Okay, how much has happened since my last post? Enough.

After the 5K on the 4th, my long runs didn’t go well. My legs felt very tired, and there was just no pickup. I didn’t feel great going into the Bryce Canyon Half-Marathon. However, that morning, I felt awesome! So awesome in fact, that I went out way too fast (I seriously clocked an 8-minute mile for mile 3, and didn’t slow down much until mile 6). I died by mile 7 – my back hurt, the back of my knees hurt…the early and fast downhill had just been too much for me. I finished in 2 hours, 18 minutes. Not SO far from my goal, but far enough.

Since then, I’ve been taking it pretty easy. I’ve still be running, but more like 10 – 15 miles a week and not a really long run (no longer than 6 miles) on the weekends. We took a 10 day vacation in early August, and I ran a few times, but just enough to it wouldn’t be hard to get back on schedule when vacation was over.

The truth is, I’ve felt great – much better than before the half, when my legs were tired and I just couldn’t make them go.

Yesterday was Labor Day to most of you. To me, it was Miner Day, Park City’s town celebration day. It, of course, starts off with a 5K! In the past couple of years, the course has been short. I let them know last year via email that they might want to work on that… And…they did! It was a full 5K this year! Yesterday morning was cold. It was supposed to be really cold, but the weather smiled on us – I felt comfortable enough to wear shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, and gloves. It was the perfect outfit for the weather.

I felt like I was going really fast. Was I having a breakthrough run? I knew there weren’t too many people in front of me, and I was passing just as many as were passing me…I finished, stopped my Nike+, and realized I was seriously not having a breakthrough run. I was running…not fast! But, hey, I was running faster than everyone else apparently. On a side note, always remember to kick at the end – I totally counted this girl I passed as gone, and she ALMOST caught up to me. Timing chips put her at 0.1 seconds behind me.

Anyway, as soon as the race finished, I said hi to another Olaf Alum who often runs the same races I do, and left the race to hit breakfast. I hadn’t even registered for the raffle, and it would just be ridiculous to think I placed in the top 3 in my age group (not that there have ever been age group awards before this year!). But then a friend met up with us after breakfast – and said he heard my name called. I checked with the organizers today – I was third in the female 20 – 35 age group. Huge age group, right? Oh, and I was 4.5 minutes slower than the girl who was 2nd. Like I said, I didn’t go fast, just faster than everybody else. But, I have to say, I am super-excited to have placed in my age group for once. Next time I hope it’s because I actually went fast