Thanksgiving Day Run race report

We got to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our family in Utah, and BRRR was it cold. A big winter storm blew through. It didn't leave much snow, but it left the coldest temperatures I've ever experienced. We had a great trip, but I am glad to be home and out of the cold and snow (which we hit on the way home)!

I met up with my speedy brother-in-law in the 10 degree (or less) weather for the International Thanksgiving Day run in Orem. I don't think I've ever run in that cold of temperature, even when I lived in Utah. After a good warm up (not sure you can call it that if you're still freezing!), we headed back inside to stay warm until the start. By the start of the race, I was ready to get the suffering over with. I had sort of given up the hope of winning a pie (2nd place age group award), because of the cold and all my extra layers. My main goal was to go under 25 minutes, but that would be in question as well.

I also forgot to pack my watch for this trip, so I had to just run this race by feel. After a quick jump off the starting line, I settled into what I thought was a pretty good pace. I felt a little slow all bundled up with a scarf over my face, two jackets and long pants, but that was ok. I hit the first mile marker really wishing I could check my split, but oh well. I just focused on the group ahead of me and gradually made my way toward them. I eventually caught that group, but another small group caught me. By about 3.5 miles, though, I managed to catch all but one of them. I thought I might be able to catch another couple in the final stretch, but their final kick matched mine. As I approached the finish, I could still see 24:something on the clock. My face was a little frozen, and my eyes too blurry to make out how much time I had before 25. Just as I came close enough to focus, it turned to 25, and six seconds later, I crossed the line. So close.

Official stats:
Time: 25:06
Overall place: 22nd
Age group: 1st
Age group award: Turkey! I guess Christmas dinner is covered. :-)

New Year's Day 5k Race Report

This race is quickly becoming a tradition for New Year's Day. Each year that we have lived in Arizona, my wife's sister and family have come to visit us after Christmas. My brother-in-law, who is an excellent runner, and I have done this race two years in a row now. It's great to have an opportunity to run with him when he comes (even though it's hard to keep up). On one of our runs, we were talking about our goals for this race. He was hoping to run under 18. I have been hoping to run under 19 for months now, but have so far been very unsuccessful. And with the December I had (nearly 2 weeks off with some strange rib pain, and a few more days off with a cold), I really wasn't expecting much at all. But, I love running races, so I was excited for it anyway.

I got a new watch for Christmas into which I can program my target times for each mile, so, with encouragement from my brother-in-law, I programmed splits for a 19-minute 5k, mostly just to test out the function, but also thinking how cool it would be to really run those times.

The course is pretty flat except for a minor hill going out of the park near the start, and where the trail goes under a road at about the 1 mile mark (you hit this hill in the other direction at about mile 2 since it's an out and back course). Leaving the park, I was in 4th place, just a short distance behind my brother-in-law. A short while later, I was joined by 3 gentlemen with whom I stayed with until the turn around. At this point, they all took off. I didn't let them get too far ahead of me, but based on my experience last year, I thought I'd be able to catch them before the finish. There was no one very close behind me, but I did see a large group of runners approaching after I had turned around. This group was lead by several young guys, who looked like they might be pretty quick. This struck a little fear in me, because I really didn't want to get passed by anyone else.

There weren't any mile markers beside mile 1 (where I was 12 seconds ahead of my target time, by the way), so wasn't sure how I was doing on time. I was just trying to get to the finish line as fast as I could. As I entered the park, I could see my brother-in-law making the final turn to the finish, and the 3 guys who passed my not too far behind him. When I hit that turn, I could see the clock, and saw that it was still well under 19 minutes. I had no idea I was going so fast (with this target time setting, I wasn't able to see the total time for the race). I crossed the line at 18:46, only 12 seconds slower than my PR. Unbelievable! I was exhausted, but already thinking about when I'd be able to fit in the next 5k.

I ended up finishing 7th overall, and a little surprised to be 2nd in my age group. Turns out that the much older looking guy with the big, bushy beard who won the race was also in my age group. Bummer. My bro-in-law finished 3rd, and 1st in his age group. Go us!

After the race, we went over to the "Hole in the Rock," and played a bit. We all had a lot of fun.

Laveen Turkey Trot race report

I know this is a little late, but what can you expect from a guy who has only posted twice in like the last three months. The tardiness is worsened when I mention that this race took place the Saturday before Thanksgiving, not the week of!

I had been looking forward to this race all year long. I volunteered to help out at the race last year because my knee was acting up. Had I ran, I would have won by about 4 minutes. So, I was really looking forward to this race not anticipating this year's field to be much more competitive. Plus, my top runner from the high school time I coached this fall (we'll call him Pedro, who made huge gains over the season) was running, and I wanted to see if I could still beat him.

The course consisted of a lap around the high school, then over to the park and around the lake (which, by the way is one of my favorite places to run), and then back to the school. I knew starting out that the course was going to be long because we were starting on the track about 150 meters from where the map showed the start, and ending about 50 meters after the marked finish. The map indicated the course was 3.11, so we were adding about another 1/10th of a mile. Oh well, not a big deal. I always like getting more for my money.

Pedro and I took off in the lead, and stayed there for the first mile, with another high school kid right on our heals. At the one mile mark, this kid passed us and quickly took off. I didn't think he'd be able to hold it, so I let him go. Not long after that, Pedro dropped off, and I was alone. Running around the lake was so quiet. There were a few people fishing, but not much else going on, and the distance between me and Pedro was increasing. I reached the 2 mile mark at 13 minutes, which was right where I wanted to be. I was hoping I'd be able to start making up some ground on 1st place, but he was too far ahead. I finished in 2nd place, about 30 seconds behind 1st. Pedro crossed about 20 seconds later.

I ended up getting a medal for placing first in my age group (30-54). When they called me up, I disappointed another runner who happened to have the same first name as me, and actually looks over 30. He obviously thought I was as young as I look. Sorry, Reed.

Provo Freedom Run 5k

Yes, I am still alive, and still running. We went out of town for a little while to visit family over the 4th of July, and I just haven't gotten back into the swing of things as far as this blog goes. Hopefully, I'll start posting a little more regularly now that we are back. Although, just last night I was talking with Lani about how my new hobby might get in the way. My cousin gave us her old piano a couple months ago, and I've started learning how to play and absolutely love it. We'll see if this turns into a piano blog. Until that happens though, I have a race to report.

The Freedom Run is a race I've done several times already. There is a 5k and a 10k. I've done the 5k several years ago, and Lani and I ran the 10k last year. I decided to do the 5k again this year since I am still being very cautious about my knee. I've been able to run 5-6 miles with no problem at all, but longer runs don't always agree with it. And besides, I want to run fast. The race started just south of Brigham Young University, the ol' alma mater, and followed the 4th of July Parade route, then finishing uphill at Kiwanis Park.

I had previously checked out last year's results, and thought that if I could run about 19:45 I'd have a pretty good chance at an age group award, so that was my goal. As I waited for the start, I was scoping out the competition. I spotted a few possible 30-somethings, but couldn't tell for sure. I had some technical difficulties with my watch at the start, but got off the line pretty quickly. I quickly settled into what I thought was a comfortably hard pace, and one of those 30-somethings came along beside me. We were together for most of the 1st mile. But when I got to the mile marker, I looked at my watch and saw 5:50, I knew I was going way too fast. Knowing I had a hill to climb at the end, I pulled back a bit.

The next mile passed with at 6:40 split. I was hoping for something closer to 6:20, but oh well. Once I turned off the parade route, the hill loomed ahead. I could see the 30-something just a little ahead of me. I've always been pretty strong on hills, but living in flat Phoenix for the last two years hasn't given me much opportunity to train on hills, so I really didn't know what was going to happen on this hill. But, one by one, I started passing people, including that 30-something. It was really cool cruising past so many people. I then turned the corner, entered the park and sprinted to the finish where I met Lani and the kiddos.

I finished with a 19:49, almost a full minute faster than my New Year's Day race, and more than 2 minutes faster than my run at the zoo, so I was pretty pleased. I didn't think it was good enough to place though. Turns out it was, actually. In fact, it was good enough for 1st place in my division. Definitely was not expecting that. I received a nice little glass trophy with an eagle and American flag etched inside.

The rest of our trip was filled with some incredible runs through my old stomping grounds. I definitely miss the hills, canyons, trees, water, cooler weather, and trails of Utah.

The Freakishly Flexible 5k

If you don't know Non-Runner Nancy, you are missing out on one incredibly awesome runner/blogger. She's the ever-supportive, funny, inspirational virtual race director who happens to have some crazy problem with her hip that is putting her future as a runner in jeopardy. In order to show our support for her as she prepares for surgery to repair the damage in her hip, USJogger is putting together a virtual race in her honor, The Freakishly Flexible 5k on (or around) February 14th. Please spread the word and join us in supporting Nancy!

New Year's Day 5k

Sure, it's a little late, but I haven't written a race report for a really long time, so I had to get it in here.After we had registered for this race, I realized that I had only done a total of two races in 2008 (not counting the virtual races). There was Boston in April and the 1 Mile Race in August, and that was it. I did a lot of running, made a lot of progress, reached an awesome goal, but only ran 2 actual races. So, I was really looking forward to racing again. I sort of felt like a newbie again. A little bit of nervousness before the start, but after the gun went off, it was all familiar territory.

This race was a lot of fun. We had Lani's sister and her family in town for a visit. Her husband, who has really gotten into running last year (and gotten really fast, and possibly more obsessed with running than I am), also ran it with his 16 year old son. Lani and my oldest both ran the mile, with the youngest in the stroller. My daughter got to try out her new running shoes she got for Christmas (unfortunately, she was a little grumpy that morning and didn't actually do a whole lot of running).

The race started in Papago Park and headed out along a canal in an out-and-back course. My goal was to keep my mile splits under 7 minutes. I felt that was pretty attainable despite only returning to running from about a two month layoff about 3 weeks before. That turned out to not be much of a problem with all three splits being around 6:40. I was pretty surprised when I only counted about 11 runners ahead of me at the turn around. A couple sped by me shortly after I made the turn, but I caught both of them before the finish (I also caught up to Lani and the girls as they were finishing the mile. I could tell my daughter wasn't too happy as I got no response to my cheering her on). I ended up with a time of 20:42, good enough for 10th overall and 1st in my age group. Not too shabby. I really wasn't expecting to be first place. But hey, I'll take it. It wasn't too long before my bro-in-law and his son finished. My nephew was obviously feeling it, but his dad enjoyed a nice easy run before his first marathon, which took place on the 3rd. I was actually going to do it with him until I hurt my knee and had to postpone that idea. Sorry about that. That race didn't go as well as he had hoped. He started feeling really sick the day before, and still wasn't feeling good during the race, but he still did it! The first time is always a learning experience. I'm just glad it didn't turn him off from marathons. I still want to run one with him someday. His new rule: "Never eat egg salad sandwich the day before a race."

Trim up the tree

Every year, Lani and I have exchanged Christmas ornaments. Some have been store-bought, but most have been homemade. For some reason, most of the ones Lani has given men have been related to running. We try to make our ornaments meaningful in some way. Lani always has very awesome and creative ideas. This year, she did not disappoint. Her ornament for me commemorates two running accomplishments this year. I'm not sure what they're called, but she took some little glass rock-type things, glued some magazine cut-outs to the back, and strung them together on a ribbon for an absolutely incredible finished product. One side commemorates my running the Boston Marathon, and the other side commemorates my running a 4:59.95 mile.I had yet to make Lani a running ornament, simply because she had never done much running. However, this year, Lani really got into it. She'd often get up wicked early to meet her friends for a run. Even now at 5 months pregnant, she is still running. So to commemorate her new life as a runner, I made this:I used the same idea with the glass rock thingys, and used paper clips to sculpt a little pregnant runner (that's a picture of Lani's face and a cartoon picture of a fetus behind the glass). I'm pretty proud of my creation.

On a different Christmas/running note, we recently went to a Christmas party where Santa was on hand, and my oldest asked for--get this--running shoes! How cool is that?!

White elephant gifts!

After the treat I got last year, I just had to get in on this year's Runner's Lounge white elephant gift exchange (this week's Take it and Run theme).

Not many of us like running in the rain, right? Coming home from a run all sweaty is bad enough. Who wants to get completely soaked as a result of a workout in the rain? Here is the perfect solution... The Umbrella Headband!!Not only does this baby feature a comfortable, chic, and uncumbersome large diameter shield from the rain, it comes fully equipped with a state of the art, sweat-absorbing headband! What could be better? Now you can head out for your daily run, rain or shine, and not have to fear the elements.

An unexpected running partner

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's definitely not easy to go without running when you have an injury. The knee has been feeling OK, so I was tempted to give it a try this week. Lani and the girls have been out of town :-(, so Boston (our little dog) has been home alone while I go to work. I was feeling sorry for him, so I decided to take him for a long walk just to get him outside. I really needed some fresh air too, and a little bit of exercise. So, out we went. We had only made it around the corner when Boston started trotting along, pulling on the leash. What's a guy to do, especially when he is looking for an excuse to run? Up the road, and down the bike path we went. He was really moving along. Then I got to thinking, "Dude, Boston, you're just a little Shih Tsu. You weren't made for running distances." So, I slowed him down to a walk. Not much longer after that, he wanted to go some more. Who am I to stop a puppy from having a little fun after being so alone all day long? We ended up jogging/walking about a mile and a half. It was great! It felt so good to be moving again. The knee held up just fine, but it still doesn't feel quite right.

The next day, we did it again, and we actually ran most of the way. This time, I noticed my knee a bit more. I've come to the conclusion that it is not my ITB. Feeling around, I was finally able to pinpoint the location of discomfort. Up until now, it has just been general discomfort on the outside of my right knee. It is most sensitive right on the top of the head of my fibula. What could have caused that? The only thing I can think of is over training. I'm kind of wondering if it is a stress fracture, but a stress fracture on the fibula is very rare as it is not really a weight bearing bone. It might also have something to do with my lateral collateral ligament, which connects to the fibula, but damage to this ligament is usually caused by something hitting the inside of the knee, pushing it outward. I'm pretty sure nothing like that happened. So, I'm don't really know what's going on. Any ideas? I should probably go have it checked out, huh?

With Lani out of town, I didn't have to worry about feeling guilty about leaving her home this morning getting Thanksgiving dinner ready (don't worry, I've got a couple brothers and a sister-in-law coming over for dinner, so it won't just be me and Boston). I decided to volunteer at another local race. This was the Thanksgiving Day Classic, a 5k and a 10 mile run. It was raining pretty hard last night, and it was still raining when I got up this morning, so I was a little worried for the runners. But just in time for the start, it had started clearing up and the sun began to peak through the clouds. They had me working the registration table again. I'm getting quite a lot of experience there. I think I'd really like to work a water station sometime. Maybe another time.

Anyways, I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving!

Turkey Trot & Dairy Air Dash Volunteer Report

A few weeks ago, I thought to myself, "Maybe my knee will be well enough by then to run this race." I ended up deciding that I didn't want to risk anything, so I thought to myself, "Maybe I'll volunteer for this race." I was also thinking that this race was going to be on the day of Thanksgiving since it is a "Turkey Trot." As it turned out, it was the weekend before, and I had already made plans to go on a campout with the boy scouts, so the volunteering was out of the question. Well, earlier this week, I found out that the campout had to be canceled. Bummer. I was looking forward to that. Then, with other things going on, I had forgotten about the Turkey Trot until last night as I was getting into bed. Then I thought, "I'm gonna go and volunteer." So I set my alarm and got up early and headed over to the race to offer up my services.

It was a pretty small race (maybe 50-60 runners), so there were already plenty of volunteers. But hey, the more the merrier, right? I was able to help out at the registration table handing out shirts and goodie bags. I was surprised to see how many people from church I saw there for the race. It was pretty cool to see all their friendly faces. After the 5k started, I was given the task of timing the 1 mile fun Runners--all 2 of them. Once they finished, I went over to the 5k finish and cheered everyone on as they crossed the line. I was kind of surprised to see the first place finisher come in just under 23 minutes. I'm used to seeing the winners of 5ks coming in around 15 minutes. Seeing that made me wish I had run the race. Next year, for sure.

This was another great opportunity to help out in the community. This injury has helped me to give a little back to running. I've really enjoyed helping out at these races. I'm planning on another Turkey Trot next week (actually on Thanksgiving Day), and I also signed up to help out at the expo for the Arizona RNR Marathon in January. For those of you running that race, I'll be there Saturday morning. I'm not sure yet what they'll have me doing, but I'll fill you in on the details as it gets closer.

Labor Day

Labor Day, for me, was very laborious. I work with the youth organization at church, and we had a service project on the nearby Indian reservation helping clear out tons of weeds from someone's backyard. We had about 5 young men and a few other leaders helping out. We had a good time and got tons done.

In the last couple weeks we've had several storms that have brought a lot of rainfall, which has brought about tons of our own weeds. So when I got home this morning, I headed out to make a dent in our backyard. After a few minutes, I couldn't help but notice how quiet it was working by myself compared to working with the young men. I decided to go back in and grab the iPod to keep me company. That definitely helped make the job easier and the time pass a little more quickly. It also got me thinking about running (even though I don't run with my iPod too often), and, as sick as this sounds, looking forward to doing long runs again. I'm planning for a marathon in early January, and will start training for it next week. It'll be nice to have some different scenery besides the football field and bleachers at the track. I'm looking forward to running up and down South Mountain, along the canals, and on the streets again. Not doing speedwork 3 times a week, and running at an easier pace.

I've really enjoyed training for the mile, but my preferred distance is the marathon. I have grown to love going to the track, something I'd only rarely done in my training for any of my previous races. I'll definitely be returning as I train for the marathon, and hopefully, I'll see some benefits from all the speedwork I've done this summer.

Marathon Plans

Over the last week or so, I have really been looking for a winter marathon to train for. Locally, there aren't many possibilities as most are on Sundays, and I don't run on Sundays. I started looking in southern California since my brother lives in LA, and there were a few Saturday marathons, but not really at convenient times of the year. Yesterday, I thought I'd check Nevada since I have a sister near Vegas. A quick search on MarathonGuide.com led me to discover a new racing company called Calico Racing, and they have organized several races around Las Vegas, and most of them are on Saturdays!

They have the perfect marathon for me. It's called the Running From An Angel Marathon, run along the western edge of Lake Mead, and it is on January 3, 2009. Don't ask me where the name comes from. I haven't figured that out yet. This will be the second running of the event. Reasons for me to run this:

1. It's on a Saturday.
2. The drive wouldn't be too bad. Vegas is about 5 hours from PHX.
3. It's got raving reviews on Marathon Guide. All are 4.5-5 stars. The organization, the scenery. It sounds like a great run.
4. January 3 is during my Christmas break. Granted it is the last weekend of the break, but otherwise, it's great timing.
5. It is a Boston Qualifier. That'll have to wait until 2010, though.
6. We'd get to see my sister and her family who are only about 30 minutes from the start. And I'd imagine she'd let us stay with her.
7. Last year's winner finished in 3 hours 22 minutes. I'm thinking I could be ready for a sub-3 hour marathon by then. Hmmm...

All in all, this looks like it will be an awesome race. I am looking forward to training for another marathon. I can't wait to run it!

My crafty wife

I love my wife. Lani is the best. She's beautiful, intelligent, insightful, motivating, supportive, creative, and a great mom. Add the fact that she's a runner, and she's a pretty sweet catch.

We recently celebrated our 7th anniversary (well, we actually haven't done anything yet), and she had the opportunity to show off some of her mad sewing skills and creativity. We have talked about doing something with my marathon medals besides storing them in a box in the closet. Yesterday, I remembered seeing what Nic's wife made him for Christmas, and we decided to do something similar. Later in the evening she went to work on the race shirt I got from our 10k on the 4th of July (which I still need to report on). The shirt is a medium, but looks more like an extra large. We cut off the sleeves and a strip from the sides and Lani sewed it all up, and Voila! I have a made-with-love-shirt that I probably wouldn't have been able to wear otherwise. Thanks Lani!!
And here's a close up of the shadow box:
Left to right: Park City, 2004; St. George, 2004; Salt Lake City, 2005; Park City, 2005, St. George, 2006; Boston, 2008

Hey, it's good to be back home again

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive. We returned home from our long vacation to Utah last Saturday night. We had a great time visiting with family. Here are some of the highlights:

Snow on the drive up.

The Art City Days 5k with Lani.

Prepping the deck for outdoor carpet with my father-in-law.

Beautiful views if the LDS Timpanogos Temple from my brother-in-law's house. Click here for more info about LDS temples.

Roasting s'mores. A frequent occurrence at my in-laws'.

Doggy family reunions. (Left to right: Fenway, Boston's brother; Jack, his dad; Boston, himself; Jill, his mama; and Chip, his other brother)

The Art City Days Carnival.

The Provo River Trail 10 mile race.

Visiting my sister and niece in Salt Lake.

The family's alternative cooking experiment.

Family reunion at Bear Lake.

Visiting my parents in Idaho.

And fireworks, of course.

I had some great runs and races while there. I've reported on most of them already, but I still have a race report for the Fourth of July to write. That will be coming shortly. My last three runs have been in three different states, and the previous one was a long run with my brother-in-law stretching across the Idaho-Utah border. I feel well traveled but am very glad to be home.

Preview of posts to come:
-Race report for the Provo Freedom Festival 10k
-Mile attempt #7

Hopefully I'll be able to get those up very soon.

Mile attempt #4 and other stuff

Today's attempt was sort of spontaneous because my running schedule was off with the holiday on Monday. I enjoyed a nice easy run on Monday without having to get up early before work. I've been doing my mile attempts on Tuesdays, so I thought I'd do it on Thursday this week. But last night, I felt like I really wanted to run. So I went out today after my wife got home from her run. I did my mile warm-up out to the start and took off. My first quarter mile was right on pace, but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it up all the way, so I slowed down a smidge and was at 2:39 at the half. Apparently I slowed down another smidge or two because I ended up with a 5:29. I was pretty surprised with that time because I felt like I was going faster and pushing harder than I did last time. I blame it on my workout from last Saturday. I did three 1-mile repeats at 6:00 pace because I have a 5k coming up on June 7th, and thought I ought to get some speedwork geared toward that. I guess I can't improve every time.

Stay tuned for attempt #5.

Wow, I just looked at that paragraph and realized how boring it is! But, I'm too lazy to go back and rewrite it. I will share some other random thoughts, though.

1. Lani and I will both be doing the above-mentioned 5k on the 7th. This is a run we have been doing every summer for the last 6 years or so. It's become sort of a tradition. I've done it every year, and Lani has done it 3 or 4 times. She hopes to really see what she can do. I think her best 5k is about 33 minutes, but that was when she wasn't the runner she is today. I think she'll be closer to 27 minutes. Expect to see a race report from her early June. They also have tons of big prizes randomly given away after the race. We've never won anything, so cross your fingers for us.

2. I've been seeing a lot about the USATF Stretch Study lately, and can't decide if I want to do it or not. I read about it last summer, and I still have the same hesitations now. I would really like to participate, but I am afraid that I'll be put into the stretching group, which would require me to stretch prior to a run. I never stretch before a run, and I am afraid of what might happen. The purpose of the study, after all, is to look at the rate of injury between the stretching and the non-stretching group. What do you think about it?

3. I've only received one response to my solicitation to start a running blogging group to Move a Million Miles for Ryan Hall. It's just a simple way to show support for Ryan as he prepares for the Olympic Marathon. All you have to do is log your total weekly miles on the website. If anyone is interested in doing it with me and Shilingi-Moja, just post a comment.

4. We are looking forward to our summer. School is almost out (Friday is my last day before summer vacation) and I am definitely looking forward to some time off from work and more time to be with my family (and more time to run, too). In addition to the 5k on the 7th, I'm also planning on a 10 mile race on the 14th. Lani and I will also be doing a 10k on the 4th of July. Should be a lot of fun.

National Run A Mile Day

May 6th, 2008 is the very first National Run A Mile Day. It marks the 54th anniversary of Roger Bannister's running of the first sub-4-minute mile. The website doesn't have a whole lot of information, but I imagine that it's purpose is to inspire and motivate people to get up and exercise and live a more healthy lifestyle. In celebration of this event, I plan to begin my quest for a sub-5-minute mile. My fastest ever was 5:26 about 8 years ago. My fastest recent mile was a 5:36, so I believe that I can reach that mark (probably not tomorrow, but in the near future). It would be awesome if all of you got out there and ran a mile (or dedicated one of your miles) to celebrate this inaugural event. I'll be sure to let you know how my mile goes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well, we missed the St. Patty's Day race this weekend that we had thought about doing. Oh well. We still wanted to celebrate somehow, so after my 4-year-old (dressed in green from head to toe) went off to preschool, I (in my green technical tee) took my 2-year-old (she doesn't have a green shirt, so she wore a white shirt with green and purple flowers) in the jogging stroller for a run on the paved trails through our neighborhood. This nice run was followed by a lunch of green "Tubbiecustard" (yogurt with food coloring--unfortunately, my girls love the Tellitubbies).

I hope you're wearing your green today! Nobody's gonna be pinching us!

What a week!

This week was such a great week for me. I am on Christmas break (I'm a school psychologist in a local district, so I have three (!) weeks off for the holidays), and I am loving it. If you haven't read any of my recent posts, the weather is so perfect. I love the Arizona winter! I won the "Time for some lovin'" clock from Topher in the Runner's Lounge virtual white elephant gift exchange, and my training has been going so well. It's got me feeling very confident that I will be able to reach my goal of breaking 3 hours in Boston (less than 4 months to go!).

My week started out with some speedwork on Tuesday. I did 4x 1200 meters each at 4:30. That was really tough, but it sure felt good to run fast again, and to be able to keep it up over that distance. Wednesday wasn't a scheduled run, but since I didn't have to work, I thought I'd take my littlest daughter out for a few easy miles. Thursday was a great tempo run. That had me feeling so good that I wanted to go out on Friday, but I thought I'd save my energy for my 9 miles on Saturday. That run only made me more excited for my training. I ended up with an average pace of 7:12 per mile, and a total time of just a few seconds over my 8 on the 8th race time. I really don't know what has made the difference in the last couple weeks, but I am totally on a high, and it feels so good. I can't wait to get out there this week.

On Saturday, my older sister and her family from Las Vegas came to visit for the weekend. My older brother from north Phoenix also came for the evening. We had a lot of fun hanging out, playing at the park, having dinner, opening some early Christmas presents, and our kids had a great time together.

p.s. I hope I'm not sounding cocky or arrogant or anything, but I am just kinda proud of how my training is going, and want to share my excitement.

p.p.s. Merry Christmas!

My Virtual White Elephant Gift

I saw this and immediately thought of Amy over at Runner's Lounge. It's the perfect solution to keep your nose from being your "running" partner. Simply strap this comfortable, light-weight, hands-free, one-size-fits-all apparatus on your noggin and off you go. Say goodbye to using your sleeve as a tissue, and say hello to the Portable Snot Squelcher!

For those not knowing what this is about, the Runner's Lounge community is having a virtual Christmas party with white elephant gifts and all.

A Christmas Greeting

This might not have a whole lot to do with running, but it sure is cute. Merry Christmas!