Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

AM: Elliptical, HM pace running and stretches. I'm exhausted from trick or treating!

PM: 90 minutes of tennis tonight. If there was ever any doubt before, there is no more. Clearly, I have no future in tennis.

Update: It appears it was a win after all! Thanks for everyone's help with verifying and helping me out. Guess we'll see if the official results mirror the situation.

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Again, this was compiled on my phone, so be gentle with your grammatical criticisms:)

What a fun, low key and organized race! I traveled up to Pocatello, Idaho to visit a friend, celebrate my father in laws birthday and of course race!

I spent the night at my friend, Doni's house. We spend the majority of the night stewing over the race, wondering about the conditions and laughing till our eyes closed from drowsiness.

My thoughts going into the race were good. I knew I had a good chance of placing but really wanted to balance a good time while not pushing the limits on any old injuries. I knew 1:24 would not be overkill, but challenging at the same time with my current training.

The race started at 10:13 sharp! Lots of people started out very fast. As I made my way through, I couldn't help but to over here some of the conversations, "wouldn't it be cool if we could really keep this pace up the whole way?" and " look how far ahead we are of everyone else already!" and " Whoa! This is fast! Oh well let's just keep going until we die." And last but not least, " This is my first half! I should have trained." As you may guess, by the first mile most had settled into a comfortable pace. I was in third, with the first and second ladies quite a bit ahead along with a handful of guys.

Miles 1-6 (6:09, 6:17, 6:37, 6:30, 6:27, 6:31) The first 2 miles were by far the steepest. Then the course works its way down the canyon with rolling hills. The most difficult part about this course was that it was very difficult to get in a good rhythm. The rollers were very apparent and felt abrupt all the way down. Although there was traffic, for the most part, I was able to catch the tangents. I felt very relaxed but anticipated my legs would start to fatigue. Then the wind started. You know it's windy when it's hard to hear your music. I could feel my splits slipping despite my efforts- at least we were going downhill for the most part. When I was off 40+ seconds by the 10k, I realized I needed to reevaluate my time because I couldn't control the conditions and the course was only going to get more challenging. I passed the two ladies and was in first, or so I thought (more on this later) and the same handful of guys up front. Looked down at 6.1@ 39:09.

Miles 6-13 (6:31,6:49, 6:31,6:32, 6:37,6:52, 6:55) These were somewhat uneventful miles. The aid stations were great, at mile 11 there was a temptation table with liquor,water, gatorade ,and pastries. I went with out. Once out of the canyon, the wind disappeared as we turned directions and headed to the finish. The last 2 miles were buggers. The rolling hills continued, however they were rolling up this time- to finish. The last two hills we're pathetic for me, but I managed to stay close to pace. I finish and get congrats from others stating I was the top female. I also believed I was first so I was happy :-)

The awards start and I was awarded first place. I was given a pitchfork and 150 dollar gift certificate. Then, there was some confusion about the results. Somehow, it went unnoticed that an OVERALL second place finisher was a 39 female finishing in 1:18. She never showed up to the awards or alerted the director she would be gone. No one around seemed to know who she was or noticed her. It's clear she exists, there just may be some question as to whether she ran or had given her number to a male. I surrender back the prizes and in exchange for second and was given an engraved baseball bat and 50 dollar gift certificate. Still so great to win and happy with how I did. They plan to mail her the prize money.

I was curious to know who this woman was. A 39 year old from Caldwell, Idaho who ran a great time, on this course who shatteted the female course record from Lois Keller. Lois was my teammate in college. She went on to run in the Olympic Trials, USA's, various sponsorships etc. Her record was shattered by 3+ minutes yesterday! Who was this outstanding lady? I looked her up. Athlinks is not familiar with her. She has a sparse race history, if any. I felt like I was being challenged so I put on my stalker cap and find her daily training log. Her last run was several days ago. 3.1 miles in 36:XX. Huh. Everything appeared to match up to a woman with 12 minute miles who often speed walks for cross training. Where did this woman come from? So strange. Regardless, congrats to her with an impressive time!

Aside from base miles as usual, thanksgiving 10 K up next!

I got my workout clothes on this morning in anticipation of running. My legs and lack of motivation discouraged the idea. I really just need to roll those puppies out.! A good run would probably really just be the best idea to get the lactic acid out. I didn't know how out of shape my legs were going in to this race. Run tomorrow.

I did run however in the parking lot to cast my vote!

Also, I won the lottery! The Ogden Marathon lottery that is:) I looked over the course and it doesn't look as fast as I hoped it would be. For those that have ran it, did you like it? I basically like being timed as I jump off a cliff.

Today I went to my last visit at the running clinic. I finally graduated with decent running form. I still need to work on my core though. Time to focus on core and weights this winter before Ogden marathon. I think 2013 is my year for PR's!

Day 1 of strength training initiative. Time to get my sorry abs in gear! 15 minutes elliptical warm up then new physical therapy/ running clinic routine.

2x20

crunches with tabletop knees

armpit to kneed bicycle crunches

legs at 90 degree angle with toe touches

2x60

planks

side planks, each side

2x30

bucket kickers with T band, each side

isolated squats with T band

1 minute of crab walks with T band around knees

My strength really need some help some of these were pretty hard today. The goal is to do these 3xweek.

PM: 60 minutes of tennis tonight. Tonight was the last match of the season. Somehow, the wind work in my favor and I won all but 1 game. Whenever I would hit a ball way off, The wind would adjust for me and make it in.The real reason is because I played against all of the other loosers of the tournament so it would be more of an even playing field. A great ab workout tonight. We laughed at ourselves the entire time as balls through over the court, into bathrooms, and hit cars. We were basically experts, experts at tennis mayhem. Also, I left with a wound to the face after a leaf came blowing at my face at 120 miles per hour. It either cut my face or popped a zit, I don't know. Case in point, it was blowing game!

Same workout as yesterday with all the abdomen and leg exercises. The exercises are pretty tough when I'm doing them but then the rest the day I am not sore. So either I'm not doing them right or I'm just a big wimp. No comments on this one, please :-) I took the week off of running So that I can give my stiff toe some time to cool off. I need to stop racing in my Kinvaras, I think they have passed their time. RIP.

I've been so busy with work and sick kids, the one thing I let slide first was running. I usually find myself on an unplanned lazy break about this time each year anyway since the season has ended. Like last year, I plan to run a Thanksgiving run off of virtually no running the weeks before. Why not, it makes it more interesting.

Since the air quality has been less than ideal, I ran on the treadmill. I only got 2  wu miles in before my son began screaming. I'm getting really tired of "kicking tiny birds in the head, smashing crickets, and punching spiders in the face." His night terrors are killing me. I have to go through the motions with sound effects so that it's believable that I am taking care of business and  exterminating these monsters from his room. I guess you could say that I got a mini kick boxing session in. I never returned to the treadmill....little buddy was now up!

After getting the kids to school, I went to a Body Attack class for 1 hour. That was fun, I need to do a class or two more often. 

These 6 miles were rough. That's what I get for crappy eating and training for the past two weeks. Not feeling great today. Season over or not, I've gone overboard. Time to eat better and be more consitant in training. I've been thinking of doing crosfit this winter. I've never heard anyone doing it, who later regretted it. Anyone have any experience with it?

4 miles on treadmill @ 6:40 AP then 30 mins elliptical.

Free deer meat anyone? Various cuts available, road kill style. I ran over a large deer yesterday morning on my way to work. It was still dark so I had little time to respond to a dead dear laying in the middle of the highway. Things haven't been the same since for my poor car. I had it checked out today and ran around till my car was finished. Broken emergency brake cable, needs alignment and a stench that will not go away. I chose the victims guys at the Chevron Super Soak car wash to give my car the "Ultimate+" car wash, something that is not advertised. As they began spraying off the car to prep before going into the wash, I rolled down my window and casually mentioned that I might need a little extra spray under the car. I died laughing as I watched their faces change when they saw what was dragging under the car. They began pulling out large chunks of meat and began gagging which turned into laughing. Together we suffered through the new smells that emerged. They mentioned that their days were generally boring so it made me feel better. They even went the extra mile and pulled out a tool to tighten a few things that looked loose. Thanks to Mike and Mark who will never read this blog! Everything needed to be fixed and cleaned out before our trip to Disneyland next week! 3 miles in 90 mins:)

What a great way to start out Thanksgiving! 10 K in my hometown with great weather. I knew coming into this race I had given a D effort in training and prep, but planned to give a A effort, despite the outcome. I knew this race wasn't going to feel good for the obvious reasons, but felt horrible during the warm-up. At one point I contemplated dropping out before it even started. My stomach was cramping up and my legs struggled to move. I thought I had a good chance of placing but was not in the mood to race! The shoot at the start was about 5 feet wide with what seemed like tons if runners. I lined up near the start by several children. The 5k and 10k started together. The race started and I was fighting it in the first mile already. Two ladies ahead, but passed them before mile 2. A fast first mile, slight downhill. Miles 2-3 were flat and 4 to finish were slight uphill. Lots if weaving in and out of neighborhoods. Mile 4.5 was the start of Mario Kart. I clearly need to brush up on my skills. Lots of cut offs, small sudden stops, running in front of cars and dodging small children. The straightway to the finish was classic. A large bunch of walkers in the road and sidewalk, so ran through tall grass and cut Someone completely off. Planned to be 40:xx but actually shocked to get it after running the course and dodging obsticals. Pleased with the results. Done racing for 2012. So excited for 2013 race season! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Splits: 6:02,6:34,6:46,6:46,6:38,6:56,6:07 (.18)

10 miles on the trail with Kam. Good company and weather. Off to Disneyland!