Okay, I can’t decide if it’s sick or allergies, but whatever it is, it’s kept me from running since Monday. My throat is on fire!

Saturday I had a 45-mile relay race. It was meant for 5 people, but they were lenient with #s if you had kids since the race benefited the education foundation. I ran with a couple of friends and their 3 kids. The two youngest kids each did one leg (actually, one filled in for her mother for a couple of miles, too), and the older did two legs. My friends have been running and preparing, but as we all know, it’s hard to train for your first relay race. You’re never prepared for how hard that second run of the day is going to be.

Since I’m ‘the runner’, I did the two longest legs – 6.2 miles and 5.8 miles. Which would have been fun and doable in the best weather conditions…

We woke up to snow Saturday morning. It was snowing at our start time, snowing at our second stop…then the weather turned cloudy, then the sun peeked through, and by the time my first leg started, I was cursing myself for not changing into shorts and thinking about ditching my shirt for just a sports bra! But no fail, this is Utah…it got windy, then cloudy, and then I fought snow flurries and wind for my second leg. It was almost entirely on trails, and I followed a sheriff (isn’t it great the sheriff’s department had a team?) for the entire leg. I caught him on the trails, but he pulled away from me…fast…when we hit the pavement for the last mile. I barely made the cut-off time! I didn’t even know we were in danger of missing it, but I was the last runner to make it. By the time we finished, it was snowing again.

It was fun – no doubt about that, but I have to say the weather was the most aggravating thing I’ve had to deal with in a long time. There was no way to be prepared from the start to the end of any given leg, and I spent a good deal of energy worrying about what I should be wearing. But, it all worked out! Unfortunately the ‘party’ at the end wasn’t as well attended as it would have been had it been nice…

My calves were pretty tight that evening, but I’m fairly impressed with the fact that I wasn’t sore Sunday – not a bit! (This really bodes well for the Ragnar coming up in 3 weeks). I really wanted to head out for a run Sunday, but was determined to let my legs rest. Of course, Monday I woke up with my throat on fire, and haven’t been out since.

Yep, that’s it. The title of my post says it all.

After we left Zion, we spent two days at my sister’s timeshare in Vegas. The workout room was great (okay, the whole place was great!)- four treadmills, two ellipticals, three or four bikes, weight equipment, towels, water, tv’s…Chris and I decided Monday afternoon (after time at the pool, lunch, and just sitting there reading in the room) that it was time for a workout. My legs had been pretty sore, but were feeling spry by the time I was getting dressed for my workout. So I head to the workout room, where Chris was just about finishing his run.

I turned on the TV. Game shows work as running fodder (plus I couldn’t figure out how to change the channel). I couldn’t get the first treadmill to work, so I tried the next. Woo hoo! Success! I started out nice and easy…but it was so easy. There was so much oxygen! I kept turning up the speed on the treadmill, a bit every couple of minutes. Before I knew it, I was running faster than I have in months, and still felt fresh and ready to go! Since it was an ‘easy’ workout, I held down to 35 minutes, and ran 3.55 miles.  But it’s always just so shocking how easy it is to run at 5000 lower in elevation than you live and train.

Chris and I left the office early on Friday for our post-tax season vacation. We headed first to Zion National Park, and camped at a mega-campground right outside the entrance Friday and Saturday. We hiked about 6 miles Saturday on various trails. I really was a little tired from that, so I didn’t do quite as much mileage as I had planned. But both Saturday evening and Sunday morning, I got the honor and absolute pleasure of running in Zion NP. It was great. I ran on the Pa’rus trail (short of 3.5 miles regardless of what the park maps say) with short side trips onto the Watchman trail for some extra mileage.

I have to admit Saturday evening I was a little weary about my run. It was hot. I was tired. But it was a great opportunity to try out my new Nathan handheld water bottle holder…thingy. The first 1/3 of the run was, as expected, really hot. But the upper part of the trail is well-shaded, and by the time I got back to the lower part the sun had just barely dipped below the western cliffs. I passed many walkers, some bikers, and just one other runner. (We gave a head nod and a ‘hey’ as we passed. I believe there was an understanding about how lucky we were to be running in the park).

But the great thing? On the shuttle back to the campground there was a woman with her husband who I could tell was kind of looking at me. The next morning (I did a much more extended version of the trail, starting at the campground and going back past it for a total of about 6.8 miles), I saw the woman and her husband out for a run on the Pa’rus trail! That made me quite happy. I hope she saw me out running and said ‘honey, that’s what we’re doing tomorrow!’

Running in the park was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous, especially since I picked not-too-hot times to try it. Warning – DO NOT attempt this between the hours of 10AM and 4:30 PM from April to October. You wouldn’t make it.

Okay, there are many reasons I love running, and there will likely be many posts with this title through the years.

But here’s the reason (as of last Thursday before I went on vacation) this time:

I love that your mind and body both simultaneous tell you that you can’t do it and that you can do it. Then when you do it (since you could all along), the feeling of power and accomplishment is always there for you.

When I started my run Thursday, I thought there was no way I could finish it. I had planned a 5-mile tempo run, which in my slightly out-of-shape-state right now, means a one mile warm-up, 3 to 3.5 miles at (or around) race pace, and a .5 mile to one mile cool down. Ha! I was exhausted. I had spent the whole day trying to finish everything so I could leave town, didn’t get through as much as I wanted, had to pack and work for the rest of the evening, but knew I had to get my run in…

I started running around the track with a ‘not gonna happen, so we’ll just see how far we get’ mentality. About half a lap around my 12th of a mile track, I got a sharp pain through my left ankle. OW! But, that was it. It was done. About another lap around and my right calf tightened up for a few laps. Annoying calf. But it got better. I got on the treadmill and cranked up the speed to something I knew I could handle for three miles and it went so fast! I turned up the speed a couple of times when I knew I was going to make it. By the end, I was in a great mood, knowing I did a workout as planned even though when I started, everything was telling me I couldn’t.

Now I have to get that ‘tempo’ speed up to where I want it to be – which is certainly not where it was for that workout. I made a good start earlier this week…but that’s another post.

I wanted to title this post admitsions. But that’s not a word. Not even a made up word that makes sense.

I’m preparing for multiple relay races – in one I will run two times in about 8 hours, in the other, three times in about 24 hours. This is really hard on your body if you’re not used to it, so (for the first time) I’m really preparing by running twice a day (to be three after the first relay is over) once a week (on the weekend).

Last weekend I did a 5 mile run and a 2 mile run. Yesterday I did a 6.34 mile and a 4 mile. Here’s my first confession – I’m sore. Just a little, but sore. My shins are tight, and my legs are tired. But I’m really happy that it means I’m giving my legs a workout. Let’s hear it for toned running legs! (For a side confession, my shoulder really likes running – it didn’t hurt at all yesterday!)

Here’s my second confession. I love running Marsac Ave. It’s not fun – don’t get me wrong. It is one hard hill to run up. But it is fun, because I know every person driving by sees me and thinks ‘wow, she’s really tough’. I like that. Slightly vain? Slightly egotistical? Perhaps. But at least I’m working really hard to get the satisfaction of people thinking good things about me.

Third confession: I’m pretty sad I’m not at the same running speed I was in January. I know I’ll get it back, but I’m just not sure I have the time to do it before the 4th of July 5K, in which I’ve improved my time by 2 minutes for each of the last 3 years. I’d like to do it again. I was definitely on track to do it again this year, but I think that’s highly unlikely now.

I probably have more confessions – like, it’s slightly improbable I will get up and go to the gym in the morning even though I’m planning on it. And, I really want a dog, but am slightly worried about the freedom it will take away from my life. Oh, and I might have a slight breakdown if I don’t get out of town into warmth and sun for a couple of days in the next month.