more sick. Lots of snorkeling today. So stuffed, I didn't even need my snorkel gear. I also road a great white shark.